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MaeDell Taylor Hawkins, 98, will welcome her 622nd grandchild this summer.
The Kentucky matriarch was pictured with her daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter, great-granddaughter and great-granddaughter in a six-generation photo which of course made her great-grandchildren go viral.
Photo was taken in late February at the nursing home where Taylor Hawkins lives; She holds seven-month-old Zhavia Whitaker while one of her daughters and several grandchildren look on.
Granddaughter Sheryl Blessing took the photo and granddaughter Gracie Snow Howell, 58, posted it on social media.
Taylor Hawkins’ many descendants can be partly attributed to the fact that her offspring (and their offspring) began having children around the age of 19.
The matriarch herself married the first time when she was 16. Her husband, 50 at the time, was a widower with 10 kids whose wife died giving birth to twins.
He and Taylor Hawkins went on to have 13 more children of their own.
According to Gracie Snow Howell, Taylor Hawkins raised her children in a house without running water, and she had no modern conveniences, such as a washer or dryer.
At last tally, the Kentucky woman has 106 grandchildren, 222 great-grandchildren, 234 great-great-grandchildren and 37 great-great-great-grandchildren living across the US.
Taylor Hawkins will turn 99 in June, which is when her 622nd grandchild will be born. People Magazine reports that she has outlived her husbands, as well as all but one of her stepchildren.
Rarely has a single story about female domestic slavery better illustrated the absolute importance of a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.
