Media all over the world reported earlier this week that a family in Sardinia is the oldest family in the world (officially accepted as such by the Guinness Book of World Records), with a combined age of 818. ‘Years of research’ led to the discovery of this family, according to the news reports. It didn’t take long before a Dutch family was found that had a combined age of 825.

However, that is definitely NOT the oldest family in the world either. My mother was part of a family with 16 brothers and sisters. 13 of them are still alive, my mother being the youngest. The Kraan family has a combined age of 928 years, and counting…

Below you can find all the names and ages.
Coincidentally, we recently had a family reunion. All brothers, sisters, their spouses, children and grandchildren were invited. Over 70 people attended. I made a picture of all 7 brothers that are still alive. I didn’t make one of the women, since 3 sisters weren’t at the reunion. Here two pictures of the reunion, more can be found on this website.

A full overview of the Kraan family and their spouses/children can be found here.

Nel 80
Gerda 79
Jan 77
Willy 76
Hans 74
Theo 73
Piet 72
Frans 70
Ria 68
Bernard 67
Wim 65
Anny (my mother) 64
Tony 63
Total: 928

I am guessing there are even older families, but I don’t know those of course, I only know about my mother’s family. Big family indeed, with 16 people. My father was ‘only’ part of a family of 10 children. 😉

The brothers: