If things “don’t quite make sense,” consider that a couple’s first child might not have been both of theirs or might have been born less than the “necessary” time after their marriage. Their last child, particularly if born significantly after the couple’s other children, might have actually been their grandchild.
Most of the time a couple’s children are theirs, but there are times where other possibilities could be the reality:
- the husband or wife had a previous marriage or relationship;
- the couple adopted the child of a sibling or other family member;
- the couple raised their grandchild;
- the couple took in the orphaned child of a neighbor couple;
- etc.
3 Responses
Sometimes the first born or last born is overlooked when attendance is taken. Often the first and/or second born has left home by the time the last baby is born. It’s possible they never knew of the other’s existence. Another problem I’ve found is brothers being combined into the same person.
Before birth control, some women had ” change of life” babies when they were much older, also.
Very true. One should never assume that the last baby wasn’t the biological child of the parents–unless the mother’s age makes that highly unlikely.