I have a couple in the last 1800s that had several of their children die. They lost one at 4 months, one at 5 months, one at 2 years, one at 1 year, one at 1 year 5 months, and one at age 15. They also lost one at age 26 [died with kidney failure after an appendectomy]. They had 2 that lived to adulthood. There are 2 more that I can't trace. When you see a bunch of babies/children die in the same family (but not at the same time like an illness wiping out several at once) what do you think? Coincidental deaths? All died of the same thing? Something wrong with the children genetically or hereditarily? I doubt that I will ever know since there were no death certificate (except for the one that made it to age 26). It just makes we wonder. This woman would lose a baby every couple of years. I can't even imagine. Michele

Babies died a lot back then. And sometimes it was due to an epidemic or other condition in a particular area. I had an elderly ancestor die of heat stroke in Cincinnati at age 78 in the later part of the 1800's. I pulled up newspapers for the day that he died and discovered it was the worst heat wave in Cincinnati ever and that so many people died of heat stroke that day that the morges were overflowing and they were putting bodies in other locations. Phyllis

They did die a lot, but sometimes one can't help wondering. My great aunt had 11 children. The first one lived to be nearly 100. The next three died as infants and a fourth died at age 2. Of the remaining 6 only the last one failed to live a long and vigorous life. Four in a row die and then five in a row are healthy as oxen? The family moved from Missouri to Oklahoma. Was it the water on their first farm? Privation and overwork didn't allow the mother to produce enough milk? Janis Walker Gilmore Pawleys Island, SC On Sep 25, 2012, at 9:00 AM, pgarratt@gessert.us wrote: > > > Babies died a lot back then. And sometimes it was due to an epidemic or other condition in a particular area. I had an elderly ancestor die of heat stroke in Cincinnati at age 78 in the later part of the 1800's. I pulled up newspapers for the day that he died and discovered it was the worst heat wave in Cincinnati ever and that so many people died of heat stroke that day that the morges were overflowing and they were putting bodies in other locations. > > Phyllis > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Michele -- Two thoughts: (1) Don't omit newspapers as sources for deaths. They put the most amazing things in newspapers back then that you would get sued for today. (2) No general reason other than the primitive state of medicine (esp. no antibiotics) and often public-health issues such as sanitation and water supply. I would be very hesitant to draw any more drastic conclusions in any particular case without good evidence, which as you say is hard to come by. One of my grandmothers died as a young mother in 1920 of a simple ear infection that could not be treated and did not seem serious -- she wrote a typical letter two days before. The other grandmother lost her first-born in 1916: it was a month early and she thought it should have conditions as womb-like as possible, but the doctor told her different. No, I can't imagine. (Actually maybe I can: she lived to 94 and had no truck with stories about "the good old days.") Harold On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 10:14 AM, Michele Lewis <ancestoring@gmail.com>wrote: > I have a couple in the last 1800s that had several of their children die. > They lost one at 4 months, one at 5 months, one at 2 years, one at 1 year, > one at 1 year 5 months, and one at age 15. They also lost one at age 26 > [died with kidney failure after an appendectomy]. They had 2 that lived to > adulthood. There are 2 more that I can't trace. > > > > When you see a bunch of babies/children die in the same family (but not at > the same time like an illness wiping out several at once) what do you > think? > Coincidental deaths? All died of the same thing? Something wrong with the > children genetically or hereditarily? I doubt that I will ever know > since > there were no death certificate (except for the one that made it to age > 26). > It just makes we wonder. This woman would lose a baby every couple of > years. I can't even imagine. > > > > Michele > > > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Harold Henderson midwestroots.net Research, Writing, and Brickwall Dismantling from Northwest Indiana Regularly Researching at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center Certified Genealogist (SM) No. 1029 Certified Genealogist and CG are proprietary service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists® used by the Board to identify its program of genealogical competencyevaluation and used under license by the Board’s associates.

