flash{way}back friday

Some Stoll family history.

Joe & Anna Stoll had 17 kids::

Fern was born in 1918 followed by Paul in '19, Ruth in '20, Ella in '22, Ivan in '23, Carl in '24, Doris in '26, Lorna in '29, Lloyd in '31, Joseph in '33, Warren in '35, Ronald in '38, Donald in '39, Raymond in '40, Roger {my father-in-law, whose first name is actually Henry. Roger is his middle name, but it's what he has always gone by} in '42, Roy in '43 and Carol in '45. Anna was pregnant with her 18th {which, I heard once, was known to be a girl} when she died.

I have always found it so interesting {and a little bit funny} that of all the names in the world, they chose to name their first boy Paul Stoll. {Say it out loud. But don't pronounce our last name like "stole", otherwise you won't get it.} See, it rhymes. I mean, if it were boy number 11 and the name options were running a little thin, that's one thing. But to start with the rhyming name right off the bat has always made me laugh a little.

Ok, on with the pictures.

This one is of the family during music hour, or some such thing::

Here they all are together for a more formal picture::

And here is everyone {well, I heard that one brother wasn't actually there, but was "photoshop-ed" in {or the 1960's equivalent} with their dad and step-mom. Fanny {their step-mom} was some kind of saint, in my opinion, to marry a man with 17 kids and jump right in, having never had any children before. I love this picture of my father-in-law. He looks SO happy . . . and handsome. {He's the one on the bottom right}::

How many kids did these 17 have, you might wonder? 84! Starting with Merlyn in 1944 {all Fern's kids had names starting with "M"} and ending with Dale in 1980. Every single one of the 17 had kids. Ray only had 1 and Doris "wins" with 10. Everyone else was somewhere in between with 6 and 4 both being quite common. Kirb is grandchild #78 for Joe & Anna {although Anna wasn't around to know it -- she only had 3 of her 84 grandkids before she died}.

There is a Stoll reunion every 3 years {and 2012 is a reunion year!}. My first Stoll reunion was in 1994, before Kirb and I were even married. This summer will be my 7th reunion. At my first reunion, I heard it announced that there were close to 500 direct descendants of Joe & Anna. I would imagine there's about 1,000 by now -- Aunty Arlene {Llyod's wife} would be the one to ask, she's the family historian and record-keeper. Plus, when Kirby is on the radio, she always calls in to the radio show and says "Hi". She's fabulous!

I hope you've enjoyed this little Stoll family history lesson. What a heritage!