Geez!

[AllieK]

Thought I would share a finding with you all pertaining to the genealogy. I'm doing a family and they had 16 kids between 1871-1899. Can you even imagine that before the age of electronics and throw away diapers? 28 years of non-stop poop, cloth diapers, breast feedings, terrible twos, and spit-up....and being pregnant? Not to mention, labor 16 times and no pain meds. I'm so thankful I grew up in a time that we had a choice over our reproductive systems.

[Sabine]

16 kids, no way , I had 2 and there were times when I thought that was too much
But there is a family in England and they have 21 children, yes, 21. I believe there last name is Radford, don't quote me on that. They lost one baby at birth, but all the others are fine, going to school. They don't live off welfare either, father owns a bakery, they live in a big house . And some of their older children now have kids of their own and they all live together. They seem to love that lifestyle, would not work for me, but to each their own.

[AllieK]

16 kids, no way , I had 2 and there were times when I thought that was too much
But there is a family in England and they have 21 children, yes, 21. I believe there last name is Radford, don't quote me on that. They lost one baby at birth, but all the others are fine, going to school. They don't live off welfare either, father owns a bakery, they live in a big house . And some of their older children now have kids of their own and they all live together. They seem to love that lifestyle, would not work for me, but to each their own.

I also had two. I went to get "fixed" thereafter. I never wanted 3 because I always heard that having 3 could be an issue with 2 kids ganging up on the other. My sister had 4 and those kids were always at the grandparents house, so much that my parents decided to move.

[CharleneG]

Wow, I can’t even imagine having that many kids! I had my 3 before disposable diapers were so common, and I probably couldn’t have afforded them anyway. After my third child I got my tubes tied and had a hysterectomy a few years later.

My next door door neighbors have 8 kids, which boggles my mind, but they are the nicest kids I’ve seen in a long time. Their mom is like Superwoman in my opinion!

[Sabine]

OMG, I have to correct myself, the Radfords are now the proud parents of 22 children !

[Chayote]

My paternal grandmother, who I met only twice, apparently had 28 babies in her lifetime according to my aunt who remembered all of her siblings. My Dad was one of the youngest boys, born in 1908. His mother was married twice. We are confused as to who some of the children belonged to... husband #1 or #2. Some of her children died in infancy from diarrhea, measles, possibly diphtheria. One girl died on a tram she was put on to travel home from hospital after having her tonsils removed.

When I have nothing else to do, I sit and search for graves with family names and sometimes discover that a young baby is buried in the same grave as adult relatives. Most of the family were buried in one of three large cemeteries that have great records. We will never know the truth about the family. Dad left home when he was 12 and spent years wandering around the country, keeping ahead of the truancy officer. I know that most of the boys born to the mother were 'rehomed' when they were about 10 years old. She kept all of the girls because they helped her to care for the babies. Dad got wind of who he was to live with and that's why he left home. He visited his mother before he joined the army during WW2 and again when he arrived home. I was about 8 or 9 the last time I saw her and she died shortly after that. My Dad paid for her funeral. In those days there was no contraception and women didn't refuse their husbands...

[AllieK]

Upon further research, I've found that several of the older kids got married and started their own families....all in the same house as their parents and siblings. I wonder how many people those houses held and how did couples have the privacy to make a new baby? Maybe they just got under a blanket and went after it. I shudder to think about it.

[Sabine]

How they have time and privacy ???
maybe they just leave the house, after all they have plenty of live in babysitters

[Sabine]

Their washing machine / dryer must run constantly, they probably have more then one , they have to. And who does all the cooking, shopping for food ??

[AllieK]

How they have time and privacy ???
maybe they just leave the house, after all they have plenty of live in babysitters

They have some old maps of the house locations in that area in the 1800's. Houses go along all of the streams and rivers on both sides and the farm land and animal farms go away from the rivers. They didn't have water wells, so they used that water for everything and couldn't' carry it too far. Where would they go to get away from kids and other people in the house? I'm betting sex wasn't as taboo as it is today. It was a natural function, just like breeding animals and pretty sure kids saw that going on from an early age.

[Sabine]

I was actually thinking of the Radford's, the parents, and their life now.