Seven Eleven

Scheduling posts is kind of fun...

James and I bravely (or foolishly) raised seven children, five boys and two girls, but my Great Grandma and Grandpa Shafer did us better and raised eleven. I know families were generally larger one hundred years ago, but eleven is still a rather hefty quiver. James and I had our children young. We were only 31 when Hannah was born and then we were finished having babies, but Great Grandpa Joseph Shafer didn't start having babies until he was nearly 40. By the time his youngest child was born he was 58 years old.

I love these old photos taken one Christmas on one of the farms up in the hills above Angelica, NY, probably on Peavy Rd. The first photo is Matilda and Joesph Shafer and their eleven children. My grandma, Florence, is second in the back row (next to Uncle Joe). She was the third child and second daughter. Grandpa Joe had to have been nearly 80 and Grandma a much younger 60.

I'm glad they didn't stop at taking pictures of just their immediate family. They took a second Christmas photo of their in laws and grandchildren. (This is helpful in determining when the picture was taken. That's Jim Torpey there being held by his father Gene.) My dad is the cute one. ;) He's second from the end in the front row. Eleven children, six in laws, and fourteen grandchildren (and they weren't near finished). Not too bad!

There's that picture of  Great Grandma hanging on the wall behind them. :)