My mother would talk about an accidential poisoning that happened when she was younger. It seems that a massive amount of salt was mixed in with baby fromula resulting in many deaths. Mark ----- Original Message ----- From: "donkelly" <ocollaugh@comcast.net> To: "Mona Knight" <mknight5@ctc.net> Cc: <iowa@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 7:54 PM Subject: Re: [IOWA] illnesses and other death certificate descriptions > If allergic, one sting can do one in. > > And poison comes from unexpected sources. > > I onece cut a rose tree down a piece at a time. Took me all day to do it > and load it and haul it away. > > Next day I was very sick and blood tests later in the day told why. > > I was not hospitalized, but it took about three months to recover. > > don > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Mona Knight <mknight5@ctc.net> > To: iowa@rootsweb.com > Sent: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 01:39:09 +0000 (UTC) > Subject: Re: [IOWA] illnesses and other death certificate descriptions > > I found a record of one ancestor in Illinois that said she was "poisoned." > I was convinced that maybe her husband poisoned her! (Ok, so I have a > good > imagination!) Turns out from another article that she died of multiple > bee > stings from a swarm of bees. Guess that is a poisoning, in a way. > > mk > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dan and Kay" <dpogrant@new.rr.com> > To: "donkelly" <ocollaugh@comcast.net>; <iowa@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 6:36 PM > Subject: Re: [IOWA] ilnesses of emigrants > > >>I have been typing obituaries, most from the 1930's in the Appanoose area >>, >> and the last one I did was of a woman who died from typhoid. She was the >> third one who had died from drinking from the same well on the home farm. >> I have several obits where a bull gored a farmer to death, a baby that >> died >> when he pulled a table cloth and a hot meal fell on him, a baby that fell >> into a bucket filled with milk. The ones of the young children are so >> sorrowful. My mothers brother died in the early 1920's when he was two. >> She said that he had swallowed a kernel of corn and it went down a wrong >> "pipe". I have often wondered if that was true. His obit said "he >> suffered >> much in the two weeks of his illness for it was constant". >> I have typed many obits that also tell of the illness of men coming home >> from the Civil War or WW I. Many had been gassed while overseas and they >> never recovered. >> >> Kay in Wisconsin >> >> >>> It seems lots of people died of illnesses in Iowa, and not from just >>> smallpox alone. Some could have frozen to death of course. >>> In my research I found several places where ancestors just dissapeared >>> between census, or two or more family members died in the same week or >>> month, so I started paying more attention to diseases that killed yours >>> and >>> mine. >>> A new section of my county website deals with this subject. >>> http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iadesmoi/Illness/illnesses.htm >>> >>> I hope this may help someone. >>> >>> donkelly >>> >>> >> >> _____________________________________________ >> >> For additional information concerning how the list >> works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit >> http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ >> _____________________________________________ >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes >> in the subject and the body of the message >> > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message

There may have been more, but I remember an old building up on the hill to the east of Broadlawns Hospital on Hickman Road. We were told it was the old pest house and my parents never wanted us around there - but that didn't go too far. Somehow my brother came down with hepatitis and we thought it was because we played in the woods around there and Broadlawns and the river. All of the students at two schools had to be vaccinated. There were also tuberculosis sanitoriums. This was about 1960. Pat ====================== I had three boys, and when they were ages 3, 7, and 10, there was a flu bug floating arround the school etc. One day my mother called to check on how things were going and when I told her we still had a problem, her answer was "if you don't get rid of that bug soon, we'll have to send them to the pest house". I asked her what she meant by that. She said back in 1918, when she was a 6 yr. old and lived in Des Moines, her mother took her shopping, and at that time they had pest houses. If you came down with the flu you were forced to go to the house and live. You stayed there until you either got well or died. She said she could remember caskets stacked on the curb two and three high. miroda@netins.net

