I have blogged several times before about my father and his siblings. Dad was one of
10 children born between 1908 and 1928. As the second youngest of the Green children, Dad's oldest brothers and sisters left home while he was still quite young - his oldest sisters Isobel and Phyllis both married in 1934 when Dad was just 8 years old.
To the best of my knowledge the photo below is the only photo of all
10 siblings together, which makes the scanned image I have even more
precious. And yes, one of the brothers does have a beer bottle balanced
on his head! That would be Ernest, known to all as Squib, the second
eldest of the Green siblings. If there are any relatives out there who
have another photo of all 10 siblings together, I would love to hear
from you and am happy to share copies!
Given the spread of ages amongst the siblings, added to the fact that Dad was 44 years old when I was born, the spread of ages amongst the cousins is quite large - my oldest cousin on Dad's side is 35 years my senior!
On my mother's side of the family, my grandmother Gladys Pummeroy (nee Clark) was one of 12 siblings, plus 2 half siblings from her father's first marriage. Among my treasured photos are a pair dating from 1947 of the Clark siblings.
Divided
into the male and female sides, my mother is 5 years old and standing
at the front of the group, with my grandmother Gladys on her right and
Great-Grandmother Pricilla on her left.
The
male group, again featuring matriarch Pricilla, has my grandfather
William standing directly behind. For many of my aunts and uncles,
these are the only images I have of them, so they are precious to me
indeed.
Having only a single sibling myself, I find the idea of such large families quite different, although as I travel back up my family tree there are many such groups of siblings.
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