When we think of our grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, always come to mind images of elderly people, especially if we don’t have an old photograph of them. We never imagined that they were young one day with all the exuberance and inconsequence that young people show.
I started thinking about this, when looking at important dates of the lives of ancestors of the families that are part of this site, I noticed some interesting facts. I noticed, for example, that my great-grandfather on my mother’s side was younger than my grandfather on my father’s side. Even more interesting is that they not only knew each other but worked together. How could a great-grandfather be young than a grandpa, I thought?
I still lack some data, but it has been possible to conclude that my great-grandfather married very early, when he was 18 or 19 and his oldest son, followed the same example also by marrying very young. My mother also helped. She got married with my father 8 years her senior when she was just 18. My grandfather on my father side, on the other hand, when he married my grandmother, his second marriage, was already 45 years old. A simple explanation, for something which in principle made no sense.
Dates when analyzed, sometimes bring up family secrets. Nowadays it is not important, but in the past, when a young woman became pregnant before getting married it was a scandal that required a quick marriage regardless of the young age of the bride and groom. I’ve discovered some cases like this, which I’m not going to give details to protect the innocent.
Oh! These impetuous young people who were our grandparents, great-grandparents, great-grandparents!
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