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What is the greatest number of children you have found in your ancestry

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  • What is the greatest number of children you have found in your ancestry

    So far, I have found one of my great grandmother's brother's had a family of nine children. My grandfather was one of eight and his mother in law also had eight children.

    So can I ask, about the size of family found in your ancestry? These are the families I have found so far, I have yet to go further back in time.

  • #2
    My great grandmother was one of 14. Outlived all her siblings, and died aged 91.

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    • #3
      The most I have found is 14 to a poor working class family in the early 1800s.

      Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

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      • #4
        So far the most I've found is 11.

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        • #5
          17 but that was with two wives, 12 with the first and then 5 with the second, much younger wife.

          Jane

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          • #6
            The most was 16 my grandmother's siblings but not all survived to adulthood she herself had 12 children my mother being one of them only one died at 18 months old.

            The other one was 14 children to a couple on OH's side within 19 years 1819-1838! They all, as far as I can tell, lived to adulthood.

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            • #7
              Just had another check and found 16 from one couple.

              Jane

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              • #8
                My 4xg-grandfather had 18 children, nine with each of two wives, over 37 years.

                Of the women on my tree, I have several with 14, including my grandmother, but I don't think I have any with 15 or more.

                A friend has an ancestor who married an heiress when she was 16. As they could afford a wetnurse mum found herself possibly more fertile than the average woman and they had 15 children in the first 16 years of marriage. Altogether they managed into the low 20s, most of whom lived to adulthood.

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                • #9
                  It beggars belief - these women must have been constantly pregnant!

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                  • #10
                    I think the trend for smaller families is a relatively modern invention. Just been through my parents, grand parents and great grandparents in my tree working out the averages size of their families (yes I am bit stuck for anything to do tonight...)

                    3 children Parents Generation (1950s)
                    4.75 children Grandparents Generation ( 1920'S/1930'S)
                    8.75 children Great Grandparants Generation (1890's/1900's)

                    Not sure if it'd show the same even further back. (Not that bored yet!) I have heard that Queen Victoria started the trend for larger families, but to be honest thinks its a bit of a myth. Families of at least 6+ always seem the norm to me even in the 1700's.

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                    • #11
                      My 4 x great grandfather had 19 children by two wives. His first wife died in Childnirth with number 8 and he married her sister's stepdaughter (his step niece?) and had 11 more.

                      ONly 9 lived beyond childhood though.

                      I have three couples who had 13 children in a single marriage and my nan was one of 14.
                      Zoe in London

                      Cio che Dio vuole, io voglio ~ What God wills, I will

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                      • #12
                        My OH's GGG Grandparents had 15 children although not all survived into adulthood.
                        Wendy



                        PLEASE SCAN AT 300-600 DPI FOR RESTORATION PURPOSES. THANK YOU!

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                        • #13
                          My maternal grandmother had 15 siblings, born between 1885 and 1905 and my maternal grandfather had at least 13 siblings born between 1888 and 1910, although not all survived to adulthood. Maybe that's why my Mum was an only child ;)

                          My great grandmothers were both small in stature and most of their sons towered over them. Grandad's Mum had her first child at 20 and her last at 42, each birth about 18 months apart. When my Grandad was under a year old, my G Grandfather got a job in Hereford for 3 years and the family moved there from West London, taking 8 children. She gave birth to 3 children there, only one of which survived, and then they all moved back to London!

                          Grandma's Mum was 22 when she had her first and 42 when her last child was born. At one stage she had 4 children under 3!
                          My avatar is my Great Grandmother Emma Gumbert

                          Sue at Langley Vale

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                          • #14
                            My great great granny had 14, by one husband, over a period of 26 years, but no twins.
                            On average about 2 years apart , except when the child died as an infant then the next baby was closer. I guess breast feeding the baby helped prevent conception so if the baby died then mum would become fertile again. What a life they must have had and a struggle to get through each day. i only hope they were happy with their lot.
                            herky
                            Researching - Trimmer (Farringdon), Noble & Taylor (Ross and Cromarty), Norris (Glasgow), McGilvray (Glasgow and Australia), Leck & Efford (Glasgow), Ferrett (Hampshire), Jenkins & Williams (Aberystwyth), Morton (Motherwell and Tipton), Barrowman (Glasgow), Lilley (Bromsgrove and Glasgow), Cresswell (England and Lanarkshire). Simpson, Morrow and Norris in Ireland. Thomas Price b c 1844 Scotland.

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                            • #15
                              My 4xg-gf had 15 with his 1st wife 1811-1831 (11 survived) & 6 with his 2nd 1835-1848 (all survived).
                              Glen

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                              • #16
                                19 with one wife (and a suspicious four year gap, so maybe more!).

                                Only two survived their teens. One is unaccounted for and the other I am descended from. Their mother outlived them all and died aged 86 in 1796.

                                I suspect either a genetic problem or some kind of occupational poisoning for the children, as both mother and father came from huge families who lost very few children.

                                Another - 27 children with three wives, over a 49 year period, again in the 1700s. Most survived to a great old age. Wives one and three shared the same name and that threw me for ages until I found the MIs and realised what had happened!

                                OC

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                                • #17
                                  Redacted
                                  Last edited by Penelope; 24-04-09, 22:24.

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                                  • #18
                                    Penelope

                                    That's interesting - my lot who died young had a father who was a wood turner. He was from a farming background as was his wife. I have long wondered if it was "something to do with the wood" that killed so many of his children.

                                    All my farming families had huge broods and they all survived barring the odd accident, and lived normally into their 70s, 80s and 90s (I'm talking late 1600s to early 1800s here). There was a sharp upturn in early deaths when they all moved to Manchester in the mid 1800s.

                                    OC

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                                    • #19
                                      OC, what about your relative who had dozens of children, some outside of her lifetime?

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                                      • #20
                                        my g grandmother was Martha Adams b 1863 in Astley,shropshire...she was one of 13 children.....she died in 1959 when I was 8 and she was 96....and unbeknown to me she had written EVERY birthdate and year of ALL her brothers and sisters in black ink in beautiful handwriting....she gave it to my aunty....she is still alive at 85 and last year when she heard I was doing the family tree she showed me this handwriting wrapped up in a lace hankerchief....what a bonus for me....allan;)
                                        Allan ......... researching oakes/anyon/standish/collins/hartley/barker/collins-cheshire
                                        oakes/tipping/ellis/jones/schacht/...garston, liverpool
                                        adams-shropshire/roberts-welshpool
                                        merrick/lewis/stringham/nicolls-herefordshire
                                        coxon/williamson/kay/weaver-glossop/stockport/walker-gorton

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