Family size matters!

My parents had five children, which might have been considered more than most, even when we were younger. But they only have two grandchildren. Previous generations were larger still, and increasingly so the further back into the nineteenth century you go. Colleen, at the Leaves and Branches blog, says what constitutes a large family ‘depends on the year, the generation,’  which is probably the general perception. 

So, how large were my family in preceding generations?

My grandparents
James Byrne and Lena O’Neill	2 children
Kevin Wynne and Annie Byrne	9 children
My great-grandparents
Michael Byrne and Elizabeth Mahon	4 children *
Charles O’Neill and Mary Agnes Donovan	9 children
Patrick Wynne and Teresa Carroll	8 children
James Byrne and Christina Devine	8 children

* Elizabeth died aged only 34 years.  

              

My great-great-grandparents
John Byrne and Alicia Leahy	2 children *
James Mahon and Margaret McDonnell	1 child
John and Margaret O’Neill	Unknown
John Donovan and Maryanne Coyle	7 children
John Wynne and Bridget Hynes	10 children
Maurice Carroll and Anne Ratcliffe	10 children **
Francis Byrne and Margaret McGrane	14 children
John Devine and Maryanne Keogh	7 children

* Alicia died aged about 29 years. John also had 5 children with his first wife. 

** Maurice also had 5 children with his first wife. 

My great-great-grandfather, Maurice Carroll, claims the prize for having fathered the most children – 15 in total – 10 with my great-great-grandmother, Anne Ratcliffe, and 5 with his first wife, Mary Anne Frazer. 

Maurice's children with Mary Anne were David Carroll (born 1857), Robert Carroll (1860-1942), Catherine Carroll (born 1862), Thomas Carroll (born 1863) and James Carroll (1865-1943). 

His children with Anne were Mary Carroll (1871-1941), Thomas Carroll (born 1873), Anne Carroll (1875-1926), Maurice Carroll (1877-1877), John Carroll (born 1878), Maurice Carroll (born 1882), Peter Carroll (1884-1888), Teresa Carroll (1888-1958), Joseph Carroll (1891-1896) and Margaret Carroll (born 1895). 

I've written about my great-grandmother Teresa before, and about her half-brother, James, and her sister Anne (see links to these articles above). But, although some of Maurice’s children died in childhood, I've lost track of others who I know survived. 

Maybe, it’s time to revisit their stories…

Updates:
19 May 2019: What happened to Margaret Mary Carroll? here.
16 Jun 2019: Great-granduncle John Carroll ~ a Black Sheep? here.
30 Jun 2019: Robert O'Carroll (1860-1942), here.
14 Jul 2019: Annie Carroll - a tale of betrayal, here.
28 Jul 2019: What happened to Maurice Carroll, here.