cousin age gap

[nialimo68]

my mother's uncle is 7 years younger than my mother. Also, all three his children are younger than me, from a 7 years to nearly 18 years. In fact, some of them can be my children or my nieces in terms of age, while they are my mother's cousins, that is, they are in my mother's generation or my uncles / aunts!!!. Is this a common phenomenon? What is the probability of a similar phenomenon, albeit with such an age difference, in families? Please share your knowledge and experiences.

[Lesley Robertson]

I think it's pretty common when there is a wide age gap between the oldest and youngest children in a family.

Why do you ask? What do you plan to do with the replies?

[Pam Downes]

There's an instance in my family where the mother had children over a twenty-five year period and her youngest child was an uncle when he was born. This was because the eldest child in the family had married (aged 23) and had had a child six months before the youngest child in the family was born.

However, to make a seven-year gap without a re-marriage is quite difficult, so is this what happened in your family with your mother's father re-marrying?

The only other alternative is that your father's mother was extremely young when he was born and quite old (in child-bearing terms) when his younger brother was born.
Example:
Matriarch of the family, Ann, marries at 16, and her eldest child, Brian is born in 1900 when mum is 17.
Brian marries in 1921, and becomes a father to Emma the following year when he is 22.
For Emma to have an uncle seven years younger than her the uncle has to be born in 1929, twenty-nine years after her father is born. Matriarch Ann in 1929 would be 17 plus 29 which would make her 46, so just about capable of having a child.

You could jiggle the figures a bit where both generations marry at 16, but the vast majority of people back in the days didn't marry until they were 21.

[nialimo68]

There's an instance in my family where the mother had children over a twenty-five year period and her youngest child was an uncle when he was born. This was because the eldest child in the family had married (aged 23) and had had a child six months before the youngest child in the family was born.

However, to make a seven-year gap without a re-marriage is quite difficult, so is this what happened in your family with your mother's father re-marrying?

The only other alternative is that your father's mother was extremely young when he was born and quite old (in child-bearing terms) when his younger brother was born.
Example:
Matriarch of the family, Ann, marries at 16, and her eldest child, Brian is born in 1900 when mum is 17.
Brian marries in 1921, and becomes a father to Emma the following year when he is 22.
For Emma to have an uncle seven years younger than her the uncle has to be born in 1929, twenty-nine years after her father is born. Matriarch Ann in 1929 would be 17 plus 29 which would make her 46, so just about capable of having a child.

You could jiggle the figures a bit where both generations marry at 16, but the vast majority of people back in the days didn't marry until they were 21.

Dear Pam. You are completely right. My mother was 7 years older than her own uncle because my maternal grandmother's parents had premature marriages and also had children in both the elementary and late ages. I am 18 years older than my mother's cousin for the same reasons as above and because of my mother's uncle remarried

[nialimo68]

There's an instance in my family where the mother had children over a twenty-five year period and her youngest child was an uncle when he was born. This was because the eldest child in the family had married (aged 23) and had had a child six months before the youngest child in the family was born.

However, to make a seven-year gap without a re-marriage is quite difficult, so is this what happened in your family with your mother's father re-marrying?

The only other alternative is that your father's mother was extremely young when he was born and quite old (in child-bearing terms) when his younger brother was born.
Example:
Matriarch of the family, Ann, marries at 16, and her eldest child, Brian is born in 1900 when mum is 17.
Brian marries in 1921, and becomes a father to Emma the following year when he is 22.
For Emma to have an uncle seven years younger than her the uncle has to be born in 1929, twenty-nine years after her father is born. Matriarch Ann in 1929 would be 17 plus 29 which would make her 46, so just about capable of having a child.

You could jiggle the figures a bit where both generations marry at 16, but the vast majority of people back in the days didn't marry until they were 21.

You are completely right. My mother was 7 years older than her own uncle because my maternal grandmother's parents had premature marriages and also had children in both the elementary and late ages. I am 18 years older than my mother's cousin for the same reasons as above and because of my mother's uncle remarried