The concept of a “large family” today causes us some surprise, like a curiosity found in a tropical forest. We consider families with many children to be those with three or more children, and houses with 19 children or more seem simply fantastic to us! I invite you to a tour dedicated to the largest families in the history of our planet.
1
XVIII century. The record holder in the history of family creation is considered to be the wife of the Shuya peasant Fyodor Vasiliev. She is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest family. Peasant Vasilyeva gave birth to 69 children during her life!!!
Leontina Albina, who now lives in Chile, has given birth to 55 children in 40 years. Therefore, this lady’s family takes an honorable second place in our ranking.
3
Now let's fast forward to the 17th century. There is a new addition to the English Greenhill family. The 39th child was born here. Elizabeth Greenhill - mother of many children at the age of 54, she believes that she could have given birth to several more children if not for life circumstances...
4 Guinness Seed
And again the 18th century. The youngest 21st child was born into the family of the famous Irish brewer Arthur Guinness and Olivia Whitmore. Three of these children, having grown up, continued their father’s work, therefore, there is still a brand of beer that bears the proud name of the head of the family with many children - “Guinness”.
Henry Wilson Crocker and Anna Josephine of America also produced 21 children.
6
The largest modern Russian family now lives in the Voronezh region: 11 daughters and 9 sons. Of the 20 children, 19 still live with their parents.
7
Of the officially registered ones, the largest family in Ukraine is considered to be the family living in the village of Ostritsa, Chernivtsi region. The believing family of Eleonora and Janusz Nameni also raises 20 children.
8
Middle Ages. The English family of the poet and priest Samuel Wesley and his wife Suzanne had 19 children. Two of their sons later became the founders of Methodism.
9
The most famous large family of our time now lives in America. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have 19 boys and girls in their family. To the question: “How do you cope with so many children?” - Michelle usually answers that the secret is that the older children help take care of the younger ones.
10
In 2009, another girl was born into the Osyakov family, which by that time already had 17 children and 5 grandchildren, who became an aunt to the spouses’ grandchildren. In the same 2009, in the Kremlin, Nadezhda and Father Ivan were awarded the Order of Parental Glory.
The family is the unit of society, its foundation. Everything that happens inside it is reflected in society, since the latter is formed by hundreds of thousands, millions of such cells. In this article, we will compile an unusual list of the most prolific marriages and learn about the largest families in the world (and in history). I wonder who was not afraid of a large number of descendants and large-scale continuation of their family? Let's start our top ten “Largest Families in the World”.
Vasilievs from Russia
In the 18th century, this family set a world record. No one has beaten him yet. The huge Vasilyev family from Shuisky district opens our top list of “The Largest Families in the World.” The wife of the peasant Vasiliev bore him 69 children! And so many descendants were born in just 40 years life together. How is this possible?! This is explained by several multiple pregnancies peasant women: 4 children were born 4 times, triplets appeared 7 times, 16 cases when twins came to this family. After the death of his first wife, the peasant Vasiliev married a second time - from this marriage 18 more children were born. As a result, he turned out to be the father of 87 children.
Leontins from Chile
Our list of the "Largest Families in the World" is presented by the following Chilean couple of prolific parents, the Leontines. At the beginning of the 20th century, the 64th child was born into a friendly and large family. However, only 55 children were officially registered. This is not surprising or suspicious, since this situation with “unofficial” offspring is quite common in Chile.
Gravata from Italy
Around the same time, in the twenties of the 20th century, the 62nd baby was born into the Gravata family in Palermo. Throughout her life, Mother Rose gave birth to one set of sixes, quintuplets, quadruplets and twice triplets, the rest of the births brought one child at a time.
Kirillovs from Russia
And again a large couple from Russia! In the 18th century, on the territory of our country, in the village of Vvedenskoye, the peasant family of Yakov Kirillov lived and became famous. He continues our list of “The Largest Families in the World.” In total, the peasant had 72 children in his 60s. His first wife bore him 57 children, and his second wife 15. It was for these successes that Yakov Kirillov was noted at court by Catherine II.
Grenade from Italy
Italy is not far behind! Another large foreign family named Granata continues our top list. In 1832, their 52nd child was born.
Mott from UK
The Englishmen Elizabeth and John Mott entered into a marriage in 1676. They did not have to regret this decision. As a result of their family life 42 healthy children were born.
Greenhill from UK
Another English couple, the Greenhills, who lived in Great Britain in the 17th century, gave birth to 39 children. That’s why they made it onto our unusually prolific list.
Daad Mohamed Al Balushi from UAE
In the United Arab Emirates in 2012, the 94th child was born into the huge family of Daad Mohamed al-Balushi. Despite such a number of children, this prolific father is not in first place due to the fact that he was provided with such a large number of children by 18 wives, successively replacing each other after the divorce. According to Sharia law, a man could have 4 official wives at the same time. However, due to his large offspring, he continues our top list of “The Largest Families in the World.”
Zion Khan from Indonesia
Today in the Indian village, similar views of Daad Mohamed al-Balushi are shared by Zion Khan, the founder of the sect, who, according to the laws of his religious cell, can have an unlimited number of wives. His large family lives in a modest house of one hundred rooms: 38 women of Zion live there, who bore their husbands a total of 94 children. The father of many children does not want to stop there and intends to continue his family line.
Moulay from Morocco
In the 18th century in Morocco, the cruel Sultan Moulay Ismail, the owner of hundreds of wives and concubines, was in power. The Guinness Book of Records reflected the following figures on its pages: the Sultan gave birth to 700 boys and 342 girls. However, according to historical notes, half of the children born to concubines were not officially registered. The information reflects that every 4 days in the life of Moulay Ismail, his child was born. Be that as it may, he is the most father of many children in the world, and his family of thousands with wives and children is the largest large family in the world in all of history, albeit in the meaning of this word that is unusual for us (for us, marriage is a monounion).
Large families in the past
A long time ago it was believed that a family should be large and have many children - it would be easier to live together big world. When everyone does their part, things go faster and smoother. Crafts (and this is training) and doing business in the world (society) were passed on from grandfathers and fathers to sons and grandsons, and housekeeping and all women's worldly wisdom wandered from grandmothers and mothers to daughters and granddaughters. This is how knowledge, skills and abilities were transferred, and culture was absorbed. The upbringing and training of the younger ones (through work, by example, mutual assistance, through communication with each other) took place interactively, right before our eyes. This did not depend on the strata of the population. Those who had the opportunity to receive education from other teachers and professionals undoubtedly received it, but it was additional, developing, expanding the boundaries of the knowledge that already existed. The development of generations went something like this.
Large families today
Over time, everything has changed: social conditions, social attitudes and demographic worldview. Nowadays in Russia a family with three or more children is considered to have many children. Not everyone decides to have such a large number of children. It would be more correct to say that few people dare. There are only 7-9 percent of all existing families in Russia with many children. This situation is a reflection of many social factors: this is an insufficient amount of financial earnings, and environmental deterioration, which affects the health of women and men of reproductive age, and those who work on an equal basis with men, instead of doing housework and raising children, as well as the emergence of a negative attitude towards large families.
Regarding our topic, we can probably dwell a little more on the last factor. For what reason has society formed negative attitude to large families? The fact is that in recent decades such “cells of society” have been mistakenly associated with disadvantaged ones. This happened due to the loss of some representatives of moral character and lack of education. Such couples, when giving birth to children, do not engage in their upbringing and development (they often find themselves later without the participation and help of the second parent). Sometimes a large number of children can even be explained by existing benefits (the state allocates special subsidies to large families for support purposes). Such a child, of course, having a bad example before his eyes, as a rule, repeats it in his life.
However, it is a mistake to judge an entire category of large families by individual disadvantaged representatives. But in order for a shift to occur in the perception of society, successful examples are again needed in the upbringing and overcoming of common everyday difficulties by large families, and this is not a quick matter, it is the matter of an entire era.
They did not make scientific discoveries, did not fly into space and, most likely, did not even know how to write their name, but their life can be called a feat
Today, four or five children in a family are surprising - just try to cope with one or two! But once upon a time women gave birth as much as they could without knowing any methods of contraception. And also maternity capital, preferential mortgages and benefits. Some people think they are crazy, but they didn't have time to pay attention to others.
Mrs. Harrison gave birth to 35 children
The story of a woman known only by her last name (her name is not preserved anywhere) dates back to the end of the 17th - early XVIII century. People learned about her from a magazine published John Mockett. This woman is English; in 1736, her last, 35th, child was born. No one can say how many births she had to endure and how many of her offspring survived, but the fact itself is amazing - in those days, women often died during their first or second birth, so Mrs. Harrison, apparently, was distinguished by enviable health.
Elizabeth Greenhill gave birth to 39 children
Unbelievable, but British Elizabeth Greenhill survived 38 births! As a result, she had 39 children, most of whom were girls and only seven boys, the youngest of whom, born in 1669, became famous as a wonderful surgeon. ThomasGreenhill became the author of the book “The Art of Embalming”, having conducted many studies on this topic. His mother died safely in 1681.
Alice Hooks gave birth to 41 children
Little is known about this heroic woman. All the information, quite scanty, is recorded on the tombstone of her son in Wales: it says that the person who died in 1637 rests here Nicholas, who was the 41st child Alice Hooks.
Elizabeth Mott gave birth to 42 children
And this lady is also British. Her married life began in 1676. Did the young girl think Elizabeth When she gets married, what will the Lord give her such a big family? Records from those times indicate that all births went well, all children were born healthy. But no one knows what happened to them later and whether they all survived to adulthood.
Maddalena Granata gave birth to 52 children
Italian ladies were even more fertile than English ones. Anyway, Maddalena Granata She became famous for managing to become the mother of 52 children. Maddalena was born in 1839. Her incredible ability to bear and give birth to children made the woman famous in Italy and beyond - they even said “the case of Grenade,” meaning large families.
Barbara Stratzman gave birth to 53 children
Barbara Stratzman was born in Germany in 1448. She was destined to become the mother of 53 children, she gave birth until she was 50 years old. Interestingly, this woman apparently became the record holder for the birth of twins. In total, she survived 29 births. Of these, 5 resulted in the birth of twins, 4 times triplets were born. Moreover, as a result of 4 births, 6 twins were born at the same time, and one day the Lord gave her 7 babies at once! True, out of 53 children, 19 were stillborn. This was actually a normal thing for Germany in the 15th century. The rest of Barbara's heirs survived safely and became adults.
Leontina Albina gave birth to 55 children
This woman was born in Chile in 1926. It is quite possible that she had not 55, but 64 children - it’s just that the birth of 55 was documented. Of all the offspring Leontina Albina 40 people reached adult age.
Peasant Kirillova gave birth to 57 children
In Russia, there were also known cases of a huge number of children in a family. For example, there is evidence that a certain peasant woman Kirillova gave birth to 57 children, surviving 21 births.
It is interesting that 10 births in a row ended in the birth of twins, she gave triplets to her husband 7 times, and 4 more times four twins were born at once.
At one time, historians considered this story exaggerated, but then documents were discovered according to which all 57 Kirillov children took part in one of the court hearings in 1755 - apparently, they were witnesses.
Rosa Gravata gave birth to 62 children
Italian Rose Salemi got married and became Rose Gravata. In 1923, the whole country learned about her - the newspapers described the life of this heroine, who gave birth to 62 children. Twice Rose gave birth to triplets, once they became “quadruplets”, two more births ended in the birth of quintuples and quintuples. All the children were born completely healthy. True, history is silent about their further fate.
Peasant Vasilyeva gave birth to 69 children
And again - the achievement of a Russian woman who “both galloping horse and burning hut”... Our compatriot peasant woman Vasilyeva, whose name is included in the book of records Guinness, lived in the 18th century, and she had 69 children as a result of 27 births. She gave birth to twins 16 times, triplets - 7, and four more times as a result of childbirth, four children were born. It’s hard to believe, but all of them were not only born, but also raised by caring parents - only two children died in infancy, the rest grew up safely.
Of course, all these stories are amazing. However, perhaps you shouldn’t believe them one hundred percent: all this happened so long ago and so few documented facts have been preserved that, quite possibly, the information about mothers with many children is exaggerated.
For example, regarding Russian peasant women, researchers say: these families lived in monasteries, and children were often brought into the monasteries “from the outside.” These foundlings could well have been registered as a peasant woman with many children - and this resulted in incredible numbers of twins born at the same time. Be that as it may, all these women evoke deep respect for their maternal feat.
IN different countries In the world, large families are considered to be families with different numbers of children. In Russia (in some regions), a family with three children is considered large. Families with a large number of children are everywhere: Europe, Asia, America, Africa. We decided to find out who they are - the largest families in the world? Our list includes only those families in which children were born to parents and not taken into care.
10 Jose Maria Postigo and Rosa Peach
Jose Maria Postigo and Rosa Peach - 15 children.
This is the largest family in Spain. My parents grew up in large families and had no doubt that someday they would have their own large family. Rosa and Jose Maria lost three children - they were born with heart disease. After experiencing tragic incidents, the parents developed 15 healthy babies. The couple leads an active social life and founded a charitable organization. Rose found time to write a book about how to live happily while raising 15 children. In March 2017, Jose Maria Postigo died of liver cancer, and now all the worries about his large family fell on the shoulders of his wife Rosa.
9 Bonell Family
Bonell family - 16 children.
