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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: LizzieL on Thursday 04 August 16 20:26 BST (UK)
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A few days ago, Britain's largest family announced the birth of their 19th child
http://www.theradfordfamily.co.uk/
They've now just beaten the largest family I have in my tree.
My couple had produced 18 children according to the 1911 census, but 5 had died by census day.
In 1911, they had been married 29 years, the husband was 51 and the wife 49.
That's an average of one child every 19.33 months.
What is your largest family and production rate.
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The largest family in my tree is only 14, they were born from 1877 to 1898
But I know a family that had 3 sets of twins in four and a half years. The children were born in the 1990s
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The largest one so far in my tree is 13 children born between 1872-1889, which works out to a child every 1.3 years 7 of which died within a few months of their births...
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Mine is my Grandma who had 13 Children from 1908 - 1930 including twins who died in early infancy.
Carol
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I have a few large families, although some are across two wives.
The highest number I have to one couple is 16, of which 2 died in infancy. The 1911 census shows 12 people aged from 4-50 living in a two-up-two-down. Six of them, including the father, worked down the mines, so I can only imagine the workload the poor wife/mother must have had with only one other female in the household old enough to help. :o
The biggest in total is my GG Grandfather who had at least 19 children, although I still have certs to buy for 3 more possibles. So far I have 10 confirmed children with his first wife, although only 3 survived infancy. She died in Jan 1872 & he remarried later the same year, with wife No 2 producing the first of her 9 children within a year of wife No 1's death.
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The largest I have so far is 18 children born over roughly 18 months between each on average but there was 10 months between 2 of them. Must have spent almost her entire adult life either pregnant or with a new born.
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My great grandparents had 13 children between 1879 and 1900; sadly 6 died before their first birthday and 2 as young adults. My dad had no idea that his mother was part of such a large family.
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Reportedly, 32 children over a period of 28 years, including at least one set of twins. Many of them died young but a fair number reached adulthood.
The mother survived her husband by 14 years, living until 1790. The couple married in 1725.
Nell
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A few days ago, Britain's largest family announced the birth of their 19th child
Personally I can't understand why on earth they continue - it must be an addiction. I believe they are a self-supporting family, which is an achievement in itself, but they don't seem to read the papers, or consider the real world.
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My Great Grandparents had 14 children between 1881-1902
By the 1901 census only five were still alive, most had died as infants.
Of the 5 that remained one died during WW1, two died in their thirties and the remaining two including my Grandfather lived into their eighties
claire
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My 2xGreat Grandparents had 16 between 1858 and 1885, 13 of which lived to adulthood and they lived in London's East End. The eldest was married before his youngest two siblings were born and their eldest child was born before his youngest siblings. My Great Grandparents had the joint highest number of children in the next generation, totalling only 6 (I think the family had learnt their lesson by then ;)).
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I was just reminded of a certain minor composer Ignaz Pleyel, who according to one of my reference books was the 24th son of a schoolmaster, who had 38 children and died aged 99, I suppose in the early 1800s.
Beat that ....
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My grandfather's aunt had 18 children, born between 1870 and 1889. Phew! Anna
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Eleven seems to be the number in my tree. My grandfather, born 1877 was the eleventh and last child in his family. When he died in 1918 there were only two still living. A great uncle also fathered eleven children. One died as a baby, another in WW1 at the age of twenty the rest went on to live long and healthy lives. I feel we are letting the side down when I read others answers.
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I have 2 families with 15 children. My ggg grandparents had 15 in 20 years, but only 6 survived to adulthood (the last 7 only lived less than 1 year) from 1845-1865. And gg grandparents also had 15 in about 24 years (according to the 1911 census info 9 still living, 6 died) though I'm yet to find 2 of them.
Recently looking up a family for someone here I saw a newspaper article from country NSW in 1869 about a woman who had just presented her husband with his 21st child, 16 were still living.
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My largest find is 23 and 14 survived!
Whilst stuck on my Grist line many years ago I followed all of that name in Suffolk and although not 'mine' I always remember this couple and their children.
