Geoff Pearson wrote: > However, interesting question: does anyone have a proven ancestor only 5 > generations back living before 1700? Given that we normally allow 30 > years per generation it will be very good going but could be done. OP wrote 5x *great grandfather*. Add on father & grandfather so we're dealing with 7 previous generations, not 5. Does anyone have a 5xggfather living before 1700? Well, for a start: John Goddard, my 5x ggfather, bapt 25 Jul 1687, Holmfirth chapel, Almondbury parish, bur 21 Aug 1750, Kirkburton, was mine. He married 1711. My 4x ggfather Jonathan was the 6th child (although 2 of the previous 5 were twins) bapt 03 Apr 1722 so that's about 35 years for that generation. 3x ggfather, another John, was the 5th child, 31 years on. 2x, yet another John was the 6th, born 41 years on. ggfather was 5th, 37 years on. None of those was the youngest of the family although 2x ggfather was next youngest. Only myself and my grandfather break the 30 year barrier and then not by much. Although on average 30 years per generation is reasonable but one should not be surprised to find instances where the generations work out at least 10 years longer than that. -- Ian The Hotmail address is my spam-bin. Real mail address is iang at austonley org uk

On 31/07/2013 10:49, Ian Goddard wrote: > Geoff Pearson wrote: > >> However, interesting question: does anyone have a proven ancestor >> only 5 generations back living before 1700? Given that we normally >> allow 30 years per generation it will be very good going but could >> be done. > > OP wrote 5x *great grandfather*. Add on father & grandfather so > we're dealing with 7 previous generations, not 5. Does anyone have a > 5xggfather living before 1700? Well, for a start: > > John Goddard, my 5x ggfather, bapt 25 Jul 1687, Holmfirth chapel, > Almondbury parish, bur 21 Aug 1750, Kirkburton, was mine. He married > 1711. Nearly. My 5x great-grandfather, John Bury, was born about 1706 (or perhaps earlier). He was born when his father was about 40 years old, and had his own son when he, himself was about 27 years old. There was a similar 27-year gap between the next three generations, then a 42-year gap, a 49-year gap until the birth of my grandfather, who was aged 53 and dead when my mother was born.