How old can a mother be to give birth?

[avrilw]

Hello

I am researching the GEEN family from Parracombe, Devon.
I am specifically searching for the baptism of Agnes Geen. She married 1766 and was buried in 1816.
There are two choices of baptism
1 - 3rd May 1741 in Martinhoe, Devon the next parish to Parracombe. This date ties with her age at death  which was 75. BUT she would then have had 3 children in her forties, the last at 46. The naming pattern also adds up, her mother also being Agnes.

2 6th May 1747 in Parracombe. The other trees on ancestry have all chosen this option, but have not bothered to find other children apart from their direct line, and have all taken the info from each other.

I chose the first option, but am a bit worried about her having children so late. My Nan had a child at 44 but is 46 reasonable gien lack of health care at the time?

Which option would you chose?

Avril

[Kiltpin]

I don't think healthcare has anything to do with it. It is more a question of biology.   

The onset of puberty is regulated by the number of day/night cycles the person has had and the amount of nutrients they have consumed.  There are well documented occurrences of late, or delayed, puberty of males in mining communities. Bad food and lack of daylight caused the slow start. I believe the oldest start was aged 26. 

All women are born, more or less, with the same number of eggs in their ovaries. This gives them a certain number of years of possible fertility. If the onset of puberty is delayed by a few years, it will push that fertile period to later in life. 

So I think that your number 2 woman could quite possibly have fallen pregnant later in life. Whether the child survives is a whole other question. 

Regards 

Chas

[avrilw]

thanks Chas

I never thought to check if the last child survived, good thinking

Avril

[coombs]

I have had a few women giving birth in their mid to late 40s according to their own baptism, and the baptism of their last child. One Suffolk ancestor born in 1739 had her last child in 1787, aged 48.

[avrilw]

oh, good grief, my heart goes out to her! Of course another explanation is they were hiding a pregnancy of an elder daughter.

I chose the 1741 birth, so I think I'll track the 1747 and see what I think happened to her.
At this rate I'll be sorting out the whole village- I would if I knew how

Avril

[Enumerated]

Another thing, if she was born in 1747 she would have been a minor when she married in 1766. Does the marriage register say if she was of full age or a minor? Not conclusive, as she could have lied and said she was over 21.

A bit later in time, but my great grandmother (1852-1945) had 15 children, the last in 1899 when she was 47. They all survived childhood and Uncle Bert, the youngest, lived until 1990.

[coombs]

You do wonder if you have the right baptism if the woman is still having children in her mid to late 40s, but it was not impossible to have had older mothers back then like now.

[avrilw]

Enumerated
no mention of being a minor or not. I have just been reading about Parracombe marriages  one vicar Reverend J Fosse, refused to marry anybody for several years, because an hour after he married one couple, the went back to him and asked to be 'unmarried'.
Even though he remained in the parish for several years afterwards, other vicars did the deed. Unfortunately, the book is not specific in the dates, only that the vicar served there mid 1800s

[Mike in Cumbria]

My neighbour had a baby when she was in her 50s