The How Long Do The Men In My Ancestry Live Challenge

Grave of John Stair

my male ancestor that lived the longest in the past five generations

buried in Swanton Cemetery, Fulton County, Ohio

This week's challenge is similar to last week's only instead of determining how long the women in my ancestry lived, it is taking a look at what age  the men in my family background  passed away.   In order to read the directions of this week's challenge and to find the links to the other people's posts that took the challenge click HERE.  In my tree I have to start with my grandfathers because my father is still living at age 84.

Grandfathers:
Fred Edwin Rohrer - (1903-1985) - 82
Loyd Hazen Rairigh - (1911-1984) - 73

Great-grandfathers:
Oscar Rohrer - (1878-1938) - 60
Anthony Leroy Shively - (1869-1946) - 76
William Harve Rairigh - (1884-1956) - 71
Harry Elbert Funk - (1875-1957) - 82

2nd Great-grandfathers:
Frederick Rohrer - (1843-1931) - 88
Daniel P Shively - (1841-1900) - 58
David George Jacobs - (1846-1918) - 71
Herman August Funk - (1850-1916) - 65
Justice Hildebrand - (1843-1883) - 39
James Quinter Rairigh - (1850-1911) - 61
Leroy Shepler - (1864-1945) - 80

3rd Great-grandfathers:
David Rohrer - (1813-1876) - 62
William Stair - (1820-1865) - 45
Frances Henry Sullivan - (1822-1878) - 55
Daniel Shivley Jr - (1800-1863) - 62
William Little - (1811-1856) - 45
David Jacobs - (1811-1902) - 90
John Garber - (1822-1889) - 66
William Hildebrand - (1815-1887) - 71
Henry Ramer - (1809-1888) - 78
Solomon Zelner - (1825-1886) - 61
Rev. Samuel Rairigh - (1816-1889) - 83
Elias Dickey - (1825-1876) - 51
Abraham Shepler - (1821-1891) - 70
Samuel Southard Patton - (1843-1920) - 76

4th Great-grandfathers:
Jacob Isaac Rohrer - (1780-1850) - 70
John Stair -  (1790-1885) - 94
Private Jacob Sullivan - (1778 - 1848) - 69
1st Sergeant David Hamilton Morris Sr. - (1769-1843) - 73
Daniel L Shively - (1773-1818) - 45
David Bowman - (1775-1816)  - 85
Christopher Little - (1788-1850) - 62
James E Reed - (1793-1863) - 70
John Jacobs - (1769-1822) - 53
Thomas McKinstry - (1793-1859) - 65
John Garber - (1782-1856) - 73
Micheal Beeghley - (1789-1856) - 67
Peter Moyer - (1800-1857) - 57
Rev. George Rairigh Sr. - (1793-1856) - 63
Jacob Martin - (1798-1871) - 73
Jacob Wissinger - (1783-1833) - 50
Vincent Patton - (1806-1848) - 42
Cornelius H Sullivan - (1814-1898) - 83

I have more names than this but some have either a birth or death date but not both so I could not obtain the age at death for them.  In addition, I have one that I am not sure which is a father verses a grandfather.  There is also one illegitimate line.

The longest living male would be  John Stair who died at age 94.  Although born in Pennsylvania,  John moved around in his life, living in what is now West Virginia,  in Missouri,  and in Ohio where he died in Fulton County. The male that lived the shortest life was Justice Hildebrand at age 39 in Cass County Indiana.  I do not have a cause of death for him but he was an immigrant from Hessia.

The average age length for them all is 67.  One interesting thing I noticed is the top three oldest living men were all on my father's side of the tree.  Another interesting fact is that the person that lived the longest is in the generation that is the farthest back.  I do have one ancestor that lived to be 100 but he is the one that I am not sure if he is a grandfather or a father of one of my ancestors.  If he is a father he would have been in the generation farthest back.  If a grandfather then he would have been in the sixth generation back.  But he too is in my father's side of the tree.

The generation averages are:
Generation one - grandfathers - 77.5 years (range 73-82)
Generation two - great-grandfathers - 72.25 (range 60-82)
Generation three - 2nd great-grandfathers - 66 (range 39-88)
Generation four - 3rd great-grandfathers - 65.35 (range 45-90)
Generation five - 4th great-grandfathers - 66.33 (range 42-94)

When compared to the study on death dates of the women I did last week (which can be found HERE) it seems that the life span averages were about the same length in both genders in my family.  I wish I knew the cause of death for more of my ancestors.  I do have cause of death for some of them and it always interests me when I find medical information.

Grave of Justice Hildebrand

my male ancestor that lived the shortest life

buried in Cass County Indiana