Well, they had a very large farm :-))
I just think of my Mom having trouble remembering which sister I was (there are five girls in our family), stuttering her way through the names before she hit on the right one. I just can't imagine what the mother of 26 would do.
Funny my mom did that to us too. There were 2 boys and 2 girls. When it got to that point she'd be yelling first and middle names. It was a good time to hide.