General Chat

No I am not this was in my evening Echo on looking back 100 years ago. Since the Old Testament, few people have had such large families as the late Mr John Jonas of Chester. His qifw became the mother of 33 children, all of whom lived to be christened, though the majority died before reaching manhood. She had 15 sets of twins and she also gave birth to three children singly. That poor woman, I have done a search for John Jonas and there is a few but it desnt give his age in the newspaper. Are any of you researching that name. That would be a lot of birth certificates to order. Debbie

I thought my g/g/granda and grandma did well with twelve but thirty three, i wonder where she found the time for housework.Fred.

Housework? No need to make the bed anyway;)

Hi Alot of mine had 10 - 15 kids, but 33 !! poor woman, her life must have been very hard. Sandra

Can anyone find them on a census? Probably have a page to themselves. Crista

I wonder if she ever worked out what was causing it.

In 1901 there are 20 Jonas in Chester but no John - Cheers Chris

Geoff, She obviously hadn't heard of a headache..... Crista

Afternoon all This was 100 years ago so 1904 so I imagine they should be on the 1901 census I dont know whether it meant he died 100 years ago or it happened then. He must have been a horrible man letting his wife go through all that. Debbie

I can't see anyone obvious on the 1891 - I'm searching for John Jonas in Cheshire but none of them appear to be overrun with children

okay - I'm getting into this now. I've searched for Jonas births in Cheshire using FreeBMD and got these that have matching page numbers so in theory could be twins: Births Sep 1845 Jonas  Sarah    G Boughton  19 39   Jonas  William    G Boughton  19 39   Births Jun 1847 Jonas  John    Gt Boughton  19 48   Jonas  Mary    Gt Boughton  19 48     Births Jun 1852 Jonas  Eliza    Great Boughton  8a 366   Jonas  Emma    Great Boughton  8a 366   Births Sep 1853 Jonas  Eliza    Gt Boughton  8a 331   Jonas  Thomas    Gt Boughton  8a 310   Births Jun 1857 Jonas  Eliza    Gt Boughton  8a 348   Jonas  Henry    Gt Boughton  8a 348

If I remember rightly the person with the most children in this country was a Mrs Mott and she had 46 children around 1670s to 1720s. The person with the most in the world was a Russian woman with 64 or 68 I think. I saw it on TV yesterday. Lindsey

Well done to you Zoe that looks like a few sets of twins there. perhaps the paper article meant he John Jonas had died in 1904. So the dates of the children you found would probably be about right. I wish there was someone researching them I would love to know if twins carried on in the family. Debbie

right - I think I have two of them in the 1881:  (this first one would be his son??) William JONAS   Head   M   Male   31   Chester, Cheshire, England   Plumber      Emma JONAS   Wife   M   Female   33   Chester, Cheshire, England         Emma JONAS   Daur      Female   9   Chester, Cheshire, England   Scholar      Mary A. JONAS   Daur      Female   7   Chester, Cheshire, England   Scholar      William JONAS   Son      Male   5   Chester, Cheshire, England   Scholar   Mabel JONAS   Daur      Female   3   Chester, Cheshire, England         John J. JONAS   Son      Male   2 m   Chester, Cheshire, England         Alfred FURNESS   Nephew   U   Male   15   Chester, Cheshire, England   Apprentice Plumber     ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 96 Foregate St, Chester St John Baptist, Cheshire, England (and this would be the prolific Mr jonas himself)  John JONAS   Head   M   Male   66   Chester   Furniture Broker      Mary JONAS   Wife   M   Female   67   Gresford, Denbigh, Wales   Saleswoman ...      Martha JONAS   Dau   U   Female   30   Chester   Servant      Eliza CALLAN   Dau   M   Female   23   Chester   Furniture Saleswoman      Henry JONAS   Son   U   Male   23   Chester   Furniture Salesman ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 65 Foregate St, Chester St John Baptist, Cheshire, England obviously I'm making a lot of assumptions here. I wonder could we contact the newspaper and see if the piece they reprinted referred to a death or if it was just a piece about the man  

do tell me if I'm getting carried away. The poor exhausted woman???.... Marriages Jun 1839 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CRANE  Thomas    Great Boughton  19 21   EVANS  Margaret    Great Boughton  19 21   GREGORY  Thomas    Gt. Boughton  19 21   JONAS  John    Great Boughton  19 21   KEARSLEY  Mary    Great Boughton  19 21   LARGE  Hannah    Gt. Boughton  19 21

I think My Echo has an email address so I might try and email them and ask them. I will let you know if I recieve a reply. Debbie

If my memory is correct this is mentioned by the guide on the Chester city bus tour and their graves are in the local cemetery. Linda

I have just come across this family in the Westmorland Gazette, April 25 1857 where there is a copy of an announcement of her 12th set of twins, in Chester, a girl and a boy - which together with other births totalled 32 children at that time.

Christina did you spot the date of this thread - 2004

lololol makes my late FIL who was one of 20 children a child from a small family :-D