The Darker Side of Family History

When I saw this . . .

Approximately 22 Veterans a day commit suicide.
Veterans Crisis Line
1-800-273-8255

. . . posted on a friend's Facebook page my thoughts turned to the darker side of family history.  We openly discuss suicide these days and we hope we are observant of others, noticing any hint of need for help among our friends and acquaintances who may fall prey to that particular darkness.  Hotline help phone numbers are at the tips of our fingers if we carry cellphones and it's easy to find lists of warning signs to watch for.  How I wish the resources of today had been available for these ancestors.

Ellis Bickerstaff, my maternal great-great-grandfather, immediately came to mind after reading my friend's post.  Ellis was a veteran of the Civil War who served in a prisoner of war camp.  Perhaps he was a gentle soul and the experience left him "broken" in some way, broken-hearted, broken-spirited, even years later.  Perhaps there were other reasons for him to choose suicide.  By all appearances (from the perspective of 100 years) he'd made a success of his life.  And yet in 1907, at the age of 67, he took his own life.  He left a widow and three adult children.  Always through my mind trails the question Why? 

You can read more about Ellis here, here, and here. 



Within a day I remembered that Ellis is not the only ancestor who committed suicide.  Three of my collateral ancestors also took their own lives.

Edward Meinzen, my maternal grandfather's older brother, suffered from a mental breakdown for several years.  He had worked at La Belle Iron Works where his younger brother was killed.  Edward was in poor physical health in 1911 when he took his own life.  His death certificate states that he committed suicide by "opium poisoning."  Opium was a common pain reliever in the 1800s and early 1900s, available without a prescription, and possibly without knowledge of its addictive nature.  Edward was just 32 years old.  As far as my current research shows, Edward was not married.  You can read two obituaries and his death certificate here.

Catherine Froman Turner is the younger sister of my paternal great-grandmother, Tressa Rose Froman Doyle.  She was born in 1872, just months after her father's death.  Her childhood, and that of her six siblings, was probably not an easy one.  She had been a widow for two years when she took her own life in 1933, at the age of 61.  She left two adult sons.  You can read more about Catherine here.


Geraldine Mae Meinzen, known to me as Aunt Jeree, is my mother's sister.  She is my most recent relative to commit suicide.  She was 65 when she took her own life in 1984. 

Forever there will be the question Why? but after the fact one never knows the why of a suicide unless a note was left.  Depression, chemical imbalance, environment, circumstances, addiction....  After the fact one can only mourn.  How I wish that for each of these relatives there had been someone at hand who realized the danger and had helped, that there had been a "suicide hotline" they could have called.

I can't help but think of darkness when a person is contemplating suicide, and darkness after the event.  Do you have ancestors who took their own lives?

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2018, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission of the owner. 
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Martha (Reay) (Doyle) Richardson's Cause of Death

Yes, that U.K. GRO death certificate I was waiting to look at last week was for my third-great-grandmother, Martha (Reay) (Doyle) Richardson!  She was the daughter of Robert and Mary (Bell) Reay and wife of both William Doyle and Thomas Richardson.  She was born on November 7, 1809, and died on February 4, 1869 -- 149 years and one day ago.






Below is a transcription of Martha's death record from the U.K. GRO Office, Registration Year 1869, Volume 10B, Page 215.

Superintendent Registrar’s District   Morpeth
Registrar’s District   Bedlington
1869.   DEATHS in the District of Bedlington in the County of Northumberland
No.   105
When and Where Died.   Fourth February 1869 Bedlington Colliery
Name and Surname.   Martha Richardson
Sex.   Female
Age.   62 Years
Rank or Profession.   Wife of Thomas Richardson a Coal Miner
Cause of Death.   Chronic Bronchitis 6 months Certified
Signature, Description, and Residence of Informant.   X “The Mark” of Thomas Richardson Present at the Death Bedlington Colliery
When Registered.   Eighth February 1869
Signature of Registrar.   Robert Harbottle Registrar

Notes and Comments
Martha was born on November 7, 1809.  Her age at death was 59, not 62.

