Dear Gerry, I agree with all you've written, but I knew a lady who was born when her mother was 56, verified absolutely by other family members. However, when these situations appear in family history one must have doubts. Couples appear to have very often married after the birth of the child, but the grandmothers often kept the first born, perhaps to give the young couple a chance to establish themselves in their relationship. Bettye Kirkwood. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerry" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 10:04 AM Subject: [WLS-PEM] This week's trivial information ......Or was it > common for a 52 year old woman to have a child in the 1880s? The 1881 census > shows Ann as being 48, so I haven't mistranscribed her age. > > I suspect that couples taking a grandchild as their own was quite common in > order that the daughter didn't have the stigma of having an illegitimate > child. It seemed to be a very sensible way to get around a social > difficulty. >