A woman called Valentina Vassilyeva gave birth to 69 kids and holds the Guinness world record for the most fertile mother.
Mrs. Valentina Vassilyeva was Feodor Vassilyev's first wife; the Russian couple resided in Shuya during the first half of the 17th century.
She gave birth to 69 children between 1725 and 1765, of whom 67 survived into infancy.
Records show that Mrs. Valentina Vassilyeva had 27 pregnancies during her 76-year life and gave birth to a total of 69 kids, including 16 sets of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. She had 67 living children after one set of her twins passed from infancy.
The first published story of the Mrs. Valentina Vassilyeva children appeared in an issue of The Gentleman's Magazine in 1783. It said that the reports,
"However astonishing, may be depended upon, as it came directly from an English merchant in St. Petersburg to his relatives in England, who added that the peasant was to be introduced to the Empress."
When discussing the record for the most children in Saint Petersburg Panorama, Bashutski, 1834, the author mentions that:
"On the day of 27 February 1782, the list from Nikolskiy monastery came to Moscow containing the information that a peasant of the Shuya district, Feodor Vassilyev, married twice and had 87 children. His first wife in 27 confinements gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. His second wife in eight confinements gave birth to six pairs of twins and two sets of triplets. Feodor Vassilyev was 75, with 82 of his children alive."
The stories were confirmed in Ivan Nikitch Boltin's 1788 commentary and again in Alexander Pavlovich Bashutskiy's 1834 book.
According to the Guinness World Record, it's important to take this historical record for having the most children by one woman with a pinch of salt, but it's possible that Mrs. Valentina Vassilyev had a genetic propensity to hyper-ovulate, which enhances the likelihood of having twins or multiple children.
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