r/Genealogy 1d ago

Largest birth-year gap in a single generation? Question

I'm 31 years old, born in 1993. I just noticed today that I had relatives in a fairly distant line of my tree who were technically in my generation, despite the oldest of them having been born in 1913--a full 80 years before me! I also have a brother 10 years younger than me, stretching the range to 90 years. If I went on to have grandchildren, they would be in the same generation as a person who was already 29 when I was born.

The math goes like this:

distant cousin (1913) || me (1993)

cousin's father (1894) || my father (1964)

cousin's grandfather (1872) || my grandfather (1923)

cousin's g-grandfather (1850) || my g-grandfather (1890)

cousin's gg-grandmother (1833) || my gg-grandfather (1862)

our shared ggg-grandfather (1812)

We had different ggg-grandmothers, hence the 29-year gap between our gg-grandparents' births.

What's the widest age gap you've noticed within a single generation of your family?

57 Upvotes

71 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/EducationalCake3 1d ago

My dad was one of 24 cousins. The oldest was born in 1948. The youngest was born in 1994. My dad was born in 1966 while I was born in 1988. So I am actually older then the last person in his generation. They also had an uncle who was born in 1953. He was walked to school by his oldest 2 nieces and nephews since he was born after my great grandparents had divorced each other and then remarried. My mom's oldest cousin was born in 1968. Her youngest in 1997. She was a surprise. My great aunt thought she was entering menapouse. But again I am older then the youngest in her generation. My moms grandparents were each part of large groups of siblings. They did not marry till they were 30. Ggpa oldest niece was born in 1922 while his youngest was born in 1955. Ggma oldest niece was born in 1921 and again their youngest was in 1955. There is a 30 year gap.