For some unexplainable reason, I've been a bit preoccupied lately with the memories of a couple of the BIG families I grew up with in Miles City.

I guess a reason why is because on a good day I can still name all of the children in the order they were born...I'm not sure how good a day today is for that, though, so I'll give it a shot on this forum and I'd like to ask for the help of anyone who can either correct me or help me out if I'm missing anyone or have the "kids" out of order; just for the heck of it, I guess.

I'll start with the biggest family I can remember; the children of Bernetta and the late Francis (Chris) Christopherson:

-Paul
-Cora
-Wade (deceased)
-Rita (married to the ISMAY-JOE mayor and was a big part of that whole remaming event that took place a few years ago)
-Cameron
-Chris
-Jerry
-Gina (was in my class)
-Jan
-Kay
-Ray
-Mary
-Eric
-Curt
-Beth
-Bobby
-Tina

...I know I'm missing one of them...and I know I'm going to slap myself on the forehead and say DOH! when someone points-out which one I forgot...anyone know?

...Moving right along, let's look at the family of:

- Dick and Jane Bonine

I'm sure I have all the names right, but I'm not positive about the order...though I'm sure I'll soon be corrected if I have it wrong:

-Richard Jr.
-Phil
-Martha (is it "Sister" Martha?)
-Barb
-Suzanne
-Greg (was in my class a couple years)
-Duncan
-Randy
-Russell
-Mary
-Jonathan
-Brian
-Gary

When I was a kid, my classmates used to joke that "the Bonines had another kid so now they're the Bo-tens, now the Bo-11's, now the Bo-12's, etc.".

...anyway, am I right on the order?

Here's another big family, though not AS big as the first 2;

- the family of Phyllis Perkins:

-Steve
-Andy
-Rich
-LeAnn
-Mike
-Kenny (my class)
-the twins:Jean and...and...darn it, I'm blanking on her sister's name. Anyone?

...by the way, gang, if any of you want to name-off any other BIG families of the town that were either before, after or during my time, feel free!

There was also a ROBERTS family that live or lived in Kinsey - I don't remember how many kids they had, but I think some or all of them were adopted...the only 2 kids whose names I remember are Rick and Clint (about my age).

One other for now, then I'll quit hogging this thread for a bit -

Of course, there's been a lot of talk here and elsewhere about our local heroic scientist: the late Dr. Maurice Hilleman...the story goes that he was the youngest of 8 kids, but my internet searches have failed to turn-up any of their names. There's mention of his oldest brother who was a monk and helped pay Maurice's way through college, but no names for him or any other sibling that I can find...it would be cool to know their names if anyone knows how to find out?

My great-grandmother, Flossie Helen (Helen) Harrington, was the eldest of 13 siblings.

Her parents had 6 girls in a row, then 7 boys in a row. (How's that for odds!!!)

1. F - Flossie Helen (Helen) Harrington - B: Dec 04, 1891
2. F - Callie May Harrington - B: May 12, 1893
3. F - Pansy Iona Harrington - B: May 18, 1895
4. F - Sylvia Elmyra Harrington - B: May 12, 1896
5. F - Eva Daphne Harrington - B: Mar 03, 1898
6. F - Evelyn Lucretia Harrington - B: May 05, 1899
7. M - Eugene Harold Harrington - B: Nov 11, 1901
8. M - Franklin Ulysses Harrington - B: Feb 23, 1903
9. M - Abraham McKenley Harrington - B: Aug 19, 1905
10. M - Edmond Wallace Harrington - B: Apr 15, 1907
11. M - Lester Lynn Harrington - B: Apr 03, 1909
12. M - Herbert Lawton Harrington - B: Jul 11, 1911
13. M - Howard Wesley Harrington - B: Jul 28, 1913

Regards, Larry
MilesCity.com Webmaster

Also, my great-grandfather, Thomas Henry McFarland (the husband of my great-grandmother Helen Harrington, mentioned above) -- was one of 12 siblings.