Chronic bronchitis, Martha's cause of death, is one type of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).  It is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes which are the airways to the lungs.  Chronic bronchitis causes coughing, difficulty breathing, and produces more mucous than usual.  In our day, it can be the result of smoking and exposure to smoke from cigarettes as well as from any other lung irritants.  (Information here and here.)  Martha was the daughter and wife of coal miners and lived in coal mining communities from the time she was a child.  It's possible that coal dust was a primary contributing factor to her having chronic bronchitis.

This description of the disease, below, comes from the January 7, 1860, edition of the British Medical Journal in an article written by Henry Duncalfe, Esq., entitled, "On the Pathological Conditions and Treatment of Chronic Bronchitis," part of which is available for view here.

The first division of cases [of chronic bronchitis] to which I will direct your attention are characterised by frequent, violent, and protracted paroxysms of coughing, but attended with a slight amount of expectoration; the expectorated fluid being usually clear, thick, and gluey, holding in suspension small, roundish, tough, and greyish pellets, which from time to time become disengaged from the bronchial tubes.  The pulse is generally hurried; the skin warm and dry; there is a general tendency to waste, with impaired appetite, and sometimes entire aversion to food; but, from any little irregularity, or exposure to cold, the skin becomes hot, the tongue dry, and patients have a great desire for cold drinks.  The expectoration then becomes more copious and frothy; and these acute symptoms do not readily yield to treatment, but gradually diminish in intensity till the disease imperceptibly runs into its ordinary chronic form.  "One attack leads, under favourable circumstances, to another.  The chronic state is increased, both in extent and virulence, by the supervening of every acute attack; and such frequent revival of the disease tends materially to impede recovery.  The disease, when protracted, brings about certain changes of structure, which operate as exciting and sustaining causes of the original affection, implicating other organs, and exhausting that innervation of the respiratory apparatus which is essential to health and life."  The breathing is laboured,....

Today there is treatment for chronic bronchitis and medications to ease the pain but in Martha's day, there was probably little that could have been done for her.  It sounds like a painful death.

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2018, Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.
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What Will Become of Me? - Monday Musings

Until about the age of 40, maybe even 45, most of us generally feel confident that we have more years ahead of us than behind us.  But as we approach, oh, say, about the age of 50 or 55, we realize that we're on the shorter side of life. 

I'm at an age where I know I have fewer years left than I've already lived and sometimes I think, What will become of me?  (Morbid, you say?  Well, death is a fact of life:  no one lives forever.)  Knowing I've lived more than half my allotment of years I want to use the time I have left wisely:  I have a lot of things I'd like to do before I die.  But I'd like to have a guess how many years that could be (even though there's no certainty, of course).  Since longevity may be inherited I thought my ancestors' lifespans might give me a clue, so I made a list of my direct ancestors, their ages at death, and their causes of death.

Age  /       Name       /    Dates    /  Cause of Death (if available)  /  Relationship 

