Grandma’s Bible Record: Years of Heartbreak

A Story by whitebear12

A Bible is found in Grandmother’s house after she passes, of which sad records of nineteenth century babies are found.

While clearing out my grandmother’s house after her death,I found an old, dusty Bible in a drawer. While flipping through it, (I always wondered why the pages are so thin in Bibles) I noticed she’d kept it well, with a plastic covering to keep the pages from falling out.
I realized how old the Bible was, when a folded piece of paper slipped out. Yellowed by the years, it told a very sad story of Nineteenth and early twentieth century children who’d met their deaths way too early. Can you imagine having twelve babies and losing half
of them to illnesses that could not be avoided or cured? In many of these early families, babies weren’t even named, because the parents knew the chances of their surviving were slim. Some of the babies are even named twice, after a previous sibling who didn’t make it past infancy, who’d died of such things as “Summer Complaint” and “Brain Fever”. The babies in some family trees are only known as names such as “Baby Johnson” or “Baby Wilson”.
Can you imagine going through twelve pregnancies, there being no birth control in those days, and having to hear them cry as they were terribly ill, of sicknesses we take for granted today we will not likely ever have, or our children? Illnesses that made them so sick that they passed away.
You just have to hope the mother was able to look after the rest of the children well, pouring herself into the work, the older children having to help with the younger siblings and work on their farm chores.They did need the extra help on the farm, but you can’t say they had the children purposely, because back then if you married, you had children.
Several of these children survived into adulthood, but they did not get very old. Their deaths came at .ages between nineteen and fifty-four.
My great grandfather survived the longest, passing away on Halloween in 1957. I was born on Halloween, in 1961. It’s because of him that I’m here.
Here’s the whole grim story. I’ve left the last names out for privacy reasons. The dates were not always available, so I added the ones that I could. The old-time names of the illnesses I kept on the list. If you look at just about any family records in those days, it may sound similar.
Grandmothers/grandfathers: Grandfather actually lived to be sixty-eight but died of “Dropsy”, and Grandmother passed at age sixty-five, from what was simply put down as “paralysis”.
Father of the children, “John” lived to be fifty-five and died of “Amonia of the lungs”. It is indicated that he was born in 1838 and died in 1893.
Mother, “Elsie”, was born in 1842 and died in 1916, of “Bright’s disease”. She actually lived a pretty good amount of years (74) for having twelve children, and must have been a very strong woman.
“John Jr. who I will call the first, was born in 1861 and died in 1884 from “Catarrhal fever”. He was 23.
“Andrew”, the second son, only lived to be two and a half years old and died of the Measles.
“Mary” only lived to be four years of age, dying from “Scarlett fever”.
The next son, “Henry” passed away from “Brain fever”. He was seven.
The next daughter to be born was “Anna”, who died at the age of twelve, of “Typhoid fever”.
Here’s a very sad one, “Elsie” passed away at only eight weeks, from “Summer complaint”.
“Mary” lived to be nineteen but died of “Bronchitis”.
“Carol” was born in 1874 and passed in 1944. She I would have to say died at fifty-four of unknown or natural causes. I have a photo of her in the 40s.
“Martin” lived to fifty-four, born in 1876 and died in 1928 of unknown causes.
“Henry” was born in 1879 and died in 1952. He was 46.
“John Leonard” who I will call the 2nd, lived a very long life and passed away at eighty-six. He was my great-grandfather. Sad story: his first wife, who was beautiful, died in childbirth, so he married twice.
“Andrew” who I will call the 2nd as he was also renamed for an earlier brother, was born in 1883. I did not find anything on when or how he died.
So many early deaths, and you just have to shed a quiet tear for these and most parents back in those days of little knowledge of cures for things. Here’s what I found on the real reasons for the illnesses that were mentioned above.
“Dropsy”. From the Greek word “Hydro” meaning water, is known today as “Edema” which is where parts of your body become swollen because of the accumulation of excess water. Wheelchair bound patients can get this in their lower extremities from sitting too long, and it can accumulate in other areas, such as in congestive heart failure. Middle English: “dropesie”. French: “hydropsie”.
“Paralysis” could have just been a general term, no way of knowing what the nineteenth-century doctors were referring too but could have been “Infantile Paralysis” or Polio, but could have been anywhere on the body.
“Amonia of the lungs” was most likely Pneumonia.
“Bright’s disease” is likely Nephritis, which is kidney failure.
“Catarrhal Fever” was an incorrect diagnosis and is only found in livestock and some prey animals, usually in Africa or Indonesia. Some doctors in that day may have been diagnosing patients with the common cold or flu, and some types of Pneumonia.
“Measles” we are all familiar with but most of us have never had it because of vaccinations. It is said to be making a comeback now though, because some parents are no longer giving their children the vaccinations.It can be deadly and a very painful way to go.
“Scarlett Fever” or Scarlatana is not what Rhett Butler came down with, but a serious disease that I’m told I had when I was a toddler. My mother told me the dr painted something on my tongue that made it purple. It usually hits younger children.
“Brain Fever” was loosely used in those days for several diseases, which were most likely either Encephalitis, which is brain inflammation, Meningitis, which is inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord, Cerebritis, Inflammation of the cerebrum, and Scarlett Fever.
“Typhoid Fever”, usually called nowadays as simply “Typhoid”, is caused by a bacterial infection from a certain strain of Salmonella. Both Salmonella and “Summer Complaint” are most likely causes of having no refrigeration to keep food and milk cold.
“Summer Complaint” was also a loose term for babys deaths caused by spoiled milk, milk from an infected cow, and improper disinfection of baby bottles. Some other names for the disease were “Cholera Infantum”, “Weaning Brash”, “Water Gripes”,”Choleric Fever of Children” or “Cholera Morbus”. Today we know that when a child is very sick, they can have major fluid loss that needs to be replaced.
We all are familiar with “Bronchitis” and people today no longer die from this because it can be treated. The causes are usually from cigarette smoke, certain viruses, bacterial infections and air pollution. The cause of death in Bronchitis is usually Pneumonia.
I really hate to think how hard it had to be for parents in those days to see so many of their children die, or who lived into adulthood but didn’t live much past fifty. The suffering when ill must have been horrendous. All I can say is Rest In Peace and I’m glad there are better treatments today.