You are so right Teresa, handwashing has often been called the biggest break-through in modern medicine. So great was the infant death rate well through the 1800's that often times infants were not named until past their first year. I have seen several times on censuses an infant referred to as baby Jones, 11/12 months old. Nutrition certainly has always played a small part in mortality rates, but it was not, until recently, nearly as important as hygiene and the spread of infectious diseases that have long been eradicated. Persons descending from ancestors who were in America during colonial times, can attribute their presence more to luck of the genes and the good luck of not catching a contagious disease than from good nutrition. ----- Original Message ----- From: teresa stuart To: STEWART-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2006 10:31 AM Subject: Re: [STEWART] Off Topic, but Interesting: Death in Childbirth Hi Annie, Low income was not always a factor. They died at the same rate as a Doctor assisted birth or a midwife assisted birth. The reason was handwashing and hygiene. Doctors did not have "a grip" on the importance of hand washing and hygiene until the late 1800`s. ---