Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- What Ancestor Had the Most Children?


Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has our weekly challenge lined up:

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to:

1)  The Family History Hound listed 20 Questions about your Ancestor, and I'm going to use some of them in the next few months. 

2)  Please answer the question - "What ancestor had the most children?  How many?"

3)  Write your own blog post, make a comment on this post, or post  your answer on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a link to your answer in comments on this post.

My story

On my father’s side of the family, I have two ancestors who had ten children: Johann Anton Hork & Julia Ann Sievert (my great-grandparents) and John Gleeson & Margaret Tierney (my 2x great-grandparents).

On my mother’s side of the family,  I have several families with ten or more children: James Loveless & Linna Hughes had twelve children in South Carolina. Their son, Jesse Loveless & wife, Elizabeth Nixon had ten children. Jesse’s son, Ebenezer Loveless and wife, Eliza A. Rodgers had eleven children. James Madison Coor & Melissa Ann Welch had ten children in Mississippi.

But the most were Reuben M. Johnston & Olivia Jane Jones, who had thirteen children, all born in Comanche Co, Texas:
  • Rufus Arthur, b. 9 Oct 1880
  • Malissie Pearl Dode, b. 1 Jul 1882
  • Robert Lee, b. 26 Feb 1884
  • Thomas Newton, b. 25 Jul 1885
  • Florence Ellen, b. 17 Mar 1887
  • Ruby Hardy, b. 22 Aug 1888
  • Edna Mae, b. 26 Oct 1891
  • Woodie Andrew, b. Oct 1892
  • Lillie Estelle Nina, 12 Dec 1894
  • Fannie Bertha, b. 24 Jul 1896
  • Oral Dotterage “Pig”, b. 16 Dec 1898
  • Loyce Smith, b. 21 Sep 1902
  • Lloyd Strickland “Nig”, b. 7 Feb 1904

Reuben also had four additional children with first wife, Catharine Skull:
  • Samuel M, b. Feb 1870
  • Martha Mattie “Sis”, b. 1872
  • Lola D, b. 28 Mar 1874
  • Ocia Catherine, b. 27 Nov 1877
I do have another couple with sixteen children: Dempsey Welch & Elizabeth Rebecca Young. However, I didn’t do the research. and I don’t feel confident enough to include them. I only have birth dates for seven of the children.

Copyright © 2017 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Comments

  1. Janice M. SellersJuly 8, 2017 at 8:29 PM

    You have me beat! I have only two families with ten children, and none with more than that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa S. GorrellJuly 8, 2017 at 8:37 PM

      My father's side are Roman Catholic. But the larger families are southern. Guess they needed large families to help on the farms.

      Delete
  2. Mary Rohrer DexterJuly 9, 2017 at 4:30 PM

    I am with you in that ten and twelve were pretty normal sized families in quite a few of my lines. But it took two wives to get the totals of kids up in the higher teens. Do you know what happened to Catherine Skull?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa S. GorrellJuly 9, 2017 at 4:58 PM

      I don't know much about her. She appeared in one census with her husband and the son. Her daughter's death certificate gave her surname. She died before Rueben's marriage to Olivia Jane Jones in Dec 1879.

      Delete

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