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Post by awesomemixtape10 on May 9, 2013 3:40:40 GMT -5
This has probably been brought up b4, but were the kids just a year apart in ages ?
There was probably more than a year between Ben ,Jim-bob and Elizabeth, right ?
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Post by JeriJet on May 9, 2013 6:13:27 GMT -5
As far as we can tell from the episodes:
John-Boy was born in late 1916 (off to college in 9/34, plus a toddler when John went to war)
Jason 1919, nine months after John's return from war
Mary-Ellen 1920
Erin 1921
Ben 1922
Jim-Bob... S3 The Runaway 6/13/24, or S4 The Secret 1/13/23 (I use 1924 to put him closer to Elizabeth's age)....
Elizabeth 1927 (was six in 1933)
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Post by awesomemixtape10 on May 9, 2013 6:51:01 GMT -5
Jb was that much older than Jason, eh ?
Well, I guess If Senior was in the Army...How long was John Sr in The Army ?
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Post by JeriJet on May 9, 2013 7:42:34 GMT -5
Well, the U.S. was in the war from April 1917 to Nov 1918.... John Sr probably didn't leave home until mid to late 1917 and back home early 1919.... so, yup, there's probably close to 3 years between John-Boy and Jason....
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Post by sdw on May 9, 2013 8:48:41 GMT -5
How can Jason be that much younger than John Boy,Jason was a year behind John Boy in school.In one of the episodes John said that John Boy was a baby when John came home from the war.  |
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Post by awesomemixtape10 on May 9, 2013 9:49:56 GMT -5
Regardless of the exact ages...John and Olivia were busy.
My cousin has 2 kids and they are so close that they are the same age for about 2 weeks. That's close !!! I think she got pregnant 3 weeks after having the 1st one or something.
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Post by wmfan/waltonsportwriter on May 9, 2013 10:01:33 GMT -5
It would be an interesting comparison to the Waltons actors ages. I know Richard Thomas the oldest child actor was about 11 or 12 years older than Kami Cotler the youngest WmFan I think it sounds pretty comparable to the actual Hamner family tree
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Post by JeriJet on May 9, 2013 10:49:34 GMT -5
How can Jason be that much younger than John Boy,Jason was a year behind John Boy in school.In one of the episodes John said that John Boy was a baby when John came home from the war. Again, we know that John Boy was born in 1916, and we know that John Sr. went to war when J-B was an infant/toddler. The war stint was of short duration but probably 16-18 months, and he was in France for part of the time.... Even if he got home by late December 1919 and Jason was conceived immediately, hence was born in Aug/Sept 1919, that still makes him almost 3 years younger. J-B was probably about two when John came home -- don't know if John Sr. actually referred to him as a "baby" but some folks might use that word.... I don't think Olivia was pregnant with Jason when John went to war because we never hear that Jason was born while John was away..... I don't know why you think Jason was only a year behind John-Boy in high school... ?? It must have been at least two years..... if Jason was a Sept baby, he may have been accepted earlier than John-Boy.... I am 2.75 years younger than my older sister, but we were 2 years apart in school.... different school systems have different cut-off points.... and who knows what went on in rural America in the 1920's.... |
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Post by sdw on May 9, 2013 11:40:55 GMT -5
I think it was in season 3,and Jason was a senior and John Boy was a freshmen at Boatwright.Thats what I thought they were a year apart in age.  |
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Post by JeannePhx on May 9, 2013 11:53:20 GMT -5
Good discussion....I was never quite sure of the birth order on the show between Erin and Ben.
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Post by clyde on May 9, 2013 11:54:11 GMT -5
In the early episodes several references were made to Jason being 15 (the one where John's old army buddy comes and Jason wants to tend the fire. He says he's 15). JB was still in HS then, so was probably 16 or 17. Thus 1 to 2 years difference. I have always thought the references to JB's BD were a little mixed up but hey, this is fictionalized reality and is consistently inconsistent as has been pointed out many times on this Forum.
As an aside:
In real life Michael Learned was way too young to be JB's mother since she was born in 1939 and he was born in 1951.
