* Find persons with a large number of children (i.e., more than, say, 6).
* Create a Descendants List report for that person, limiting the generations to 3.
* Count the third generation persons.
1) Norman and Sarah (Read) Seaver had (that I know about):
* They had 8 children
* They had 50 grandchildren
2) Martin and Mary (Houx) Carringer had (that I know about):
* They had 8 children
* They had 45 grandchildren
One problem is that my database is not complete in having all of the grandchildren of my ancestral families. I have all of the children (I think), but not all of the children of the children. Only in my one-name studies do I try to capture the grandchildren. So that limits it to my Seaver, Carringer, Auble, Dill and Buck surnames.
The book First-publication of the Hildreth family association : genealogical and historical data relating to Richard Hildreth (1605-1693), freeman 1643, Cambridge and Chelmsford, Mass., Thomas Hildreth (died 1657), of Long Island Southampton, N.Y. claims that Richard Hildreth (1605-1693), the immigrant, had 76 grandchildren.
My Seaver grandparents had only 11 grandchildren, and my Carringer grandparents had only 3 grandchildren.
How about you? Do you have ancestors who have over 50 grandchildren? If so, tell me, and add to the MyHeritage poll results.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/12/how-many-grandchildren-of-person-are-in.html
Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver
My 2x great grandfather Asa Ellingwood had 11 children 66 grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteMy great grandfather John F. Spurlock had 19 children and 63 grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy second great grandfather, Samuel Vanevery, had 23 children. I know of 47 grandchildren. I suspect there are more.
ReplyDeleteA newspaper article about my wife's second great grandmother's 83rd birthday references 63 children and grandchildren, but I haven't identified all of them.
My great-grandfather's grandfather married twice, and had one daughter out of wedlock. 16 kids total, and a total of 61 grandkids, according to my records. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteWell the first Comeau that came to America, Pierre Comeau, had 9 children and I count (so far in my research) 89 grandchildren
ReplyDeleteMy 2x great-grandfather John Covey Howard had 20 children and 81 grandchildren (that I know about). Eight of his children either didn't have any children or I don't know about them.
ReplyDeleteMy great grandparents Theodoro Pacheco and Ana Jacinta de Mello had 8 children and 70 grandchildren. Only one of their children did not have any children (may have died before adulthood).
ReplyDeleteMy second great grandfather Harrison Shortridge had 9 children and 51 grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteMy second great grandfather, Hervey Coffin, had 11 children and 58 grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteMy 5x great grandfather, Samuel Pickerill had 12 children and at least 139 grandchildren. My 4x great grandmother Lucy Ann Pickerill Bartholomew had the fewest children of her siblings with only 7!
ReplyDeleteMy mother has(!) six children and 26 grandchildren (so far).
ReplyDeleteHi Randy
ReplyDeleteOne of our readers commented that their great-grandparents had 8 children and 70 grandchildren.
I'm sure I had a few ancestors with more than 50 children, but the main one I know is Joseph Madison Carroll Norman - 26 or 27 children (3 wives) and 122 grandchildren that I know of.
ReplyDelete