#52Ancestors #Week23 - So Many Descendants

This week’s prompt made me laugh out loud. I am Irish Catholic on my mother’s side.  That’s it, that’s the blog, lol.

I don’t have any idea the exact number of descendants (I could count them, but my grandfather had 27 first cousins, and that was just on his dad’s side!)  However, when I looked at Pulaski County, Illinois and my 2nd great grandfather, I found the extraordinarily large families I needed in Mine and Cuzzin’s neck of the woods.

Harry Coleson, my Gramps’ biological father, was an only child, his mother likely having died in his infancy as he was raised by his grandmother. However, he was surrounded by loads of aunts, uncles and cousins. As of today’s research, his mother was born toward the middle of her parents’ twelve children, and her father (Thomas Jefferson Parker) was one of fourteen!  Harry was married and together with his wife Amelia had 9 children (2 of their daughters died in infancy), and that's in addition to my Gramps, his other son.

As for the number of descendants of these families, I went through my trees and made a bit of a list. If I include the living and the long passed, the number exceeds hundreds, but what ends up being more interesting is that with 12 or 14 children, most of whom lived reasonably long lives for the times, the names of in-laws and grandchildren end up encompassing many of the area’s surnames!  This is how my Cuzzin and I keep finding ourselves chasing our relationship to one another around in circles!

For those that care to read on, I’ll outline some of the family below. Harry Coleson, only child, had 28 known grandchildren. As I am his descendant and I have a general idea of how many cousins I have in both my family and those descended from his wife Milly, let me just close with my answer to this week’s prompt:  A LOT!

Harry Coleson married Amelia “Milly” Kesner:

Lloyd Edgar Coleson, had 6 - 9 children

Mabel Mae Coleson, had 2 daughters

Frank E Coleson, had 3 children

Cassie Coleson - died in infancy

Elise Marie - died in infancy

Jessie Marie Pauline Coleson, had 4 children

Viola M Coleson, had 3 sons

Wilber Coleson, had 1 daughter?

Roy C. Coleson, had 2 children

Harry Coleson and Florence Hughes Chamberlain:

Clyde W. Chamberlain, had 7 children, 28 grandchildren, 30+ great-grands