Before meeting her future husband Ray, Australian Jenny had absolutely no interest in marriage, much less children. Now the Bonells are among the largest families in the world, and Jenny is not going to stop, having given birth to 16 children. Over the years of marriage, she suffered 7 miscarriages, but this did not stop the mother of many children, who adored children. Now Ray and Jenny are raising 7 daughters and 9 sons. For such a number of children, the couple had to get a bus. Despite the difficulties, the Bonells do not rule out the possibility of having another child in their family someday.
8 The Bates Family
The Bates family - 19 children.
Kelly, the mother of one of the largest families in the world, gives birth to babies almost every year. She never had twins, twins or triplets. The Bateses are evangelicals, so they do not use contraception. None of the children attend public kindergartens or schools - they were all educated at home. The four eldest sons have already started their own families and live separately from their parents.
7 The Radford Family
Radford family - 19 children.
The Radfords are the largest family in the UK. It is noteworthy that Sue Radford gave birth to her first child at the age of 14. Now the couple has 19 children. They both lived in foster families, had known each other since the age of seven and dreamed of their big and friendly family. In the summer of 2017, it became known that an addition was expected to the large family - 42-year-old Sue was expecting her 20th child. She already knows it will be a boy. At this point, according to Sue and Noel, they decided to stop - age does not allow a woman to bear more children.
The head of the family, Noel, is the owner of a bakery, where he works from 5 a.m. until late at night to support his numerous offspring. The Radfords are completely self-sufficient and do not ask for help from the government.
6 The Duggar Family
The Duggar family has 19 children.
The Duggar family is one of the most famous large families in the world thanks to the TV show 19 Kids and Counting, which chronicles their daily lives. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are the parents of 10 boys and 9 girls. A large family lives in Tontitown, Arkansas. They lead a quiet lifestyle, and their children are educated at home. Older children help parents raise younger ones and perform daily household chores.
Interesting fact: All the children in this family have names starting with the letter "J". Their parents explain the presence of so many children by the miscarriage that ended Michelle’s first pregnancy. The Duggar elders believe that the tragedy occurred because of oral contraceptives. After that they refused to take them. In 2011, the Duggars announced that they were expecting their 20th child, but Michelle suffered a miscarriage.
5 Shishkin family
The Shishkin family - 20 children.
The largest family in Russia lives in the Voronezh region. The Shishkins gave birth to 11 girls and 9 boys. The father of the family, Alexander, grew up in big family and always dreamed that he would have many children. The elders have already grown up and moved away, and ten younger children now live with their parents. Alexander and Elena can also boast of an impressive number of grandchildren - they have 23 of them. Not everything is smooth in their life and everyday life for the Shishkins - they only have to pay huge sums of money every month for electricity and water.
4 Guinness Family
Guinness family - 21 children.
Irish brewer Arthur Guinness is known not only as the founder legendary brand"Guinness", but also as the head of a large family of 21 children. Three of the children continued the family business and became brewers following their father's example. By the way, the Guinness Book of Records, popular all over the world, is directly related to the large brewer. One day it was decided to create an authoritative source that would help resolve disputes that arise among pub visitors. At first, the book contained scientific facts, which gradually replaced the amazing and extraordinary achievements of people from all over the globe.
3 Nameni Family
Nameni family - 21 children.
The largest family in Ukraine lives in the village of Ostritsa, Chernivtsi region. Leonora and Janos are believers, so they rely on God for childbirth. The older children already have their own families, and Leonora and Janos have six grandchildren. They make a living from agriculture. They don’t expect help from the state; the father of the family works where he can. After the birth of their 20th child, the family was included in the Ukrainian Book of Records, and Leonora received the title of mother-heroine.
2 Greenhill Family
Greenhill family - 39 children.
The Greenhill family, who lived in England in the 17th century, is considered one of the largest families in the world. They raised 32 daughters and 7 sons. Elizabeth Greenhill holds an amazing record: she gave birth 37 times to one baby and once to twins.
1 Vasiliev family
The Vasiliev family - 67 children.
All fertility records in modern large families pale in comparison to the story of a Russian peasant woman who gave birth to 69 children. Her name, unfortunately, remains unknown. According to information from the chronicle of the St. Nicholas Monastery, the first wife of the peasant Fyodor Vasilyev gave birth 27 times: 16 pairs of twins, 7 triplets and 4 quadruplets. Only two children did not survive infancy. The Vasilievs thus became the most large family in the world.
Ecology of knowledge: Stories about the most large mothers in the world are especially relevant today, when even one child is a luxury for many, and women are giving birth less and less: if in the 1950s
Stories about the most large mothers in the world are especially relevant today, when even one child is a luxury for many, and women are giving birth less and less: if in the 1950s the total proportion of children per woman was 4.95, now it has decreased to 2.36 . Scientists note that the birth rate is affected by the so-called demographic-economic paradox: the higher the standard of living in a family, the fewer children this family is likely to have.