Thomas Grist (b.1769, d.1832) married Ann Bent 11/6/1793 - she was 18. The following are their family:
James bp.15/10/1793 Stonham Aspal - died 1793
Susan born 1795 - died 1795 Stowupland
Mary Ann bp.27/2/1797 ditto
Amy bp.1/1/1798 ditto
Harriet bp.29/11/1798 ditto - died 1799
Elizabeth bp.30/10/1799 ditto
Jemima bp.1/4/1802 ditto - died 1803
William bp.10/6/1803 ditto - died 1808
Sarah bp.24/6/1804 ditto
Maria bp.13/9/1805 ditto
Harriet bp.31/8/1806 ditto - died 1807
Joseph bp.20/9/1807 Creeting St. Peter
William bp.4/9/1808 ditto - died )
James bp.4/9/1808 ditto - died ) twins
Charles bp.9/8/1811 ditto
Thomas bp.22/3/1812 ditto - died
Thomas bp.4/4/1813 ditto )
Ann bp.4/4/1813 ditto ) twins
William bp.16/4/1815 ditto )
Clarissa bp.16/4/1815 ditto ) twins
Hannah bp.25/5/1817 ditto
James bp.28/7/1818 ditto - died
Henry bp.21/5/1820 ditto
Definitely all to the same couple as her maiden name helpfully shown.
Ann must have been some strong lady - she died in 1862 aged 87, having outlived her husband by 30 years!
Annette
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A few days ago, Britain's largest family announced the birth of their 19th child
Personally I can't understand why on earth they continue - it must be an addiction. I believe they are a self-supporting family, which is an achievement in itself, but they don't seem to read the papers, or consider the real world.
I think "addiction" is the wrong word.
I think it is an innate human attribute to wish to produce children.
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I think "addiction" is the wrong word. I think it is an innate human attribute to wish to produce children.
Of course, or the species would not have survived. 200 years ago parents continued because (a) the clergy told them to (b) it was fun (usually), (c) they had no controllable form of contraception (d) many children died young anyway. These days only (b) applies, and most parents realise when enough is enough.
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I think "addiction" is the wrong word. I think it is an innate human attribute to wish to produce children.
Of course, or the species would not have survived. 200 years ago parents continued because (a) the clergy told them to (b) it was fun (usually), (c) they had no controllable form of contraception (d) many children died young anyway. These days only (b) applies, and most parents realise when enough is enough.
It is not always fun for the mother who has nine months to carry the baby around.
These days many women wait some years before having their first child.
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My largest find is 23 and 14 survived!
Whilst stuck on my Grist line many years ago I followed all of that name in Suffolk and although not 'mine' I always remember this couple and their children.
Thomas Grist (b.1769, d.1832) married Ann Bent 11/6/1793 - she was 18. The following are their family:
James bp.15/10/1793 Stonham Aspal - died 1793
Susan born 1795 - died 1795 Stowupland
Mary Ann bp.27/2/1797 ditto
Amy bp.1/1/1798 ditto
Harriet bp.29/11/1798 ditto - died 1799
Elizabeth bp.30/10/1799 ditto
Jemima bp.1/4/1802 ditto - died 1803
William bp.10/6/1803 ditto - died 1808
Sarah bp.24/6/1804 ditto
Maria bp.13/9/1805 ditto
Harriet bp.31/8/1806 ditto - died 1807
Joseph bp.20/9/1807 Creeting St. Peter
William bp.4/9/1808 ditto - died )
James bp.4/9/1808 ditto - died ) twins
Charles bp.9/8/1811 ditto
Thomas bp.22/3/1812 ditto - died
Thomas bp.4/4/1813 ditto )
Ann bp.4/4/1813 ditto ) twins
William bp.16/4/1815 ditto )
Clarissa bp.16/4/1815 ditto ) twins
Hannah bp.25/5/1817 ditto
James bp.28/7/1818 ditto - died
Henry bp.21/5/1820 ditto
Definitely all to the same couple as her maiden name helpfully shown.
Ann must have been some strong lady - she died in 1862 aged 87, having outlived her husband by 30 years!
Annette
All I can say is that I'm glad that I was NOT born as Ann Bent 8) BUT, then she obviously wore him out!!! ::)
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My 4x great-grandparents had fourteen children and every single one lived to adulthood.
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On the outskirts of my tree are Joshua & Hannah Cornwell, who at the 1911 census, have had 18 children, 14 of whom were still alive.
They went on to have another two in 1912 and 1913.
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Ive got a family of 13 born between 1861 and 1889. And the Dad of this families brother had 14 children! There could of course have been a couple more in each families that are yet unidentified and died young.
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All I can say is that I'm glad that I was NOT born as Ann Bent 8) BUT, then she obviously wore him out!!! ::)
I wonder if she was nick-named "H... Bent" ???
Annie
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The largest family on my Grandma's side was 13 and they all survived and strange thing my Mother was an only child ;D ;D
Rosie
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The largest family on my Grandma's side was 13 and they all survived and strange thing my Mother was an only child ;D ;D
My mother's mother was one of five girls with four brothers. Two of the brothers never married; one had one son, the other had four children. Three of the five sisters never married, the other two had one daughter each. I am an only child too (does it show?) ;)
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One of my ancestors had 25 children.
He married at 16 and took on his wife's first child when the father wouldn't marry her and they went on to have 14 children together.
When she died he went on to have 10 children with his second wife.
Most of the children lived to adulthood.
He died at 85 with all his faculties intact.
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Hi Alison Terao
Welcome to RootsChat :)
All I can say is WOW :o :o
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One of my ancestors had 25 children.
He died at 85 with all his faculties intact.
Some more than others, by the look of it .... ;)
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::) ;D ;D ;D
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One of my ancestors had 25 children.
He died at 85 with all his faculties intact.
Some more than others, by the look of it .... ;)
Not quite the same though, is it? - the other large families shown here have all had the same mother!
Annette
PS Working on a tree for a friend yesterday and one particular couple had 18 children at Bressingham, Norfolk between 1859 and 1888.
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Not quite the same though, is it? - the other large families shown here have all had the same mother!
Annette
Annette, I agree regarding "A" couple who have been together throughout.
A man could have had several younger wives & produce many kids but a woman can only produce for a certain length of time i.e. 2nd/3rd marriages don't fit the bill really (for either)
Annie
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Wow, 25 is amazing!
My 3x-great grandfather had at least 18 with 2 wives.
Best record to the same couple is 14 (to another set of 3x gg). All survived infancy, two died in late childhood, and the rest lived to adulthood.
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One of my ancestors had 25 children.
He died at 85 with all his faculties intact.
Some more than others, by the look of it .... ;)
My father's maiden aunt - his g-granddaughter (herself one of 11 - 10 surviving who she raised when her mother died) used to say "they should have put a blue ribbon on it" 8)
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One of my ancestors had 25 children.
He died at 85 with all his faculties intact.
Some more than others, by the look of it .... ;)
Not quite the same though, is it? - the other large families shown here have all had the same mother!
That's true - and if you look at the children of the first wife only it drops to 15, which is still pretty impressive.
They were a fertile and hardy lot that line - they had large families with a good survival rate.
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My great grandfather Albert Barnett had two children with 1st wife Matilda, married again after her death and produced another 13 with second wife Margaret.
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These family 'records' are all very well (and the Olympics are on, aren't they - was it an endurance event?) but I think this thread started with a present-day couple trying to win the event. As I said earlier, 19th-c people had several reasons to. I don't understand why any family does these days. Much of the time we are hearing about population pressure, but at the individual level most people shrug and say 'how wonderful'.
Bah, humbug. But straws and camels, I say.
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The family of 18 in my tree are from the 20th century. If you only want those who were having children into the 21st century then the biggest is 10.
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http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=435826.
Link to thread "Michael Fenlon - 3 wives" on Wexford board
1st wife Mary Ouselm 24 children
2nd Margaret Murphy 16
3rd Mary Murphy 20
Michael died aged 99 yrs Jan 11th 1900
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I can't go any higher than 13 - my staunch Welsh Methodist grt grandparents. My second cousin, who knew them as a young boy, told me that they looked vey strange together - his taid was a tall thin man and his nain was about about 4ft 10 ins and fairly plump :)
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ny husbands marsh family, parents had16 children and their youngest but one had twentythree one of her children died, she started having children aged 16, his name was bertie he died, she moved to aus after her first husband died he was a lot older than she was, remarried and had another 2 or three, possibly more than thatbut we lost touch with the family and the only historian in my husbands family died so could not ask anything anymore.
we were in touvch with family members in aus for a while. but no longer
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My 3 x great grandparents in the patrilineal line.
16 children born between 1835 and 1859, including one set of twins. I think the most remarkable thing is that 12 of the children lived to adulthood and married. Oddly, the four who died were daughters called Mary Ann, Mary Ann and the twins, Mary...and Ann.
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15 children of Michael Wilson Heaviside, VC. Children born between 1906-1930. Michael was born in Durham City and died Craghead, County Durham. Wife Elizabeth Draper.
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the youngest daughter of my husbands marsh family insouthsea was one of 14 and she added to that family by the time she emigrated to aus d, she had had 21 childtrn from the age of 16 pregnant from the age of 15 her husband died in aus aand she remarried domeone v=called silvestri and had another three with jimi, before she was 45
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One of my 3 x great grandfathers, a coal miner, married 3 times, at his first marriage he was 19. He died at 51, having fathered 11 children.
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My Mother was the youngest of 10 children, but from three marriages, both her parents having been widowed. She was the only only born in the 20thC. Two of her sisters died childless, but another had 14 children, including one set of twins. At one time I had at least 36 cousins living.