A 98-year-old woman who has 230 great-great-grandchildren has met her great-great-great-grandchild for the first time in a photo that shows six generations sitting in the same room.
MaeDell Taylor Hawkins, 98, from Kentucky, first married in 1940 when she was 16 years old to a 50-year-old railroad worker who had 10 children from a previous relationship.
As per Fox News, the couple then had 13 biological children of their own as Hawkins took over the matriarchal role of the family after her husband's previous wife passed away during childbirth.
She raised the children without appliances that we see as commonplace today, including running water, indoor toilets, electric stoves, washing machines, radiators, and window insulation.
SIX (living) Generations. MaeDell, Frances, Gracie, Jacqueline, Jaisline, and Zhavia 🥰
Posted by Gracie Snow Howell on Friday, February 24, 2023
Speaking to Fox News, Gracie Snow Howell - Hawkin's granddaughter - said: "She took care of everybody. I've never heard my mom say anything about hearing her complain."
According to the outlet, when tallying up Hawkins' biological and step-descendants, she is linked to 623 descendants.
The 98-year-old currently has 106 grandchildren, 222 great-grandchildren, 234 great-great-grandchildren, and 37 great-great-great-grandchildren combined.
This is aided by many of Hawkins' offspring all coincidentally having children at the age of 19 instead of waiting for later life as is often done in this day and age.
The family has got together for a meetup and it has been documented in an image featuring six generations.
Having held "hundreds of babies" during her life, Hawkins met her great-great-great grandchild for the first time as her family traveled from all across the US to see her, in what ended up being an unintentional all-female trip.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Howell said that the newest member of the family - Zhavia - was born in December.
Sharing the image to Facebook, Howell wrote: "SIX (living) generations. MaeDell, Frances, Gracie, Jacqueline, Jaisline, and Zhavia."
The image has caused quite a stir on social media as it is not often that this many generations of the same family are able to sit in the same room.
The Guinness World Record for most living generations currently stands at seven with the great great great great grandparent being Augusta Bunge aged 109 years old.
The viral photo, alongside Hawkins and Zhavia, features MaeDell's daughter Frances Snow, granddaughters Gracie Snow Howell, great-granddaughter Jacqueline Ledford, and great-great-granddaughter Jaisline Wilson.
Howell went on to tell Fox: "If anybody ever asked me what my favorite memory of Grandma is, it’s her tomato preserves. They were just the best."
"Grandma showed me what to do on a video chat and I got to take her some tomato preserves. It went full circle."
Hawkins will turn 99 on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, and there is hope that she will soon have a picture with her two other great-great-great grandchildren.
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