Oh, how true your statement rings! My daughter likes to watch the Medical Channel and the birth of children. I always see the problem these families run into and wonder how so many women made it through child birth with a midwife! And that explains why so many did not. Very rarely did you find families with few children! Has anyone ever counted to find your ancestor with the MOST children with one wife? I found 22 for one of mine! I recently found that two of my gr grandmothers' were midwifes in the Malaguay, Bayou Boeuf, and Kraemer, LA area. That was a fun discovery indeed! Shelia Kraemer Salomone Shelia -----Original Message----- From: laorlean-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:laorlean-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of calyx corolla Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 3:59 PM To: laorlean@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] DNA ethnicity test Pit of Pestilence, indeed! That would be funny if it weren't so pathetic and true. I wonder if it was the climate, or peoples lack of hygiene? Or medicine had little means of dealing with contagion? Anyway, it is very sad to me where I find a mother and infant that died within days of each other. I can't imagine giving birth every year, year after year, and then expiring because my body was just plain drained and worn out and my immune system so low that anything might carry me off. What a difference a century makes! > Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 01:54:51 +0000 > From: k-wieland@comcast.net > To: laorlean@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] DNA ethnicity test > > When I first started researching my family, I was shocked when I found so many "three-fers." I had known since I was a kid that my Great-Grandma Schwartz had outlived 3 husbands. But I was scandalized when I discovered that SHE had been the third wife of my Great-Grandfather and the second wife of my grandmother's first stepfather (who had been married to Great-Grandma's younger sister!). > > But after a few years of research, I realized that there were good reasons this happened so often. I didn't find much in the way of divorce or abandonment - just a lot of people who died prematurely from (usually) epidemics or wars or childbirth - with the occasional railroad or streetcar midadventure thrown in. Life in the old days was not for sissies. And New Orleans, in particular, seems to have been a Pit of Pestilence into the early 20th century. > > Kathleen, in Connecticut, > by way of New Orleans > > > >> > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LAORLEAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LAORLEAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Actually, we are not a prolific family--which is part of why I got into genealogy in 1997. But, I have seen the kind of very large families you refer to. I haven't seen what I consider to be a big family since the 80's. There was a couple at my parish church during that time that had seven children--all boys except for the youngest. I used to occasionally see the mom at my grocery with the oldest boy because they needed two carts! Everyone used to stare at them at Mass, I guess because large families were out by then -- too darned expensive. I remember in elementary school I was friendly with a girl who was the 2nd of 9. (not to be confused with 7 of 9!!) Anyway, I remember staying there for lunch one day and was absolutely appalled. There was no such thing as table conversation just the sound of fork tines hitting teeth (this was not allowed in my home). The boys had absolutely nothing to say, just EAT EAT EAT. And while they were eating they had their eyes on the serving bowls looking toward the next helping! I forgot all about this until I went off to college and got an eyeful of boys 17-22 acting like hogs at a trough. Additionally, my freshman roommate was the 2nd of 9. I visited her home twice and just couldn't imagine living with that many people on a daily basis. The bathroom logistics alone were horrific. 3 out of the nine were girls. I finally understood the expression "eating you out of house and home" and that it referred to feeding growing boys. I'd rather feed, and have done so, a large breed of dog than a teenaged boy. At least the dog only eats once per day. Back to Ireland--During my 2 months stay, I met a family of 14 children plus the parents where the oldest child was 40 and the youngest was nursing. I was both shocked and scandalized, and sorry to say also disgusted. I'm slightly more tolerant now ;-) I've never watched a human birth, only puppies and kittens. My favourite though was watching a Hummingbird nest until the two little eggs hatched out after a few weeks. Something else I find "shocking and scandalizing" is how many 12-15 year old girls in LA were married to men 25-35 years old. When I remember myself at 12, I can't even picture what "marriage" and birth would have been like. Ma foi!! > From: salomos@comcast.net > To: laorlean@rootsweb.com > Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:09:14 -0700 > Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] DNA ethnicity test > > Oh, how true your statement rings! My daughter likes to watch the Medical > Channel and the birth of children. I always see the problem these families > run into and wonder how so many women made it through child birth with a > midwife! And that explains why so many did not. Very rarely did you find > families with few children! Has anyone ever counted to find your ancestor > with the MOST children with one wife? I found 22 for one of mine! > > I recently found that two of my gr grandmothers' were midwifes in the > Malaguay, Bayou Boeuf, and Kraemer, LA area. That was a fun discovery > indeed! > > Shelia Kraemer Salomone > > To: laorlean@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] DNA ethnicity test > > > Pit of Pestilence, indeed! That would be funny if it weren't so pathetic and > true. I wonder if it was the climate, or peoples lack of hygiene? Or > medicine had little means of dealing with contagion? Anyway, it is very sad > to me where I find a mother and infant that died within days of each other. > I can't imagine giving birth every year, year after year, and then expiring > because my body was just plain drained and worn out and my immune system so > low that anything might carry me off. What a difference a century makes! > > Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 01:54:51 +0000 > > From: k-wieland@comcast.net > > To: laorlean@rootsweb.com > > Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] DNA ethnicity test > > > > When I first started researching my family, I was shocked when I found so > many "three-fers." I had known since I was a kid that my Great-Grandma > Schwartz had outlived 3 husbands. But I was scandalized when I discovered > that SHE had been the third wife of my Great-Grandfather and the second wife > of my grandmother's first stepfather (who had been married to > Great-Grandma's younger sister!). > > > > But after a few years of research, I realized that there were good reasons > this happened so often. I didn't find much in the way of divorce or > abandonment - just a lot of people who died prematurely from (usually) > epidemics or wars or childbirth - with the occasional railroad or streetcar > midadventure thrown in. Life in the old days was not for sissies. And New > Orleans, in particular, seems to have been a Pit of Pestilence into the > early 20th century. > > > > Kathleen, in Connecticut, > > by way of New Orleans > > > > > > > >> > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LAORLEAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LAORLEAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LAORLEAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message