Most prolific mother ever

Who
MRS. VASSILYEVA
What
69 PEOPLE
Where
RUSSIA
SHUYA
The greatest officially recorded number of children born to
one mother is 69, to the wife of Feodor Vassilyev (b.
1707–c .1782), a peasant from Shuya, Russia. In 27
confinements she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven
sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. Numerous
contemporaneous sources exist, which suggest that this
seemingly improbably and statistically unlikely story is
true. The case was reported to Moscow by the Monastery
of Nikolsk on 27 Feb 1782, which had recorded every birth.
It is noted that, by this time, only two of the children who
were born in the period c. 1725–65 failed to survive their
infancy.
The Gentleman's Magazine (1783, 53, 753) recounts: "In an
original letter now before me, dated St Petersburg, Aug 13,
1782, O. S. Feodor Wassilief [sic], aged 75, a peasant, said
to be now alive and in perfect health, in the Government
of Moscow, has had–
By his first wife:
4 x 4 = 16
7 x 3 = 21
16 x 2 = 32
----------
27 births 69 children
By his second wife:
6 x 2 = 12
2 x 3 = 6
---------
8 births 18 children
"In all, 35 births, 87 children, of which 84 are living and
only three buried. . . The above relation, however
astonishing, may be depended upon, as it came directly
from an English merchant at St Petersburg to his relatives
in England, who added that the peasant was to be
introduced to the Empress."
In Saint Petersburg Panorama, Bashutski, 1834, the author
notes that:
"In the day of 27 February 1782, the list from Nikolskiy
monastery came to Moscow containing the information
that a peasant of the Shuya district, Feodor Vassilyev,
married twice, had 87 children. His first wife in 27
confinements gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of
triplets and four sets of quadruplets. His second wife in
eight confinements gave birth to six pairs of twins and
two sets of triplets. F. Vassilyev was 75 at that time with
82 of his children alive."
And the Lancet (1878) refers to a twin study carried out by
the French Academy and:
"Apropos of the enquiry, the Committee of the Academy
recall an account of a quite extraordinary fecundity that
was published by M. Hermann in his "Travaux Statistiques
de la Russie," for Fedor Vassilet [sic]. . . who, in 1782, was
aged 75 years, had had, by two wives, 87 children."
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