6 generations alive at one time - can anyone equal this??

[anne_p]

I can do 5 generations and missed out on 6 by just 6yrs.
( My mother's gg grandmother died just 6yrs before  she was born)


In response to the mathematics, it's quite odd!
My sister, mother, grandmother, g grandmother, gg grandmother and ggg grandmother were all the eldest child/daughter in their families and  were all married with a child before they were 20yrs old

When My mother was born, her great grandmother was just 63 yrs old
When My mother had her 1st child, her great grandmother was 82 yrs old

My eldest sister ALSO married and had a child by the age of 19yrs.
That child was ALSO a mother by age 19 which takes us up to 1993

From the birth of my ggg  grandmother in 1847 until 1993 = 147yrs & 8 generations.
Works out at a new generation every 18.3 yrs

 I wasn't a teenage mum and my own children are the 7th generation.
My youngest, is younger than the 1993 - 8th generation

Freaky!
I've also just realised that my mum, grandmother, g grandmother, gg grandmother and ggg grandmother ALL became a great grandmother at 62/63 yrs

[GUT]

my family had a long history of first children being conceived at a young age, great great grandmother was 13 great grandmother was 14, but in many cases the first few were boys, if first born had been a girl each time it would have been easy to have had six or even seven generations alive at once, the most I knew if, in my line in my life time was 5, generations, but out of that one was the sixth child and one was male.

[Andrew Tarr]

my family had a long history of first children being conceived at a young age, great great grandmother was 13 great grandmother was 14, but in many cases the first few were boys,.... 

I have a theory that genetics contribute to this tendency - or to put it another way, it runs in families.  That is why I made the assumption earlier that the succession is normally girls who have inherited a tendency to early puberty.  A boy's contribution to that will usually be accidental !

My theory includes the recurrence of illegitimacy or marital irresponsibility, which has appeared in a branch of my wife's tree for at least three generations, mostly, but not always, at a young age.  The flipside is on my side of the tree, where mothers have commonly had few children, starting well into their twenties or later (my mother, her mother, and my daughter all 35).

And of course to set a record like the one under discussion, the girls also have to inherit a longevity gene ...

[DavidG02]

I will throw a spanner in the works. Who says the generations should be linear? ie from 1 family line from GGgrandmother to GGgranddaughter?

If I include my mums uncle as an example I get to 5 generations before he died in 2002. Or have I (once again) read this wrong?

[Guy Etchells]

I think this will be fairly common in the future.
If you think about it at present many of the older generations were wiped out by the 1st and 2nd Worls Wars, in addition since the 1970s it is not uncommon for women/girls to have children (who survive infancy) at 14 and 15 years old and finally people are living longer.

These changes mean that the is the possibility that 6 or even 7 generations will be more easily obtainable.

Cheers
Guy

[anne_p]

You will be correct David.
It does not necessarily always follow the female line.
It is simply coincidental that my 18-19yr gaps all passed from mother to daughter yet not all of the daughters were the eldest child.
In all cases, my father and my mother's generation grandfathers were all older than their wives.
In every case, the wife outlived the husband and she survived long enough to be around for generations 4 and/or 5

Interestingly, generation 8 ( 1993) are twin boys.
Neither is married nor a parent
Unless one or both of them fathers a child this year, the historical 62/63 yr old great grandmother will end..
( my sister is their grandmother and will she be 63 this year!) LOL

[Andrew Tarr]

I think this will be fairly common in the future.  These changes mean that the is the possibility that 6 or even 7 generations will be more easily obtainable.

Guy, you forgot to mention the compensating trend for women to delay children until their 30s.  If enough of them do that, four generations will be difficult, never mind seven.   

[lizdb]

I'm still waiting to have any grandchildren - chances of fitting in great grandchildren in my life time are getting rather slim ...

However - sister in law who is only two years older than me already has grand-daughter aged 16 (and 5 other grandchildren) so she could potentially become a great grandmother in the next, say, 10 years (maybe before I am even a grandmother) and then potentially a great-great-grandmother well within a reasonable lifetime. 

[lisalucie]

We had 5 generations...all eldest children who happened to be daughters...up until my great Nan died a few years ago.
Great Nan had Nan at 20. Nan had mom at 18. Mom had me at 16 and I had my daughter at 21.
My Nan is 69 this year and my daughter will be 13 so chances are we will reach 5 again!
Lisa