July 10

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Elizabeth Ann Decker 1851-1853

Gravestone of Elizabeth Ann, daughter of Wm. & M.A. Decker, died Nov 25, 1853, Aged 2y 4m 15d

Elizabeth Ann had 3 siblings also buried in Burford Cemetery (Jasper County, Illinois)

Abraham J, son of W & M.A. Decker, died Aug 22, 1863, Aged 1 year, 4 mos, 3 days

Marillia, dau of Wm & M.A. Decker, died Aug 11, 1850, Aged 1Yr 2Ms 1D

William F, son of W & M.A. Decker, died Sept 27, 1859, Aged 2y 7m 7d

It tells a very sad story for this family, doesn't it? One of the things I've learned while studying our family histories is that many children died 'back in the day' before modern medicine. Hardly any families raised all their children to adulthood, unscathed by disease or accidental death. Many babies died at birth, many mothers died in childbirth -- or shortly after, from 'childbed fever' (before the discovery of germs).

FROM A WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE ON GERM THEORY:

Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian obstetrician working at the Vienna General Hospital (Allgemeines Krankenhaus) in 1847, noticed the dramatically high maternal mortality from puerperal fever following births assisted by doctors and medical students. However, those attended by midwives were relatively safe. Investigating further, Semmelweis made the connection between puerperal fever and examinations of delivering women by doctors, and further realized that these physicians had usually come directly from autopsies. Asserting that puerperal fever was a contagious disease and that matter from autopsies were implicated in its development, Semmelweis made doctors wash their hands with chlorinated lime water before examining pregnant women. He then documented a sudden reduction in the mortality rate from 18% to 2.2% over a period of a year. Despite this evidence, he and his theories were rejected by most of the contemporary medical establishment.

P.S.

Now, here's the problem with genealogy websites...

FamilySearch lists several records with Mary Ann Burford and her husband William Decker. There are several other children listed as theirs. Problem is, they all say William died in 1849. There is a William Decker, buried in Illinois, who was born in 1809 and died in 1849, but I don't believe he is the one to whom our Mary Ann Burford was married -- because several of the children attributed to him were born AFTER 1849. This same website cites the census of 1850 and 1860, in which William is listed as head of household. In the 1850 census he is said to be 36 years old. In the 1860 census he is said to be 40 years old! (Either way, he was documented as being alive in 1860 -- so he obviously didn't die in 1849.) These are the frustrations of the genealogy hobby. The children buried in Burford Cemetery are not listed in the census records for William and Mary Ann Burford Decker -- they wouldn't be, because they were born and died in the interval between censuses. As for the children listed in the records, I can't vouch for them, because... well, what I said before.