No children for years

[dev389]

Hi,

Can anyone give me a reason for the following.

A couple married in 1812 but didnt have the 1st child till 1821. This seems strange as most people had children within a  year of getting married. It seems a long time till the 1st baby,

Any ideas

[groom]

Perhaps the man was away fighting in the First World War (1914 -1918)

Have you checked to see if any children died soon after birth? or perhaps she was unlucky and had several miscarriages.

Jan

[dev389]

IT WAS 1812,    WW1 WAS 1914

[carol8353]

Can you give us the full details- names places and dates,it does seem most unusual.Are you sure you have the right couple,and not some cousin living nearby?

Do the family appear on any censuses together-if they're on the 1841 they may not be parents and children as relationships aren't given on that one of course.

Carol

[behindthefrogs]

Possibly one or both of them suffered from a sever illness TB or syphillis.

One of my ancestors had no children for seven years due to TB from which she eventually recovered.  That was in the 1870s

Something like 20% of the population suffered from syphillis in those days and in a woman it could prevent child birth for mny years before it eventually subsided.  How healthy were the first children born and what were the intervals between their births?  Were there signs of a recovery with the later children being bborn closer together and healthier.

David

[dev389]

I have heard of people having Syphillis when I was watching WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE.

I have a marriage for JOHN and CHARLOTTE UNWIN  1812

1841 Census

JOHN UNWIN  45
CHARLOTTE  40
JOHN  20
HENRY  20
CAROLIN  15
SARAH  14
HARRIETT  14
EDWARD  10

1951 CENSUS

JOHN  56
CHARLOTTE  55
EDWARD  21

I KNOW CHARLOTTE WAS QUITE YOUNG WHEN MARRIED, HER DOB RANGES FROM 1795 TO 1801.

HER CHILDREN WHERE BORN FAIRLY CLOSE TOGETHER.

[carol8353]

Where did they live?

[dev389]

THEY LIVED WEST HAM

[aghadowey]

The details on the 1841 census record the eldest children as age 20 but there could easily have been older children away from home by that time so you can't really assume they had no children from 1812-1821 (also ages in census might be incorrect).