I’m finishing up my second lineage book and as I do the proofing and final layout shifts for ebook vs. print versions I’m able to take a step back and see my tree as opposed to the minutiae of individuals. One thing I can say for absolute certainty is that my ancestors were prolific.
My grandparents had 10 surviving children. That always seemed outrageous to me growing up as the oldest of just 3 (with a huge gap before the youngest), and it’s a game to remember all the aunts and uncles, let alone the cousins!
But when I take a step back and really look at how heavy the branches are above them - this was normal!
For example:
My grandfather’s grandfather had 12 kids. Then his father had 9 and his grandfather 12. And that’s just in his paternal line. My grandmother was one of 9, her father was also one of 9, and his father had 12.
Another ancestor, the elder of the family when they moved from North Carolina to Kentucky on the Spencer Adams Wagon Train, had 14 children.
And then there’s my ancestor Charles Cromwell Addington, Sr. (1777-1882). In 1857, he served as one of the representatives of Copper Creek Church in Nickelsville, Maryland, at the Stony Creek Association. They pursued building a new Meetinghouse, which is now known as ‘Addington Frame’.
The man lived a long time, and there was even a centennial announcement in his local newspaper in the late 19th century. He had 16 children from two wives (between 1802 and 1849, next week will be a subscriber-only post of his children). In his obituary, he is noted as having more than 500 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
That is one heavy branch.
Which means I have a lot of cousins out there.
Coming soon, May 2023: My Lineage from the Roots Up, vol. 2 from Aliconia Publishing, LLC