You are soooooooo right. I love hearing all of these stories and yours is so touching. You had quite a mother!! It is humbling to see what odds were overcome and we complain about simple things. Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kate Foote" <kate@comm1net.net> To: "Sharon Becker" <srbecker@iowatelecom.net>; <iowa@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 10:07 PM Subject: Re: [IOWA] ilnesses of emigrants > > "Sharon Becker" <srbecker@iowatelecom.net> wrote: > > >> >> I remember my grandmother and great-grandmother and mother making lye >> soap >> out in >> the back yard. They had a giant (okay, I was a little kid - it looked >> like >> it was huge) >> cast iron kettle and used a wooden paddle to stir the concoction. I can >> understand how >> someone's long skirts could catch fire as most of the lady's attention >> was >> focused on >> stirring the pot or keeping one eye out for the children. >> >> > > My mother grew up on a farm in the beginning of the 20th century. They > had > no electricity or indoor plumbing and they were always struggling to feed > and clothe their many children. (Mom was the oldest of 13 - nine grew to > adulthood.) Like Sharon's grandmother, my grandmother also made lye soap > out in the back yard. On one occasion she was distracted by a cow in her > "kitchen garden" - and while she was tackling that bovine 2 year old > Marcella picked up the bottle of lye and drank from it. She lived for an > agonizing two days. > > My grandmother never spoke of the children she lost, but my mother never > recovered from the death of Marcella. Mom must have been about 10 or 11 > when that baby died but she talked about her, with tears in her eyes, the > rest of her life. She also told me about the 1918 flu epidemic. She, > herself, did not get the flu, but she spoke of caring for her parents and > siblings all alone and the terror she felt that she would be left an > orphan- > she was nine years old. After three days an uncle came by to check on > them. > When he saw how bad things were he told my mother he would ride to town > and > get the doctor, which he did, only to return and tell my mother that the > doctor had died the day before. At one point my grandmother called mom to > her bedside for help; grandma was having a miscarriage. When it was over > grandma told my mother that she knew she was going to die soon and she > told > mom that she would trust her to always take care of the other children. > Nine years old!! Can you imagine the horror of it? Yet neither grandma > or > grandpa or any of the children died from that flu - my mother grew up to > become a nurse and at one time even had her own nursing home. She did > private nursing well into her 70's and was always the first to be > requested > by all the doctors. > > But mom never forgot those hard years. She hated farms and poverty (and > the > lack of contraception for women.) She attended school in the one room > school house that her father and uncles had built - eight grades and every > student was a sibling or a cousin. When she announced that she wanted to > go > to high school everyone was shocked! After all, she was just a poor > farmers > daughter, she was needed to help at home, and she was a female to boot! > But > she was determined. She told me how she saved and how she and her mother > "reworked" a dress her aunt gave them, and she spent her savings on a pair > of "ladies" shoes (the first shoes she ever had that weren't someone's old > boots.) Grandpa drove her in the buckboard to the nearest town with a > high > school, twenty-five miles, and she took a job working as a maid for a > family > there. She was given room and board, time off to attend school, church on > Sundays, and one Saturday a month. She graduated with honors, went on for > nurses training, and then returned to that town to marry the son of one of > the leading families. (That's another whole story.) > > My mother never lived on a farm again. I was the only person with her > when > she died. She had been in and out of consciousness for hours, then around > three AM she awoke crying. She was incoherent but kept talking about "the > children" and "someone must help to save them." Then she suddenly calmed, > and (I'm not sure how to explain this...) she seemed to me to be looking > at > something, or someone, near her bed. A smile came on her face and she > clearly said, "Oh, Marcella." And then she passed. > > Genealogy should never be just about names and dates - the stories we have > that are passed to us are held in trust, we are obliged to tell them and > pass them on. > > Blessings, > Kate > > > > > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

