Nel,

As far as the age of "college kids" goes, I was told in writing by the 
official spokesperson for West Point Military Academy that the average age 
of an entering "freshman" there in 1813 was only 14, with the youngest that 
year being 13 (and the oldest that year was 18)!  The average time to 
graduation (as an army lieutenant, I presume) was only about 1 1/2 years! 
This was in the early-1800s, so I can only guess what it was like back in 
the 1600s.  It was the above explanation that finally allowed me to "make 
sense" of how a couple that married in Rockbridge Co., VA in January 1799 
could have had a son who was an 1815 West Point graduate.

Bill Davidson 

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