"We never had a honeymoon, and we've never taken a trip," says Donna. "We're satisfied to stay home.
More details.....One big happy family
Posted on 05/09/2005 11:47:41 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
19 kids, 50 years of marriage and 1 happy Wisconsin mother
DANE, Wis. - Donna Taylor, a Dane County mother of 19 children, had plenty to celebrate on the weekend.
There was Mother's Day of course, but Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of Donna and Tom, who raised 10 girls and nine boys at a very long kitchen table on their 198-acre farm near Dane.
With 36 living grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, Donna, 66, told the Wisconsin State Journal about the secret to an enduring marriage and an orderly household.
"You've got to learn to share," Donna said. "Everything we earned, we earned together. You've got to have a commitment to one another."
Donna Marks was 16 and Tom was 20 when the two wed on May 7, 1955, at St. Michael's Church in Dane. After their wedding dinner and reception, the couple headed to Tom's parents' farm to help with the evening chores.
It was a fitting start to their new life together, a life built on self-sufficiency and hard work. And kids, of course; lots of kids.
By the time the family's only set of twins arrived - Denise and Diane, now 44 - Donna and Tom had half a dozen in the house, four of them in diapers. Donna did laundry every day for nearly a quarter-century.
In 1966, the Taylors left their rented land and bought the 198-acre spread outside Dane where they raised hogs, sheep, rabbits, pigeons, steers and dairy cows. The dinner table was filled with vegetables from the garden, meat from the barnyard, eggs from the henhouse and milk pasteurized on the stove.
Though she was a young mother, Donna relied on instinct and good sense to guide her parenting. "I never had to go home and ask Mom what to do," she said proudly. Still, there were surprises - like the twins, unexpected by both Donna and her doctor, even though "I was horribly big," she recalled.
"We never really said how many we'd have. We never set a limit. We loved children. It never crossed my mind that we couldn't take care of them, not ever, ever, ever," she said.
Through 18 pregnancies, Donna never curbed her workload, suffered morning sickness, or had a Caesarean delivery, even though one infant boy weighed close to 11 pounds.
Born over a period of 26 years, the Taylor kids say they almost grew up in three different families, each in a different decade and at a different point in their parents' lives. Still, many of the girls gravitated toward jobs in the health care field, while the boys are known for being able to fix or build just about anything.
They all live in south-central Wisconsin.
Not enough traffic jams where you are?
I do laundry every day too, and we have only 5 in my house.
I cannot even imagine how much Tide that would be in a year!
Yikes!
Bless her heart, she must be one determined woman.
My guess:
By the time the family couldn't fit into two vehicles (one driven by Mom & one by Dad), their oldest kids were able to drive!
Just. Wow.
God bless this woman and her family abundantly. The bible says that children are an inheritance of the Lord and happy is the man whose quiver is full of them. I guess that this mommy's husband is one very very happy man also
"We never had a honeymoon, and we've never taken a trip," says Donna. "We're satisfied to stay home.
More details.....One big happy family
"How would they travel?"
Travel? Other than to the State Fair and back, they probably didn't, LOL! They farm. 198 Acres. THAT'S your life. And a Good One it is! :)
"You just have to be happy at what you're doing," she adds.
"Be a sharer, and take care of one another."
That says it all.
Second, It never crossed my mind that we couldn't take care of them, not ever, ever, ever," she said. - how is that so many other selfish individuals in this country don't think they can take care of even one child and must abort? I agree completely with this amazing mom - after all, how could you *not* take care of them??
# 1 reason why I had a vasectomy. To stop at two children. Kudos to them though!
"...how is that so many other selfish individuals in this country don't think they can take care of even one child and must abort?"
I don't think it's so much that they CAN'T it's that they don't want to be BOTHERED.
Those darn moral, upstanding, conservative breeders in Jesusland! They'll be the death of this country, yet! /sarcasm ;)
I only have one sister, but I married into a farm family of 12 kids and now have 14 nieces and nephews besides my own kid, from newborn up to nineteen. It's just an absolute BLAST. I envy anyone that got to grow up in a big, loving family. They're few and far between these days.
Where I live there are far more critters than people. My social life consists of standing by the road and waving to passing cars.
Ah - well if you lived closer to town, perhaps you wouldn't be worrying about people not breeding fast enough.
More power to this woman, but I think we'd be up a creek for space in a hurry if everyone did this!
"Death of the West" by Patrick Buchanan.
I'm not a fan of Mr. Buchanan's priorities...
He seems to only worry if the population is not white enough.
Please read the book if you have a chance. It's not about color but culture.
Like I said, I'm not a particular fan.
Ok, that's a big family.
Most of the sort of large families I know have fewer than eight kids. Based on my drive halfway across the country, we've got room for at least a few more people.
A few... but it takes a lot of acres of corn and wheat and cattle to feed those cities too, we can't fill them all up ;~D
I'm not really anti-big family, I don't mind if people have big families, I was arguing this concept that we need a vigorously growing population. I don't think we do ;~D
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.