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Post by awesomemixtape10 on May 9, 2013 12:14:12 GMT -5
I think JB was 16 in the 1st season. I'm pretty sure they say that. Well, Maybe it was The Homecoming.
yeah, I always thought Erin was younger than Ben, until I came to this site.
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Post by JeriJet on May 9, 2013 16:27:41 GMT -5
I think it was in season 3,and Jason was a senior and John Boy was a freshmen at Boatwright.Thats what I thought they were a year apart in age We know John-Boy entered college in the fall of 1934.... he was probably 17, turning 18 before the end of the year (December?).... Season 3, E13 takes place in the spring of 1935 and John-Boy is in his first year at college.... Season 3, E20 is the first time the idea of Jason attending the conservatory is brought up by Mrs. Breckenridge... Season 3, E24 takes place in "late 1935"... Season 4, E6 Jason is attending classes at the conservatory (fall 1936) and we know John-Boy entered college in the fall of 1934 -- so two school years apart.... but a lot closer to three years in real time. Also -- if you view the early episodes, like today's "The Ceremony", John-Boy looks at a minimum two years older.... really more like 3 years..... Of course, as they aged, they appeared closer in years, as do we all!! The age difference may explain to some extent why John-Boy "got away with" referring to his siblings as "the children." FYI, in real life, Earl Hamner's brother Clifton, after whom Jason was modelled, was five years younger.... |
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2013 8:41:44 GMT -5
I think it's a matter of TV land. Certainly I recall Jason being 15 early on and not 3 years behind John Boy. Maybe it was the writers, maybe the need for continuity which has caused the ages to get a little mixed on the show. As for Erin and Ben I seem to recall this has been sorted (and proved) by one her who is much more qualified than me so I consider that answer sufficient.
Ages changing notwithstanding I reckon I just love what I see.
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Post by Brenda on May 10, 2013 10:58:09 GMT -5
It's really hard to say what the age differences were, because I think it changed as the series progressed. For one thing, the series lasted only 9 years, but it covered a time period of about 13 years. Season 1 was supposed to be around 1932-33 (I believe), and Season 9 would have been around 1945, the end of the war. So just because one child finished school a year after another one on the show, it really could have been a time period of 2 years. Since this is based on a real family, what we have are 3 different names for each member of the family: their real names (Hamner), their book names (Spencer), and their TV names (Walton). In the movie, The Homecoming, John Boy was 15 and Mary Ellen was 13. I don't think any other children's ages were given in that movie. Quote from the opening narration: "I was 15 and growing at an alarming rate." Later, in the barn scene, John Boy said, "Everybody goes crazy when they're 13," speaking of Mary Ellen. In Season 1, Mary Ellen was still 13, but it was Jason, not John Boy who was 15. In The Dust Bowl Cousins, Jason told Job that he was 15 and Mary Ellen was 13. We know that the Hamner family had 8 children, not 7, and that Ben was a combination of two brothers. They were also younger than what was portrayed in the TV series. Here are the actual years of their births: Earl (John Boy); 1923 Cliff (Jason): 1928 Marion (Mary Ellen): 1930 Audrey (Erin): 1931 Paul and Bill (Ben): 1933 and 1935 respectively Jim (Jim Bob): 1936 Nancy (Elizabeth): 1940 So in real life, Earl Hamner was 17 years older than his youngest sister Nancy. In the book, Spencer's Mountain, we have the 8 children, plus a baby named Donnie and later a set of twins. The same 8 children appeared in the book The Homecoming, but if I remember correctly, the babies were not included in that book. These are the children in the books, with their TV names and real life names in parentheses. Clay Boy (John Boy/ Earl) Matt (Jason/Cliff) Becky (Mary Ellen/Marion) Shirley (Erin/Audrey) Mark and Luke (Ben/Paul and Bill) John (Jim Bob/Jim) Pattie-Cake (Elizabeth/Nancy) In Spencer's Mountain, Clay Boy was a senior in high school, so he must have been about 17 or 18. I found ages in the book for 3 of the other children. It says Becky was 13, Luke was 10, and Pattie Cake was 8. I do think we can learn the birth order of the Walton children by applying the birth order of the Hamner children and the Spencer children: John Boy, Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Ben, Jim Bob, Elizabeth. Totally confused yet? |
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