After my earlier musings on the lifespans of the women who have been married to the presidents and vice-presidents of the USA, has had a go at doing a better graphic representation of the data. This is what he came up with by plotting age at death against birthdate for the 83 women in the sample, using a ten-point moving median, presented as a stepped line.

The big jump in longevity at the end of the nineteenth century is still there – accentuated, to be sure, by the very short life of Alice Roosevelt, but even without her it would be pretty clear.

I think that there is still a discernible drop in longevity among the women born in the earlier part of the nineteenth century compared with those born in the eighteenth. is more sceptical. You can decide for yourselves.