Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Tuberculosis and the Nolte Family

Earlier I mentioned the tragic history of the Nolte family. Let me lay it out for you simply:

NameCause of DeathAge at Death
Henry R. (father)Tuberculosis59 yrs.
Mary (mother)Tuberculosis*42 yrs.
WilliamUnknown1 day
LouisaTuberculosis**16 yrs.
AlvenaTuberculosis15 yrs.
OttoUnknown1.5 mos.
Henry T.Gunshot wound (murder)45 yrs.
BerthaUnknownUnknown, but more than 28 yrs.
LouisKidney disease33 yrs.
EdwardTuberculosis20 yrs.
_______________________
*"Lung trouble."
**"Consumption."

I still haven't been able to trace Bertha beyond 1920; she may have lived to a ripe old age. The infant or child whose name is unknown died in January 1897. The newspaper notice of the burial did not give a name — a practice you sometimes see in the case of an infant or very young child. (I have not found a grave marker for this child, but I will have to go and look again when the weather gets better.)

No cause of death is given in Alvena's obituary. In a family so infected with the disease, it may well have been tuberculosis, but we just don't know. 6/28/10 update — I have come across an obituary of Henry R. Nolte that states, "All the deaths in this family have been from tuburculosis [sic]." I hesitate to accept that as a cause of the two infant deaths, but in Alvena's case it is probably true.

So that's five who died of tuberculosis in a family of ten. This brings home how real a threat it was, this disease that nobody around here gives a second thought to these days.

No comments: