The average age of a groom in Britain in the 19th century was 27.
Men were generally unable to marry until they had obtained property.
And the average age was higher than the 20th century as well, because of the high infant mortality rate, it wasn’t a “society of young people” at all.
I once met a 32 year old lady holding her 1 year old grandson. She told me she had her daughter at 16 and her daughter had to out-do her and have her baby at 15. At the time, I was her age with my own small children…
On another note. I was close friends with a fellow who was the youngest of 10 kids from the same mother and 2 different fathers. Her first 8 kids were fathered by a man who died in the 1940’s. She ended up with another man and had 2 more sons, one born in 1958 and then my friend in 1962. She was in her 50’s when she had him! Unsurprisingly, my friend was orphaned by the age of 12 and ended up being raised by his older siblings along side nieces and nephews who were often times older than he was.
Still very common in the American South and probably other third world countries. Hasidic communities as well marry young and have lots of children.
I like the way you phrased that first sentence. Very true.
Yeah, that was very intentional.
‘A lot younger’ was usually still in their twenties, unless they were nobility getting married off for political reasons.
Median lifespan was also fairly close to ours even though the average was way down. High infant and child mortality rates skews things.
In my family the men tend to have children quite late in life. I’m nearing 40 and my grandfather was a Victorian (born 1897).
I know a man who became a grandfather at 34. He had a daughter at 16 and she had a kid at 18.
Oh hell yes and they wasn’t that long ago. When I was 16 (1980s) I was friends with a girl also 16, whose mother was 31 and her grandmother was mid 40s. Both the mom and grandmom gave birth at 15/16.
As an aside They were cool as can be and most of my circle of friends would hangout at her house
I had a friend in hs with a pretty identical family situation (in the early 2000s) She was in her 20s for her first kid.
I knew both of my Great Grandmothers, our family had a habit of starting early so to speak. One of them died when I was a teen from Alzheimer’s and the one I was super close with and took for donuts and beer runs died the year I turned 21 just a couple of days after we went out for dinner, it was a soul crushing reality in how things can change without warning.
Grandma married at 16, they eloped and Gpa was 19. First Kid at 17. Gdaughter at 36( Gma had her last kid at 35), GGdaughter at 57. And I believe GGGson at 74. Which I’m pretty sure is far enough removed that they’re no longer family. We had a huge celebration for their 65 year anniversary. We counted the sign in and it was 120ish kids not counting the aunts and uncles. It was weird to me having my friends picked up from school by their dads when I was sure it was their grandpas. Meanwhile my youngest aunt and oldest cousin where basically sisters growing up.
When I was a kid I had great great grandparents I visited. There were old people that talked about up to 4 generations of great, so great great great great grandparents were still alive. Yes, I’m originally from Alabama.
I had Great-Great Grandparents in my life until I was in my late teens because of this.
I know plenty of people who are grandparents in their 30s today.
Life expectancy tended to be a lot lower, too. Once you lost your teeth, it was only matter of time. With no antibiotics, any injury that broke skin could be a death sentance, and over 30, 40 years, the odds stack up.
Childbirth was a pretty dangerous thing for women, too.
That’s a bit of a misconception. Life expectancy doesn’t measure the age at which most people die, but the average life expectancy.
That means, a bunch of different values contribute to the life expectancy and they do so to a wildly different degree.
Let’s say that without any adverse effects everyone dies of old age at around age 90.
Someone dieing of pulmonia at age 80 only scratches off 10 years, but someone dieing at age 0 due some childhood illness, bad hygiene, malnutrition or other complications scratches off 90 years.
In fact, by far the strongest contributor to the average life expectancy is child mortality. In 1800 in the USA, child mortality was at 46.2%.
If you discount child mortality, most people actually died aged 65-90.
Yea human lifespan hasn’t really changed over time but as you say infant mortality, pandemics, war and a complete lack of industrial safety for over a century have skewed the average over the years.
Yeah, a lot of people didn’t make it to the point of dieing of old age, but it wasn’t rare to see 80yo or even 90yo people.
People seem to think that a life expectancy of e.g. 45 years means that most people died at age 45, and that’s just plain wrong.
