Genealogy Chat

So sorry about your tragedies. But I think it probably does mean that all families have genetic predispositions - some to one thing and some to another. I've been looking back through some of my farming ancestors in the 19c, and while say perhaps 50% were extremely long lived, making it well past their 70s, the other 50% were cut off in their 30s. In the 20c there has been a lot of MS in our family, and when I can afford it I want to look at the death certificates and see if the death causes look like MS symptoms (it hadn't been diagnosed then of course). I too had thought that country life would be healthier then than the towns but judging by these figures, perhaps not; my ancestors were employer farmers who though they probably worked very hard would have had access to good quality home grown food and an outdoor life.

It is interesting, isnt it. I was just thinking about my family lines and my darling dad, who died aged 91 last October. He had smoked since he was 14. He was a lifelong vegetarian - long before it was fashionable, and certainly never fashionable among dockworkers! (This was from his personal belief that animals should not be treated as a food source). He was a lovely generous kind man and so were his 7 elder brothers. But just thinking about it - all of his bros served in either or both of the world wars and yet not one of them was killed! Ditto his own father who lived to 87 and was a prize boxer - he served in the navy in war times but survived. His mother was 92 when she died and that was after a fall from a ladder when she was cleaning her top windows! Perhaps it is also something to do with personality. If you are well liked and easy going - as he and all his family were - perhaps you get breaks and favours that others dont.

My goodness, that's a run of tragic events. I've got a family where 4 out of the 6 children died in their early 20's. I thought at first it might be inherited disease but the death cert I have for one of them is the all-too-common TB. One had only been married a few months.

I dont think it can be pre destined but genetically people may be disposed towards say, depression or in the case of what we now call adhd or the autistic spectrum disorders which wouldnt be recognised then, they may be more likely to be risk takers. Im sure many of the heroes of history were most likely undiagnosed adhd sufferers, ready to take risks others would baulk at. If it worked then they became heroes if it didnt then we have another tragedy.

What sad reading. On the other hand, my Norfolk lot seem to have all lived to their 80s or 90s with only one child dying of meningitis of the 10 children my gt grandparents had. I'd always thought of the countryside folk being healthier than the townies, but obviously not true in Gloucestershire. Up the road a bit in Warwickshire my gt X 3 grandparents raised a family of 8 and both lived to their 70s. nell

There would be the same genetic disorders and heritary conditions as we have today, but they wouldn't be known about, so went untreated. Don't know much about mental illnesses, nell, but I believe some of them can be genetic, so could account for suicides running through a family perhaps? Jay

that is terrible isnt it , so much misery , I had a friend who had a lot of tragedy, Her beloved Father died while she was at her Godmothers Funeral , she then developed Breast Cancer her Son then died at 20 of a fit, her Niece then died also of a fit at only 14 her Mother then died from heartbreak over the dad,Her Husband then got killed by a Lorry while on his Bike she then developed Cancer of the Lungs and was dead within 2 months, this all happened within a short space of time too.I do think sometimes tragedy does run in families.

I think it does run in families. On my mum's side for four generations, a parent has died leaving very young children to be brought up by grandparents or orphanages. I am just lucky because my mum was there throughout my childhood and didn't die till her sixties. Also cancer runs through these families. Jackie

Wow that is sad, so much suffering in one family. Although in answer to your question I don't think it does...... today most of those deaths would have been prevented - I think it just shows how far science and medicine have come. Vikkix

That is so sad. I hope that is the end of the tragedy in your family now. Lynn

about my Mum's side of the family. John Mealing, her gt X 2 grandfather, committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor when he was 79. He lived 20 days and died in the workhouse infirmary at Cirencester in 1884. John's 2 eldest children: William Mealing killed his fiancee by cutting her throat with a razor whilst insane and spent the rest of his life in Broadmoor Criminal lunatic asylum. Ann Mealing (mum's gt grandmother) gave birth to twins the year before William's act of madness, and they both died within weeks. Ann died at the age of 38, she bled to death after childbirth. Ann's eldest surviving son, Charles, lost his eldest daughter in 1900 when she was killed by a runaway horse and cart. His first wife died in 1906 and he remarried the following year. His 2nd wife's father had gone mad in the 1880s and was briefly a suspect in the Jack the Ripper case. Charles and his first wife were the parents of my mum's father Angus. He was only 7 when his mother died. He lied about his age and ended up in France in WW1 where he had a horrible time (though fortunately escaped physical injury). He and his wife Gladys had 4 children, of whom my mum is the eldest. The eldest boy died aged 15 in 1942 after his appendicitis was misdiagnosed as indigestion. The remaining son died of cancer. Mum's sister was mentally handicapped and she too is dead, so although my mum was the eldest, she is now the only survivor of her siblings. nell

Take it easy, its a bit warm for thinking.....!!

I was only thinking this morning...