I've just come across something unusual in four siblings (teenage to early 20's) dying in succession over a period of about 3 years, as follows: Thomas travels from Camperdown, Victoria, Australia, to Rome (studying for the priesthood), returns ill in 1932, and dies Jun 1936, aged 28. His sister Norah dies April 1937 aged 19. Another sister Patricia dies Jan 1938 aged 21. Another sister Margaret dies Sep 1939 aged 17. >From the sequence of deaths, my theory is that Thomas brought back some kind of contagious illness from Rome, and then passed it on to his sisters. Thomas was said to have been ill for about 5 years, and was sick enough to return to Australia four years before his death. I know the only way to conclusively find out would be to obtain death certificates, but does anyone have any theories on what might have killed them? Corinne Curtis #5579

Hi Corinne The most likely explanation would be tuberculosis. This was commonly passed on to other members of a family. Two of my great-grandfather's brothers died of it, aged 25 and 23, within the space of a few months. This was in the 1890s, but it remained a killer until the 1940s. June Willing Guild of One-Name Studies member no 2117 Willing/Willings One-Name Study http://one-name.org/name_profile/Willing/ Willing/Willings DNA Project http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Willing/ Dominicus One-Name Study http://one-name.org/name_profile/dominicus-2/ On 29 Dec 2014, at 22:05, Corinne Curtis via wrote: > I've just come across something unusual in four siblings (teenage to > early 20's) dying in succession over a period of about 3 years, as > follows: > > Thomas travels from Camperdown, Victoria, Australia, to Rome (studying > for the priesthood), returns ill in 1932, and dies Jun 1936, aged 28. > His sister Norah dies April 1937 aged 19. > Another sister Patricia dies Jan 1938 aged 21. > Another sister Margaret dies Sep 1939 aged 17. > >> From the sequence of deaths, my theory is that Thomas brought back > some kind of contagious illness from Rome, and then passed it on to > his sisters. Thomas was said to have been ill for about 5 years, and > was sick enough to return to Australia four years before his death. > > I know the only way to conclusively find out would be to obtain death > certificates, but does anyone have any theories on what might have > killed them? > > Corinne Curtis > #5579 > _____________________________________________ > > RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GOONS-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message

TB? Fiona 5538 On 29 Dec 2014, at 22:05, Corinne Curtis via <goons@rootsweb.com> wrote: > I've just come across something unusual in four siblings (teenage to > early 20's) dying in succession over a period of about 3 years, as > follows: > > Thomas travels from Camperdown, Victoria, Australia, to Rome (studying > for the priesthood), returns ill in 1932, and dies Jun 1936, aged 28. > His sister Norah dies April 1937 aged 19. > Another sister Patricia dies Jan 1938 aged 21. > Another sister Margaret dies Sep 1939 aged 17. > >> From the sequence of deaths, my theory is that Thomas brought back > some kind of contagious illness from Rome, and then passed it on to > his sisters. Thomas was said to have been ill for about 5 years, and > was sick enough to return to Australia four years before his death. > > I know the only way to conclusively find out would be to obtain death > certificates, but does anyone have any theories on what might have > killed them? > > Corinne Curtis > #5579 > _____________________________________________ > > RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Another alternative could be something congenital even though it sound late in life. Huntingdon's chorea springs to mind but even with that tends to lead to death alert in life. If an infection was brought back, tuberculosis is a possibility Nikki (dr) #6552 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Corinne Curtis via" <goons@rootsweb.com> To: goons@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, 29 December, 2014 10:05:42 PM Subject: [G] Any idea what killed four siblings? I've just come across something unusual in four siblings (teenage to early 20's) dying in succession over a period of about 3 years, as follows: Thomas travels from Camperdown, Victoria, Australia, to Rome (studying for the priesthood), returns ill in 1932, and dies Jun 1936, aged 28. His sister Norah dies April 1937 aged 19. Another sister Patricia dies Jan 1938 aged 21. Another sister Margaret dies Sep 1939 aged 17. >From the sequence of deaths, my theory is that Thomas brought back some kind of contagious illness from Rome, and then passed it on to his sisters. Thomas was said to have been ill for about 5 years, and was sick enough to return to Australia four years before his death. I know the only way to conclusively find out would be to obtain death certificates, but does anyone have any theories on what might have killed them? Corinne Curtis #5579 _____________________________________________ RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message