As I build my family trees it's such a sad moment when I find a relative who died as an infant or toddler. I try to imagine the grief and loss that the mother must have felt. In the years covered by my family trees women faced twenty to thirty years of constant pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing with little access to birth control. Without the use of medical imaging, regular prenatal care, use of antimicrobial agents, and reliable blood transfusions, many babies were stillborn or died within a short time after birth. Those who were lucky enough to survive infancy faced the hurdle of diseases before the age of vaccinations.
The child mortality rate in the United States, for children ages five and under, was approximately 460 deaths per 1000 births in 1800. In other words, for every thousand babies born in 1800, nearly half didn't make it to their fifth birthday.
By 1900, for every 1000 live births, 100 infants died before their first birthday. This statistic was true in the lifetime of my own grandparent. It makes me wonder how many babies and young children faded into history and didn't make it into the documents that support my research. Here are a few who were recorded:
Mary McKibbon 1812-1812 3rd great-grandaunt
Infant daughter Foulke 1878-1878 1st cousin 2x removed
Bessie D. Foulke 1881-1881 1st cousin 2x removed
Martha Viola Williams 1904-1904 (5 months) grandaunt
Sally Ann Hess 1815-1816 (15 months) 3rd great-grandaunt
Ezra Hess 1820-1822 (23 months) 3rd great-granduncle
Horatio Hess 1824-1824 (8 months) 3rd great-granduncle
Jacob Hess 1878-1878 (16 days) great-granduncle
Eerie Franklin Bird 1914-1914 (2 days) granduncle
Closest to me was my first grandson. Even with the medical advantages now, unexplained tragedies sometimes happen. I'll love you forever, Zach, and always wonder about the boy you would have been and the man you would have become.
Zachary Evan Malahowski 27 May 2008 grandson
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