Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission: Impossible! music, please!):
(1) Who is the person with the earliest known birth date in your family tree? Describe how you figured this out.
(2) Tell us in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook or other social media post. Please leave a link to your information on this post in a comment.
(3) Extra credit :) Who is the person with the earliest known birth date in North America in your family tree?
Since I don't have access to my database, I'm going to make an educated guess and then check it when I return home tomorrow.
I believe the person with the earliest known birth date entered in my family tree is Georg Söller, my umpty-umpth-great-grandfather on my Sellers line. I remember he was born in 1615 in Weinheim, Baden, but I do not recall the exact date.
I got the date from research work done by Edwin Jaquett Sellers (1865–1946), a lawyer and genealogist from Philadelphia. He self-published several books about his family research, including two books on the Sellerses. The first (available as a download through Google Books) was in 1903, and he put out a revised edition in 1925. I've double checked most of the information I have found in the books and found it to be accurate, so I think Georg's birthdate is probably correct. As for how I checked it within my tree, I just remember these things, plus I don't have many lines back that far.
The person with the earliest known birth date in North America is probably someone on my Gauntt line, but I have no idea who. That I will also need to check when I return home. So look for an update to this post in the near future!
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And here's the update:
I was only partially correct about (Hans) Georg Söller. I have his birth year, which is 1615, but not his actual birth date. The earliest birth date I have recorded in my tree is Georg's grandson Hans Paul Söller, who was born February 26, 1667/1668 in Weinheim, Baden. Paul is the brother of my ancestor Hans Adam Söller, who was born December 13, 1669, also in Weinheim.
The earliest North American birth date in my family tree appears to be that of Ann Pharo, who was born about December 14, 1677, probably in New Jersey. She married Thomas Ridgway, and they had a dughter, Ann Ridgway (October 10, 1710–February 6, 1794), who married Hananiah Gaunt (March 2, 1706/1707–Aptil 1792). He is the oldest Gaunt I have entered in my family tree so far, although I have information going back to 1508. So the earliest known birth date in North America in my tree is indeed someone on my Gaunt line, even if not born a Gaunt herself.
