Genealogy Chat

I am afraid that the most I can claim is 14, all single births, to my ggg grandparents. I often think of how difficult it must have been to look after all that lot with no washing machine or running water and probably very little money. Imagine all the washing for the babies (and ugh, not even a pair of plastic pants!!!) I wonder if they realised what was causing it?!!!!!

My grany had 12 to her sailor hubby--all singlton births. He died whe he was 36. We all joke about just how mwny more shore leave babies they would have had if he had lived a wee bit longer!!!

My grandma was one of 12 - all survived to adulthood. Funnily enough none of the 12 had more than 2, some had none. Must of been hard growing up, the how wasn't large. Toni

My Mum was one of thirteen. Her Mum wore out two husbands !! Terry

You're all putting me to shame. I'd better get digging and see if I can at least find someone to get me into double figures.

My great grandfather Joseph Davies was born 1865 died 1956. He fathered 21 children from 1889- 1931-2 wives-both died in their 40's. The first born in 1889 died the same year as himself The last born in 1931 is still going strong down the road,driving and smoking.....to think that his father was born in 1865 !! I have a photograph of him with the first 10 in the back yard in 1906 aged 41.........to think that he was still living in that house 50 years later !! He outlived about 6 of his children.

hi. don't know if this beats the others but, my grandfather was one of 22. my dad was one of 12.edith

Hi My Great grandparents had 12 children sadley 6 died as babies. My Great Grandad remarried after his wife died and went on to have 4 more children so he had 16.

23 Children between 1882 and 1911. Lived with the in-laws in a 2 bedroom terrace. All single births and of course many died.

My Great Great Gran had 22. Made up of 10 sets of twins and 2 single births. I bet she thought she was having an easy day on the days she only had one baby.LOL Dianne xx

Hi My Mum was one of 16, 12 girls and 4 boys. None of the boys married so the family name didn't carry on. My Gran was 93 when she died and my Grandad 84. She married at 17 had her first child at 18 and her last 45.All those years being pregnant !!!!. Needless to say three was enough for me. Cheryl

Apparently the world record is 69, to a Russian peasant and his (one) wife in the mid-1700s. Blimey.

My fourth great grandmother had 17 children and practically all of them survived to a reasonable age. She died in 1865 at 83. I find this incredible when I think of how many women in the early 1800s died through childbirth...and she had 17 chances! However, she lived in a tiny Somerset village; none of my London rellies fared so well.

I've got one with 16 with the same parents. All children survived as far as I know. I also have one man had 21 children with 3 wives. I can't remember if they all survived though. I think there are a couple of families out there with 23 to one couple, but I can't remember who they belong to.

Old Crone, Thats very sad. i also found a relative of hubbys who lost 5 children within 3 weeks. I stood in the cemetery looking at the headstone(can only assume the parish must have paid for that) trying to understand how that must have affected them. Not got round to getting death certificates yet (They are on my must have list) They also left a small respectable gap then had a further 2 children. Some of these women must have been amazingly strong.

My 7 x GGPs had 14 children. I was collecting the various baptisms etc, rather haphazardly over several weeks and it was only when I sat down to enter them all on my tree that I realised the awful truth. In 1733, when this couple already had 5 children and she was expecting her sixth, all five children died in the space of 29 days, of smallpox. Later that year she gave birth to her sixth child, a boy, who was buried 3 days after his birth. I wonder how significant it is that this couple did not have any more children for four years? They later had another nine children. I cannot imagine that they were anything other than distraught to lose their whole family in less than a month. What I thought was most poignant was that the eldest, a girl of ten, was the last to die. She probably helped her mother with the sick children, and at 10, was probably a friend to her mother, too. Olde Crone

The record stands at 21 !! I am so glad i was born in the 1960's and not the 1860's.

hi my father is one of 16, and there are still 7 of em about! (himself included)

My great grandma had 21 children. So far I have found 14 that lived past 18 years old. Jayne

my great great great grandparents had 16 children all but 1 lived to adulthood and the mum lived to 83 years old herself, she died in 1903. Tammy :~)