Age at Death
 

I'm transcribing a will for the parish of Probus, Cornwall.
One of the men mentioned was William Yeoman Bennett, who set up a charity in Truro that is still mentioned today.

I found a death announcement for him in 1882 and it says "the deceased had reached the advanced age of 62". It shows how things have changed, as we wouldn't say that now.

No we wouldn't and I'm fairly surprised that said that about him in 1882!

In the 1960s or 1970s, a cub reporter described a woman of fifty as elderly. I remember the fuss that went on afterwards.

In my tree, a lot of my ancestors reached their 80s and 90s. I think it was much healthier living in the country, once you'd passed the various childhood illnesses.

Later in the 19th century as they moved into towns they became less healthy and a lot of them died a decade or so earlier, often of lung diseases which shows the worse quality of the air. The veg wouldn't be as fresh and they would be in densely populated places with shared toilet facilities.

The eldest one in my tree at death was my gt x 4 grandfather John Gray who lived to be 98, dying in 1845.

I think that is the biggest surprise of all in my researches - how old many of my ancestors were when they died. I was brought up on the myth that everyone died at 40 but as Nell says, once they'd got past the dangers of childbirth and/or childhood, they went on to mostly a good old age, 70s, 80s and 90s not uncommon. And yes, the move from country to town killed them off,mostly from tb.

Of course, old age can be a curse rather than a blessing but I am cheered by my 3 x ggm, who took over the lighthouse on the death of her husband and was still climbing over 100 stone steps four times a day at age 92.

OC