The Relief Society Magazine used to have a feature entitled, \u201cUnusual Mothers\u201d.\u00a0 It would spotlight women who had given birth to a large number of children.\u00a0\u00a0 Often these women spotlighted were women who had sixteen, eighteen, or more children.\u00a0 Indeed, those numbers are unusual, even for then, and deserve some honor.\u00a0 As I understand it, Susa Young Gates (editor of the magazine)\u00a0was pro-large families, being a mother of thirteen.\u00a0 Sorry, Susa, you\u2019re not even unusual enough\u2026<\/p>\n
Way back in the 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> Century, it was fairly common to have from eight to eleven children.\u00a0 Back then, the mortality rate was high, so several children in a family would die while still young.\u00a0 Now let\u2019s think about this.<\/p>\n The typical 24-hour day would find a woman cooking over a fireplace, or coal stove.\u00a0 Bread was made every day, and meals took hours to cook.\u00a0 When not cooking, or stoking the fire, there was washing to be done.\u00a0 You\u2019ve heard the joke, \u201dWhat do you do when the dishwasher stops working?\u00a0 Kick her!\u201d<\/p>\n Two days a week was spent washing and drying clothing.\u00a0 Granted, they had less clothing, and washed those items only when absolutely necessary, but there was much more fabric to deal with, no automatic machine to do it for you, and drying it must have taken forever, especially in the winter months.\u00a0 Then, of course, came the darning.\u00a0 When was the last time you darned a sock?<\/p>\n Shopping was an ordeal.\u00a0 It was a day\u2019s journey just to get to town.\u00a0 The whole family would come along, because it was such a rare adventure.\u00a0 Everyone would be able to pick a treat and dad would fork over the $2.25 for groceries that would last for the next four months.<\/p>\n Now, where did these super-duper large families live?\u00a0 In a one, maybe two, room house; lean-to in the back, if they were lucky.\u00a0 No heat, no running water, no bathroom, no privacy.\u00a0 These women were heroic!!<\/p>\n In this particular article, each mother is spotlighted with some of their life experiences.\u00a0 Not one of them had an easy life.<\/p>\n From the April 1918 Relief Society Magazine:<\/p>\n Nellie Kenner Snow, mother of eighteen children, thirteen living.\u00a0 Married at age sixteen in Sanpete County, sealed two days later in St. George.\u00a0 With husband and seven children, moved to Piute County, with the idea to improve living conditions.\u00a0\u00a0 After struggling for two years, with one difficulty after another, they returned to Sanpete where they were finally able to buy and settle into their first home.\u00a0 They maintained an honest living while enduring much sickness and ill-health.\u00a0 Sis. Snow almost died after delivering her twins, but recovered in time for her husband to get sick and die, leaving her and her oldest son to support the family.\u00a0 During her difficult life, she remained a faithful, active member of the Church, and Relief Society.<\/p>\n Emma Adella Wood Tolman, mother of seventeen children, 59 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.\u00a0 She has always been a \u201cfaithful wife and mother, and an energetic worker in the Relief Society\u201d.<\/p>\n Fannie Johnson Caldwell married at age fifteen.\u00a0 She is the mother of sixteen children\u2014nine girls and seven boys.\u00a0 At age seventy-seven, she was still in perfect health.<\/p>\n Annie B. Hansen married in 1893, was baptized into the Church in 1895 and is the mother of eighteen children, fourteen still living.\u00a0 She is a teacher in the Relief Society and travels a distance of twenty miles each month to do her visiting teaching.\u00a0 She keeps up with her Relief Society work, besides taking care of her family and doing farm work.<\/p>\n The article concludes with this:\u00a0 \u201cWhat a glorious career is this for any woman!\u00a0 Honors are hers here and here after.\u201d<\/p>\n Life for us, in America, may have changed drastically (perhaps not so much in other nations of the world), but the commandment still applies, \u201cBe fruitful and multiply.\u201d\u00a0 There are still many of Heavenly Father\u2019s children yet to be born.\u00a0 Better to be born in a strong, righteous family, than to be lost and abused in lost and abused families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Relief Society Magazine used to have a feature entitled, \u201cUnusual Mothers\u201d.\u00a0 It would spotlight women who had given birth to a large number of children.\u00a0\u00a0 Often these women spotlighted were women who had sixteen, eighteen, or more children.\u00a0 Indeed, those numbers are unusual, even for then, and deserve some honor.\u00a0 As I understand it, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[373,9,10],"tags":[619,151,139],"class_list":["post-2177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-motherhood","category-women-of-god","tag-motherhood","tag-relief-society-work","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\n