Ages of Males at Death
Sounds morbid, I know, but that’s what genealogists deal with all the time. We study more dead people than living. So thanks to Randy Seaver (author of Genea-Musings) for bringing this up, but he proposed charting the ages at death of 4 or 5 generations. I could go back quite a bit farther, but here’s a quick 5-generation chart. I might take the lost back a few more generations, but the “unknowns” will definitely outnumber the “knowns” by the 6th or 7th generation. I have a few of my ancestral lines (proven…not guessed or harvested from other public, online trees) back to the 12th and 13th great grandfathers. That’s 14 or 15 generations! Keep in mind that if you could identify ALL of your 13th great grandparents (15 generations) you’d have a list of 16,384 individuals just at that generation. That’s husbands and wives but no siblings! If you collected every name to your 16th great grandparents, the total number of individuals including you would be 524,287! And again, no siblings.
By the way, Randy and I are distant cousins….very distant but related nonetheless.
Here’s what I offer so far:
Dave Robison’s Male Ancestors’ “Age at Death”:
| Father | Henry Dunn Robison | 78 |
| Paternal Grandfather | Cecil Lee Robison | 61 |
| Maternal Grandfather | Clement Alexis Dickson | 67 |
| Paternal Great Grandfather | Erskin Coleman Robison | 63 |
| Paternal Great Grandfather | Henry Wright Dunn | 45 (Car/Train Collision) |
| Maternal Great Grandfather | Daniel Alexander Dickson | 72 |
| Maternal Great Grandfather | Edward Harmon Bassett | 83 |
| Paternal 2nd Great Grandfather | Samuel Coleman Robison | 64 |
| Paternal 2nd Great Grandfather | James Pinkney Peace | 74 |
| Paternal 2nd Great Grandfather | William Ira Dunn | 72 |
| Paternal 2nd Great Grandfather | Samuel Joseph Robertson | 73 |
| Maternal 2nd Great Grandfather | James Dickson/Dixon | 75 |
| Maternal 2nd Great Grandfather | James Meagher Jr | 72 |
| Maternal 2nd Great Grandfather | Ralph Harmon Bassett | 37 (Diphtheria epidemic) |
| Maternal 2nd Great Grandfather | Joseph Baber Tuggey Sr | 76 |
| Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Green Coleman Robinson | 61 |
| Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather | James Thomas Hardin | 21 (Confederate POW Camp) |
| Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather | William Joshua Butcher Peace | 66 |
| Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather | James M B Temple | Unknown |
| Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather | William T Dunn | 63 |
| Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather | John Wright Sr | 63 |
| Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Sampson Robertson | 54 |
| Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Elza Richard Donaldson | 72 |
| Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Unknown | Unknown |
| Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Unknown | Unknown |
| Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather | James Meagher Sr | Unknown |
| Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Alexander Donnelly | Possibly 30 |
| Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Ephraim Lane Bassett | 88 |
| Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Nelson Blodgett | 77 |
| Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Thomas Tuggey | 72 |
| Maternal 3rd Great Grandfather | Alfred Bailey | 79 |
| Average | Excluding unknown | 65.1 |
| Average | Excluding war, epidemic, accident | 68.9 |
Try your own list…it could be very interesting!