Monday, July 22, 2013

Tombstone Tuesday:

Walking through Saint Vincent's Cemetery looking for monuments to fulfill photo requests we came upon this stone. No other stones close and no clue as to where J. F & E. F. BRIDGE are buried is seen.
Now I can hardly image having 12 children let alone losing 12 children. 



J.F. & E. F. BRIDGE lost just that many in a span of 28 years.
The deaths of these children started in 1862 with a one year old child dying. In 1865 two children, a 9 and a 7 year old were gone. A 19 year gap is broken by the 1884 deaths of four children. Four children in one year. They were a 7 year old, an 8 year old, a 9 year old and a 10 year old.  I checked for epidemics in the 1800's none are listed for 1884 all though TB, Malaria or Scarlet fever could happen at any time none were listed as significant that year.
By now the Bridges had lost 6 children between 10 and 1 year(s) of age at the time of their deaths.
A reprieve for 6 years allowed the rest of the family to continue to age.
But then came 1890 and the death of 5 more of the children.
An 8, a 10, a 12 a 19 and a 20 year old all died in 1890. 
Can you even imagine going through that after a gap of 6 years to recover from the loss of the last 4 deaths?
There was a flu epidemic in 1889 and one of Diphtheria in 1890 that continued through until 1895. Typhoid Fever was a problem in these years, also.
The couple continued to have new births through out this time with the last birth of the expired children in 1882.
How many children did this family have? Did any make it through adulthood to have their own families?
One of my ancestors had 16 children and 1 died in infancy, two I don't know their death dates yet. Another ancestor had 14 children and 3 died before adulthood. In all my genealogical research I've never seen this many from one immediate family.  I do know there is a story that my family had a history of herbalists to treat patients and mid wife. The chemicals/medications we currently used had their start from natural items.
We know childhood diseases were more prevalent before chemotherapeutic treatments were discovered and used. Penicillin was first used in 1942 for soldiers.No matter the problems and controversies over immunizations they have decreased childhood deaths significantly.
I understand families lost babies and it was an expected loss but I can't fathom the devastation of  losing 12 children.
Please, comment if you know of other diseases of these years. I'd like to know more!
Thanks for reading our post.
Have a good healthy day!

8 comments:

  1. It might have been a fire or flood that killed them in 1890

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  2. This is an older post but it showed up on another blog I read and I couldn't help crunching some numbers / making a timeline.

    1856 – John born, 1 child alive
    1858 – Catherine born, 2 children alive
    1861 – Wendlem born, 3 children alive
    1862 – Wendlem dies (age 1), 2 children alive
    1865 – John dies (9), Catherine dies (7), no children alive
    1867 – Annie born, 1 child
    1870 – Dennis born, Annie alive, 2 children
    1871 – Jerimiah born, 3 children
    1873 – Thomas born, 4 children
    1874 – Elizabeth born, 5 children
    1876 – Maurice born, 6 children
    1878 – Ida born, 7 children
    1880 – Walter born, 8 children
    1882 – Sadie born, 9 children
    1884 – Annie dies (17), Thomas dies (11), Elizabeth dies (10), Maurice dies (8), 5 children
    1890 – Dennis dies (20), Jerimiah dies (19), Ida dies (12), Walter dies (10), Sadie dies (8), no children

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  3. They are buried there, too. Look on findagrave.
    Jacob 1832 to 1911
    Elizabeth Frances 1836 to 1908.

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  4. There could have been a fire. I'm from Arkansas, so another thought is tornadoes (or some other severe weather that could cause a large death toll).

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  5. My ancestor John Radebaugh had at least 16 children and 2 wives from before 1820 to 1860. By 1870 I could only find 5 children alive and by 1880 only 2; Albert and Henry Radebaugh living separately with their families in Hahnstown. I also have not been able to find what would have killed so many of one family.

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  6. My ancestor John Radebaugh had at least 16 children and 2 wives from before 1820 to 1860. By 1870 I could only find 5 children alive and by 1880 only 2; Albert and Henry Radebaugh living separately with their families in Hahnstown. I also have not been able to find what would have killed so many of one family.

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  7. My ancestor John Radebaugh had at least 16 children and 2 wives from before 1820 to 1860. By 1870 I could only find 5 children alive and by 1880 only 2; Albert and Henry Radebaugh living separately with their families in Hahnstown. I also have not been able to find what would have killed so many of one family.

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  8. Nothing says how they died and that grave marker seems to ha e gotten so.e of the childrens names wrong according to the 1870 and 1880 census records. The couple appears to actually had 17 children 5 of whom survived to have children of their own.
    George 1856. Pehaps the twin of John
    Ellen in 1859
    Richard in 1863
    Emma in 1865
    Cecelia in 1869

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