I've spent a lot of time browsing newspapers for long periods of time in one particular Iowa town. I felt I got to know some of the people and felt saddened by their losses. Even if they don't mention illnesses related to particular families, they will talk about illnesses going around. A family mentioned in a newspaper had lost something like 6 or 7 children to the same epidemic. A family Bible and tombstones reveal that three children in my great-grandfather's family died in the 1870s within about three weeks of each other. My great-grandfather was born around 1881. The only other sibling that was alive that made it through the epidemic was the one who had immigrated from Sweden with his parents. My grand aunt remembered that she had been told that they had died from diptheria. Patti On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 10:36 AM, Harold Henderson < librarytraveler@gmail.com> wrote: > 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. > 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 >