1. F - Margaret Jane McFarland - B: 1871
2. M - Hugh McFarland - B: Jun 30, 1872
3. M - William Ringling (Bill) McFarland - B: 1873
4. M - Thomas Henry McFarland - B: Jan 04, 1874
5. M - John McFarland - B: 1877
6. F - Susan McFarland - B: 1879
7. M - Robert James McFarland - B: Nov 17, 1882
8. F - Mary Ellen McFarland - B: 1884
9. M - Samual McFarland - B: 1886
10. F - Elizabeth McFarland - B: 1889
11. M - Nathaniel McFarland - B: 1892
12. M - Francis McFarland - B: 1896

Many of those McFarlands didn't make it to Miles City, however several did, and they and their decendants owned at some point throughout the years (or still own today in a few cases):

- McFarland Brothers Coal (my g-grandfather and g-granduncles)
- McFarland Dairy (my grandparents)
- Ranch and farming stuff, Angela/etc (my grandparents amongst others)
- The Bison Bar (my cousins)
- The Clothes Closet (my mom)
- The News Nook (my aunt)
- Shores (my cousins)
- MilesCity.com (me) [I guess I can add this to the list, right?]
Etc...

Regards, Larry
MilesCity.com Webmaster

The Dyba bros. Nine of them, all but one settled in Miles City,for most of their lives.

Mike
Walter (I hope not the other way around)
John
Paul
Valentine
Anton
Bill (passed away yesterday, last of the nine brothers)
Fred
Leo (only one born in the United States)

The family emigrated to the United States in 1909 and 1910 to avoid WWI which was building in Germany.

Holy cow!!! I didn't realize Christophersons had quite that many kids. I knew some of the kids, but not the parents. I suppose in the days of old, it was easy to put that many kids to work on the farm. It must have been very difficult to take care of that many kids without dipping into the welfare system and burdening the taxpayers. Bet those kids learned the value of the dollar early on.

Frank -

I'll agree the Christophersons know the value of a buck, but they didn't work on a farm - they had a construction business (concrete & sidewalks mostly) and they did well enough to keep everyone sheltered and fed. After the dad passed away from cancer (several of the kids had grown-up and were out on their own by then), I think some of them kept on with the construction business, others went into the restaurant business.

Another big family that comes to mind is the BALDWIN family in Ismay...only problem is I can't think of half their names right now. I'll have to come back later with that.

I think there is a Christopherson that is a year or two older than Tina. His name is Brett and Brent I think. Tina was in my class.

You are right, Brent Christopherson used to live here in MC, but was not one of the syblings of Bernetta's children.

Also, Shu, Jean Perkins' twin sister is Eileen.

You are close on the order of the Bonines

-Richard Jr.
-Martha (is it "Sister" Martha?) no longer our sister the sister
-Phil
-Barb
-Suzanne
-Greg
-Duncan
-Randy
-Russell
-Mary
-Jonathan
-Brian
-Gary

And I am pretty sure that Wade Christopherson was older than Cora.

[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr (edited 7/24/2007).]

DOH!!! Eileen, that was it! Thanks! It was right on the tip of my tongue, too...don't know why I couldn't come-up with it.

Earlier on this thread, I mentioned the Baldwin family from the Ismay area. I just got their names and order:

- The John and Therese Baldwin Family:

-Pam
-Audrey
-Mary
-Dave
-Joe
-Chuck
-Marge
-Jean
-Patty
-Donna
-Paul (my class)
-Jim

The parents just celebrated their 50th in the last couple years. By the way, my thanks to Paul - I had him email me with the info.

Oh, and thanks, Richard, for the correction - at least I got the names right.

[This message has been edited by Shu (edited 7/24/2007).]

Q: How do you panic an usher at Sacred Heart Church...

