Woman overjoyed at birth of great-great-great-grandchild in Edinburgh
- Published
(L-R) Toni-Leigh, 17, Chyrel, 50, Mary Marshall, 86, three-week-old Nyla, Rose, 68, and Carrie, 35
A Scottish pensioner has become a great-great-great-grandmother with six generations alive at the same time.
Mary Marshall, 86, has a total of 90 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and great-great-great-grandchildren.
The mother-of-eight, from Edinburgh, has one of the only families in the UK to span six generations.
It stretches from oldest member Mary to the youngest, Nyla Ferguson, who is just three weeks old.
The mothers are all on the same side of the family - and all except new mum Toni-Leigh Aitken work, or worked, as carers.
They all gave birth aged 18 or younger and live in or around Edinburgh.
Birthday presents
Head of the family Mary has eight children, including eldest daughter Rose.
Rose Thorburn, 68, has four children, including mum-of-three Chyrel Borthwick, 50.
Chyrel gave birth to mum-of-four Carrie Dow in 1986.
Carrie, 35, has four children, including new mum Toni-Leigh, 17.
On 25 May, Mary earned herself the title of Scotland's only great-great-great-grandma with the birth of 6lb 14oz Nyla Ferguson.
Due to the size of her family, Mary says she is forgiven for not buying each and every member a birthday and Christmas present as she would spend "half the year doing so".
'Incredibly happy'
Mary 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."
New mother, Toni-Leigh, who gave birth to the newest member of the family last month, 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."
She added it was always "pretty loud" when they have a family gathering.
Rose, 68, 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 are 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 has been seven.