These are the heart breaking aspects of our research. When I walk cemeteries, I always stop to talk to the babies who died and had no chance for life. I tell them I love them and remember them. donkelly ----- Original Message ----- From: Sharon Becker <srbecker@iowatelecom.net> To: iowa@rootsweb.com Sent: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 20:10:00 +0000 (UTC) Subject: Re: [IOWA] ilnesses of emigrants There are a lot of deaths from hunting accidents and buggy wrecks among the old obituaries I've been transcribing, Don. And if they wife was young, chances are she died of complications from childbirth. What I find amazing is that if the next wife gave birth to a daughter, odds are high that the couple named the newborn in honor of the deceased wife. I've found that to happen countless times. There's also a German tradition of naming a newborn after an older child who died. If you watch for it - there's a program about the Spanish Influenza Pandemic in 1917 & 1918. The scientists theorized that those who survived were descendants of those who survived the great plagues & black plague of Europe. Embedded in their genetic make up was an antibody which gave them some sort of protection from the Spanish Flu. (Program usually airs on the History Channel or one of those "sister" channels.) I have a webpage for Ringgold County - "Old-Time Medical Terms: Their Definitions & Old-Time Remedies" http://iagenweb.net/ringgold/history/hist-diseases.html Warts must have been a common problem since there's 19 remedies for it! I lost my uncle when he was 6 weeks old to whooping cough and my grandmother talked about him up until her death when she was 93. I lost a great-uncle when he was 2 and an anvil fell on him & he developed pneumonia - long before antibiotics where heard of. This grandmother talked of him up until her death at the age of 97. I have the pencil tracing she did of his hand, done the day before he died. She kept it in her Bible and close to her heart all those years. (Her grandson was gonna throw it into the burn barrel before Mom & I rescued it.) I also have a page for "Old Time Occupations & Professions" http://iagenweb.net/ringgold/history/hist-occupations.html which I found amusing, although it's more of a glossary. Most terms came over from England. Back to diseases, there have been several obituaries that I've transcribed for Ringgold County where the deceased died from injuries received when the stove exploded. Most of the time someone (usually the deceased) was adding kerosene to the fire. So evidently they didn't understand fumes & flames? Then there are several deaths due to the ladies' long skirts and aprons catching fire - or a toddler getting too close to the fire. I remember my grandmother and great-grandmother and mother making lye soap out in the back yard. They had a giant (okay, I was a little kid - it looked like it was huge) cast iron kettle and used a wooden paddle to stir the concoction. I can understand how someone's long skirts could catch fire as most of the lady's attention was focused on stirring the pot or keeping one eye out for the children. If you look at the obituaries for Civil War Veterans, many didn't live to see the turn of the century, most succumbing to diseases contracted while in service which haunted them the rest of their days. Dysentery, typhoid, typhus, pneumonia, and lung disorders seem to be most common. My great-great-great grandfather suffered from what they called the "bloody flux," which eventually killed him in 1898. He never recovered from it. [Sidenote: His wife, my great-great-great grandmother, had her coffin made by a local cabinetmaker & she kept it in her attic for about 30+ years until it was "needed." Tucked inside of the coffin was the dress she wanted to "wear" for her burial. Her wish was granted.] Many farmers died from machinery accidents. Corn-pickers and hay balers and machinery belts claimed more than their fair share of victims. Most of the time (according to my memory and the obituaries), the farmer usually was out working alone and found when he didn't show up for dinner. I recall when I was about 6-years-old, an elderly farmer almost lost his life to a corn picker. It was touch and go for a long, long time. He ended up losing an arm and lived another 10 years. He told us kids that he didn't want an artificial arm. That if God wanted him to be one-armed, who was he to argue with God? [He also kept pink peppermints in his bibbed overall pocket for us kids. We'd flick off the overall lint and then eat the candy. Little bit of overall lint didn't seem to bother us at all.] Sharon R. Becker Ringgold County IAGenWeb Coordinator srbecker@iowatelecom.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "donkelly" <ocollaugh@comcast.net> To: <iowa@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 12:06 PM Subject: [IOWA] ilnesses of emigrants > It seems lots of people died of illnesses in Iowa, and not from just > smallpox alone. Some could have frozen to death of course. > In my research I found several places where ancestors just dissapeared > between census, or two or more family members died in the same week or > month, so I started paying more attention to diseases that killed yours > and > mine. > A new section of my county website deals with this subject. > http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iadesmoi/Illness/illnesses.htm > > I hope this may help someone. > > donkelly > _____________________________________________ For additional information concerning how the list works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ _____________________________________________ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I found a record of one ancestor in Illinois that said she was "poisoned." I was convinced that maybe her husband poisoned her! (Ok, so I have a good imagination!) Turns out from another article that she died of multiple bee stings from a swarm of bees. Guess that is a poisoning, in a way. mk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dan and Kay" <dpogrant@new.rr.com> To: "donkelly" <ocollaugh@comcast.net>; <iowa@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 6:36 PM Subject: Re: [IOWA] ilnesses of emigrants >I have been typing obituaries, most from the 1930's in the Appanoose area , > and the last one I did was of a woman who died from typhoid. She was the > third one who had died from drinking from the same well on the home farm. > I have several obits where a bull gored a farmer to death, a baby that > died > when he pulled a table cloth and a hot meal fell on him, a baby that fell > into a bucket filled with milk. The ones of the young children are so > sorrowful. My mothers brother died in the early 1920's when he was two. > She said that he had swallowed a kernel of corn and it went down a wrong > "pipe". I have often wondered if that was true. His obit said "he > suffered > much in the two weeks of his illness for it was constant". > I have typed many obits that also tell of the illness of men coming home > from the Civil War or WW I. Many had been gassed while overseas and they > never recovered. > > Kay in Wisconsin > > >> It seems lots of people died of illnesses in Iowa, and not from just >> smallpox alone. Some could have frozen to death of course. >> In my research I found several places where ancestors just dissapeared >> between census, or two or more family members died in the same week or >> month, so I started paying more attention to diseases that killed yours >> and >> mine. >> A new section of my county website deals with this subject. >> http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iadesmoi/Illness/illnesses.htm >> >> I hope this may help someone. >> >> donkelly >> >> > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

