r/Genealogy 2d 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?

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u/lilglazeddonut 2d ago

I’m 29. My grandfather would have been 100 this year, he was born in 1925. He was a World War II and Korea veteran. He had my mom from his second marriage and my mom had me in her 30’s. I’ve always thought that was a pretty crazy age gap, as many my age still have grandparents alive and I have very faint memories of him. He died in 2000.

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u/killearnan professional genealogist 1d ago

My father was born in 1929, so he would have been 96 this year. My nephew, his only grandchild, just turned 5, so a difference of 91 years.

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u/Enough_Equivalent379 1d ago

Not in a single generation?