A: Have the Bonine's, Baldwins, Christopherson's, and Muggli's all hit the church door with 2 minutes to spare before 9:30 mass. (We used to race the Baldwins from the top of governemnt hill.) It happened several times. Amazingly, all of the kids ended up sitting with the with the right family. It was one of those "you had to be there" deals to appreciate the humor of the situation.

[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr (edited 7/24/2007).]

The Floyd South family was one of the larger ones.

Bob
Lloyd
Chuck
Wanda (Peaselee)
Judy (Kings)
Marilyn (McBride)
Lonnie
Glinda (Hunter)
Marla (Cooper)

All but Marilyn still live in MC.

I had two kids and a vasectomy. That was in the early seventies. I guess the concept of Zero population growth hadn't reached this part of the country. WTF?

Catholicism at its finest.

Eileen

Huschka Family - 13 kids

Huschka Family - 13 kids

The Bob Anderson's of Ismay.....Seven, one now gone, but the rest still living in Custer County.

Another Catholic Family
The Rogers Family
Vicky
Pat
Burnadette
William
Norma
Mary
Mike
Jeff
Joe
Tami

What about the Leidholt's...

Martha, Leonard, Tillie, Robert, Peggy, Julius, Philip, Edwin, Alma, Eugene, Adolph, Violet, James.

They have children too...Robert has eight...all boys.
Deane, Dione, Duane, Denis, Darvin, Dan, Doug, and Daren.


They are older, but there are still some younger Leidholt's around.

I wanted to thank Shu for starting this thread. Some of those names I haven't heard for a long time...since I went to Sacred Heart also, I do remember a lot of them. The Bonine's and the Christopherson's.

Several families in the 7-10 range: may not be in the right order and I don't remember all the names

Joe and Martha Peila (Jim, Joe, Matt, Julie, Lucy, Sam, Barbara, Sally)
Paul and Myrt Herzog (Lori, Joni, Toni, Dan, Ben, Kori, Tom, Ted, Heidi)
Tom and Tootie Zook (Janet, Fritz, Laura, Jeannie, Audrey, Thelma, Andy)
Mac and Agnes Makelky
Connie Berg
Wes and Agnes Munsell
Jim and Pat Carlson
Ray and Kathy Tracy

Seems like Ray Schmidt, Jack Carr, Dunnings, Harold and Joy Newman also had larger families - but maybe not.

[This message has been edited by Barb Holcomb (edited 7/30/2007).]

There was no Jim in the Joe Peila family. The oldest son's name is Jeff.

I think Joe Peila is older than Jeff.

Jeff is the oldest in the Peila family.

Thank you Barb for recalling my family - the George (Joan) Dunning family (who were also Catholic and would have taken up a whole pew row when we all attended the same service!)

Fidella
Richard
Patricia
Bryan
Leonard
Christine
Teresa
Katherine
Robert
Jesse

My older brother has a friend - Jerry Warden - whose family has to take the cake. He was sixteenth out of seventeen children! Can anyone name them?

I knew Jim didn't sound right - it was Jeff; see the disclaimer at the beginning of my post . . . may not all be correct.

Jim and Pat Carlson family
Terhar (?sp)family - he was the music teacher at SHHS for awhile.

okay, here I go!...I'm gonna hog this thread again with a couple more additions...first a question for Webmaster Larry:

what happened to your posts about your 13-each great grandparents? I thought that was interesting, why delete it? Just curious.

UPDATE:

It turns-out I had the names and numbers correct on the Christopherson family - there are 17 kids total, Not 18 (I don't want to say ONLY in reference to the number - 17 is still a lot of kids!). For some reason, I could swear they had 18, but I've been wrong before.

