My grandma had 17 kids from 1919-1939 and they didn't even have disposable diapers back then! Only one set of twins, too.
Love....Jill
PS On the other side of my family tree was another grandma who had 17 kids from about 1838-1861.
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Nope...but one was a bed-wetter and they used to dry out her sheets in front of the coal stove in the mornings. There were three bedrooms in their two-story house. A brother and a sister were 10 months apart. There were up to three kids at a time of diaper age. Grandma Welsh baked 35 loaves of bread per week in an outdoor bake oven. And when she was surprised with twins, one of them had to sleep in a dresser drawer until Grandad could make another cradle. They walked a mile or more to school every day. They ate a lot of soup. One time at the dinner table my dad tossed a veal cutlet to the dog, and it hit his dad on the leg. He was paddled, of course! Five of the sons served in WW2. Two boys were killed at 18 in seperate wrecks. Of the 10 boys only two survive, and there are only 6 aunts left. Each one of the children who made it to adulthood had between 4 and fifteen children. I never met my grandma, she died of a brain tumor at the age of 52. But supposedly I look like her. She even raised a few foster kids. People dropped them off at their house like you would stray cats. There were a few articles about the family in the Pittsburgh Press. Some of the Letterheads may remember my uncle John Pat...the Jamboree was held at his camp. He's now 81. Today would have been my dad's 82nd birthday. The news story reminded me of what a family he came from! Love....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
My grandmother has 16 brothers and sisters...
However.. it was by two different mothers. My great-grandmother had 5 children, but right after my grandmother was born, she died. My great-grandfather then married his deceased wife's 16 year old sister (who took over the task of her sister's 5 young children.)
They went on to have like 13 more children, but one died in infancy, so there ended up being 17 in all. They are a big jolly family who has regular family reunions... my step-great-grandmother just died a few years back, but she would always attend and see all the hundreds of great and great-great-grandchildren.
Another interesting fact is since my grandmother was one of the first children, after my mother was born, my great-grandmother had several more children. So my mother has uncles and aunts who are younger than she is.
All I can figure out is things were a little different back in the early 1900's.
Another funny story that they tell... when my grand mother was about 11 or 12, the family was on their way home from church. At that time there were already a whole bunch of kids (seems like they said around 10, I don't remember for sure.) Anyway, they were all carrying on and tussling as usual, opening and closing the back doors on the car, etc. Well, my grandmother fell out of the car onto the shoulder of the road, and the rest of the kids said a time or two.. 'Edna fell out of the car.'
My great-grandparents, well used to the lively antics and pranks of the kids, thought they were playing around as usual and didn't worry about it. As they reach home and get out of the car, a neighbor pulls in with my grandmother in their car, telling her folks, 'She fell out about half way home.'
I guess they must have been going pretty slow at the time on the old dirt roads, because she says she was not hurt at all. I'd hate to think of what would happen nowadays if someone saw a thing like that occur, HRS would probably come take the kids away.
The interesting thing is every one of the siblings turned out to be very fine and decent individuals.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
My fathers mother had 17 kids.. Here is a clipping of a newspaper article from when my dad was like 11 and there were 16 kids then.. lol.. musta been a mad house at times..
-------------------- sue brown american instant signs pasadena, calif Posts: 90 | From: southern california | Registered: Jul 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Neat. Grandma Welsh is wearing the same expression as your grandma in her newspaper photo. I wish I was allowed to have a copy of the one in my family. There are three that I know of, and you just know I'll never get one. (and I'm the genealogy fan!) My grandma also left about 5 diaries detailing her day-to-day, but they were passed around by the family and subsequently lost in the early 1970s. Love.....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic