Feodor Vassilyev

Not to be confused with Fyodor Vasilyev.

Feodor Vassilyev (Russian: Фёдор Васильев, older spelling: Ѳеодоръ Васильевъ) (c. 1707[1] – 1782) was a peasant from Shuya, Russia. His first wife lived to be 76 and, between 1725 and 1765, had 69 children (16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets) 67 of them survived infancy with the loss of one set of twins. Vassilyev's first wife set the record for most children birthed by a single woman; however, few other details are known of her life, such as her name and date of birth or death. Vassilyev also had 18 children with his second wife, who had 6 pairs of twins and 2 sets of triplets, making him a father of 87 children in total. Of his 87 children, at least 82 are said to have survived infancy.[2][3]

The first published account about Feodor Vassilyev's children appeared in a 1783 issue of The Gentleman's Magazine (Vol. 53 p. 753, London, 1783) and states that the information "however astonishing, may be depended upon, as it came directly from an English merchant in St Petersburg to his relatives in England, who added that the peasant was to be introduced to the Empress".[1][2] The same numbers were given in an 1834 book of Bashutskiy, Saint Petersburg Panorama.[2][4]

Several published sources raised doubts as to the veracity of these claims. According to a 1933 article by Julia Bell[5] in Biometrika, a 1790 book of B. F. J. Hermann Statistische Schilderung von Rußland did provide the claims about Feodor Vassilyev's children but "with a caution". Bell also notes that the case was reported by The Lancet in an 1878 article about the study of twins.[6] The Lancet article states that the French Academy of Sciences attempted to verify the claims about Vassilyev's children and contacted "M. Khanikoff of the Imperial Academy of St Petersburg for advice as to the means they should pursue, but were told by him that all investigation was superfluous, that members of the family still lived in Moscow and that they had been the object of favors from the Government".[5][6] Bell concludes that Vassilyev's case "must be regarded as under suspicion".[5] Similarly, Marie Clay in a 1998 book notes: "Sadly, this evasion of proper investigation seems, in retrospect, to have dealt a terminal blow to our chances of ever establishing the true detail of this extraordinary case".[2]

The data about Vassilyev's children is included in the Guinness Book of World Records.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The gentleman's magazine, and historical chronicle". The Gentleman's Magazine. 53: 753. 1783.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Clay, Marie M. (1989). "Feodor Vassilyev: a case of remarkable fecundity". Quadruplets and Higher Multiple Births. London: Mac Keith Press. pp. 96–97. ISBN 0-521-41223-4.
  3. 1 2 Young, Mark C. (1998). The Guinness Book of World Records. Bantam Books. p. 357. ISBN 0-553-57895-2.
  4. ↑ Bashutskiy, A. P. (1834). Saint Petersburg Panorama vol. 2 (in Russian). St Petersburg. p. 75.
  5. 1 2 3 Bell, Julia (1933). "Plural birth with a new pedigree". Biometrika. 25 (1–2): 110–120. doi:10.1093/biomet/25.1-2.110. JSTOR 2332266.
  6. 1 2 "Twins". The Lancet. 111 (2843): 289–290. 1878. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)42845-0.
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