One factor not mentioned in longevity was the Industrial Revolution. In two other family lines, grandfathers and great-grandfathers died in road construction accidents or in mining accidents. In some ways the Nineteenth Century was dirtier and far more dangerous than the Twentieth or the Seventeenth Century. Of course, childbirth was always dangerous until doctors finally learned to wash their hands and even after that. I appreciate the sense of life in other times that this list gives. Eugenia Whitney Harrison ----- Original Message ----- From: "Miles Fowler" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 17, 2005 4:10 PM Subject: Longevity > Many of us Whitney descendants seem to have bragging rights regarding > long-lived ancestors. I cannot resist jumping in. Looking at my data, I > realize that along many lines I have birth years without the year of > death. Hmm, there's a project for the new year. > Where I do have data on life spans, there are some impressive ones. Jabez > Whitney (November 1767 - April 1849) lived to be 81. His second wife Sally > lived to be about 59. Their son William was 72 when he died. His wife, a > Peabody, lived to be 93. Their daughter Flora died at age 82. Her ten > children, born between 1880 and 1903, lived to be the following ages: 1) > 35; 2) 79; 3) 79; 4) 75; 5) 89; 6) 89; 7) 82; 8) 1; 9) 79; 10) 94. The > tenth child was my grandmother. Her daughter, my mother, died at age 67, > but her brother and only sibling is alive and well at 70. > Of course, those born in the 1880s or later are a real watershed > generation as far as longevity is concerned: if they lived past World War > I, very often they lived well past any life-expectancy they would have > been given by the contemporary experts at their births because of the > advances in sanitation and medicine made during the twentieth century. In > other words, the population of octogenarians, nonagenarians, et cetera, > increased dramatically in the late twentieth century, and Flora's children > were in that generation. > > Miles Fowler > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Sent via the WebMail system at mail.nexet.net > > > > > > ______________________________