As one who is allergic to bees I can attest that Don is right. I've been stung 3 times and ended up in the trauma center with each one - thank God for fantastic doctors and nurses. I carry an Epipen 24/7 and everyone in my family knows how to use it! (While someone else dials 911) A "swarm" of bees - makes me shudder just to think of it! That poor woman, how awful. Kate ----- Original Message ----- From: "donkelly" <ocollaugh@comcast.net> To: "Mona Knight" <mknight5@ctc.net> Cc: <iowa@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 7:54 PM Subject: Re: [IOWA] illnesses and other death certificate descriptions > If allergic, one sting can do one in. > > And poison comes from unexpected sources. > > I onece cut a rose tree down a piece at a time. Took me all day to do it > and load it and haul it away. > > Next day I was very sick and blood tests later in the day told why. > > I was not hospitalized, but it took about three months to recover. > > don > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Mona Knight <mknight5@ctc.net> > To: iowa@rootsweb.com > Sent: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 01:39:09 +0000 (UTC) > Subject: Re: [IOWA] illnesses and other death certificate descriptions > > I found a record of one ancestor in Illinois that said she was "poisoned." > I was convinced that maybe her husband poisoned her! (Ok, so I have a > good > imagination!) Turns out from another article that she died of multiple > bee > stings from a swarm of bees. Guess that is a poisoning, in a way. > > mk > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dan and Kay" <dpogrant@new.rr.com> > To: "donkelly" <ocollaugh@comcast.net>; <iowa@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 6:36 PM > Subject: Re: [IOWA] ilnesses of emigrants > > >>I have been typing obituaries, most from the 1930's in the Appanoose area >>, >> and the last one I did was of a woman who died from typhoid. She was the >> third one who had died from drinking from the same well on the home farm. >> I have several obits where a bull gored a farmer to death, a baby that >> died >> when he pulled a table cloth and a hot meal fell on him, a baby that fell >> into a bucket filled with milk. The ones of the young children are so >> sorrowful. My mothers brother died in the early 1920's when he was two. >> She said that he had swallowed a kernel of corn and it went down a wrong >> "pipe". I have often wondered if that was true. His obit said "he >> suffered >> much in the two weeks of his illness for it was constant". >> I have typed many obits that also tell of the illness of men coming home >> from the Civil War or WW I. Many had been gassed while overseas and they >> never recovered. >> >> Kay in Wisconsin >> >> >>> It seems lots of people died of illnesses in Iowa, and not from just >>> smallpox alone. Some could have frozen to death of course. >>> In my research I found several places where ancestors just dissapeared >>> between census, or two or more family members died in the same week or >>> month, so I started paying more attention to diseases that killed yours >>> and >>> mine. >>> A new section of my county website deals with this subject. >>> http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iadesmoi/Illness/illnesses.htm >>> >>> I hope this may help someone. >>> >>> donkelly >>> >>> >> >> _____________________________________________ >> >> For additional information concerning how the list >> works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit >> http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ >> _____________________________________________ >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes >> in the subject and the body of the message >> > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > _____________________________________________ > > For additional information concerning how the list > works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ > _____________________________________________ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.237 / Virus Database: 270.11.6/1981 - Release Date: 03/03/09 07:25:00

Sharyl, I worked in and or lived in, Alaska between 1964 (earthquake)and 1994, in the army, working construction, working for the fed/state/city, going to school, teaching, etc. In Dec 1994 I retired (I thought) to Oregon. I still ride bikes when able, but NOT in the snow<G> donkelly

It seems lots of people died of illnesses in Iowa, and not from just smallpox alone. Some could have frozen to death of course. In my research I found several places where ancestors just dissapeared between census, or two or more family members died in the same week or month, so I started paying more attention to diseases that killed yours and mine. A new section of my county website deals with this subject. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iadesmoi/Illness/illnesses.htm I hope this may help someone. donkelly

I have been typing obituaries, most from the 1930's in the Appanoose area , and the last one I did was of a woman who died from typhoid. She was the third one who had died from drinking from the same well on the home farm. I have several obits where a bull gored a farmer to death, a baby that died when he pulled a table cloth and a hot meal fell on him, a baby that fell into a bucket filled with milk. The ones of the young children are so sorrowful. My mothers brother died in the early 1920's when he was two. She said that he had swallowed a kernel of corn and it went down a wrong "pipe". I have often wondered if that was true. His obit said "he suffered much in the two weeks of his illness for it was constant". I have typed many obits that also tell of the illness of men coming home from the Civil War or WW I. Many had been gassed while overseas and they never recovered. Kay in Wisconsin > It seems lots of people died of illnesses in Iowa, and not from just > smallpox alone. Some could have frozen to death of course. > In my research I found several places where ancestors just dissapeared > between census, or two or more family members died in the same week or > month, so I started paying more attention to diseases that killed yours > and > mine. > A new section of my county website deals with this subject. > http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iadesmoi/Illness/illnesses.htm > > I hope this may help someone. > > donkelly > >

