St. Peter's Cooks River graveyard, attached to the Anglican church of the same name covers the period 1839-1896, and has in total 2,543 burials. All classes of people are buried in the graveyard, from merchants to paupers and lunatics, and doubtless some who are Roman Catholic. 244 are dead before they reach three months old. 777 don't reach the age of one year. That is just over 30 % of the total burials. If we take the figure for those not reaching the age of five, the figure is 1011, and the percentage is over 39%. In our publication on the graveyard at St. Peter's, "Grave Reflections," we suggest measles, scarlet fever and typhoid fever are significant factors, especially in densely populated industrial suburbs, and when averaged over a long period, mortality in Sydney suburbs was usually 50% higher than in the same age groups in Australian rural areas. Bob and Laurel Horton St. Peters Cook's River History Group.

Greetings Bob and Laurel Apologies for the slow reply, somehow my anti virus system put your email in the spam folder and I have just seen it based on the info you have provided the 25% infant mortality rate in the Balmain Catholic cemetery was not unusual and I have now accepted the figure as 'normal' times, I have no way of knowing what the real figure might be for this cemetery as I have no way of knowing how many were actually buried there, I have found 1000 burials but based on the available land the number buried could be twice that. It's been a long road to find the 1000 and I am now calling it a day on any further research, although you should never say never. Its time for me to publish my work and go fishing many thanks for your interest Patrick Callaghan -----Original Message----- From: aus-nsw-sydney-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-nsw-sydney-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Laurel Horton Sent: Wednesday, 26 September 2012 11:47 PM To: aus-nsw-sydney@rootsweb.com Subject: [ANS] Infant Death Statistics. St. Peter's Cooks River graveyard, attached to the Anglican church of the same name covers the period 1839-1896, and has in total 2,543 burials. All classes of people are buried in the graveyard, from merchants to paupers and lunatics, and doubtless some who are Roman Catholic. 244 are dead before they reach three months old. 777 don't reach the age of one year. That is just over 30 % of the total burials. If we take the figure for those not reaching the age of five, the figure is 1011, and the percentage is over 39%. In our publication on the graveyard at St. Peter's, "Grave Reflections," we suggest measles, scarlet fever and typhoid fever are significant factors, especially in densely populated industrial suburbs, and when averaged over a long period, mortality in Sydney suburbs was usually 50% higher than in the same age groups in Australian rural areas. Bob and Laurel Horton St. Peters Cook's River History Group. Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-NSW-SYDNEY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message