Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1881 — Father of Forty-one Children. [ARTICLE]

Father of Forty-one Children.

from tbs Bssdiof (Psoa.) Hafir. “Yes, it’s so,” Bald the man. “Oh, John,” yon must be mistaken/’ replied his third wife. “Well, I tell you it’s so, I ought to know,” was the emphatic reply of John Heffner, who lives on Maple street, between Chestnut and Spruce, this city. A reporter for the,Eagle had called upon Mr. Heffher, to learn the correct history of his much-talked-about great brood of forty-one children. Heftner is sparingly built, smokes a short pipe, and makes a living in the rag business. He is sixty-five years old, and has a pleasant smile and a cheerful greeting for all friends. The story of the man’s married life, as related by himself, is probably the most remarkable one on record. He was born in Germany in 1815. When 25 years old—lß4o—he married his first wife, who lived eight years. She became the mother of seventeen children in that time, having twins in the first year of their marriage. The next year another pair of twins were bom. Each succeeding year for four years thereafter Mrs. Hellher became the mother of triplets. The seventeenth

year vu aignalizori by the birth o' only one ahild. Mrs. Heftner died ana was laid away in. the villagi church-yard in Germany. The widower had now a family of seventeen children, the oldest only seven years of age. Three months thereafter a young lady took charge of the children, and in course or time she h* - amethe second Mrs. Heffner. The first bad died in February, ls 4& in February, 1849. this second wife presented Mr. Heffhei with a boy. On Christinas day of ths same year the nineteenth child was added to the Heffaer flock. The family was now larger than any other In that past of the country. Five yean passed on and Mr. Heffaer’s household was increased by the addition of ten more children—a pair of twins being bora every year. There was now a rail, and for three years thereafter only one child was born unto them. In 1864, he came to this country with his family, and the last three children were bora in America. In 1857, his wife died, having been married nine years. He was now the father of thirty-two children, twelve of whom had died, leaving twenty to be taken in charge by a widow whom he married in 1858. .Mrs. Heffaer No. 3 had one child by a previous marriage. She became the mother of nine more children in ten years by single birth. None of the first set of seveteen children survive. Two of the fifteen of the second wife’s children still live and three of the third wife’s nine. In a period of twenty-eight years—from 1840, when he first married, to 1868. the date of the birth of his last child—he became the father of forty-one children. The five who are still living are girls. With the step-child added to the list, forty-two children have called John Heflfaer “father.” The old man has long since forgotten the names of his numerous progeny, and can only recall those born in late yean.