A family has become one of the only in the UK with six generations alive at the same time—with one of the family members becoming Scotland’s only great-great-great-grandma, aged 86.
The family stretches from oldest member Mary Marshall, 86, to their youngest member Nyla Ferguson, who is just a couple of weeks old.
Mother of eight Mary, who was born four years before the start of World War II, boasts a whopping 90 grandchildren.
The women are all on the same side of the family—and all except new mom Toni-Leigh work, or worked, as carers for the National Health Service (NHS).
All gave birth at the age of 18 or younger, resulting in this super-sized happy family, and all live in or around Edinburgh, Scotland.
Head of the family Mary has eight children including eldest daughter Rose Thorburn, 68. Rose has four children including mom-of-three Chyrel Borthwick, 50.
Chyrel gave birth to mom-of-four Carrie Dow in 1986. Carrie, 35, has four children, including new mom Toni-Leigh Aitken, 17.
And on 25 May 2021, Mary earned herself the title of Scotland’s only great-great-great-grandma with the birth of Nyla Ferguson, weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces.
Due to the size of her family, Mary, from Edinburgh, says she is forgiven for not buying each and every member a birthday and Christmas present as she'd spend “half the year doing so.”
“I’m a lucky woman to be honest with you,” Mary said.
“It’s great to have such a big family. There’s always someone there looking out for you. I’m incredibly happy.”
Toni-Leigh, who gave birth to the newest member of the family in May, said: “When we found out I was pregnant we did make a joke about us breaking some sort of record. Then we started looking into it and it doesn’t look like anyone else has our family set-up.
“It’s a bit too early to see a resemblance to her great-great-great-grandma but it was love at first sight when they met! We live no longer than a 10–15-minute drive away from one another so we see each other.
“We haven’t had a big [get together] with the entire family since the pandemic but when we do, it’s great fun. There are 90 grandchildren now with Nyla so it’s always pretty loud!”
Rose said: “It’s great when you have a new baby. I’m one of eight so I’ve always had a big family in some sense. But now we’re pretty big! I haven’t heard of any other family of this size in Scotland.
“Whenever we get together there’s always fun and laughs. There’s always someone there for you.”
The family is believed to be the only family in Scotland with six generations alive at the same time. According to Guinness World Records, the most generations alive in a single family have been seven.
Mary Marshall, 86, born in June 1935.
Rose Thorburn, 68, born in October 1952.
Chyrel Borthwick, 50, born in July 1970.
Carrie Dow, 35, born in February 1986.
Toni-Leigh Aitken, 17, born in October 2003.
Nyla Ferguson, born in May 2021.
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