69 | Valentina (1st wife of Feodor Vassilyev)[1] | Valentina and her husband Feodor Vassilyev are alleged to hold the record for the most children a couple has parented. She gave birth to a total of 69 children – sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets – between 1725 and 1765, a total of 27 births. 67 of the 69 children were said to have survived infancy. Allegedly Vassilyev also had six sets of twins and two sets of triplets with a second wife, for another 18 children in eight births; he fathered a total of 87 children. The claim is disputed as records at this time were not well kept. |
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62 | Mr. and Mrs. Gravata | A Tuscan woman named Gravata gave birth to a total of 62 live children. |
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57 | Mrs. and Mr. Yakov Kirillov | The first wife of peasant Yakov Kirillov from the village of Vvedensky, Russia, gave birth to 57 children in a total of 21 births. She had four sets of quadruplets, seven sets of triplets and ten sets of twins. All of the children were alive in 1755, when Kirillov, aged 60, was presented at court.[2]:6 As with the Vassilyev case, the truth of these claims has not been established, and is highly improbable. |
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53 | Barbara and Adam Stratzmann | It is claimed that Barbara Stratzmann (c. 1448 – 1503) of Bönnigheim, Germany, gave birth to 53 children (38 sons and 15 daughters) in a total of 29 births by 1498. She had one set of septuplets, one set of sextuplets, four sets of triplets and five sets of twins. Nineteen of the children were stillborn, the eldest surviving was eight years old in 1498.[3] As with the Vassilyev, Gravata and Kirillov cases above, the survival of any one of the offspring of the alleged multiple births is questionable, as is the likelihood of so many multiple births in an era before fertility drugs. |
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52 | Maddalena Granata | Maddalena Granata (born 1839) of the City of Nocera, Italy, who married at age 28, had given birth to 52 living and dead children, 49 being males, by 1886. Dr. de Sanctis, of Nocera, stated that she had 15 sets of triplets.[4][5]:14 |
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44 | Mariam Nabatanzi Babirye | Mariam Nabatanzi from Uganda gave birth to 44 children (43 survived infancy) by the age of 36. This included 3 sets of quadruplets, 4 sets of triplets and 6 sets of twins, due to a rare genetic condition causing hyperovulation. At the age of 40 she underwent a medical procedure to prevent any further pregnancies.[6] |
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42 | Elizabeth and John Mott | Elizabeth Mott of Monks Kirby, Warwickshire, married in 1676 and produced 42 live-born children. She died in 1720.[5]:13 |
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41 | Alice Hookes | According to the inscription on a gravestone in Conway Church cemetery, Gwynedd, North Wales, Nicholas Hookes (died 1637) was the 41st child of his mother Alice Hookes, but there were no further details.[5]:13 |
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39 | Elizabeth and William Greenhill | Thomas Greenhill was the last child of 39 by his mother Elizabeth (1615–1681) and William Greenhill. The family consisted of 7 sons and 32 daughters. Not only is this a large number of live newborns, but is unusual in that all but one pair of twins were single births. |
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35 | Mrs. and Mr. Harrison | Mrs. Harrison, the wife of an undertaker residing in Vere Street, London, gave birth to her 35th child by one husband in 1736.[7] |
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