Kentucky woman has more than 600 living offspring

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MaeDell Taylor Hawkins, 98, will welcome her 622nd grandchild this summer.

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The Kentucky matriarch has been photographed with her daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter, great-great granddaughter and great-great-great granddaughter in a picture of six generations that has — no surprise — gone viral.

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The Daily Mail reports that the photo of the women marked the occasion of Taylor Hawkins meeting one of her great-great-great-grandchild for the very first time.

The picture was taken at the end of February in the nursing home where Taylor Hawkins lives; she is holding seven month old Zhavia Whitaker while one of her daughters and various grandchildren look on.

Granddaughter Sheryl Blessing took the picture and granddaughter Gracie Snow Howell, 58, posted it on social media.

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Taylor Hawkins’ many descendants can be partly attributed to the fact that her offspring (and their offspring) began having children around the age of 19.

The matriarch herself married the first time when she was 16. Her husband, 50 at the time, was a widower with 10 kids whose wife died giving birth to twins.

He and Taylor Hawkins went on to have 13 more children of their own.

According to Gracie Snow Howell, Taylor Hawkins raised her children in a house without running water, and she had no modern conveniences, such as a washer or dryer.

At last tally, the Kentucky woman has 106 grandchildren, 222 great-grandchildren, 234 great-great-grandchildren and 37 great-great-great-grandchildren living across the US.

Taylor Hawkins will turn 99 in June, which is when her 622nd grandchild will be born. People Magazine reports that she has outlived her husbands, as well as all but one of her stepchildren.

Rarely has a single story about female domestic slavery better illustrated the absolute importance of a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.