Fecundity

Week 11: #52 Ancestors – Large Family

By Eilene Lyon

Large families used to be the norm, particularly in our country’s agrarian years. Studies on U. S. fertility rates show that the average births per woman in 1800 was over 7.0.¹ Given that some women had no children and others had a low number due to death during childbirth, widowhood, or other factors, it’s clear that some women had way more than seven children. As of 2016, fertility in the U. S. dipped to 1.8 and shows no sign of reversal.²

And given that men are capable of having children essentially for their entire post-puberty lives, it’s not unusual for one man to have an enormous number of kids. In my family, the all-time fecundity champion is my 3^rd great-grandfather, Samuel Paul, who had 18 known children by two wives, with only two not surviving to adulthood.

One descendant has asserted that the second wife, Lydia Hedrick, had an additional three children for which no evidence remains.³ If true, that would put Samuel at 21 children. Certainly not a record, but not the norm, either. Unfortunately, there are no family group photos for this big clan.

Samuel Paul was the grandson of Eva Dockenwadel and Georg Paul, two German immigrants. His parents were Michael Paul and Elizabeth Geissinger, who settled in the “Pennsylvania Dutch” region. He was one of ten children in this German-speaking family.  Per census records, Samuel was not taught to read or write and spent his life farming.

Samuel was born in 1804 in Upper Mahanoy Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.⁴ About 1828, he married Catharina Hepler, the 18-year-old daughter of Peter Hepler and Anna Maria Wagner.⁵ They had five children together: Peter, Elizabeth, Catherine, Mary (my ancestor), and Salome. It appears that Catharina died in June 1838, a few months after the birth of her fifth child.⁶

It’s probable that Samuel and Lydia married sometime in 1839 or early 1840. Their first child, Abigail Evaline Paul, was born in November 1840.⁷ Lydia continued to have children at a normal pace until her last child, William, was born in 1867, when Lydia was 46 years old.⁸ All the family spoke German at home.⁹

Sometime between the birth of daughters Harriet and Sarah, in 1846 and 1847, the Pauls moved to Tipton County, Indiana. According to family lore, game was abundant there and Lydia could hunt and dress a deer as well as anyone.¹⁰ Samuel’s brother, Isaac, also made the move to Indiana. Samuel’s oldest brother, Johann Paul, moved to Ohio and became known as John Powell, complicating family research a bit.

Having a lot of children didn’t seem to be very good for Samuel’s financial state, and being illiterate and German-speaking probably weren’t helping, either. In 1850, with ten children at home, his farm was worth $2,000.¹¹ By 1860, with eleven children in the home, his real estate was valued at $500.¹² By 1870, it dropped to $300.¹³

Lydia Hedrick Paul was reputed to be a volatile, jealous woman who burned the family house to the ground during one of her rages. Whether this is true or not – who can say? This is supposedly the reason that many family history documents no longer exist. At any rate, Samuel and Lydia parted ways about 1878, possibly getting divorced.¹⁴

Samuel went to live with his daughter, Mary, who by then was living in Columbus, Johnson County, Missouri.¹⁵ According to family history, he died there on April 8, 1884, but no one has ever found a record for his death or burial.

Samuel Paul on Ancestry

Feature image: Samuel Paul in later life (unknown source)

Many records for the Paul, Hepler, and Hedrick families are found in the archives of  Howerter’s Church in Northumberland County at http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/northumberland/church/howert2.txt