I don’t know why this “surprises” people.
The average life span in the late 18th C. was about 30 or so.
Folks didn’t live in their momma’s basement until 35.
A lot of people were accomplished by their early 20s.
Napoleon burst on the scene in Europe at the ripe old age of 26. And on and on.
I don’t know why this is so surprising.
'Starter' homes did not start at $450,000 as they do now in places like Washington DC either....
Most of the 18th century settlers lived on land that either they or their parents had simply patented.
I think the average lifespan from that period is a little misleading since it’s dragged down high childhood mortality rates. If you survived to be an adult your odds of surviving to old age weren’t that different from us moderns. In other words, the founders would have been considered relatively young men even in their time.
Average means little when man died from disease, including as children, and many women died related to childbirth.
MANY people lived to be very old. You can see it in the graveyards. They just had much more death across all ages, while today we tend to get over or never get diseases.
Those old, average life expectancy figures were skewed by high infant mortality rates. A man of the Colonial era who made it to adulthood could expect to live into his mid-50s.
“I don’t know why this is so surprising.”
Because historical perspective is a vanishing virtue.
Because folks don’t know their history.............
The average life span was about 30, but if you lived to age 5 then the average would be a lot higher. My late husband had family records from the middle 1800s in southern Illinois. One ancestor had 9 children. Five died around the age of 2 in August or September. They no doubt died of “summer diarrhea” which killed many children when they were weaned at that age. The ones who lived mostly survived into their 60s.