At 11:20 AM 11/10/05 -0500, Graeme Boocock wrote: >Hello. I am curious to know if there is any way I can determine why two >of my ancestor's children died on the same day in 1846. If other children in the same area were dying around the same time, say within a month or two, I'd say it was one of those epidemics which contributed to high infant mortality in the past. If not, then either it could be an illness within the family -- colds leading to croup, for instance -- or, seeing as it was mid-November, it could have been a joint accident. In my one Cornwall branch I have a little sister and older brother dying on the same day in November when the family's children were testing the ice on a pond for skating. The little girl fell through the ice and her brother drowned trying to save her. They could have been in a sleigh that overturned, or got lost outdoors and died of hypothermia -- I can think of lots of reasons, but how you'd check I don't know. In the case of my Cornish family, the double drowning was reported in the local newspaper. Not much help with your actual query, I'm afraid. Just some suggestion as to what might have happened to them. Margaret Gibbs Richmond, BC

Graeme Boocock wrote: > I am curious to know if there is any way I can determine why > two of my ancestor's children died on the same day in 1846. ____________________________________________ Hi Graeme, Margaret is right about epidemics in the 1840s. Many people don't realise that rural Scotland suffered from the potato blight & famine every bit as badly as the Irish. Also in the mid-Victorian times, especially the 1840s, there were cholera and typhoid epidemics in NE Scotland, & throughout the UK, which could have taken whole families, especially the children, in a day. Could you let us all know what you find out about these children? We have an unexplained 1846-8 death in Sheena's tree and any information might help us. Best wishes Ray Hennessy