the father of 370 children.

The following is a report from Raleigh, N.C., on July 28, 1893, to the
New York Evening Post:--

"The fecundity of the negro race has been the subject of much comment
and discussion. A case has come to light in this State that is one of
the most remarkable on record. Moses Williams, a negro farmer, lives in
the eastern section of this State. He is sixty-five years old (as
nearly as he can make out), but does not appear to be over fifty. He
has been married twice, and by the two wives has had born to him 45
children. By the first wife he had 23 children, 20 of whom were girls
and 3 were boys. By the second wife he had 22 children--20 girls and 2
boys. He also has about 50 grand-children. The case is well
authenticated."

We also quote the following, accredited to the "Annals of Hygiene:"--

"Were it not part of the records of the Berks County courts, we could
hardly credit the history of John Heffner, who was accidentally killed
some years ago at the age of sixty-nine. He was married first in 1840.
In eight years his wife bore him 17 children. The first and second
years of their marriage she gave birth to twins. For four successive
years afterward she gave birth to triplets. In the seventh year she
gave birth to one child and died soon afterward. Heffner engaged a
young woman to look after his large brood of babies, and three months
later she became the second Mrs. Heffner. She presented her husband
with 2 children in the first two years of her wedded life. Five years
later she had added 10 more to the family, having twins 5 times. Then
for three years she added but 1 a year. At the time of the death of the
second wife 12 of the 32 children had died. The 20 that were left did
not appear to be any obstacle to a young widow with one child
consenting to become the third wife of the jolly little man, for he was
known as one of the happiest and most genial of men, although it kept
him toiling like a slave to keep a score of mouths in bread. The third
Mrs. Heffner became the mother of 9 children in ten years, and the
contentment and happiness of the couple were proverbial. One day, in
the fall of 1885, the father of the 41 children was crossing a railroad
track and was run down by a locomotive and instantly killed. His widow
and 24 of the 42 children are still living."

Many Marriages.--In this connection it seems appropriate to mention a
few examples of multimarriages on record, to give an