I'm going to interpret this as 'oldest child'. Aside from my father and myself, who were the eldest of our siblings, the next ancestor who was the oldest is my great-grandmother, Rachel (Winebrenner) Stoner, whom I have not yet used in this challenge.
Rachel was the daughter of Rev. Peter Winebrenner, a circuit riding preacher for the Christian Church in Noble county, Indiana. She was the firstborn of his children, born to his first wife, Mary Kitt. Mary died a few months after the birth of her third child, who only lived a few weeks. Rachel was a few months short of 5 years old when her mother died. She had a sister, Barbara, who was 3.
It was 4 years before her father remarried, and I can imagine that she had to take on a lot of household chores, and help care for her sister. Rachel and her sister remained very close. Whether her father took her and her sister along when he was out conducting services in other towns, or whether he hired a sitter, I don't know. I have copies of some of her father's diaries, but none from that far back.
After her father remarried, he had three more children, but Rachel clearly did not share the same bond with them that she did with Barbara. As she was nine when her father remarried, I imagine that she was charged with helping her stepmother take care of her step-siblings.
I believe it likely that Rachel's stepmother, Sarah (Weade) Winebrenner, practiced 'family planning', as she had only 3 well-spaced children. Rachel also had only 3 well-spaced children (and 2 more who died in infancy). Rachel's sister and half-siblings also had reasonable numbers of children. When I was in my twenties, my mother told me that before they invented "birth control" that her mother told her about douching with vinegar water "afterwards" to prevent pregnancy.
After marriage, Rachel and her husband moved away, to Kansas. Rachel came to visit at least once, after her first two children were old enough to leave, and spent much time visiting her sister. After Barbara's husband died, and Rachel and her husband were living in California, Barbara moved out to California, near where they lived. After Rachel died, her widowed husband roomed in Barbara's house, according to census records.
Above a a 4-generational photo of "Oldests", clockwise from left: Peter Winebrenner, his firstborn Rachel (Winebrenner) Stoner, her firstborn Ella (Stoner) Secrist, and her firstborn, Mae. Photo taken around 1900, probably in Kansas.
Below is a photo of Rachel, and her husband, soon after they were married. Probably around 1867, in Indiana.