I had three boys, and when they were ages 3, 7, and 10, there was a flu bug floating arround the school etc. One day my mother called to check on how things were going and when I told her we still had a problem, her answer was "if you don't get rid of that bug soon, we'll have to send them to the pest house". I asked her what she meant by that. She said back in 1918, when she was a 6 yr. old and lived in Des Moines, her mother took her shopping, and at that time they had pest houses. If you came down with the flu you were forced to go to the house and live. You stayed there until you either got well or died. She said she could remember caskets stacked on the curb two and three high. miroda@netins.net

"Sharon Becker" <srbecker@iowatelecom.net> wrote: > > I remember my grandmother and great-grandmother and mother making lye soap > out in > the back yard. They had a giant (okay, I was a little kid - it looked like > it was huge) > cast iron kettle and used a wooden paddle to stir the concoction. I can > understand how > someone's long skirts could catch fire as most of the lady's attention was > focused on > stirring the pot or keeping one eye out for the children. > > My mother grew up on a farm in the beginning of the 20th century. They had no electricity or indoor plumbing and they were always struggling to feed and clothe their many children. (Mom was the oldest of 13 - nine grew to adulthood.) Like Sharon's grandmother, my grandmother also made lye soap out in the back yard. On one occasion she was distracted by a cow in her "kitchen garden" - and while she was tackling that bovine 2 year old Marcella picked up the bottle of lye and drank from it. She lived for an agonizing two days. My grandmother never spoke of the children she lost, but my mother never recovered from the death of Marcella. Mom must have been about 10 or 11 when that baby died but she talked about her, with tears in her eyes, the rest of her life. She also told me about the 1918 flu epidemic. She, herself, did not get the flu, but she spoke of caring for her parents and siblings all alone and the terror she felt that she would be left an orphan- she was nine years old. After three days an uncle came by to check on them. When he saw how bad things were he told my mother he would ride to town and get the doctor, which he did, only to return and tell my mother that the doctor had died the day before. At one point my grandmother called mom to her bedside for help; grandma was having a miscarriage. When it was over grandma told my mother that she knew she was going to die soon and she told mom that she would trust her to always take care of the other children. Nine years old!! Can you imagine the horror of it? Yet neither grandma or grandpa or any of the children died from that flu - my mother grew up to become a nurse and at one time even had her own nursing home. She did private nursing well into her 70's and was always the first to be requested by all the doctors. But mom never forgot those hard years. She hated farms and poverty (and the lack of contraception for women.) She attended school in the one room school house that her father and uncles had built - eight grades and every student was a sibling or a cousin. When she announced that she wanted to go to high school everyone was shocked! After all, she was just a poor farmers daughter, she was needed to help at home, and she was a female to boot! But she was determined. She told me how she saved and how she and her mother "reworked" a dress her aunt gave them, and she spent her savings on a pair of "ladies" shoes (the first shoes she ever had that weren't someone's old boots.) Grandpa drove her in the buckboard to the nearest town with a high school, twenty-five miles, and she took a job working as a maid for a family there. She was given room and board, time off to attend school, church on Sundays, and one Saturday a month. She graduated with honors, went on for nurses training, and then returned to that town to marry the son of one of the leading families. (That's another whole story.) My mother never lived on a farm again. I was the only person with her when she died. She had been in and out of consciousness for hours, then around three AM she awoke crying. She was incoherent but kept talking about "the children" and "someone must help to save them." Then she suddenly calmed, and (I'm not sure how to explain this...) she seemed to me to be looking at something, or someone, near her bed. A smile came on her face and she clearly said, "Oh, Marcella." And then she passed. Genealogy should never be just about names and dates - the stories we have that are passed to us are held in trust, we are obliged to tell them and pass them on. Blessings, Kate

Our ancestors were a brave lot. In my research, and I am sure others found it as well, many of our ancestors had babies that they buried and then left to go west or buried babies along the way. How heartbreaking for these mothers to have to bury their child and then move on, never to visit the graves again. I remember reading some journals from a friends ancestor whose daughter migrated west to Indiana in the late 1820's. Her mother received a rare letter several years later asking her to visit the graves of her babies she left behind, so they would know they weren't forgotten. Nancy

