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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: 7igerby7he7ail on Tuesday 20 October 09 06:45 BST (UK)

Title: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: 7igerby7he7ail on Tuesday 20 October 09 06:45 BST (UK)
I have one ancestor [ my 5x great grandfather] who was married 3 times and had 16 children.*
I have several in the tree who 'score' above 10.

Anybody have any more?

*I have traced many distant cousins from this one ancestor.
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Deb D on Tuesday 20 October 09 07:18 BST (UK)
3xgt grandfather; two marriages, 16 children ... Gt grandfather, one marriage, 11 children (and his wife died young!)
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: ainslie on Tuesday 20 October 09 08:57 BST (UK)
Age range between eldest and youngest of 16 children by two wives: 40 years. [Gt-Grand-father].
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: LindaJ1959 on Tuesday 20 October 09 11:11 BST (UK)
A sister of one of my 2xgt grandmothers claimed on the 1911 census to have had 20 children born alive, and 17 surviving!

Linda

Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Mumsie2131 on Tuesday 20 October 09 11:55 BST (UK)
Gt grandfather, 2 wives 16 children.  As I was brought up in the same village it was confusing to me as a child, people younger or the same age as I was had grandparents who were my mother's cousins.
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: shan42 on Tuesday 20 October 09 20:59 BST (UK)
My great gran had 12 brothers & sisters! Ouch!!  ;D
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: GailS on Wednesday 21 October 09 21:47 BST (UK)
Absolutely Ouch! ;D

Have a G G Aunty who had 17, and most of them lived.

Makes me glad and gratefull to have 3 happy, healty ones. (even if 2 are teenagers lol)

Gail
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: shan42 on Wednesday 21 October 09 21:51 BST (UK)
Do you think they ever lost any for a few days?  ;D
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: GailS on Thursday 22 October 09 03:04 BST (UK)
Oh shan42, you make me laugh out loud, very loudly, one of those good old belly shaking laughs, as they say this is the "Lighter side".

I'm sure at times they wanted to loose a few! (or may be more than a few) Imagine trying to have a "quiet moment" either to yourself or with your spouse.

You have really made my day,  ;D

Gail
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: pn on Thursday 22 October 09 06:38 BST (UK)

Great grandmother 2 marriages 19 children by 1911 only 5 surviving - before this census I had confirmed 13 births.

After checking the 1911 census it was quite a shock just how many families had lost so many young children.

Pauline
Alberta, Canada
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: 7igerby7he7ail on Thursday 22 October 09 07:55 BST (UK)
I am looking at a family of 12 in the tree
7 boys 3 girls.
Imagine all the cooking, cleaning. washing, ironing. 5 of the men were coal miners.
Even if the females of the family all pitched in with the housework [ they were. acording to the census'] all employed as well.

I suppose they were 'lucky that all the children survived to majority, it was the 19th century.

All the children got married and had kids of their own, 38 grandchildren for their parents to 'look after' *, living in the same area of town, even in the same street sometimes.

No wonder the parents were ' worn out' , the father died at 66, the mother at 58.


*In 2 of the census' there are several of the grandchildren staying with them.
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Nick29 on Thursday 22 October 09 08:56 BST (UK)
My maternal great grandmother.  She was married twice, and had 15 children.  She also was step-mum to 7 children from the previous marriages of her two husbands.  She packed that all in to a lifespan of just 60 years.

Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: purplekat on Thursday 22 October 09 10:50 BST (UK)
I have great grandparents who had 16 children, unfortunately two were stillborn and three died as babies, what amazes me is that my great grandmother lived to the age of 80, she must have been as strong as a horse!

With eleven children I often wonder if she managed to remember their names, I only have a son and a daughter but many a time I've managed to get their names mixed up  ???

Jean  :)
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: elin on Thursday 22 October 09 11:21 BST (UK)
My great grand parents had 26 children :o, though there were several pairs of twins amongst
them.  The older children were each allocated a younger child to look after, although they didn't
all live to adulthood.

My gt grandma used to make all their clothes, she must have had a production line going!  They had a golden wedding photograph taken and gt grandma was an amazingly slim, neat litttle lady. 