RICHARD: you are correct; Wade came before Cora. Other than that, I was right on the order, but I had a couple spellings not quite right, so the correct order goes like this:

-Paul
-Wade
-Cora
-Rita
-Cameron
-Chris
-Jerry
-Gina
-Jan
-Kae (not Kay)
-Ray
-Mary
-Eric
-Kurt (with a K, not C)
-Beth
-Bobby
-Tina

By the way, Tammy, are you sure about the Huschka's having 13 kids? The Huschka's I grew-up a block away from have 11 - perhaps there's another Huschka family I didn't know about? One never knows.

Anyway, I had my mom call Ann (the mother) to get the names and order.

The family of Clarence and Ann Huschka (celebrated their 50th last year):

-Corrine
-Calvin
-Kenny
-Jackie
-Glenn
-Janet
-Linette (my class)
-Julie
-Jason
-Rob
-Bryon

I still have mixed feelings when I think about the family because 3 of the sons are deceased - my best regards to them all.

...perhaps my being occupied with BIG families is not so much because I, myself, came from a "biggish" family (5 kids - not AS big as the families listed here thus far), but because BOTH of my parents came from 8-child families themselves - and both are middle children.

Dr. Wilbur and Laura Bolton (from Portland, Oregon):
-Bill
-Nancy ("Sister" Nancy)
-Helen
-Betsy
-BABS
-Molly
-Licia
-Robert

Khamo and Yemma Pius (from Baghdad, Iraq, though none of their kids live there now..they've all gone elsewhere due to politics and war):
-Mikhael (aka "Minashi")
-Christina
-Aprim (deceased - his family came to Miles City and lived there for a couple years back in the 70's: anyone remember him?)
-BASIL
-Rafael (deceased)
-Mishael (lives with my folks; aka "Kooya")
-Melina
-Nina

My thanks to all who have participated in this thread!

Shu said:
> what happened to your posts about your 13-each great grandparents? I thought that was interesting, why delete it? Just curious.

I deleted the two posts, since I didn't really figure they were of much interest to anyone except myself. I just restored them though.

Regards, Larry
MilesCity.com Webmaster

Hi Shu,
Thanks for the correction. It is very sad that Clarence and Ann have lost the 3 boys. I use to date Calvin and have many fond memories. Nice family.

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Dick and Jane Anderson's family. When I think of "big" families, they are one of the first that comes to mind. Not sure if I have the order right, but here goes.

James (Jimmy)
Carrie
Laurie
Randy
Tracy
Ronny
Debbie
Joe
Mary
Mark

One more big family...I was keeping the limit to 8 kids or more for this thread, but will list one more "biggish" family with 7 kids because...

...Ed and Mary-Lou Kimball are about to celebrate their 60th anniversary!!!

Their children are:

-John
-Rich
-Jerry (I think he ran the Red Rock Supper club a few years back)
-Jim
-Dale
-Colette
-Scott (my class)

My thanks to Scott for the list...I couldn't quite remember all the names.

Not that it matters, but I think Collette was older than Dale.

I guess I can throw my extended family into this. My dad comes from a family of 10. Don and Dorothy Finneman

Tom Finneman
Tony Finneman
Jim Finneman
Bruce Finneman
Terry Finneman
Cathy Redland
Mary Johnson
Jean Tally
Barry Finneman
Jeff Finneman

Started out in Fallon Montana but Grandma Dorothy and a few kids and grandkids are now in Miles City.

I have to throw in my mom's family.
Her parents, Isaac Fowler and Gertrude Vest had 8:
Laurence Shirley (who died at 13)
John Forrest
Josephine
Virginia
Lonabelle
Thelma (my mother)
Rex Alger
Dorothy

At one point, I had 21 first cousins.

Also the pratt family my grandfather's
Wayne-rip
John "ed"
Richard "dick"-rip
Henry - rip
Norman
Joe - rip
Etta - rip
Susan

Corbin Family( Harry n& Beverly)..Margaret , Mary, Anne, Bob, Bill, Dave, Frances, Jane. lived across the street from Dunnings.

Not sure about the names except for Dale, but didn't the Worden have 19 siblings