Genealogy Chat

Just been searching parish records at Kendal and found a daughter of one of my ancestors, born, baptised and buried all on the same day in 1770. Their next child was another daughter three years later and they called her Elizabeth after the one that died. It must have been so upsetting in those days with all the child deaths and diseases, dont know why she died or even if she was stillborn, but it is very sad.

Marilyn

It must have been hard for the families. I read an article in one of the family tree mags about a family who had 14 children and 8 of those died either shortly after birth or as infants.

Hi Marilyn, have pmd you,

Yes it was so tragic, how did they cope? We have a grave in a cemetary near us and they lost 7 out of 9 children before they were 5.

Caz x

My great grandfather had eleven children, at least five of them died before they were three, including twins who both died when they were one. My grandad was the last of the children and his mother died five days after having him. That was around 1900. His father died when he was 14 and he was then adopted. I feel so sorry for families in those days, it must have been so hard.

Marilyn

My 2 x great grandmother died having a little girl, and the baby was baptized the same day of her mothers funeral. So sad.

I cant understand how they coped at all - Ive got so many dying as infants in my tree and then another comes along a few months later and is given the same name. I guess the poor women were baby machines then - God knows how they managed to get over the death of one and then it happened again and again. Not to mention the number of poor women dying whilst giving birth. Horrifying.

So true, Heather. I came across a couple related to my direct ancestor by marriage. The couple married in 1778 and had children every year between 1779 and 1791, except 1783 and 1787.

Of those eleven kids, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th died within a year of birth (some within weeks) and the father died in 1792 aged 38, with the mother dying in 1795.

That poor woman must have been constantly pregnant for nearly thirteen years. The biggest gap between any two christenings was 2yrs 4 months, the smallest was 11 months.