The New England Historic Genealogical Society includes a survey in their weekly newsletter and last week's presented an interesting question that we might use to query our senior family members as we gather together this season. The results were posted this week and they follow. You could frame the statements as questions using "Did your...?" as a prefix to survey your family to provide a picture of life spans and gender patterns in your own lines. Of course if you are a statistician or simply compulsive about these sorts of things, you may want to extend the questionnaire back eight or ten generations to amuse yourself. You could even divide the participants into regional or national groups and compare findings. A good way to quietly amuse yourself with your laptop when your sister-in-law and her mother get into a "discussion" over the mashed potatoes. "Last week’s survey asked about longevity in your family. The responses revealed some interesting results. 69% had a mother who lived longer than her father, but only 57% had a father who lived longer than his father. 59% had a mother lived longer than their mother while 48% of fathers lived longer than their father. These results mirror information that women tend to live longer than men. The full results are as follows: 69%, My mother lived to a greater age than her father 59%, My mother lived to a greater age than her mother 57%, My father lived to a greater age than his father 48%, My father lived to a greater age than his mother 45%, My paternal grandmother lived to a greater age than my father 37%, My paternal grandfather lived to a greater age than my father 33%, My maternal grandmother lived to a greater age than my mother 24%, My maternal grandfather lived to a greater age than my mother" You'll notice the women are gaining on the men here. Source: The Weekly Genealogist Vol. 13, No. 51 Whole #510 December 22, 2010 Edited by Michael J. Leclerc and Valerie Beaudrault _dailygenealogist@nehgs.org_ (mailto:dailygenealogist@nehgs.org) Carol Boggs