Great-great-great-grandma meets newest addition to family
A Scottish woman has become a great, great, great grandmother, with six generations of her family alive at the same time.
Mary Marshall has a total of 90 grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren, and great great great grandchildren.
The 86-year-old is the family’s oldest member, and the youngest is three-week-old Nyla Ferguson.
All of the mothers are on the same side of the family and all except new mum Toni-Leigh Aitken work, or have worked, as carers.
They also all gave birth when they were 18 or younger and live in or around Edinburgh.
As head of the family, Mary has eight children, including eldest daughter Rose.
Rose Thorburn, 68, has four children, including 50-year-old Chyrel Borthwick.
Cheryl’s daughter gave birth to Carrie Dow, a mum-of-four, in 1986.
35-year-old Carrie’s children include new mum Toni-Leigh, 17.
With the birth of Nyla in May, Mary earned the title of Scotland’s only great-great-great grandmother.
She said: “I’m a lucky woman, to be honest with you. It’s great to have such a big family. There’s always someone there looking out for you. I’m incredibly happy.”
Mary also said she is forgiven for not buying birthday and Christmas presents for every member of the large family, as she would spend “half the year doing so”.
New mum, Toni-Leigh, 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.”
Living a short drive away from each other also means Mary, Toni, and the new bub can see each other often.
Toni-Leigh also noted it was “pretty loud” when they have a family get-together.
Rose, Nyla’s great-great-grandma, 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.
“Whenever we get together, there’s always fun and laughs. There’s always someone there for you.”
It is believed that the family is the only one in Scotland with six generations alive at the same time.
The most generations alive in a single family has been seven, according to Guinness World Records.
Image: SWNS