Behind the Quill: The Watsons - Age and Birth Order

I wanted to write a post about why I specifically aged the Watson siblings as I did and placed them in the order they appear. In my story, Elizabeth Watson is the oldest, and her parents married in 1770, which is a bit earlier than necessary for the timeline.

I chose this timing because Mrs. Watson is inspired by Cassandra Willoughby, a real historical figure who died young. In my fictional world, I imagined she lived longer and married Mr. Watson, whose own parents were also real people who never married or had children in reality. This blending of real historical figures with fictional elements helps create a sense of authenticity and continuity.

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I also took a similar approach with other families in the Austenverse. For example, the Dashwood and Woodhouse families are described as having been on their estates for generations. To maintain that history, I traced their family lines back several generations and then reconnected them to the main family by introducing distant cousins who, in reality, never married. This allowed me to merge fictional characters seamlessly with historical lineages.

In the case of the Brandon family, I had to go further back in history to incorporate a specific estate and to keep the family line intact. The Brandon family did exist, but their line moved to the United States around the late 1600s. To preserve the estate in the story, I adjusted a few generations, ensuring that the fictional Brandon family could inherit and maintain the estate. Overall, I tried to keep things as historically accurate and realistic as possible while weaving in these fictional connections.

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In the original fragment of "The Watsons," we're not given the ages of all the siblings. The only Watson children whose ages we know are Emma, Elizabeth, and Sam Watson.

Emma is said to be 19 when the story begins. We know that Elizabeth is the eldest sister, and she tells Emma that she is nine years older than her, making her 28. In the case of her brother Sam, Emma mentions that she last saw Sam when he was seven—which would have been when she was five and went to live with the Turners. This tells us that there is a two-year age gap, making Sam 21 years-old.

For the other siblings, their exact ages and birth order aren't explicitly stated. Robert, however, is the older of the two brothers and seems to be older than Margaret, if not Penelope as well.

As for Robert's age: It says that Robert was a clerk. He worked as a clerk to an attorney, unlike his brother, who is apprenticed to a surgeon. That means Sam is basically an indentured servant for X number of years (often 7 years), whereas Robert was a clerk, not an apprentice, which means he was actually paid for his work.

Now, he could have gone to be a clerk after leaving grammar school or secondary school; however, it's just as likely that he didn't attend one of those schools and was simply taught at home by his father, who was a clergyman and able to provide that education in Austen’s time.

If that's the case, then he could have gone directly to Oxford or Cambridge once he was seventeen or eighteen years old. Most young men, would leave university around the age of twenty-one to twenty-four unless training for a barrister or a doctorate. As long as he wasn't aiming to become a barrister, which would have kept him in school until he was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, he likely left school around twenty-one/two (e.g. Austen’s brothers left university at 22 years-old.)

Now, if he became a clerk soon after leaving school, and we give him a year or two to woo his boss’s daughter—he likely married around twenty-three or twenty-four years-old (e.g. John Knightley married Isabella Woodhouse when he was 24 and she 21.) Their daughter, Augusta, is old enough to be reasoned with, but not old enough to know when she’s being tricked (i.e. She wanted to go out with them, but they told her they were going to church, so she desisted and opted to stay behind.) This puts her mental reasoning around 3 to 5 years old.

That puts Robert around twenty-six to thirty years-old. So, he was likely either born directly before or directly after Elizabeth.

Now that we know Robert is either the first or second child in the Watson family, the next step is to decide which one.

Although I initially wanted Robert to come after Elizabeth to keep the siblings close in age, I ultimately spaced the children out more. The reasoning involves Elizabeth's fondness for Mr. Purvis, who is described as a particular friend of Robert's. This suggests that Purvis and Robert are close in age, and likely older than Elizabeth, since women of the time generally preferred men who were already settled.

However, The Watsons does show some flexibility with age differences. For example, Sam Watson is 21 and younger than Mary Edwards who is 22, and it’s stated/hinted at that Mr. O’Brien is younger than his wife (the former Mrs. Turner). This means it's possible for Elizabeth to have had a tendre for a younger man as well; however—

Since Purvis would have needed a university education and to be at least 25 years-old to hold a living—and if we assume Robert also attended university, it’s likely that they met during their education. The reference to Purvis being “a particular friend of Robert’s” rather than someone the whole family knows supports this connection—especially if the “neighbor” reference is being used to describe his residence in nearby Alford[1].

(Note: If you do keep the neighbor reference, then their acquaintance could date back earlier, and they wouldn't need to be close in age at all. That flexibility would reopen the option for Robert to be the second child, but I decided things just added up better with his being eldest.)

When it comes to Penelope and Margaret, I debated whether to have a one-year or a three-year age gap between them.

If they were just typical siblings, a one-year difference might make sense, because siblings close in age often have that intense mix of friendship and rivalry. But since Penelope is autistic, the difference in their ages would impact their relationship differently.

If they were only a year apart, Penelope would likely just be used to Margaret’s presence and might not be as bothered by her. But with a three-year gap, Penelope would have had more time as the youngest child and would have been more set in her routines.

That shift—suddenly having to share attention and possessions with a new sibling—would likely create more tension and explain the ongoing friction between them. That’s why I ultimately chose the three-year difference—it just fits their dynamic better.

So, whether or not you agree with my final decisions, I hope that everyone can at least understand the method that I used and the extreme amount of over thinking that goes into everything that I do in regards to my writing. (That last part isn’t necessary but it definitely helps people to understand myself and my state-of-mind a little better.)

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[1] Which I changed to Alfold in my completion.