Life in a Full House: 20 Vintage Photos of Incredibly Big Families
There’s something both heart-warming and downright impressive about enormous families. In photos, parents and children from these households spill out across the frame in rows that seem to go on forever.
Whether it was due to faith, traditional norms, or the need for an extra pair (or 15) of hands to help out at the farm, it was pretty standard for families back in the day to have more than just one or two kids. From rows of older siblings lined up shoulder to shoulder to a baby or two perched on a lap, these vintage portraits capture the joy (and chaos) of big households, from the late 1800s all the way to the present.
1. ‘My Grandparents and All 12 of Their Kids’
2. ‘America’s Largest All-Boy Family, Barefoot in Manhattan, 1955’
3. A Big, Happy Family Pictured in Germany, 1930
4. A Mexican Family Portrait With Over 40 People, 1930s
5. ‘My Mom’s Family [Pictured] in Kyiv, Ukraine, 1958’
6. Mom Was Not Playing Around: ‘Mom and Her First 11 Kids in Iowa, 1957. She Went on To Have Six More’
7. ‘My Great-Great-Great Grandfather’s Big, Handsome Family, Circa 1905’
8. A Family of 13 Kids Stands in Order of Height in Boston, 1925
9. The Family of John and Sophia Bohnsack, Pictured in the Thumb of Michigan, 1890s
10. ‘My Great-Great Grandparents’ Family Photo in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1895′
11. An Immigrant Family Arriving at Ellis Island From Europe, 1904
12. ‘A Family Portrait From the ’70s — My Mom Is on the Far Left of the Second Row. As the Oldest of 10 Children, She Was the ‘Third’ Parent’
13. Family Portrait, ‘New Years, 1964’
14. ‘My Great-Grandparents and Their 14 Children’
15. ‘A Big Family Reunion at Twin Springs, Circa 1910’
16. The Big Hair Really Gives It Away: ‘My Awesome ’90s Family Photo’
17. ‘My Great-Grandfather ‘Big Joe’ and His Family, Circa Early 1940s’
18. ‘My Great-Great Grandparents’ Family Portrait in Texas, Circa 1910′
19. ‘My Great Grandparents, Grandma, and Her Kids on Thanksgiving, 1959. My Grandma Would Go on To Have 17 Kids’
20. ‘Mrs. Clabe Hicks With 7 of Her 8 Children’
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