What year was the oldest family member you knew born?

[The DA]

I knew 3 of my 8 great-grandparents, all born in the 1880 and 1890s.  

[Granny Danger]

My grandmother (father’s mother) was born in the late 1880s, she died in the mid 60’s when I was 9 or 10.

 

Reading some of the other responses on here reminds me how young most of the P&B posters are.

 

[tamthebam]

Irene Triplett who died aged 90 last year in the US was the last recipient of a Civil War pension, her father having fought on both sides. He was in his 80s when she was born so that would put his birthdate in the 1840s.

I suppose there will be people living in Britain today who remember John Turner who was born in 1856 and died in the 1960s. I wonder if you could get further back.

It is just possible that there may be Irish centenarians who remember Katherine Plunkett who died in 1930 aged 110. She was the last living person to meet Sir Walter Scott.

 

[Enigma]

51 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Irene Triplett who died aged 90 last year in the US was the last recipient of a Civil War pension, her father having fought on both sides. He was in his 80s when she was born so that would put his birthdate in the 1840s.

I suppose there will be people living in Britain today who remember John Turner who was born in 1856 and died in the 1960s. I wonder if you could get further back.

It is just possible that there may be Irish centenarians who remember Katherine Plunkett who died in 1930 aged 110. She was the last living person to meet Sir Walter Scott.

 

Two grandchildren of the 10th President of the US, John Tyler (1841-1845) are still living.

Incidentally as I young child (early 90s) I met and shook a hands with a few old veterans who had fought on the first day of the Somme. If I were to make 100 and regale that to any young listener it would almost be akin to me as a lad meeting somebody who had shook hands with somebody who had fought at Waterloo.

 

[Hedgecutter]

I have a photo of me with my great grandfather, the latter of which was born in 1884.  Therefore, I have been in the presence of somebody older than DAFC (both the club and the poster).

[Melanius Mullarkey]

9 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

My grandmother (father’s mother) was born in the late 1880s, she died in the mid 60’s when I was 9 or 10.

 

Reading some of the other responses on here reminds me how young most of the P&B posters are.

 

Or how old you are.

 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Great-gran - born 1895, died 1990.

[H Wragg]

My Great Grandmother on my dad's side will be the oldest relation I remember, but I have no idea when she was born.

My Grandfathers were born in 1906 and (circa) 1915.
Grandmothers 1910 and 1918.

[Cosmic Joe]

25 minutes ago, H Wragg said:

My Great Grandmother on my dad's side will be the oldest relation I remember, but I have no idea when she was born.

 

If she died in Scotland, and you know her original surname and married name, you can do a search on Scotland's People. 

[PWL]

Not the clearest pic but the little girl in this pic is my great gran. She was born in 1903 so that would age this postcard to around 1905. She died in 1984 when I was 10 but I remember her quite clearly. She had suffered a stroke a few years before she died and had slurred speech so I found her quite scary.

Her own mother died in labour having her and she was brought up by her gran - the older lady in pic. The other girl is her half sister. Her mum's first husband had died young! 

You forget how tough life was and how high mortality rates were just a few generations ago. 

Edited March 24, 2021 by PWL

[Granny Danger]

2 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Or how old you are.

 

My body reminds me how old I am most days.

[Jacksgranda]

17 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

My body reminds me how old I am most days.

So does mine.

(How old I am, not how old you are, before some smart alec comments.)

[H Wragg]

My Great Grandmother on my dad's side will be the oldest relation I remember, but I have no idea when she was born.

My Grandfathers were born in 1906 and (circa) 1915.
Grandmothers 1910 and 1918.

If she died in Scotland, and you know her original surname and married name, you can do a search on Scotland's People. 

Cheers for that. [emoji106]

My Great Grandmother was born in 1892 and her son, who is the Grandfather I wasn't sure of his year of birth, was born in 1914.

[Tutankhamen]

On 23 March 2021 at 11:28, Hillonearth said:

Maternal grandfather was born something like 1885 - I don't think he married until he was well into his forties, so by the time I came around he was ancient and only lasted until I was maybe three or four, so it's pushing it to say I really remember him.

Weird career trajectory for the old yin anyway from what I understand...in WW1 he was a piper - which sounded suicidal going over the top with bagpipes rather than a gun - then after not being able to find work postwar rejoining the Black and Tans and doing his bit for Anglo-Irish relations. After that episode he joined the polis and finished off being a tram inspector, I'm guessing finally retiring when the trams finished up.

The only thing I'm really getting about his life is that he seemed to have a bit of a uniform fetish.

Same, faint memories of a granny born in 1885. She lived facing Colin Stein's garage. Died in 1964.

[Tutankhamen]

Oldest person I knew who had a strange jump into the family past was my doctor who's father was born in 1857!!! His father had a second family after the death of his first wife. My doctor's was fathering children in his 60s. My doctor's father in law played for both Rangers and Celtic!!!

Edited March 25, 2021 by Tutankhamen

[Hillonearth]

4 hours ago, Tutankhamen said:

Same, faint memories of a granny born in 1885. She lived facing Colin Stein's garage. Died in 1964.

The grandmother married to the one I was talking about (and who I remember a lot better as she made it into the 1990s) - was a lot younger than him, maybe born 1905 or so, and remarkably well-travelled for someone of her generation and class in a time when the working classes generally only got to go abroad when there was a war on.

She'd gone into service as a lot of girls did before they got married and ended up getting a lady's-maid job with some upper-class burd who seemed to spend most of her life on a grand tour round Europe and took her with her...according to her she ended up friendly with her employer rather than some cliched master/servant setup, so I'm guessing it was a sweet gig. I can remember there being a big display case in her house filled with stuff she'd picked up in Paris, Nice, Berlin, Vienna and so on in the 1920s/30s.

Never claimed to have seen or met Hitler though, which seems to set her apart from anyone else British who visited Germany at that point.

Edited March 25, 2021 by Hillonearth

[Jacksgranda]

14 minutes ago, Hillonearth said:

The grandmother married to the one I was talking about (and who I remember a lot better as she made it into the 1990s) - was a lot younger than him, maybe born 1905 or so, and remarkably well-travelled for someone of her generation and class in a time when the working classes generally only got to go abroad when there was a war on.

She'd gone into service as a lot of girls did before they got married and ended up getting a lady's-maid job with some upper-class burd who seemed to spend most of her life on a grand tour round Europe and took her with her...according to her she ended up friendly with her employer rather than some cliched master/servant setup, so I'm guessing it was a sweet gig. I can remember there being a big display case in her house filled with stuff she'd picked up in Paris, Nice, Berlin, Vienna and so on in the 1920s/30s.

Never claimed to have seen or met Hitler though, which seems to set her apart from anyone else British who visited Germany at that point.

[atfccfc]

My Grandfather on my mother's side was born in 1916 and passed away in 1977 when I was 18 months old, so didn't really know him as such.  His son was born in 1940 and is still going strong. All my other grandparents passed away before I was born. None of them sadly lived very long. Said grandfather was the oldest if the four.