Genealogy Chat

Recently got the death certificate of my ggg grandmother, Ann Newman. She died 24 October 1851 of consumption which she had had for 6 months. 6 months before this she had given birth to Thomas, who died aged 2 days old. Is it possible that the consumption was brought on by child birth? Chloe

Consumption is TB, Chloe. I don't think that childbirth would have had caused it. Hope this helps Lisa

My nan still says Consumption usually followed by "mind you, it was rife in 'em days!"

Chloe Quite a while ago there was a similar query from someone whose female ancestor had died shortly after having a baby. Consumption or phthisis are old-fashioned terms for tuberculosis and it was a very common killer before anti-biotics. It was possible to have it for years. I think it unlikely that your Ann had had it for only 6 months - it had probably only been DIAGNOSED 6 months before - possibly because the doctor had seen her regarding her pregnancy. Pregnancy does put a lot of strain on the body and may well have contributed to her death, but the chances are that TB would have killed her anyway. nell

Thanks. It's sad though. Also received the death cert of my gggg grandfather in 1860. He died of dieased kidneys (3 years) and marasmus (malnutrition and emacipation) (1 year). He was 74. Any idea what may have cause the diseased kidneys? Chloe

In fact it is likely poor little Thomas died because of mum's TB. I can still remember back in the 60's that all the kids whose parents had TB seemed to also get it.

Re: TB it was highly infectious and killed Charlotte Bronte and all her siblings. Re: marasmus - I had an infant ancestor died of this aged 5 weeks. It is associated with poverty and dirty conditions. Re: kidney disease - kidneys can pack up for all kinds of reasons, google to find them. nell

The little boy, Thomas, died on 'seizures', could that have been brought on by TB?

I also had three children in the same family die, with marasmus on the death cert. They were not a poor family and had healthy children before and after this. Therefore I think marasmus meant more than starvation through poverty and would these days be called 'failure to thrive' for any number of medical or genetic reasons. Anne

Anne My apologies - I was confusing this with tarbes mesenterica! This is what I found on the Archaic Medical Terms site, which shows that marasmus could mean a variety of things: Marasmus Malnutrition occurring mainly in infants and young children caused by an insufficient intake of food. It could be a result of neglect or ignorance. It is occasionally used for adults, especially those with mental handicap or disease This is starvation rather than disease caused by a specific deficiency in the diet such as insufficient protein or vitamin deficiency. In the past it may have meant Failure to thrive Wasting illness such as tuberculosis, diarrhoea or cancer nell

Thanks Valerie. It's a really sad story, but one that probably happened a lot. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! (doesn't feel like Christmas Day at all!) Chloe