3 wives and 36 children

Arriving in Wiggins, I found a room in town, over a mile walk from the commissary store and the lumber mill, just outside of town, and was quickly introduced to my job in the store. Saturday night was the big night at the store. The mill employees were paid Saturday evening, and thronged the store. I was broken in immediately as “soda-fountain jerker.”

One of the first men I met was a Negro I shall never forget—whose name was Hub Evans. One of the men in the store brought him around to me.

“Hub,” he said, “tell Mr. Armstrong how many children you have.”

“Thutty-six, suh,” replied old Hub, promptly and proudly—”hope t’ make it foty ‘fo Ah die!”

I was not merely amused—but intensely interested. “Tell me, Hub,” I responded, “how many wives have you had?”

“Only three, suh!” Hub was a proud man.

Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Vol. 1