Kate, What a story! Thank you so much for sharing it... and for the perspective I hope we all share. Alison in California -----Original Message----- From: iowa-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:iowa-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Kate Foote Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 2:07 PM To: Sharon Becker; iowa@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [IOWA] ilnesses of emigrants "Sharon Becker" <srbecker@iowatelecom.net> wrote: > > I remember my grandmother and great-grandmother and mother making lye > soap out in the back yard. They had a giant (okay, I was a little kid > - it looked like it was huge) cast iron kettle and used a wooden > paddle to stir the concoction. I can understand how someone's long > skirts could catch fire as most of the lady's attention was focused on > stirring the pot or keeping one eye out for the children. > > My mother grew up on a farm in the beginning of the 20th century. They had no electricity or indoor plumbing and they were always struggling to feed and clothe their many children. (Mom was the oldest of 13 - nine grew to adulthood.) Like Sharon's grandmother, my grandmother also made lye soap out in the back yard. On one occasion she was distracted by a cow in her "kitchen garden" - and while she was tackling that bovine 2 year old Marcella picked up the bottle of lye and drank from it. She lived for an agonizing two days. My grandmother never spoke of the children she lost, but my mother never recovered from the death of Marcella. Mom must have been about 10 or 11 when that baby died but she talked about her, with tears in her eyes, the rest of her life. She also told me about the 1918 flu epidemic. She, herself, did not get the flu, but she spoke of caring for her parents and siblings all alone and the terror she felt that she would be left an orphan- she was nine years old. After three days an uncle came by to check on them. When he saw how bad things were he told my mother he would ride to town and get the doctor, which he did, only to return and tell my mother that the doctor had died the day before. At one point my grandmother called mom to her bedside for help; grandma was having a miscarriage. When it was over grandma told my mother that she knew she was going to die soon and she told mom that she would trust her to always take care of the other children. Nine years old!! Can you imagine the horror of it? Yet neither grandma or grandpa or any of the children died from that flu - my mother grew up to become a nurse and at one time even had her own nursing home. She did private nursing well into her 70's and was always the first to be requested by all the doctors. But mom never forgot those hard years. She hated farms and poverty (and the lack of contraception for women.) She attended school in the one room school house that her father and uncles had built - eight grades and every student was a sibling or a cousin. When she announced that she wanted to go to high school everyone was shocked! After all, she was just a poor farmers daughter, she was needed to help at home, and she was a female to boot! But she was determined. She told me how she saved and how she and her mother "reworked" a dress her aunt gave them, and she spent her savings on a pair of "ladies" shoes (the first shoes she ever had that weren't someone's old boots.) Grandpa drove her in the buckboard to the nearest town with a high school, twenty-five miles, and she took a job working as a maid for a family there. She was given room and board, time off to attend school, church on Sundays, and one Saturday a month. She graduated with honors, went on for nurses training, and then returned to that town to marry the son of one of the leading families. (That's another whole story.) My mother never lived on a farm again. I was the only person with her when she died. She had been in and out of consciousness for hours, then around three AM she awoke crying. She was incoherent but kept talking about "the children" and "someone must help to save them." Then she suddenly calmed, and (I'm not sure how to explain this...) she seemed to me to be looking at something, or someone, near her bed. A smile came on her face and she clearly said, "Oh, Marcella." And then she passed. Genealogy should never be just about names and dates - the stories we have that are passed to us are held in trust, we are obliged to tell them and pass them on. Blessings, Kate _____________________________________________ For additional information concerning how the list works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ _____________________________________________ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