Elin



Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Lady Di on Thursday 22 October 09 11:22 BST (UK)

One of my ancestors is recorded as having 32 children - and only one wife   :o

You couldn't even name them according to the alphabet - you'd still run out of names  ;D

I can't even imagine the utter chaos in that house!






Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Lydart on Thursday 22 October 09 18:59 BST (UK)
Can that be correct ?

Assuming that the woman in those days breast fed the children, she must still have had one a year in her fertile years, which is very odd as breast feeding tends to prevent preganancy (it didnt with me !   ::) ) ...

Poor woman is all I can say !   
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: shan42 on Thursday 22 October 09 21:10 BST (UK)
LOL! @ Gail..!!  ;D ;D ;D Thank you! If I'd had that many kids they'd have spent their days up chimneys or something, lol!! "Hey Supernanny, sort this lot out!"

Seriously though these women were pretty amazing to have borne all those kiddies, and alot of them worked long hours at hard jobs too - I know it was the way things were and they didn't know any different, but we don't realise how lucky we are nowadays, I'm proud of them all for their physical & mental strength (the men too)  ;)
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: alftabor on Thursday 22 October 09 21:26 BST (UK)
My great grandfather Jubal
Two Marriages,Nineteen Children
Alf
 ::) ::) :)
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: danuslave on Thursday 22 October 09 23:58 BST (UK)
Great grandmother Ellen. 

Married at 16 years & 4 months already pregnant.  Went on to have a total of 16 children (with the same husband) of whom 6 had died by 1911. 

One son lost in the Battle of the Somme 1916, another later as a result of gassing during WW1. 

Ellen died at the age of 77, having been a widow for 25 years.

According to my grandmother, Ellen’s D-I-L, she was a bit of a battle axe.  Do you wonder?   :D

Linda
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Gaille on Friday 23 October 09 01:18 BST (UK)
My gt-gt-gtanny Margaret had 15 Children............. including 3 sets of Male/female Twins, plus I suspect at least 3 more Children that died before or around birth.

Her youngest daughter (also Margaret) had 11 Children............ one of which was my Nana

Gt-gt-granny had 35 Grandchildren
Gt-granny had 33 Grandchildren.


LOL My nana had one child!
(I wonder why!!)

 
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Lydart on Friday 23 October 09 08:05 BST (UK)
My gr. granny had 13 children; generations before her were always large.  Then granny had four ... without too much detail, I wonder how they 'family planned' ... I'm thinking 1900 - 1910 ... were 'rubber goods' invented by then ??
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: kaydoubleu27 on Friday 23 October 09 09:31 BST (UK)
Lol Lydart - maybe they were too expensive tho bringing up children would have been more so  ::)

My poor 3 x great grandparents had 15 children, all still living according to the 1911 census and the poor old dad of them all was still working as a dock labourer at the age of 70 and he died at 71! When I moan about being overworked and underpaid I should think of him  ::)

Kim
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Samueller on Friday 23 October 09 22:30 BST (UK)
The vicar of a mining parish in Warwickshire in about 1913 went to congratulate a parishioner on the birth of their 16th child.  He asked what they were calling the baby. "Albert" said the father, to which the mother recoiled in horror and said "Bless 'e, George, we've already got an Albert."
Sam
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Rah1980 on Monday 09 November 09 23:02 GMT (UK)
Well they couldn't have all been that worn out by having so many children as they wouldn't of had the energy to make more would they ;) My nan has 8 children (although there was another two who died before birth) over 25 grand children (so far) and about 8 great grand children (so far)
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: Charles IX on Friday 13 November 09 16:45 GMT (UK)
I have this guy as an ancestor:-
Thomas Edwin Ricks married four more times in plural marriage, and was father of 42 children. He was the founder of Ricks College, in Rexburg, Idaho.
Now thats a busy guy! I also have 2 lots Gt-grandparents and 3 lots of gt-gt-grandparents who have 11 children each, I dont know why but no-one could break that 11 mark. Not that I blame them!! :P

**just to add somthing else I found to do with Thomas Ricks**
At the time of his death he had 154grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren living.
Title: Re: Who is your most profilic ancestor ?
Post by: coombs on Saturday 21 November 09 17:48 GMT (UK)
3xgreat grandfather Thomas Roberts (1813-1889) was married 3 times and had 10 known children.