List of people with the most children
Encyclopedia
This article lists people who have parented the most children.
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Couples
This section lists couples who have parented the most children.- Feodor VassilyevFeodor VassilyevFeodor Vassilyev was a peasant from Shuya, Russia. His first wife, Mrs. Vassilyev sets the record for most children birthed by a single woman. She gave birth to a total of 69 children; however, few other details are known of her life, such as her date of birth or death...
and his first wife, whose name is unknown holds the record for most children a couple has parented. She gave birth to a total of 69 children. She gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets between 1725 and 1765, in a total of 27 birthsChildbirthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
. 67 of the 69 children born are said to have survived infancy. - Arthur GuinnessArthur GuinnessArthur Guinness was an Irish brewer and the founder of the Guinness brewery business and family.He was also an entrepreneur, visionary and philanthropist....
, an Irish brewer, and his wife, Olivia Whitmore had 21 children, of which 10 lived to adulthood. - Henry Wilson Crocker, of Lowell Massachusetts, and his wife Anna Josephine Crocker, had 21 children, of which 18 lived to adulthood.
- Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have parented 19 children (expecting the 20th). The family is the subject of the reality show, 19 Kids and Counting.
- Samuel WesleySamuel WesleySamuel Wesley was an English organist and composer in the late Georgian period. Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart and was called by some "the English Mozart."-Personal life:...
and his wife Susannah Annesley had 19 children, of which 10 lived beyond infancy.
Mothers
This section lists mothers who have mothered the most children, with not necessarily the same father.- Nadya SulemanNadya SulemanNadya Denise Doud-Suleman , known as Octomom in the media, is an American woman who came to international attention when she gave birth to octuplets in January 2009. The Suleman octuplets are only the second full set of octuplets to be born alive in the United States...
has mothered 14 children, including the first set of octuplets to surviveSuleman octupletsThe Suleman octuplets are six male and two female children conceived via in vitro fertilization and subsequently born to Nadya Suleman on January 26, 2009, in Bellflower, California. They presently reside in La Habra, California...
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- Angel Adams has mothered fifteen children, a dozen of whom she lived with in a one bedroom motel room. These children have now been put into foster care.
Fathers
This section lists fathers who have fathered the most children, with not necessarily the same mother. In some cases, fathers who have parented large amounts of children can be attributed to polygamyPolygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
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- Ismail Ibn SharifIsmail Ibn SharifMoulay Ismaïl Ibn Sharif was the second ruler of the Moroccan Alaouite dynasty. Like others of the dynasty, Ismaïl claimed to be a descendant of Muhammad through his roots to Hassan ibn Ali...
, an AlaouiteAlaouite DynastyThe Alaouite Dynasty is the name of the current Moroccan royal family. The name Alaouite comes from the ‘Alī of its founder Moulay Ali Cherif who became Prince of Tafilalt in 1631. His son Mulay r-Rshid was able to unite and pacify the country...
sultanSultanSultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
, is said to have fathered 867 children, including 525 sons and 342 daughters with multiple wives and concubines. - King SargonSargon of AkkadSargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great "the Great King" , was an Akkadian emperor famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 23rd and 22nd centuries BC. The founder of the Dynasty of Akkad, Sargon reigned in the last quarter of the third millennium BC...
is reported to have had 200 children. - Kuru of the Kauravas was said to have an 102 children: 101 sons and one daughter.
- Ziona ChanaZiona ChanaZiona Chana is a head of Chana a Christian sect formed in June 1942, which survives in the mountains of Mizoram state of India, sharing borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar. He is also recorded as the head of the "worlds largest existing family" with 39 wives, 94 children, 14 daughters-in-law and...
, leader of a polygamist sect in the MizoramMizoramMizoram is one of the Seven Sister States in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the...
state of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, has 94 children with 39 wives, as well as 33 grandchildren. - Emperor MeijiEmperor MeijiThe or was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death...
reportedly was the father of 87 children. - Ramesses IIRamesses IIRamesses II , referred to as Ramesses the Great, was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire...
reportedly had had over 80 children. - Cecil Byran Jacobson is a fertility doctor who fathered 75 children by impregnating patients with his own sperm.
- Ramon Revilla, a Filipino actor and former senator, fathered 72 children through 16 different women.
- Rulon JeffsRulon JeffsRulon Timpson Jeffs was the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon fundamentalist organization based in Colorado City, Arizona....
reportedly had as many as 65. - Warren JeffsWarren JeffsWarren Steed Jeffs was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints . In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault....
reportedly has as many as 60. - Brigham YoungBrigham YoungBrigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
, a leader in the Latter Day Saint movementLatter Day Saint movementThe Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, fathered 57 children by 16 of his 55 wives. - Joseph F. SmithJoseph F. SmithJoseph Fielding Smith, Sr. was the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
, LDS Church President fathered 43 children through his 6 wives. - Lorenzo SnowLorenzo SnowLorenzo Snow was the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1898 to his death. Snow was the last president of the LDS Church in the nineteenth century.-Family:...
, early MormonMormonThe term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
leader, fathered 42 children by his 9 wives. - John Taylor (Mormon), a leader in the Latter Day Saint movementLatter Day Saint movementThe Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, fathered 34 children through his 7 wives. - Wilford WoodruffWilford WoodruffWilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...
, a Mormon Church leader, fathered 33 children through his 5 (possible 6) wives. - Tom Green, has fathered 30 children with 10 women.
- Henry I of EnglandHenry I of EnglandHenry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
fathered at least 26 children. - Dr. Samuel Annesley boasted that he had fathered two dozen children. Susannah Wesley was the 25th of his 25 children.
- Nanu Ram Jogi, an Indian farmer, has fathered 22 children with 4 wives. He was the world's oldest father when he fathered his 21st child at the age of 90.
- Richard Lovell EdgeworthRichard Lovell EdgeworthRichard Lovell Edgeworth was an Anglo-Irish politician, writer and inventor.-Biography:Edgeworth was born in Pierrepont Street, Bath, England, grandson of Sir Salathiel Lovell through his daughter, Jane Lovell....
, an Anglo-Irish politician, fathered 22 children with 4 wives. - Desmond Hatchett has fathered 21 illegitimate children with 11 different women.
- James II of EnglandJames II of EnglandJames II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
fathered 21 children between 1660 and 1692. Of these, 15 were legitimate - 8 by his first wife, Anne HydeAnne HydeAnne Hyde was the first wife of James, Duke of York , and the mother of two monarchs, Mary II of England and Scotland and Anne of Great Britain....
, and 7 by his second wife, Mary of ModenaMary of ModenaMary of Modena was Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of King James II and VII. A devout Catholic, Mary became, in 1673, the second wife of James, Duke of York, who later succeeded his older brother Charles II as King James II...
. - Carlos GracieCarlos GracieCarlos Gracie was the first Gracie to learn Judo from Otávio Mitsuyo Maeda. Based on this judo training, Carlos and his brothers founded the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu...
fathered 21 children. - Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, a German composer, fathered 20 children with 2 wives. - CharlemagneCharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
fathered 20 children with 3 wives and 5 concubines between 757 and 807. - Jacob ZumaJacob ZumaJacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is the President of South Africa, elected by parliament following his party's victory in the 2009 general election....
has fathered 20 children with 5 wives, and others out-of-wedlock. - Keith Macdonald. has fathered 15 children with 14 women, all out of wedlock.