24   Beulah Gerner Doyle / 1888-1913 / illness after childbirth / grandmother
31   John Froman  / 1841-1871 /   ?   / 2nd g-grandfather
33   Emma Nelson  / ~1845-1878 /   ?   / 2nd g-grandmother
44   Gust Doyle / 1888-1933 / colon cancer & after-effects of surgery / grandfather
67   Mary Thompson Bickerstaff  / 1872-1940 / coronary thrombosis / g-grandmother
67   Ellis Bickerstaff  / 1840-1907 / suicide-mental breakdown / 2nd g-grandfather
68   Elizabeth Armitage Meinzen  / 1852-1920 / cancer of the face / g-grandmother
68   Tressa Froman Doyle / 1867-1936 / brain hemorrhage / g-grandmother
72   Andrew Doyle / 1836-1908 / intestinal obstruction / 2nd-g-grandfather 
73   John Thompson  /~1850-1923 / lobar pneumonia / 2nd g-grandfather
74   Lee Doyle  / 1913-1987 / heart attack / father
74   Edward Jesse Bickerstaff  /1871-1945 / cancer of prostate gland / g-grandfather
78   William Doyle / 1863-1941 / chronic valvular heart disease / g-grandfather
78   Frederick Gerner / 1848-1926 / chronic interstitial hepatitis / g-grandfather
78   Lydia Bell Thompson / 1851-1930 / cerebral apoplexy / 2nd g-grandmother
79   Emma Bickerstaff Meinzen / 1893-1973 / cardiac arrest / grandmother
79   Christian Gerner /~1820-1899 /  ?  / 2nd g-grandfather
79   Rebecca Smith Bartley / ~1820-1899 /   ?    / 2nd g-grandmother 
82   Audrey Meinzen Doyle  / 1915-1997 /   ?   / mother
84   Catherine Saylor Froman / 1844-1928 / heart disease / 2nd g-grandmother
86   William Bickerstaff  / 1807-1893 / paralysis / 3rd g-grandfather
87   W. C. Robert Meinzen / 1892-1979 /   ?   / grandfather
88   Elvira Bartley Gerner / 1854-1943 / senility, arteriosclerosis / g-grandmother
88   Henry Carl Meinzen / 1837-1925 / complications of old age / g-grandfather
91   Jacob Bell  / 1824-1915 / valvular heart disease / 3rd g-grandfather
94   Dixon Bartley / 1806-1900 /   ?   / 2nd g-grandfather

I also have two great-aunts, one maternal, one paternal, who lived to be over 100.

I still don't know what will become of me but I know I've lived longer than four of my direct ancestors and am younger than 22 of those ancestors when they died.  I know that there are still about 30 years between my age and the age at which the oldest ancestor died.  I still don't know how old I'll be when I die, but what an interesting exercise.  And now I'm off to make good use of the time I have left!

--Nancy.
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William Meinzen - Wednesday's Child

I found William, age 8, in the 1880 U. S. census living with his parents, Henry and Elizabeth Minzen, a spelling variation of Meinzen.  After that he disappeared.  I thought perhaps he would be lost forever. 
And then this brief sentence came to light in the Friday, November 30, 1888, issue of The Steubenville Weekly Gazette.  "William, son of Henry Minser, died at his home on North Eighth Street Saturday evening, of typhoid fever, aged sixteen years."

Could this be Henry and Elizabeth's son, William?  The spelling of the surname for this William is wrong, but then I've found so many spelling variations, misspellings, and typographical errors in the newspapers that I'm ready to claim him.  Other indications that this is my William:

• On the 1880 U.S. Census, William was recorded as age 8, therefore born in 1872.  The ages coordinate.
• The location aligns with where Henry and his family lived at the time of William's death.  Henry bought property on North Eighth Street, Steubenville, in April, 1873, which he later sold in February, 1892.  Additionally, the 1880 U.S. Census records Henry and Elizabeth living on North 8th Street.
• Union Cemetery records indicate that William Meinzen, 1872-1888, is buried with other family members in Section Q, Lot 203.

Not long ago my cousin, Joyce Humprey, took photographs of Meinzen grave markers at Union Cemetery and gave me permission to post them.  (Thank you, Joyce.)  At left is young William's marker.

Based on all this information, I would say that the William in the news article above is my William Meinzen and that he died of typhoid fever on November 24, 1888.

Typhoid fever is caused by a salmonella bacteria and is spread through contaminated food or water or contact with people who have the fever.  Symptoms include high fever, headache, abdominal pain, and constipation or diarrhea.  Did William's mother realize that he had typhoid fever?  What would have been the method of dealing with a fever in those days?  Wrap the sufferer in blankets?  I'm sure she cared for him based on the knowledge she had and with a mother's love.  There were no antibiotics in those days and probably little recourse other than to pray and hope that he would recover.

