Week 3 of #52ancestors - Longevity
I have 2 perspectives on longevity to discuss. The first is the usual type: how long someone lives. My father had a good long life, dying a few weeks before his 91st birthday. That isn't unusual longevity, but it is exceptional compared to his three immediate direct-line male ancestors who all died before age 60.
My grandfather Chester Brown (Dec 1898 - Jun 1958) died at 59 after two heart attacks. His father, William Newton Brown (Oct 1864 - Nov 1910) died at 46. His death certificate lists the cause as "Exhaustion" followed by 2 blank lines, then "Pulmonary". Whether that means pulmonary exhaustion or exhaustion along with pulmonary issues, who knows. The contributory cause was tuberculosis.
William's father, Albert Newton Brown (1834 - Mar 1868) died around age 34. I don't yet know the cause of death, but this is not an inspiring heredity for longevity. My father had coronary artery disease, hypertension, and a pacemaker, so I think he owed a lot to modern medicine in almost reaching 91.
The second perspective is longevity of generations. My mother thought she was an old parent because she had her first child (me) at 30. Compared to her peers, she probably was. But her own mother was 39 when my mother was born! My great-grandfather was 38 when my grandmother was born, the sixth of his seven children.
My great-grandfather Octavus Chambers was the fourth child of a second marriage, after seven children from the first marriage. His father Cyrus Chambers was only 8 days shy of his 54th birthday when Octavus was born.
And so it is that my great-great-grandfather, a man 4 generations back from me, was born in 1795. Not as impressive as President Tyler's grandsons still alive today, but still!
I have 2 perspectives on longevity to discuss. The first is the usual type: how long someone lives. My father had a good long life, dying a few weeks before his 91st birthday. That isn't unusual longevity, but it is exceptional compared to his three immediate direct-line male ancestors who all died before age 60.
My grandfather Chester Brown (Dec 1898 - Jun 1958) died at 59 after two heart attacks. His father, William Newton Brown (Oct 1864 - Nov 1910) died at 46. His death certificate lists the cause as "Exhaustion" followed by 2 blank lines, then "Pulmonary". Whether that means pulmonary exhaustion or exhaustion along with pulmonary issues, who knows. The contributory cause was tuberculosis.
William's father, Albert Newton Brown (1834 - Mar 1868) died around age 34. I don't yet know the cause of death, but this is not an inspiring heredity for longevity. My father had coronary artery disease, hypertension, and a pacemaker, so I think he owed a lot to modern medicine in almost reaching 91.
The second perspective is longevity of generations. My mother thought she was an old parent because she had her first child (me) at 30. Compared to her peers, she probably was. But her own mother was 39 when my mother was born! My great-grandfather was 38 when my grandmother was born, the sixth of his seven children.
My great-grandfather Octavus Chambers was the fourth child of a second marriage, after seven children from the first marriage. His father Cyrus Chambers was only 8 days shy of his 54th birthday when Octavus was born.
And so it is that my great-great-grandfather, a man 4 generations back from me, was born in 1795. Not as impressive as President Tyler's grandsons still alive today, but still!
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