The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-05-25
Instances of Remarkable Feoundity

A writer in AlI the Year Round has
collected number of instances of re-
markable feeundity in certain families,
from which we select some of the most
wonderful After citing six instances
of the birth of two dozen children OF the
same parentage, and giving an instance
of q publican's wife at Ches ter, who had
borne twenty six children in sixteen
years, and a number of them being
twins, the writer says:
Passing ON to a still higher number,
nine instances are recorded where thlr-
| ty or more children were born of the
same parent. An old copy of the Gen.
tlemen's Magazine contains the obitua.
| ry notice OF Mrs. Agnes Melborne, who
! died at the aye Of one hundred and six,
| and had borne thirty children.
A woman in Essex is mentioned who
had fifteen boys in succession, and then,
to make the thing even, had fifteen girls
in the same unbFoken sequence. 1t Is
stated that when Charles v entered
Ghent in state as the Count of Flanders,
Que Oliver Minjan, whose wife had
brought him, twenty-one boys and ten
girls, presented himself before the EN-
peror at the head Of his corps OF boys, ali
10 uniform. OF course the marvellous
spectacle secured q pension for the
prosperous father. But the final fate OF
this numerous family was most tragical.
The whole thirty-one children were de-
stroyed by the Black Death which pre-
vailed in 1925, and the bereft parents fol-
lowed their offspring to the grave soon
after. Ghent erected a memorial to this
extraordinary family, which is still in
preservation.
Towards the close Of the last century
remarkable sight was witnessed ut
Kiston-le- Moor, in Cumberland, viz: a
procession consisting OF man and mis-
wife and thirty children marching to
church TO attend the baptism of the last
and thirty-frst youngster added to the
family group. 1t is related that when
| the Emperor Henry IL was once travel
| ing through Germany the Count.o OF Alb
endsbug gave over to his sovereign his
thirty-two children as the most precious
| je wells he could offer to The Crown. In a
| number Of the Gentlemen's Magazine for
| the year 1855 there occurs this terse no.
tice under tue head of Births: "a woman
| in We're street, OF the thirty fifth child by
one husband"
Advancing to ayet higher figure, our
authority gives four examples of up-
the same mot her. Early in the sixteenth
century, homas and Helen Urquhart,
OF Cromarly Castle, were the proud pa
rents OF twenty-five sons who grew up to
manhood, and OF eleven daughters who
lived to be married and many of them
the mothers of large families. Towards
the close of the seventeenth century
Thomas Greenhill, surgeon aud author
Of a treatise on the Art of Embalming,
addressed petition to the Duke of Nor
folk, then Earl Marshal or England, in
which he prayed: ''That, in considera-
ton OF your petitioner being the seventh
son and thirty-ninth child Of one father
and mother, your Grace would be
pleased to signalize by sume particular
motto or augmentation in his coat-oi-
armor, to transmit to posterity so tin-
common thing" The application was
granted--the addition to the Greenhill
coat-ofarms being "a demi-griffin, pow
dered with thirty-nitie muilets."
One of the most remarkable instances
OF fertility is afforded by the Bathurst
family. heyoungest brother OF the late
LORD Bathurst had twenty-five children
by his first wife, and fourteen by his
second; while TWO brothers and a sister
Of his iiad, during their married lives,
sixty.four childrenAfnaking In all just
OhO huAAASN ~ sAS RAS6~HJ Va WIG hO0l
couples.
Proceeding to the incredible number OF
forty children, there are five cases cited.
Pennant tfanscribes, in mis- Tour in
Wales, the following epitaph: "Here
lysth the body of Nicholas Hooker, of
Conway, gent, who was The forty-tirst
child OF his father, William Hooker, by
Alice, his wife, and tue father OF twenty
seven children. 1881" An inscription
on a tombstone in Heydon churchy ard,
Yorkshire, states that William Stratton
| was buried in 1874, at the age OF ninety
seven, and thathe had forty.ive children,
twenty -eight by his first wife and seven
teen BY her successor. " is said that a
Florentine noble, the Marchese Fesco-
| Baldi, possesses the portrait OF an an
cestress, Dionora SaIviato, on which Is
inscribed the declaration that the lady
mad had fiity-two ehildren--neyer less
than three AZ birth, and on one occa-
sion six aUa birthp A stiIl more mar
yelous storY IL tekep from the SSliee'