What was the saddest death in your Tree ?

[aspin]

In an early thread I think I put in about my grt grandparents sailed to NewZealand in 1877 their first born died on the journey sadly 23 month at sea .I cannot imagine what it would be like then to drop your little girl of 23 months into the water my grandfather was born that next year then they lost the next boy also 23 months he is buried in Dunedin . After remarrying in 1893  my grt grandmother had another daughter she died  aged 15

Sad she lost 3 infants

looking through my tree there are many infant aged about 4 to 5 years old

I lost two brothers eldest killed at work aged 38 and the second eldest 27 so we all have sad times in our tree's

the worst one was our grandson 1996 only one day old we were 3 days into our holiday in Minorca   and flew back that morning

Elizabeth

[adee7]

The saddest one for me personally was the loss of a sister -- my parents' first child.  I was not quite three years of age and my brother four when she died.  I don't actually remember her, but have always been aware of a feeling of loss.  I know that my mother carried that sorrow with her until her death at the age of 85.

Strangely, my sister-in-law who had the same name as my sister became my best friend.

Regards,   Kathleen

[eise]

Hello there,

I think the saddest part of the deaths in my tree was the time i discovered, though i have no proof of all the dates yet, was the Shatford family in Kettering;  The statement i read was; James Shatford died from TB along with most of his children;  I have since found that two of his children were removed from the home to the safety of a childrens home called' Cottage Homes for Children' in Burton Latimer;  James and his wife Lydia had 7 chldren to our knowledge and only those two survived also Lydia survived living until 1915;
James died in 1895 age abt 39yrs;  we think his children died died between the years 1888 and 1910; If anyone has any information on the TB epidemic and Kettering Northants i would be very interested to know more;  Eise   

[Paul Caswell]

Here' a slightly gentler one, but still, I think, deeply sad.

Father: Robert Speight died 1855 Q2 Gravesend 2a 202
Son: George Speight born 1855 Q3 Gravesend 2a 232

My second great grandfather Robert probably knew there was a child on the way and my great grandfather George never had a chance to meet his father. 

However, to bring in the slightly lighter side, Maryanne, now a lone supporter of four boys, appears in the 1861 census as 'deaf'. Perhaps that was a blessing.

Paul

[poppysmum]

i found one from 1925 in motherwell where a five year old boy died from a fractured skull after being hit by a train.  i found the newspaper report and the headline was 'mother sees wee boy killed'.  he had stepped out onto the railway line outside his house and had been hit on the head by the buffers.  they had put him on the train to take him to glasgow but he had died as the train pulled into motherwell station.
we were so sad when we found out this story that we almost wished we hadn't found it 
caroline

[stoney]

You may have been told at sometime "Never lean out of a railway carriage window, you might get your head knocked off....."

- well that actually happened to someone in my family tree! He was only 17 yrs old (in 1937), a cousin of my mother. He had apparently leaned out of the window to see if they were coming into Carlisle station and something struck him (rumour has it was a bridge) and took his head off.

Gruesome but true!
 

[MarieC]

Errrk, Stoney!

I'd always been told that as a child, but never heard of it actually happening.  Gruesome indeed!

In my home town, the wife of a prominent early citizen (a brewer!) was killed on her way home by a train on a crossing, not far from the station.  'Tis said that she caught her heel in the line and couldn't get free in time.  Her ghost is said to haunt the railway station and has terrorised a number of railway workers.

MarieC

[Windsor87]

Two particular tragic deaths come to mind from my tree. One due to the timing and another due to the cause.

The first is my greatx5 grandfather Hugh Birnie.
He died on Christmas day 1817 aged only 31.
He had been married less than a year and died two months before the birth of his only child, my greatx4 grandfather, also Hugh Birnie.

The second is my greatx5 grandmother Jean Gray (nee Auld)
She died on 31st Oct 1876 at the grand old age of 86.
She committed suicide having forced a knife into her chest. It makes you wonder what an 86 year old woman must have been going through to commit suicide.

[kayfr]

Although it was only 28 years ago it was my grandad's.  He went into hospital for an operation but they gave him the wrong blood type and he never survivied.  But the last three years have been the worst.  I have lost my twin brother three years ago and then last year in July I lost my mum, then in November my brother-in-law's mum and then two weeks later in December my dad and the very next day my mums aunt, my great auntie!  To be quite honest the saddest one was my dad as he was still working and coping after losing mum, it came as such a shock