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[Looking at life expectancy from birth is not a good way to do it for our ancestors. Before antibiotics many children died and that is where the myth of dying at 40 comes from, since the statistics are then skewed by showing the average.
Survival from older ages in colonial times, for example, were similar to ages at death for persons who were born into the twentieth century. Look at ages of death for our early presidents- for one example- many lived into their 90s. It is only quite recently that ages at death have gone up by 5 or more years.
Actually, the statistics you are referring to are by definition averages, and you are not allowed to pick and choose which people you use to develop the numbers. The lower life expectancy is calculated from the date of birth, and it has to include all the causes of mortality, including things like infectious disease and accidents. For example, fires were much more common then.
The expectancies are averages. That does not mean that some people did not live into their 90s and beyond.
In pre-20th century times, if you survived childhood, you were likely to live just as long as you would today. Unless, of course, you were a woman. Then you'd have to survive your childbearing years. The average life expectancy was so low because so many children died, and so many women died in childbirth.
In pre-20th century times, if you survived childhood, you were likely to live just as long as you would today. Unless, of course, you were a woman. Then you'd have to survive your childbearing years. The average life expectancy was so low because so many children died, and so many women died in childbirth.
That's certainly not true. Age related diseases were completely untreatable and there were frequent outbreaks of cholera, yellow fever, influenza, etc back in that time. People were often old and frail by their 60s and susceptible to disease and injury.
I was always told that that Americans of the 18th and 19th century were smaller than we are on average. According the tour guides there, this explained the shorter beds and smaller clothes displayed in museums and at historic sites. However, in looking through my family tree all the way back to Colonial days, many of the guys in it are described as 5'11 or taller, often weighing about 200 pounds. That's bigger than I am. Perhaps the smaller people back then were more recent immigrants from underdeveloped countries who did not get the same level of nutrition? Just curious what others have noted in their research.
Interesting subject.
Both my grandmothers were 5'8" tall. I am just over 6' tall. One grandmother was born in 1892, and the other in 1907. I can't know how tall their mothers and grandmothers were, but I don't imagine they could have been that small.
I think people were smaller then because they were not as healthy. I know they were not as obese as a lot of Americans are now. Thus the "smaller" perception?
And sizes have changed. My mother used to say that Marilyn Monroe was a size 16... and she well may have been, but at that point a size 16 was a size 10 now. Manufacturers know that a person's vanity plays a lot into the clothing purchased. So they've upped the measurements on the sizes...
My g-g-grandfather's Civil War army papers describe him as "5'3", gray-eyed and light complected". I am the only person in the family that short -- I got the short genes!! Most of my cousins are 5'6" or more ( women) and 5'10" (men). On the other side of the family, everyone is over 6'2".
Height is genetic. You either get the tall genes or the short ones.
^Most of my ancestors were between 5'4" and 5'6", according to their military records. Not that we're decidely taller now. While there are some who are 6'+, most are abt 5'8". So, taller on average, yes. (men only, no clue how tall my female ancestors were).
My g-g-grandfather's Civil War army papers describe him as "5'3", gray-eyed and light complected". I am the only person in the family that short -- I got the short genes!! Most of my cousins are 5'6" or more ( women) and 5'10" (men). On the other side of the family, everyone is over 6'2".
Height is genetic. You either get the tall genes or the short ones.
Height is also a function of nutrition. The best example might be Japan where the average height has increased dramatically since WWII.
My ggg grandfather was 5'2 (according to Civil War papers).
Where was he from and which side was he on? I'll bet the confederates were on average taller than the union soldiers though I've never seen any data on this.
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