Boys, boys, boys and a girl!

[zetlander]

1861 census RG9 974
Brampton Huntingdonshire

Samuel DORRINGTON head 41 farmer       
Elizabeth                    wife  37
Samuel                       son  14
Henry                           "     13
James                          "     11
Joe                               "     10
Matthew                        "       9
George                          "      8
Benjamin                      "       6
John                             "       5
Daniel                          "        3
MARTHA                   daughter  7 months.   

all born in Brampton.
Can't find them on 1871 census to check if they had any more children.
--------
My grandfather was a firstborn and he was followed by six girls.  His mother when asked how many children she had always said she had 6 daughters and each had a brother.

[Millmoor]

Are you sure that the surname is Dorrington? The 1861 census and other records indicate the surname is Warrington and groindex would suggest a mmn of Dixon.

Marriage Samuel Warrington and Elizabeth Dixon in 1843 Huntingdon RD.

Suggest you use groindex to identify Warrington births with mmn Dixon in Huntingdon RD. Used in conjunction with the death index this should show those who were born and died between censuses.(eg an earlier daughter named Martha appears to have been born and died in 1846).

William

[Kay99]

I think this is the Warrington family in 1871 - living in Brampton

Samuel Warrington 51
Elizabeth Warrington    47
Mathew Warrington 18
George Warrington 16
Benjamen Warrington 15
John Warrington 14
Daniel Warrington 13
Martha Warrington 10
Ada Warrington 5

Kay

[zetlander]

Thanks - yes I seem to have misread 'W' for a 'D'

(they're no relation to me - came across them by chance and thought it unusual for there to be 9 consecutive male births in a family.)

[Andrew Tarr]

One thing that strikes me about Victorian families is the apparently small proportion of twins - although the families are large, most lists in a census seem to be single births.  Maybe my gg-grandfather from Devon was unusual in producing two pairs in a family of eight (six dates) ?

[Top-of-the-hill]

  My husband's great grandparents had 3 sets of twins out of 14 children. Only one of the twins lived long enough to appear in any censuses. The others all died within a year.

[Andrew Tarr]

My husband's great grandparents had 3 sets of twins out of 14 children. Only one of the twins lived long enough to appear in any censuses. The others all died within a year.

My lot were luckier.  Their firstborn was/were two boys with the same names (reversed), then after one single birth there was a mixed pair; the boy died after a few days.  The other three all reached at least 12 (he disappears after that age - his brother was my g-grandfather).