Sympathy Saturday: Michael Joseph Gatlin

I have previously written about my great-grandfather John Schneider's sister Marie (Schneider) Illig, who died of bronchopneumonia due to influenza during the 1918 pandemic. Marie was not my only relative that died in the pandemic; Michael Joseph Gatlin, brother of my great-grandfather Henry Brown Gatlin, also died of bronchopneumonia.

In 1918, the Gatlin family lived in Chicago, Illinois. On 1 October 1918, 374 cases of influenza were reported to the Public Health Service by the Illinois Health Officer. The 2 October 1918 issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune reported the effects of the disease on hospital staff.

Chicago Daily Tribune, 2 October 1918, page 17

By 9 October 1918, 135 people had died as a result of the influenza pandemic.

Chicago Daily Tribune, 9 October 1918, page 8

On 10 October 1918, there was another death: Michael Joseph Gatlin. He died of bronchopneumonia at Augustana Hospital. Dr. S. J. Burrows had attended him on October 9 and 10.

Illinois State Board of Health. Bureau of Vital Statistics. Death certificate no. 27450, Michael Joseph Gatlin, 1918.

Michael was only 22 years old at the time of his death. Like many members of his family, he had worked in the printing industry. He was buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Cook County, Illinois.

Chicago Daily Tribune, 12 October 1918, page 11

Sympathy Saturday: Non-Resident Heirs of Hannah (Hardgrave) Russell

Nashville Union and American, 22 December 1853, page 2

My 5th-great-grandmother Hannah (Hardgrave) Russell died in 1853. Skelton Demoss was the administrator of her estate. Some of her heirs were not residents of Tennessee, so they could not be served by the County Court of Davidson County, Tennessee. Her daughter Helen (Russell) Dawson was living in Missouri. Her son Mills Russell (incorrectly listed as Miles in the notice) had died in 1852, but he had three sons in Livingston County, Kentucky: Andrew Russell, John D. Russell, and Wesley Russell.

A notice was published in the Nashville Union and American, beginning on 22 December 1853 (the beginning date given at the bottom of the notice is December 23, but the newspaper issue that the notice appears in is dated December 22). The last notice was published on 9 February 1854. Mills Russell's sons and Helen Dawson were asked to appear at the courthouse in Nashville on the first Monday in February 1854 (6 February 1854).

Sympathy Saturday: In the Apple Orchard

My 3rd-great-grandfather's brother Montgomery Binkley died in October 1891.  His body was found in his apple orchard in Pleasant View, Cheatham County, Tennessee by Will Cobbs, a schoolteacher who boarded with the Binkley family. Montgomery had taken a razor with him to the orchard and had committed suicide by cutting his throat.

No one knew why he had chosen to take his own life. He was apparently happily married, had a family, and was a successful farmer.  On the day of his death, he had said that he was sick and lay in bed for most of the day. It sounds like he was suffering from depression.

Daily Tobacco-Leaf Chronicle (Clarksville, Tennessee), 20 October 1891, page 4

Daily American (Nashville, Tennessee), 20 October 1891, page 5

Sympathy Saturday: Executor's Notice, Estate of Sven T. Anderson

My 2nd-great-grandfather's brother Sven T. Anderson (born Sven Troedsson) died on 6 October 1914 in Burdick, Morris County, Kansas. His widow, Hannah (Abramson) Anderson, was the executor of his will. The following notice was published in the Council Grove Republican (Council Grove, Kansas), on 13 November, 20 November, 27 November, and 4 December 1914.

Council Grove Republican, 20 November 1914, page 10

Sympathy Saturday: Martin Luther Dahlquist

Martin Luther Dahlquist was the son of my 2nd-great-grandparents Carl Johan/Charles John Dahlquist and Mary/Marie Louise Borg. He was born on 22 February 1891 in Chicago, Illinois. He worked as a shoe salesman in his father's store. He married Grace Victoria Anderson on 16 May 1917 in Chicago.

Martin died far too young. When he was only 28 years old, his appendix ruptured. He had surgery at Englewood Hospital, but he did not survive. He died at the hospital on 30 July 1919. He was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery on 2 August 1919.

Martin never knew his only child. His wife Grace was pregnant at the time of his death. Their daughter Harriet was born almost two weeks after he died.

Englewood Times, 1 August 1919, page 8

Chicago Tribune, 1 August 1919, page 15

Illinois. Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Statistics. Certificate of death no. 21260, Martin L. Dahlquist, 1919.

