HATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com
HALL DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hall/HDNAtest.htm
"One of the tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a brutal gang of facts" - La Rochefoucauld

Bill,

Some questions I would ask on your problem.....

1) What other evidence do you have that she was actually 50?  The 1820 census would only ID her as 45+ give or take a few years for the usual inaccuracies of a census. Perhaps she was only 43-44.

2) Are there several other kids 0-10 indicating a regular birth pattern?

3) If no, is there an older "dau" who you would normally believe should be married by now?

4) If yes, and you can see irregular gaps in the ages of the kids, you may be looking at a child born to an unmarried daughter.

An article I read some time ago stated there was no medical proof of any woman pre-1900 who had given birth past 50 with that child surviving.

The normal age of menopause is 46-51.

Women, even today, who give birth in their 40s by natural conception are always at risk of losing that child or having a handicapped child. The Downs syndrome child is the glaring example.

The odds are not at all in favor of a 50 yr old mother giving birth in 1817 to a healthy child who survives to adulthood.

Nel

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