<> Anyhow, she used to say that the generation born between 1880-1930 or so were the healthiest people who ever lived. <>
For the short time they did live.
life expectancey of a white man born in 1900 was 46.6 years a white man was 48.7 years
https://www.seniorliving.org/history/1900-2000-changes-life-expectancy-united-states/
note their “Data sources” for what it’s worth.
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One time I dug into “life expectancy” when I was near a library and not at home for a while. I found that the main reason life expediencies were so short in the middile ages on until recently is primarily because of larger numbers of women dying in childbirth, higher child mortality, and the various infectious diseases that would sweep through. Also the poor were often malnourished, so would succumb more often. If a person survived childhood, and for a woman, survived child bearing years, it was common to live until 80s and up, just like now.
Averages are interesting things. It shorter life expectancy makes it look as though most people died in early middle age and that isn’t factual.
anecdotally, the family joke is (which got scary later on) on the male side(actually both blood sides of the family) is... 68 years is the max end of the line.
(my dad, my mom, my dad's brother, my dad's father, my dad's father's brother, my dad's grandfather and grandmother, my dad's mother, her mother and father and her brothers(2) and sisters(2)....and others...)
The Scary - My son heard about the “myth” (which doesn't seem like a myth) without context and started visiting me alot. (I've outlived the myth by a few years).
My dad's youngest brother is 81 and still kicking. Some of the females lived into their 90’s with one still living and on the cusp of 90.
Some context...the males and females on both sides liked to run and gun and were hard chargers.
In 1854, Dr. John Snow went out into his London neighborhood and took a great hammer and smashed to bits the public water pump. This infuriated the locals as they were then obliged to walk several blocks in order to obtain water for ordinary household needs.
There were calls for his arrest and even threats to his physical well being and life.
In short order, the Cholera Epidemic in the area came to an end. John “Snow saved countless lives. These days there is a Pub in that neighborhood called the ‘John Snow Pub.’ John Snow was known not to be a consumer of alcohol.
Personally, I have never actually been to England. If I were to ever visit that country, the place first on my list to visit would be that Pub.