Not for the faint-hearted! Sorry to prolong this correspondence but I enjoy trying to solve a mystery. Apologies to any medical specialists who will probably know far more about this subject . The McGuigan granddaughter at 13 dying of senile gangrene sounds odd especially as a few days after the death of her grandmother and one wonders whether there is another common factor i.e an accident (run over by a cart for example?) At that date without antibiotics any wound might deteriorate far rapidly than today. Looking a bit further it seems that senile gangrene may be due to arteriosclerosis not necessarily in the old, i.e it relates to the state of circulation in a limb. Playing medical detective I think it is possible that one or both of these deaths could be due to a tuberculous infection (then very common especially before the introduction of pasteurised milk) and this would affect both young and old. The result of this infection used to be seen some years ago when many people had to wear a very thick soled boot or shoe and had to use a walking stick..in other words it caused shortening of a leg. Could the deaths so shortly one after the other just be a sad coincidence? I have found an excellent web site which gives medical terminology for genealogists in case anyone interested.. some old fashioned terms in there. Sedgleymanor.com B ____________________________________________________ Yahoo! Photos is now offering a quality print service from just 7p a photo. http://uk.photos.yahoo.com