Sympathy Saturday: Mourning Clothes

In the 1800s, a different set of clothes needed to be worn during periods of mourning. Newspapers carried advertisements for a variety of mourning goods. The 21 January 1853 issue of the Republican Banner and Nashville Whig contained advertisements from two different stores which sold mourning clothes.

Republican Banner and Nashville Whig, 21 January 1853, page 3

Republican Banner and Nashville Whig, 21 January 1853, page 4

Mourning traditions became more elaborate after Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert died in 1861; she mourned for the rest of her life.

Nashville Union, 25 July 1863, page 2

Women were required to express grief for a longer period than men.Widows could spend two and a half years in mourning, but widowers might grieve for three months. A woman would mourn longest for a spouse; the length of time spent in mourning for other family members depended on the relationship to the deceased. For example, a woman would spend a longer time in mourning for a parent than for a cousin.

Mourning was expensive, because the required clothes had to be fashionable. Black clothes were to be worn at first. Many of them were made of crape (the word was spelled crape, not crêpe, when it was associated with mourning.)

Woman's mourning dress (1867-1869): silk bodice and skirt with black fringe, white lace cuffs, and white gauze collar. Museum of Funeral Customs, Springfield, Illinois, 2006. Photo by Robert Lawton [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

Women wore black veils when they left their homes.

Black toque hat, with black veil. Mourning hat. Musées de la Haute-Saône. Photo by Jacques Monnin [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

Bonnets were worn instead of hats.

Woman's Bonnet (Mourning), 1880s. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Gift of Mrs. Margaret Elm Bryner. Public domain. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

During half mourning, the last part of the mourning period, other colors besides black could be worn. Colors such as gray, purple, mauve, and white were gradually mixed in.

Jewelry also had to be appropriate for mourning.

Mourning jewelry, brooch, jet, 19th c. Photo by Detlef Thomas [CC BY-SA 2.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/deed.en)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons. 

Mourners sometimes wore jewelry which contained hair from the deceased relative.

Mourning brooch containing the hair of a deceased relative. Photo number: L0036393. Library reference: Museum No A71928. Wellcome Library, London [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)]. Available from Wellcome Images and Wikimedia Commons.

References
Janney, Caroline E. Mourning during the Civil War. Encyclopedia of Virginia.
Mourning
19th Century Mourning Practices (revised) 
Shubert, Betty Kreisel. Out-of-Style: A Modern Perspective of How, Why, and When Vintage Fashions Evolved. Mission Viejo, CA: Flashback Publishing, 2013.
Thomas, Pauline Weston. Mourning Fashion History

Sympathy Saturday: Card of Thanks, Mrs. S. L. Mayo and Children

Nashville Tennessean, 5 February 1922, page 16

Stephen Lee Mayo, the son of my 3rd-great-grandmother's brother Stephen Lee Mayo and Tabitha Elizabeth Riggan, died on 29 January 1922 in Nashville, Tennessee. His widow Mary Ellen (Hudson) Mayo and their children published a card of thanks in the Nashville Tennessean.

Sympathy Saturday: Card of Thanks, Family of George Hanley Fant

Nashville Tennesseean, 28 November 1913, page 13

George Hanley Fant, the former brother-in-law of my 2nd-great-grandmother's half-brother Tom Cox, died on 22 November 1918 in Nashville, Tennessee. His World War I draft registration card shows that he was a resident of Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky on 22 September 1918.

A card of thanks was published in the Nashville Tennessean by his family: his brother-in-law and sister John B. and Laura (Fant) Robinson, his sister Kate (Fant) Cox (Tom Cox's ex-wife), and his niece Annie Cox (Kate and Tom Cox's daughter).

Sympathy Saturday: Notice of Probate of Will of Ola Peter Troedson

My 2nd-great-grandfather's brother Ola Peter Troedson died on 12 May 1926 in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. After his death, a notice appeared in the Brisbane Courier, announcing that probate of the will would be granted to his daughter Ellen Louisa Troedson.

Brisbane Courier, 22 May 1926, page 3. Available from Trove.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND
 ______

In the WILL of OLA PETER TROEDSON, late of Agnes street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, in the State of Queensland, Freeholder, Deceased.

 ______

    Notice is hereby given that, after the expiration of fourteen days from the date of the publication hereof, application will be made to this Honourable Court that PROBATE of the WILL of the abovenamed Ola Peter Troedson, deceased, may be granted to ELLEN LOUISA TROEDSON, of Agnes street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, aforesaid Spinster, a natural and lawful Daughter of the said deceased, and THE UNION TRUSTEE COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, of Brisbane aforesaid the Executors named in the said Will. Any person interested who desires to object to the pallicattion, or to be heard upon it, may file a Caveat in the Registry at any time before the grant is made.
    Dated this Seventeenth day of May, 1926.
    F. W. MURPHY, Solicitor for the said Ellen Louisa Troedson and The Union Trustee Company of Australia Limited, Brisbane.

