What was the saddest death in your Tree ?

[andrewalston]

My grandfather's eldest brother joined up in 1915 and was discharged in 1916 due to sickness. I thought he had had a lucky escape.

Then by chance I found him on the Commonwealth War Graves site. Obviously he had joined up again, probably unable to stand the people asking "Why are you not fighting for King and Country?". He died four weeks after the armistice was signed.

[Trini]

Hi

My 3xGreat Grandfather Matthew CRANSTON dislocated his shoulder whilst at work on his boat on the River Tyne.  He was taken to hospital in Newcastle after seeing a 'Bonesetter' for several weeks.

The hospital doctor decided to 'operate' and it turned out that he tried to 'put the bone right'.  The force in which he and his other medical attendees did this, caused a swelling which indicated a blood clot, due to the force of their actions and a burst blood vessel.  At this time, my ancestor was given 'chloroform'.

He died a couple of days later, aged 58.

At the inquest, the doctor said that 'the chloroform had nothing to do with death'

but I wonder........


Trini.

[carrielovesfanta]

Hi all,

Mt great great grandad John Loveday was gored to death by a bull. Burial rcords say that he died in hospital but i don't know whether it was of his injuries or a subsequent infection?

It's very sad. Lots of infant deaths too.

Caz

[ladybird]

My Great Grand Aunt came to something of a nasty end. No OSH (occupational safety and health) in those days

Paisley Daily Express dated 8th Sept 1891
"A distressing fatality occured at the works of Messrs J&P Coats Ltd at Ferguslie shortly before 3 oclock yesterday afternoon. Three of the female workers in the mill were hurrying to resume their duties, when one of them, Robina Townsend, stopped about 40 yards from the door at No. 9 Thread store. ....her companions went on and stepped into a hoist worked by hydrolics, to be taken to a higher flat. Townsend arrived when the hoist was in motion...with the result that she was knocked down by the descending guard. Her head was pressed with considerable force between the guard and the floor...and the skull was fearfully crushed and life was extinct....Sincere sympathy is everywhere expressed with the mother of the deceased woman, a widow, who is thus deprived of her sole support...."

[Rebecca Steele]

Oh how awful, such a lot of very sad stories.

 

What a lot of sadness our ancestors had to go through.

[Willow 4873]

I have lots of deaths in infancy and they all sadden me but some of the saddest are

My Great Aunt Beth who drowned in the dolly tub aged 3 in 1910 and was found by my Grandfather. My Great Uncle Samuel who was killed in the 1st WW aged 19. Four cousins dying in the 1st WW - three from the same family and one relative who lost both his wife and two young daughters in the space of 5 years

My one Great Uncle also lost his only son in the 2nd WW and his marriage didn't seem to survive the loss. I know he lived with his housekeeper in later years which was a bit of a scandal at the time but I'm guessing this was because he never divorced his first wife

My Great Aunt Connie drank herself to death after he husband dropped dead by the railway tracks of a heart attack (the dog was still sat by his side when they found him the next morning) and then her only child died of illness in his teens

My GGGrandad died on Christmas Eve 1873 of Pluro Pneumonia leaving his wife with 7 young children. Christmas is alway hard when you have lost someone but that must have been devastating



Willow x

[Erato]

I think that the saddest death in my family is the death of my grandmother’s cousin, Arthur.  Arthur was the son of  missionaries in Micronesia and he and his wife Margaret continued in that line of work until they retired to California.  They did not give up good works after their retirement, though.  They visited and helped abandoned and friendless inmates in the California prisons.  One of the prisoners they undertook to help was a woman serving a lengthy term for duping and murdering a man in order to take possession of his property.  Her name was Louise Peete.  When Louise was finally released from prison, Arthur and Margaret took her in.  By this time Arthur was senile and somewhat addled.  Louise had him declared insane and confined to a state mental hospital; she told the hospital authorities that Arthur’s only sister had fallen out with him and did not wish to see him.  Then she murdered Margaret and took control of their property.  Arthur died alone and forgotten in  the asylum, wondering why his wife and sister never came.  Louise died in the electric chair, the last woman executed in California.

[PrueM]

Erato    That poor man, how awful, to be taken advantage of and secreted away like that, thank goodness he was senile at least, and may not have been fully aware of his very sad situation 

Just reading some of the other stories confirms my theory that our ancestors were made of stern stuff.  For most of them life was pretty tough.  It makes me proud, as well as sad.

[JAP]

Erato,

What a terrible terrible story.  I Googled and found many references - including a photo of the gravestone of poor Arthur and Margaret.  Not to mention sites which say that Louise Peete (said to be a refined and educated woman; they also say she died in the gas chamber) was actually a serial killer who had perpetrated half-a-dozen murders.  A post like yours certainly stops one in one's tracks and makes one ponder along so many lines like prison, rehabilitation, human nature, good works, etc, etc.  Though perhaps there is, at least, comfort in the fact that the murderer was not part of your own heritage.

I know that one must be prepared for whatever one finds on one's family tree - and sometimes I complain about my own oh-so-boring ancestors - but I'm sure there are people who sometimes wish they had never begun their research.  Two cases I know (I hope I recall them correctly) are a person whose Ggpa (quite a famous professional in his own city and on day leave from a mental facility) murdered - with extraordinary violence - the person's Ggma; and another where a person traced his/her distant ancestor to the issue of a case of incest where it was the very young violated daughter who was blamed and imprisoned while the widowed father who was responsible went scot-free.

JAP
PS: Erato, what a violent connexion for a poster whose name is, as I recall, that of a gentle poetic muse and/or an inoffensive tiny gastropod.