There are a lot of deaths from hunting accidents and buggy wrecks among the old obituaries I've been transcribing, Don. And if they wife was young, chances are she died of complications from childbirth. What I find amazing is that if the next wife gave birth to a daughter, odds are high that the couple named the newborn in honor of the deceased wife. I've found that to happen countless times. There's also a German tradition of naming a newborn after an older child who died. If you watch for it - there's a program about the Spanish Influenza Pandemic in 1917 & 1918. The scientists theorized that those who survived were descendants of those who survived the great plagues & black plague of Europe. Embedded in their genetic make up was an antibody which gave them some sort of protection from the Spanish Flu. (Program usually airs on the History Channel or one of those "sister" channels.) I have a webpage for Ringgold County - "Old-Time Medical Terms: Their Definitions & Old-Time Remedies" http://iagenweb.net/ringgold/history/hist-diseases.html Warts must have been a common problem since there's 19 remedies for it! I lost my uncle when he was 6 weeks old to whooping cough and my grandmother talked about him up until her death when she was 93. I lost a great-uncle when he was 2 and an anvil fell on him & he developed pneumonia - long before antibiotics where heard of. This grandmother talked of him up until her death at the age of 97. I have the pencil tracing she did of his hand, done the day before he died. She kept it in her Bible and close to her heart all those years. (Her grandson was gonna throw it into the burn barrel before Mom & I rescued it.) I also have a page for "Old Time Occupations & Professions" http://iagenweb.net/ringgold/history/hist-occupations.html which I found amusing, although it's more of a glossary. Most terms came over from England. Back to diseases, there have been several obituaries that I've transcribed for Ringgold County where the deceased died from injuries received when the stove exploded. Most of the time someone (usually the deceased) was adding kerosene to the fire. So evidently they didn't understand fumes & flames? Then there are several deaths due to the ladies' long skirts and aprons catching fire - or a toddler getting too close to the fire. I remember my grandmother and great-grandmother and mother making lye soap out in the back yard. They had a giant (okay, I was a little kid - it looked like it was huge) cast iron kettle and used a wooden paddle to stir the concoction. I can understand how someone's long skirts could catch fire as most of the lady's attention was focused on stirring the pot or keeping one eye out for the children. If you look at the obituaries for Civil War Veterans, many didn't live to see the turn of the century, most succumbing to diseases contracted while in service which haunted them the rest of their days. Dysentery, typhoid, typhus, pneumonia, and lung disorders seem to be most common. My great-great-great grandfather suffered from what they called the "bloody flux," which eventually killed him in 1898. He never recovered from it. [Sidenote: His wife, my great-great-great grandmother, had her coffin made by a local cabinetmaker & she kept it in her attic for about 30+ years until it was "needed." Tucked inside of the coffin was the dress she wanted to "wear" for her burial. Her wish was granted.] Many farmers died from machinery accidents. Corn-pickers and hay balers and machinery belts claimed more than their fair share of victims. Most of the time (according to my memory and the obituaries), the farmer usually was out working alone and found when he didn't show up for dinner. I recall when I was about 6-years-old, an elderly farmer almost lost his life to a corn picker. It was touch and go for a long, long time. He ended up losing an arm and lived another 10 years. He told us kids that he didn't want an artificial arm. That if God wanted him to be one-armed, who was he to argue with God? [He also kept pink peppermints in his bibbed overall pocket for us kids. We'd flick off the overall lint and then eat the candy. Little bit of overall lint didn't seem to bother us at all.] Sharon R. Becker Ringgold County IAGenWeb Coordinator srbecker@iowatelecom.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "donkelly" <ocollaugh@comcast.net> To: <iowa@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 12:06 PM Subject: [IOWA] ilnesses of emigrants > It seems lots of people died of illnesses in Iowa, and not from just > smallpox alone. Some could have frozen to death of course. > In my research I found several places where ancestors just dissapeared > between census, or two or more family members died in the same week or > month, so I started paying more attention to diseases that killed yours > and > mine. > A new section of my county website deals with this subject. > http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iadesmoi/Illness/illnesses.htm > > I hope this may help someone. > > donkelly >

Don, When did you move to Alaska? Thought you lived in Oregon. Sharyl - in Chickaloon, Alaska --- ocollaugh@comcast.net wrote: From: donkelly <ocollaugh@comcast.net> To: a1hawkeye@juno.com Cc: IOWA@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [IOWA] Polar bear Bicycle club Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 06:00:27 +0000 (UTC) We ride bikes in Alaska in the winter, but the best races are in the summer. People come from around the world for those races. Animal means a guy or girl is very strong on uphill climbs. The animals usually win. don

We ride bikes in Alaska in the winter, but the best races are in the summer. People come from around the world for those races. Animal means a guy or girl is very strong on uphill climbs. The animals usually win. don ----- Original Message ----- From: a1hawkeye@juno.com To: Scottsfamilytree@aol.com Cc: IOWA@rootsweb.com Sent: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 05:53:51 +0000 (UTC) Subject: Re: [IOWA] Polar bear Bicycle club There are bike clubs that ride in the winter. The largest winter ride is probably the BRR ride, or Bike Ride to Rippey, which goes from Perry to Rippey the first weekend in February. It is often VERY cold. It was pretty good this year and had quite a few riders. You might contact a bike shop in Cedar Rapids for more info. =============================== Is there are group of Iowans who ride bikes in the winter called the Polar bear Bicycle club? Possibly in Cedar Rapids. I know people go swimming in the ice in the winter, but ride a bike? Scott _____________________________________________ For additional information concerning how the list works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ _____________________________________________ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

There are bike clubs that ride in the winter. The largest winter ride is probably the BRR ride, or Bike Ride to Rippey, which goes from Perry to Rippey the first weekend in February. It is often VERY cold. It was pretty good this year and had quite a few riders. You might contact a bike shop in Cedar Rapids for more info. =============================== Is there are group of Iowans who ride bikes in the winter called the Polar bear Bicycle club? Possibly in Cedar Rapids. I know people go swimming in the ice in the winter, but ride a bike? Scott