Sympathy Saturday: In Memoriam: Rosina and John Troedson

A year after the death of Rosina and John Troedson, my 2nd-great-grandfather's brother Ola Peter Troedson and his children placed this notice in the Telegraph (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia):

The Telegraph, 10 June 1905, page 6

Rosina Catharine Louise Walter was born on 4 December 1856 in Pfedelbach, Hohenlohekreis, Württemberg, Germany. She was the daughter of Christoph Walter and Anna Christina Zendler. In 1865, Rosina and her parents and siblings sailed from Hamburg, Germany to Australia and settled in Queensland. On 20 August 1878 in Queensland, she married Ola Peter Troedson. They had nine children. Rosina died in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on 11 June 1904.

Rosina and Ola Peter's son John Frederick Troedson was born on 17 July 1881 in Brisbane. He died on 5 June 1904, a little over a month before what would have been his 23rd birthday.

Sympathy Saturday: Christina Schneider's Death from Spinal Meningitis

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 29 April 1909, page 6

Long before I became interested in genealogy, I knew that my maternal grandmother's oldest sister, Christina Schneider, had died of spinal meningitis as a child. I have not found a death record for her, but the above newspaper article confirms her cause of death.

It was heartbreaking for me to read this article. Six months earlier, St. Louis City Hospital had received Flexner serum, which was used to cure spinal meningitis. Since then, six of the nine children treated for spinal meningitis at the hospital had been cured. Sadly, Christina was not one of them. She died an hour after being brought to the hospital. The doctors said that she arrived too late to be helped by the serum.

My great-grandparents probably read this article too. My aunt Joan, their first grandchild, said that they never really got over Christina's death. Grieving parents reading this article would probably feel guilty and blame themselves for not taking her to the hospital sooner. The media probably did not consider the effect that their words might have on Christina's parents.

Christina Maria Schneider, 20 April 1903 - 27 April 1909

Sympathy Saturday: Great-Grandfather's Sister-in-Law Killed in Automobile Accident After Visit

Floy Gamble, the sister of my great-grandfather John Boe's third wife Anna Mae Gamble, was killed in an automobile accident on 25 July 1938 in South Bend Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. She had been visiting John and Anna Mae at their home in Algona, Kossuth County, Iowa. As she headed home, she apparently fell asleep at the wheel and drove into a ditch.

Floy was born in Indiana in March 1884. She was the daughter of Henry Harrison Gamble and Louisa Tilford.

Her funeral took place in Martinsville, Morgan County, Indiana. John and Anna Mae Boe traveled to Indiana for the funeral. John returned to Algona on August 1; Anna Mae stayed longer, probably to spend time with her family.

Until I found the news report of Floy's accident, I had not known that my great-grandfather had lived in Algona. I think he only lived there for a year or two.

Kossuth County Advance, 28 July 1938, page 1

Kossuth County Advance, 4 August 1938, page 1

Sympathy Saturday: Alfred William Troedson Funeral Notice

My first cousin three times removed Alfred William Troedson (the son of my great-great-grandfather's brother Ola Peter Troedson) died on 2 January 1937 in Queensland, Australia, and was buried in Toowong Cemetery in Toowong, Brisbane, Queensland. His funeral notice was published in the 3 January 1937 issue of the Sunday Mail (Brisbane).

Sunday Mail, 3 January 1937, page 4. Available from Trove.

Sympathy Saturday: Card of Thanks, Children of Mrs. Aaste Boe

Milan Standard, 24 February 1922

After the death of my great-great-grandmother Aaste Boe, her children placed this notice in the Milan, Chippewa County, Minnesota newspaper Milan Standard. Before her marriage to my great-great-grandfather Jorgen Jorgensen Boe, Aaste used the surnames Halvorsdatter, Halvorson, or Otterholt, depending on whether she used her patronymic and the form of it that she used, or whether she used the family farm name. She immigrated to the United States from Bø, Telemark, Norway in 1867.

Sympathy Saturday: Card of Thanks, Walter E. Davis

Mexico Independent, 23 July 1959

Walter E. Davis placed this notice in the Mexico Independent (Mexico, Oswego County, New York) after the death of his wife, my great-grandmother Gertrude (Tarkington) Davis on 9 July 1959 in Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York. The couple lived in Brewerton, Onondaga County, New York.