Thursday 2 January 2014

Birthday Clumps

Yesterday I placed my direct ancestors' birthdays onto a Google calendar.  I did this so I could use the information to plan 'birthday' posts, but it had an interesting side-effect.  

Seeing the birthdays plotted out visually in this way made me notice 'birthday clumps', where ancestor's birthdays are clumped close together.  I had noticed this coincidence with my parents' and my childrens' birthdays, but it was incredible to see it across the generations (btw, I only went back about 5 generations, where I'm certain that what I have is birthdates & not just baptism dates).  Some ancestors' birthdays are so close that they are on the same day as their grandparent's.

Does anybody else have 'birthday clumps'?


6 comments:

  1. Hi Sherie, I found your blog from the new Geneablogger's list, in which my blog also features (Genie1) :-)
    Great topic... we also have clusters of birthdays in the current generation. And my son was born 150 years to the day after his g-g-g-grandmother. I should do some more birthday analysis, as given that there are only 366 birthdays available and many times more people than that in my tree, there are probably more patterns, clusters or coincidences to be found! Good luck with your blog :)
    Cheers, Louise

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    Replies
    1. Hi Louise,

      I share a birthday with my 2nd Great Grandmother, 95 years apart. My son's birthday is on 8 June, & my mother's is on the 15th June. My youngest son's birthday is on 10 Feb, my father's is on the 11th Feb. My sister & I were born a few weeks after our parents' birthday's. So, within a few weeks we have 10th Feb, 11th Feb & 4 Mar, & within another few weeks we have 8th June, 15th June & 10 Jul - parents, children, grandchildren. One week in February is almost full of ancestor birthdays.

      btw, Welcome to the GeneaBloggers family. I like that your site offers coaching, not just researching. I have an ancestor whose death I can't find it it's driving me crazy. I think I'll have to get you to coach me so that I can find it.

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  2. Thank you for your welcome. I have read some of your blog posts on Dr Bill Tells Ancestor Stories on your blog.

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  3. Hi Louise,

    Interesting post! I knew that I shared a birthday with one of my great-grandmothers, but didn't know if I had any other birthdays clumped together. I took a look and noticed that some months have very few birthdays, while others have a lot.

    Welcome to Geneabloggers!

    Kathryn
    http://kathrynsquest.blogspot.com/

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  4. Hi Kathryn,

    I've noticed it most strongly around mine & my children's birthdays - there are 6 so far in the week of my birthday, 7 in the week around my youngest's & 4 in the week around my oldest's.

    Thankyou for the welcome!

    Sherie

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