Genealogy Chat

in the entire world?? It certainly feels like it!! My mum is one of 12. My dad is one of 7. My grandparents are one of 10, 12, 11 and 12. My great grandparents are one of 10, 10, 8 and 12. And it goes on and on.... are my family abnormally large?? I have only got one son and don't plan to have anymore - does this make me the selfish one?? How big are your families?? Karen (lots of researching still to be done) Petry.

Certainly beats my family hollow. I had 56 great aunts and uncles, including all the spouses and babies who died. My niece has three. Brenda

If you have found them all. well done! You didn't say how many children your own parents had. Are you an only child?

My husband had 21 cousins, all on his father's side. His mother was an only child. I think families are getting smaller with every generation. One of my great-grandparents had 12 siblings, including twins; one had 7 siblings, one 8 (I haven't tracked down all the others yet) My grandparents were from families of 8, 8, 10 and 1. Both my parents were one of four children. My mother's 3 siblings all died childless. My father had one brother with no children, and he and his two other brothers had two children each. Of these children, one has 3 and another (me!) has 2. The other 4 are childless men in their 40s. nell

My grandad was one of 14, yet only had two children himself; I'm an only child and so is my son! It did seem the trend years ago to have large families; one of my great-grandparents had 9 children.

You probably knew this already but large families were necessary at one time because, before the advances in medical science, it was expected that you would lose a few children a long the way. Hence, parents used safety in numbers to ensure that there would be enough people to work on the land and that the family seed would be carried forward. Jonathan

Plus in those days, with no televisions, games consoles, DVDs, videos, etc - in other words no modern technology and no other means of keeping themselves occupied on cold dark nights, what else were they supposed to do?!! Sam

My gr-gr-gr- grandmother had 13 chldren, she spent all of her fertile life producing children and raised a high percentage of them to aduthood. My gr-gr grandmother had 11, my gr-grandma had 8 of whom only three survived and I suspect from the dates that she died in childbirth with the last child which also died. My grandparents had three children raising all three to adulthood and extreme old age. I had five sons and I have two grandsons from different son's, It looks like diminishing families. We know that the ecconomists are getting worried about the falling population and the resultant shrinking work force. Rose

I know that one pair of my ancestors had 36 Grandchildren, and a couple of my families had 13 children. I suppose there was so much natural wastage in those days that you had to have a big family in the hope that some of them would survive to maturity. Jim

I have an ancestor with 17 children in 23 years 1797-1812, one set triplets and one set twins. Jon.

My gt gt grandparent's had 16 children the father was only an Ag Lab don't know how they managed in those days to feed them, they don't earn a lot of money today but at least they don't have all those children to look after. Sue.................

Jean - i have one brother who has two children, the grandparent who had 12 children is still alive (I visit her every sunday!) and she raised all her children (and some of her grand children) to adulthood. They are all still alive and kicking!! All of her children have gone on to have thier own but no one had any more than two. I think one of the downfalls of having such large families is that its nearly impossible to all get together, the only time we seem to manage it is when somebody gets married..... which is becoming less common as well. (might be something to do with the fact no one can afford it due to the amount of guests!!!!) Kx

My partner is one of 5. His mother is one of 13. Thankfully I am unique! (So much better than "only child" which always sounds like you missed out on something)

Hi I have 6 children, and am 1 of 5. My grandfather was in his 50's when my dad was born, and he died when my dad was a small boy. Neither me, or my dad knew very much about his side of the family, but since starting my family tree, I have found 41 cousins for my dad. Unfortunately, none of them are still around!! Paula

The main reason for large families was that contraception was unreliable, unobtainable and frowned upon. It was considered a woman's duty to bear children. Queen Victoria set the example by having 9. nell

My family are clearly abnormal in having a large percentage of people who either had less than three children, or who never married and had none at all. Either half my lot were not very fertile or were so disagreeable they couldn't find anyone willing to put up with them. I can only find two illegitimate births (one of whom was also the only child his mother bore!) which must be some sort of record. So I intend to break with tradition and squirt out babies as often as biology will allow :)

My Grandmother was one of 20!!!!! born on a farm in Brent Knoll, Somerset. Luckily enough my mum and I have all the names of her aunts and uncles, but getting any further will take a long time.....(7 Boys and 12 girls and a stillborn child not sure what sex).... and I think my grandfather was one of 7.

Maybe they didn't have a telly or not invented.....lol :-)

Hi Karen, Im one of seven, my Mum one nine, grandma one of seven, ggrandfather one of ten Husband one of eleven, his Mum one of nine My grandmas first grandchild born 1932 last one (28th) born 1970 My Mum has 17 grandchildren, one 1975 ,1978 then one a year between 1980 -1995 Kathleen

My maternal grandparents both had 11 siblings, most of whom survived to old age. My mother was an only child, but had at least 60 first cousins, probably more! I haven't finished that side of the family yet. My paternal grandmother had 2 brothers, one died aged 12 of typhoid and the other aged 20 in WW1. My paternal grandfather had 3 brothers, 2 of whom had children, and a sister who died of TB aged 10. My Dad had 1 sister and 3 brothers and I have 10 first cousins. I have 4 children and 4 grandchildren (with hopefully more in the future) and my only brother has 2 daughters. My great grandmother always seemed a frail little thing, but she managed to give birth almost every year from the age of 22, and moved from London to Hereford with 7 children and my baby grandfather and then back again a year later whilst pregnant! Rather her than me! Sue