Tuberculosis Yet Again

On June 23, 1919, the youngest of the Nolte brothers died.


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From the Hobart Gazette of June 27, 1919.

That's all very touching, but it was left up to the News to give the actual cause of death:


From the Hobart News of June 26, 1919.

Yes, the old family curse.

What's really strange is this:


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Now, I can certainly understand getting a sibling's birth year wrong. But if you're burying your brother in 1919, don't you know it's 1919?

I'm embarrassed to admit how long I was puzzled by that, especially since, in the adjacent row, there's this:



Once again, the birth year is wrong, but the year of death is right. Stones identical. Eventually it dawned on me: Henry, Louis and Bertha did not buy a grave marker for poor Edward. Some 14 years later, when Henry had to bury Louis, he had an attack of conscience or belated brotherly love, and so he ordered a marker for Edward as he was ordering one for Louis. But by then he'd forgotten exactly when Edward died.

Either that or they didn't buy one until 1920; the stone cutter mistakenly carved "1920," and Henry, being such a nonconfrontational type (think of his declining to prosecute the guy who stole his wallet and garters), just let it slide. What's a year more or less, to one who has eternal life?

In that case, though, I think at least Bertha would have objected. Personally, I think the first explanation is more likely.