I’m rewatching the 1897 Storyline. It seems most fan of “Dark Shadow” believe the Old Edith is the same character as Young Edith from the 1840 storyline. I’ve posted here before that I do not think they are the same.
Websites like the Dark Shadows Wiki mention “negated” timelines to explain how Young Edith died in 1840 yet was still alive in 1897. If so, that involves some very complicated hoops to jump through.
A simpler answer is that Old Edith is a different character. She never mentions her husband’s by name… therefore there’s no actual proof it was Gabriel.
In one of the early 1897 episode (the arrival of Edward Collins) he states that his grandfather died 34 years earlier… making date 1863. Yet we saw Gabriel die in 1840 as well. Further proof that the 1897 characters are not Gabriel’s direct descendant’s.
The more likely answer is that sometime after 1840, Tad Collins returned to Collinwood. We know that he inherited the Collins fortune from Daniel Collins. It makes sense that he would name one of his sons after his favorite uncle, Quentin.
So who is Old Edith? It’s easier for me to believe she is either Daphne (using her middle name Edith perhaps), or the first Quentin’s wife after Daphne died.
I think there are easier answers than “negated timelines” or grandfather paradoxes.