A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY, BUSINESS, ETC. by EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M. Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa Volume IV THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. Chicago and New York 1931 ABRAHAM H. ROGERS, who is living retired in the City of Oskaloosa, judicial center of Mahaska County, was born and reared in this county, is a representative of one of its very early pioneer families, and here he so ordered his course during his many years of identification with farm industry as to gain the substantial success and prosperity that enable him to pass the gracious evening of his life in well earned retirement and under conditions that are in every way benignant. The family name has been honorably and prominently linked with the annals of Iowa history during a period of more than eighty years. Abraham H. Rodgers was born on the pioneer home farm of his parents in Springcreek Township, Mahaska County, October 11, 1846, and is a son of Daniel and Sarah E. (Comstock) Rodgers, who here reclaimed from the virgin prairie the productive farm that was their place of abode until their death, they having contributed their quota to civic and industrial progress in Mahaska County and their names merit enduring place on the roster of the honored pioneers of the Hawkeye State. Abraham H. Rodgers was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm, and in the meanwhile profited by the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. It is interesting to record that in the rural school he attended in his youth his two sons later prosecuted their studies under the preceptorship of the same teacher who had there been the instructor of their father many years previously. Mr. Rodgers was a lad of about fifteen years at the inception of the Civil war, and before its close he was able to give expression to his youthful patriotism by enlisting for service in defence of the nation's integrity. In 1864 he enlisted as a member of Company I, Forty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and with this command he continued in active service until the close of the war, he having been with his regiment in Arkansas when he received his honorable discharge in the early summer of 1865. He has ever retained deep interest in his old comrades, whose ranks grow less day by day and year by year, and has signalized this by his appreciative affiliation with Phil Kearney Post No. 40, Grand Army of the Republic, at Oskaloosa, where also he maintains affiliation with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. After the close of his military career Mr. Rodgers resumed his active association with farm industry in his native county. He became the owner of a fine farm estate of 200 acres five miles northeast of Oskaloosa, and there he staged his activities as a progressive representative of general farm enterprise until he retired and established his home in the City of Oskaloosa, where he owns and occupies an attractive residence at 328 North D Street, he still retaining possession of his farm property. The political allegiance of Mr. Rodgers is given to the Republican party, and he has ever been loyal and public-spirited in his civic attitude. While on the farm he served as a member of the school board of his district and also held various township offices. He and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was also his first wife. In 1874 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Rodgers and Miss Mary Josephine Millice, of Warsaw, Indiana, and at their home in Oskaloosa her death occurred January 31, 1922, after their companionship had covered a period of nearly half a century. Of the children of this union the eldest is Deuward, who is one of the representative farmers of Mahaska County, the maiden name of his wife having been Maude Glasscock and their children being Bernice, Blance and Floyd. Harry Wilkins Rodgers, the second son, is likewise a progressive farmer in his native county. He married Miss Annis Buckner, and they have three daughters, Beulah, Wilmer and Lorena, the eldest daughter, Miss Beulah, having won in 1928 the Iowa State prize in canning and this having gained to her a free trip to Europe, James D., youngest of the sons and a successful farmer in Mahaska County, married Miss Lena Melchur, and their three children are sons, Harry, Roy and James D., Jr. As loyal and progressive citizens all three sons are well upholding the honors of the family name and are representatives of the third generation of the family in Mahaska County. The second marriage of Mr. Rodgers occurred June 7, 1923, when he wedded Mrs. Mary (Roenspiess) Moore, widow of J. C. Moore, she having had by her first marriage one son, Leo Moore, who is deceased and whose widow, Mrs. Mary (Griffin) Moore, and their one child, Leo, Jr., reside in the City of Fort Dodge. Mrs. Rodgers is the popular chatelaine of the attractive home in Oskaloosa. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa History Project _http://iagenweb.org/history/_ (http://iagenweb.org/history/) Scott County, Iowa _http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm_ (http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm) **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1219957551x1201325337/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fwww.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26hmpgID %3D62%26bcd%3DfebemailfooterNO62)

Just a rare chance, but it looks like NJ is an area list and Guerin is a surname list. These are listed in separate indexes on Rootsweb. donkelly ----- Original Message ----- From: June Hebert <junefh@gmail.com> To: Iowa@rootsweb.com Sent: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 01:36:38 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [IOWA] ???/ I finally found my list of rootsweb family list but some are not listed. like NJ@rootsweb.com and Deguerin and Guerin@rootsweb.com Do you know why? guerinGuerin@rootseweb.com _____________________________________________ For additional information concerning how the list works, how to sub and unsub and list rules, visit http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist/ _____________________________________________ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IOWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I finally found my list of rootsweb family list but some are not listed. like NJ@rootsweb.com and Deguerin and Guerin@rootsweb.com Do you know why? guerinGuerin@rootseweb.com