Michelle, Do you know if they were associated with a particular church? I have a family that had two children die within a few months of each other in 1886. The newspapers of that time did not include death information, and there were no vital records. But what I did find was that in the parish death records, the priest recorded the cause of death for each child. Susan C Fassbender Outagamie and Beyond Historical and Genealogical Research On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 10:14 AM, Michele Lewis <ancestoring@gmail.com>wrote: > I have a couple in the last 1800s that had several of their children die. > They lost one at 4 months, one at 5 months, one at 2 years, one at 1 year, > one at 1 year 5 months, and one at age 15. They also lost one at age 26 > [died with kidney failure after an appendectomy]. They had 2 that lived to > adulthood. There are 2 more that I can't trace. > > > > When you see a bunch of babies/children die in the same family (but not at > the same time like an illness wiping out several at once) what do you > think? > Coincidental deaths? All died of the same thing? Something wrong with the > children genetically or hereditarily? I doubt that I will ever know > since > there were no death certificate (except for the one that made it to age > 26). > It just makes we wonder. This woman would lose a baby every couple of > years. I can't even imagine. > > > > Michele > > > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Some very interesting insights on this were developed in the U.K. WDYTYA episode involving Martin Freeman. On Youtube, the episode is divided into five pieces. The first piece is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPHPcJQI36c One of his ancestral families had this die-off issue. He interviews a doctor at a children's hospital in London. Very interesting. Not what you'd think. No one so far has offered this explanation. Barbara

I'll add my voice to the chorus whose answer can be summarized as "look at the community." You don't say where or exactly when this family was, although it probably doesn't matter a whole lot; I'll just note that a lot of my research has been 19th century central Europe. Things like measles came in waves and wiped out a good percentage of children in a town. The end of winter seems to been a vulnerable time, because food was scarce. Families really could lose a child or two in one year, then another a couple years later, and another further on, due to diseases, weakness, and occasionally accident; it's heartbreaking. Julie Michutka jmm@pathbridge.net On Sep 25, 2012, at 11:14 AM, Michele Lewis wrote: > I have a couple in the last 1800s that had several of their children die. > They lost one at 4 months, one at 5 months, one at 2 years, one at 1 year, > one at 1 year 5 months, and one at age 15. They also lost one at age 26 > [died with kidney failure after an appendectomy]. They had 2 that lived to > adulthood. There are 2 more that I can't trace. > > > > When you see a bunch of babies/children die in the same family (but not at > the same time like an illness wiping out several at once) what do you think? > Coincidental deaths? All died of the same thing? Something wrong with the > children genetically or hereditarily? I doubt that I will ever know since > there were no death certificate (except for the one that made it to age 26). > It just makes we wonder. This woman would lose a baby every couple of > years. I can't even imagine

Michele, Was the mother a diabetic?  I had the same question concerning why a particular couple had 6 children and only one grew to adulthood.  While looking for something else, I came across the answer for my question about the babies dying.  They all died of problems related to diabetes.  The mother died in her twenties of diabetes, also. Just a thought.   Cheryl Proctor Southern Indiana ________________________________ From: Michele Lewis <ancestoring@gmail.com> To: TGF Mailing List <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 11:14 AM Subject: [TGF] Why kids died I have a couple in the last 1800s that had several of their children die. They lost one at 4 months, one at 5 months, one at 2 years, one at 1 year, one at 1 year 5 months, and one at age 15.  They also lost one at age 26 [died with kidney failure after an appendectomy].  They had 2 that lived to adulthood.  There are 2 more that I can't trace. When you see a bunch of babies/children die in the same family (but not at the same time like an illness wiping out several at once) what do you think? Coincidental deaths?  All died of the same thing?  Something wrong with the children genetically or hereditarily?    I doubt that I will ever know since there were no death certificate (except for the one that made it to age 26). It just makes we wonder.  This woman would lose a baby every couple of years.  I can't even imagine. Michele The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message