For example, the lowest fertility rate today is in Singapore (a country with one of the highest GDPs in the world), where there is an average of 0.8 children per woman. At the same time, in Nigeria (where GDP is, accordingly, one of the lowest) this figure is 7.6! While this number of children may be shocking, it is worth considering that large families are still a feature of many cultures, and in an agrarian society, many children mean a large number of workers.
We've collected facts about 10 women with many children, whose stories seem fantastic today. So, let's meet ten mothers of the largest number of children in the world.
10. Mrs. Harrison - 35 children
Not much is known about Mrs. Harrison (history has not even preserved her name), we only know that she lived almost her entire life in London. As John Mockett (author of a publication devoted to entertaining stories and gossip) wrote about her in his journal, Mrs. Harrison gave birth to her 35th child in 1736. It is unknown how many of these children survived to adulthood; The number of births Mrs. Harrison had to go through is also unknown. However, the very fact that a mother of many children managed to survive at a time when the death of a woman during childbirth was quite common is certainly amazing.
9. Elizabeth Greenhill - 39 children
Thomas Greenhill was a well-known English surgeon. In addition, he was actively involved in the study of embalming and even published the book “The Art of Embalming” - despite the fact that at that time this burial practice was just beginning to be used. Thomas was the youngest of 39 children born to Elizabeth and William Greenhill. It is noteworthy that Elizabeth gave birth to twins only twice - which means that in total there were 37 births in her life!
8. Alice Hooks - 41 children
Everything we know about Alice Hooks comes from the inscription on her son's grave in Wales: a small tombstone states that Nicholas, who died in 1637, was Alice Hooks's 41st child. We know nothing more about the heroic Alice - neither who she was, nor how poor or wealthy her life was.
7. Elizabeth Mott - 42 children
A native of the English village of Mox Kirby, Elizabeth Mott married John Mott in 1676 and became the mother of a large family. We only know that all of her pregnancies were successful and all 42 children were born healthy, but we do not know whether all the children managed to reach adulthood.
6. Maddalena Granata – 52 children
Maddalena Granata, born in 1839 in Italy, is rumored to have given birth to 52 children and was quite famous in her time. In Italy there was even a phrase “the case of the Grenade”, meaning a family with a large number of children.
5. Barbara Stratzman – 53 children
Born in Germany in 1448, Barbara Stratzmann became famous for being the mother of 53 children. By the age of 50, she had given birth 29 times: 5 times she had twins, 4 times triplets, 6 times the number of babies born at the same time was 6, and once even 7! 19 out of 53 children were stillborn, which, however, was not uncommon for the 15th century. However, all the other 34 children grew up safely and reached adulthood.
4. Leontina Albina – 55 children
Leontina Albina was born in Chile in 1926, and she holds the record for the number of births. The total number of her children was 64, with the birth of 55 documented - however, this was quite typical for Chile at that time. According to information received from her husband, 11 of Leontine's children died during the earthquake, and only 40 children reached adulthood.
3. Peasant Kirillova – 57 children
The Russian peasant woman Kirillova (her name remains unknown) lived in the village of Vvedenskoye and during her life managed to give birth to 57 children - and as a result of only 21 births: 10 times she gave birth to twins, 7 times to triplets, and 4 times 4 babies were born at once. Since little information is known about Kirillova’s family, there have been suggestions that her story has been embellished. However, subsequently the number of children was confirmed by found documents: for example, in 1755, the entire Kirillov family, including 57 children, was present at one court hearing.
2. Mrs. Gravata – 62 children
The “Gravat case” continued in 1923, when Italian newspapers wrote about a resident of Palermo who became a mother for the 62nd time. Her name was - what a coincidence! – Rosa Gravata (née Rosa Salemi). She had two births of triplets, one with 4 babies, one with five and one with six. All 62 children were born healthy, although whether they managed to reach adulthood is unknown.
1. Peasant Vasilyeva – 69 children
The rating of mothers of many children is proudly crowned by our compatriot, the Russian peasant woman Vasilyeva, who, thanks to her fertility, was included in the Guinness Book of Records. Little is known about her: she was a peasant woman, lived in Shuya in the 18th century and gave birth to as many as 69 children during her life! Such incredible offspring were the result of 27 births that occurred between 1725 and 1765. Vasilyeva gave birth to twins 16 times, triplets 7 times, and 4 times there were four children. Even more incredible is that almost all of the children born to Vasilyeva survived (only two died). I wonder if this incredible record will ever be broken? published
