A Woman With Over 230 Great-Great-Grandchildren Meets Her Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter

Family ties are ones we form from the minute we are born and also those we can most reliably count on. Spending quality time together develops and creates bonds and gives everyone in the family a sense of security and belonging. These relationships can endure for generations, with the older ones witnessing their children and grandchildren start their own families. Just like the grandma of our story, who had just met her great-great-great-granddaughter.

She always went above and beyond to raise her kids.

MaeDell (Taylor) Hawkins is a woman from Kentucky who’s lived a very long life, as she is on the heels of turning 99 years old. As a true matriarch of 6 generations, she’s overcome numerous obstacles and challenges to create the family that stands before her today.

“Grandma was 16 years old when she married my grandpa, Bill,” her granddaughter says. “He was 50 and a widower with 10 children — his first wife passed while giving birth to conjoined twins at home.” Thus, a young MaeDell was compelled to take on the role of mother at a very young age.

In addition to being a stepmother to his 10 children, they welcomed 13 kids together. Her husband was frequently traveling for business, and their living circumstances were not the best. The family’s economic standing was dire, and they didn’t even have running water or other basic amenities like a dryer and a washing machine.

She wholeheartedly embraced the life of a housewife, rearing her huge brood under the given circumstances. As Gracie remarks, “I know she had it hard, but she didn’t complain. She just went about her day.”

Despite the lack of amenities, Gracie never heard her mother grumble about not having enough food or clothes. Instead, MaeDell always met her children’s needs while also improvising by growing and storing most of the family’s food.

Her granddaughter says, “With so many mouths to feed, grandma would rise early in the morning, stock the wood stove, go out and gather eggs, grab a couple of chickens, and would have breakfast ready before the kids went to school.”

Her family goes on for 6 generations.

Raising so many children was challenging, but MaeDell was able to build generations after her and watch them grow.

Thus, according to a family chart created by her daughter-in-law, Janice Taylor, MaeDell currently has 623 descendants. This family tree counts 106 grandkids, 222 great-grandchildren, 234 great-great-grandchildren, and 37 great-great-great-grandchildren.

She just met her great-great-great-granddaughter for the first time.

It may seem impossible to have 6 generations of women in one picture, but that is precisely what was done when Cordelia Mae Hawkins, also known as MaeDell, got to hold her great-great-great-granddaughter Zhavia Danielle. This recently happened when Zhavia’s family visited Hawkins’ nursing home alongside her mother, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Gracie recalls, “We just kind of planned a day, and we just all met, and grandma knew we were coming. She was excited. We had 3 hours with her.”

Then she remarks how sweet the woman was with the child, saying, “The baby got a little fussy. She was like, ’Here, give me that baby.’ I mean, she’s just a natural.”

The entire female family gathered there to document this unique occasion and to show the strong relationships MaeDell has built as part of her legacy. “I know it’s rare for 6 generations. It’s even rarer for all of them to be the same gender,” Gracie said." We’re all girls, girl power as well."

Nevertheless, their matriarch will turn 99 on July 19, 2023, and if all goes as planned, she intends to meet her third, sixth-generation grandson this summer. “If everything goes well, the baby’s doing well, grandma’s doing well, we’re all going to meet back in June and get another picture,” her granddaughter declared.