This William Meinzen is not to be confused with my grandfather, William Carl Robert Meinzen.  My grandfather, born in 1892, was one of those people who was named after a deceased sibling, a tradition common in the past in some cultures.  Grampa was usually called Bob or Robert so there would have been no confusion.  I remember Grampa saying that he had a brother named William.  The adults around him couldn't understand why his parents would give two children the same name.  I can't remember Grampa's response.

This post is in memory of William Meinzen, my great-uncle.

--Nancy.

Copyright © 2013, NDM & My Ancestors and Me
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The Surprise in Fred Gerner's Death Certificate

Below is an image of the death certificate of my father's maternal grandfather, Frederick K. Gerner.  Below that is a transcription.  Fred has been an elusive character for more than a few years.  I kept finding leads, only to realize they were dead ends.  And now, finally, this.

CERTIFICATE OF DEATH
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
File No. 29357 [stamped numbers]
Registration District No. 279, Primary Registration District No. 1110
1. Place of Death
County of Butler
Borough of Bruin

2. Full Name  Fredrick K. Gerner

PERSONAL AND STATISTICAL PARTICULAR
3.  Sex  Male
4.  Color  White
5.  Single, Married....   Married
6.  Date of Birth  Sept. 28, 1847
7.  Age   78 years  2 mos.  27 da
8.  Occupation
(a)  Trade, profession or particular kind of work   Farmer
(b)  General nature of industry, business....    Oil producer
9.  Birthplace   Germany
10.  Name of Father   Christian Gerner
11.  Birthplace of Father   Germany
12.  Maiden Name of Mother   Don't know
13.  Birthplace of Mother   Germany
14.  The above is true to the best of my knowledge.
(Informant)   Mrs. Fred K. Gerner [signature]
(Address)   Bruin, Pa
15.  Filed  [illegible]

MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH
16.  Date of Death   March 26, 1926
17.  I Hereby Certify, That I attended deceased from March 5, 1926 to Mar 26, 1926 and that death occurred on the date stated above, at 5 P.M.
The Cause of Death was as follows: 
Chronic Interstitial Hepatitis
129 [written before (Duration)....]
Signed   R. L. Sheets M.D. [signature]
March 27, 1926   (Address)  Bruin, Pa
18.  Length of Residence [blank]
19.  Place of Burial or Removal   Bear Creek
Date of Burial   Mar 29, 1926
20.  Undertaker   J. W. Knox
Address   Bruin Pa

Observations and Comments

• Fred's given name is spelled inconsistently from record to record.  Sometimes it is Fredrick, other times it's Frederick.  But most often his name appears as just plain Fred.
• Fred's birth year still seems uncertain.  This record gives 1847.  A photocopy of a page from a family Bible gives the date as 1848.  Birth year calculated from census records would indicate that either 1848 or 1849 could be his year of birth.  Is it possible that a some future date a birth record may be found?  I can only hope.
• The surprise for me in this death certificate is Fred's cause of death:  chronic interstitial hepatitis.  It is now known as cirrhosis of the liver.  When I mentioned that to my family their immediate response was, "Maybe he was an alcoholic."  It's possible but if so, he was a very productive one.

Further research about cirrhosis of the liver tells me it is a disease that progresses slowly by replacing healthy liver tissue with scar tissue.  The scar tissue eventually prevents the liver from functioning as it should.  "The scar tissue blocks the flow of blood through the liver and slows the processing of nutrients, hormones, drugs, and naturally produced toxins.  It also slows the production of proteins and other substances made by the liver."

Common causes of cirrhosis of the liver include:

• fatty liver associated with obesity and/or diabetes.  I have only several photos of Fred but in all of them he is a very thin man.  Diabetes is a possibility.
• hepatitis or some other chronic viral infection of the liver
• blockage of a bile duct causing bile to back up in the liver
• alcohol abuse

Unless Dr. J. W. Knox's records are preserved somewhere and are available for viewing and research, I'll never know details of how Fred came to have cirrhosis of the liver.

--Nancy.
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