Middle Child Syndrome?

“Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.” — Ally Condie

Last week Randy Seaver posted a challenge as part of his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun series to share the birth orders of ancestors along a single family line. You can see the original post here.

The instructions were: “Tell us which position in the birth order that your ancestor was in each generation. For example “third child, first son.” Also list how many children were born to these parents.”

I have selected my direct paternal line since it’s one of my longest.

1. Ellen Anderson – 2nd child (twin), 2nd daughter of Craig Anderson and Heidi Straughen (2 daughters, 1 son)
2. Craig Bell Anderson – 2nd child, 2nd son of Milton Anderson and Marilynn Bell (3 sons)
3. Milton H. Anderson (1922-1986) – 2nd child, 1st son of Walter Anderson and Katherine Hartzell (2 daughters, 1 son)
4. Walter C. Anderson (1887-1945) – 2nd child, 1st son of Howard Anderson and Hattie Cather (4 daughters, 1 son)
5. Howard B. Anderson (1864-1935) – 5th child, 3rd son of L.G. Anderson and Jane Ten Eick (2 daughters, 4 sons)
6. L.G. Anderson (1825-1889) – 3rd child, 2nd son of Kenneth Anderson and Mary Chamberlain (2 daughters, 5 sons)
7. Kenneth Anderson (1791-1883) – 2nd child, 1st son of Lewis Anderson and Jane Gaston (2 daughters, 4 sons)
8. Lewis Anderson (1757-1838) – 10th child, 6th son of James Anderson and Catherine Lloyd (4 daughters, 6 sons)
9. James Anderson (1708-????) – 2nd child, 1st son of John Anderson and Anna Reid (5 daughters, 4 sons)

Average birth order of these ancestors: 3.3

Average number of children in these ancestors’ families: 5.8

It’s interesting that none of my ancestors are the firstborn in their family and only one is the last child. We are a family of middle children! I wonder if we all suffered from middle child syndrome…

If you want to see photos of the first 7 ancestors you can check out my post The Longest Link!