This looks like a long post, but don't be afraid, it won't take long to read. I just finished reading The Klopfenstein Story again. This time I really paid attention to some of the details and found it quite fascinating. These are some of the facts I took the time to write down.
Great-Grandma Sophia Meiss Klopfenstein was married when she was 16 years old on Dec. 1, 1887. Exactly one year later she had her first baby on Dec. 1, 1888.
Baby #2 – 13 months later
Baby #3 – 17 months later
Baby #4 – 16½ months later
Baby #5 – 17 months later
Baby #6 – 20 months later
Baby #7 – 18 months later
Baby #8 – 15 months later
Baby #9 – 19 months later
Baby #10 – 21½ months later
Baby #11 – 18 months later
Baby #12 – 3 years later
Baby #13 – 2 years, 3 months later
Baby #14 – 2 years later
Jon and Kate plus 8 have nothing to brag about compared to Sophia Klopfenstein!
Several of the 14 children got around pretty well and married spouses who were not from their home town, which seemed a little surprising to me for those days.
Bertha married a man from Eureka.
Ida married a man from Pontiac.
Fred married a girl from Lexington.
Joe married a girl from Bluffton, Indiana.
Anna married a man from Lexington.
Harry married a girl from Chenoa.
Art married a girl from Pekin.
Coming from a family of 14 children, these children in turn had unusually small families, again for those days.
Bertha – 7
Benjamin Franklin – 2
Albert Lee – 3
Elmer Jay – 6
Ida – 1
Fred – 2
Joe – 2
Mary – 0
Anna – 1
John – 1
Harry – 0
Arthur – 1
Minerva - 2
Several of the 14 children died at a relatively young age, under age 70.
Benjamin Franklin – 34 – massive stroke
John A. – 44 – heart atack
Arthur E. – 46 – heart attack
Elmer J. – 67 – ill with diabetes, heart and kidney failure
Joe M. – 67 – heart attack
Harry P. – 64 – ill with a stroke
The Klopfenstein’s often went by names other than their first given name.
P.A. Klopfenstein
Benjamin Franklin went by “Frank”
Albert Lee went by “Lee”
Elmer Jay went by “E.J.”
You probably have the book written by Uncle Perry in 1996. It's a quick read and quite interesting. Thanks, Uncle Perry, for all your efforts.
5 comments:
Interesting to see these facts listed. I think I might've made my husband sleep in the basement about half-way through that child-bearing!! I have on occasion pondered the fact that most of them had small families and wondered why -- maybe they would've liked a little more individual attention?? I will say it was quite a feat for Grandpa and Grandma to raise 14 children to become productive, successful adults.
Judy, that is interesting to see how close together Sophia's children were born. I can't begin to comprehend how busy she was. In those days, she wouldn't have had modern appliances, disposable diapers, etc. And didn't it also say in the book that she never knew when her husband would bring extra people home for dinner? Truly amazing!
Judy,
Excellent & interesting facts and figures...it must have taken you quite a while to compile it all. I printed out a copy to put inside my copy of The Klopfenstein Story.
Cleve
Very interesting compilation of statistics. It gives me a renewed interest in reading the book again.
Wow. We really don't know how good we've got it, do we. We're all just glad she had baby #4--or did I number right?
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