An Ancestor Meme!

John of Transylvanian Dutch blog came up with a new meme a couple of days ago in his Can you top this? article. I don't believe that I can come up with an ancestor who has fathered more than 22 children because I have only been able to go back only 150 to 200 years so far. But I do have a couple of female ancestors who had at least 11 children. I have to wonder, though, how common was it for women in the late 1800s to early 1900s, to bear eleven children? Most of my female ancestors that I have researched so far have had between six and eight children. I could be wrong, but having eleven children, to me, would still seem to be an accomplishment, especially if the majority of the children survived to adulthood. Since we live in an age of antibiotics, I don't believe we can fully comprehend what life was like when antibiotics and vaccines were pretty much non-existent. (When I say non-existent, I mean when they were uncommon or not readily available. Edward Jenner came up with the first vaccine back in the 1700s.) Of course, I can't comprehend because I was born way after antibiotics became readily available. So what do think? As always, you can leave a comment.