It can be hard to imagine in present-day what life would be like with 10 children. I am sure there are some cases, but they are infrequent. This clip from the archives shows what it was like for a mother, father and ten kids in a three-bedroom house.
Carol, Marie, Rosalind, Janet, Edith, Lorraine, Martin, Stephen, David, and Rebecca all troop down the stairs one after the other ranging in age from 14 to 2 years old. They are the Hall family of Ballyfermot, West Dublin.
Mary is highly optimistic about her situation and is thankful that she “is still healthy”. They seem like a wonderful family. Enjoy this brilliant old Irish video. It would also be great to get an update on how they are all doing all these years later.
What did you think of the video? You can see more of my old Irish videos here.
J. Mahood
Saturday 20th of August 2022
Lived in Dublin in 1947 and saw much heart breaking poverty. The mother’s response to her lot in life was amazing. With birth control forbidden, what other choice did she have ? Celibacy .?
Anna
Saturday 20th of August 2022
I can relate really well with this. I was the first of 11 children. 8 boys and 3 girls. Our house we lived in when I was very young probably was not over 800 sq.feet to 900 Sq. feet. My mom caught rain water in barrels and bathed us in galvanized wash tubs. My dad did furniture upholstery. We had one cow and a few chickens and grew some of our vegetables. People in our church passed their hand me down clothes to us.. We had what we needed maybe not everything we wanted but as children, we were happy. I used to think I wanted a dozen children. Only had 2. There were 2 sets of twins in our family.
Paul & Margaret Doran
Friday 19th of August 2022
I can relate to this story. I came from a family of 13. 7 boys and 6 girls. My parents immigrated from Ireland back in the 1920's. We had a house with 4 bedrooms, one large on for the boys. My father was the only bread winner but when were old enough to work everyone did. My Mom was a great cook and baker, a mender of everything!
Shannon
Thursday 11th of August 2022
I would also be curious as to how the family has been doing & if any more kids💚
Irish Around The World
Thursday 11th of August 2022
Yes it would be great if they followed up!
Susan Wrenn
Sunday 24th of July 2022
That Mom is a lovely lady. The children are blessed! I an number 8 of 9, and we lived in a three bedroom house with one bathroom, no garage or basement. That in mind, I KNOW the rooms in the average house in the states are considerably larger than those in Ireland.