Genealogy Chat

On the 1851 census return for eccleston, lancashire the following where listed George thompson 70 mary 58 george 21 thomas 19 peter 17 joseph 12 lucy 8 How can lucy possibly be mary and georges daughter? wouldn't they be to old to be her parents? I am only going off the research my uncle did on this years ago. Any ideas would be greatly appreciate. Jennie

Could they not be their grandchildren? You could check this on Freebmd to locate the childrens birth certs and then order them which would then give you their parents names and then could work backwards from that info. Hope this makes sense x zoë

my gt gt gt grandfather's last son was born when he was 76 - or would have been but he died between conception and birth. He had 5 kids with second wife after age of 65. Wife was 48 years younger than him. He must have died happy - perhaps its a good thing there was no DNA testing in those days

I guess they could be but on the family tree my uncle did he has listed them as their parents. That is good idea thanks for your help i will try that. :)

I suppose he could be their farther but i don't know about mary being their mother.

Hi Jenny My mom was 51 when she had my sister what a shock when she found out.We always joked that my dad was on fillisan for the over fourtys it was true because my sister is always like a bottle of pop always bubbley. Jill

The answer is of course anything is possible! My grandad lied about his age on marriage (he said he was 30 when he was 38) his wife lied about her age (she was only 18 when she said she was 25) It makes for frustrating research though. By the time the last child came on the scene (they had had 1 a year for all their married life) grandad was an old man and his wife was worn out! Jacqui

Its practically impossible to guess this kind of thing as when i was born there was 5 generations of my family with my grandfather only being 40 at the time, my nan died when i was 18 aged only 59. Always try to validate the info you have this is what i try to do by always getting the evidence i.e. certs for my records even if it does cost me £7 a pop. zoë x

Mary would have been 50 when Lucy was born, so it is possible she could be her mother. My grandfather was born when his mother was 49 (in 1891). There was much less information about such matters in those days, no pill or HRT, but lots more pregnacies in later life.

You can't always rely on the ages given on the Census returns. Remember they are usually transcripts, and there was often crossing out, especially over ages, on the original sheets. On the 1881 census my great great grandfather was shown as aged 72, so his date of birth was given as 1809, but on his marriage certificate dated 1846 his age is given as 30. Jan.

Hi Jennifer. Try to look at the 1851 Census yourself to confirm the relationship given. The mother's age puts her at the upper limit for birth, but her age may be a little overstated. Father's age as everyone seems to agree is not a barrier. Keith

Thank you all for your help.