Catching syphilis

[LizzieW]

She was 41 but still managed to give him 3 more children, but just as he must have thought he was settled, his past came back to haunt him and kill him.

Turns out she wasn't 41 at all when she married in 1996 she was only 32, so I've no idea why she would give a much older age on the census after her marriage.

[LizzieW]

doddsie4 - I have lots of ancestors who lived in Manchester up to and including my parents.  A nephew of the g.uncle who died in Prestwich Hospital of General Paralysis of the Insane also ended up in Prestwich Asylum with what was probably schizophrenia.

[iolaus]

She was 41 but still managed to give him 3 more children, but just as he must have thought he was settled, his past came back to haunt him and kill him.

Turns out she wasn't 41 at all when she married in 1996 she was only 32, so I've no idea why she would give a much older age on the census after her marriage.

It may have been to make their ages appear closer and less unusual

That said my grandmother was convinced she was a good ten years older than she actually was before she died

Also who filled in the form? If it wasn't her it may have been her husband, or an older child, who guessed and got it wrong

[LizzieW]

I don't know who filled in the form (1901 census), I would think both she and her husband could write.

My paternal g.gran only had her age on census correct up to the age of 18, then she started losing years - even whilst married to her first husband who was about 5 years older than her.  By the time she was with my g.grandfather she had "lost" about 9 years and she must have thought she'd fooled him by having a baby at 51, but no on her death certificate of which he was the informant he gave her correct age. 

Gone off topic now.

[Ian999]

It is an interesting issue. Syphilis seems to carry a much more negative impression than any other bacterial infection and we must be careful how we divulge the information.

Case in point, I was doing some genealogical work for a client searching for a lost set of step-kin.

Searching army records I found that the Attestation Papers of his ggfather showed that he was hospitalized twice for syph, but then went on to sire a number of children with no known problems. My client was NOT amused.

[LizzieW]

Syphilis seems to carry a much more negative impression than any other bacterial infection and we must be careful how we divulge the information.

People today should not be so sensitive about their ancestors.  The difference between their ancestors and people today is that there are ways of preventing syphilis and if anyone is unlucky enough to get it, it can be treated without detriment to the sufferer or his family.  I'm sure people today are just as, if not more, promiscuous than years ago, they have more opportunity for a start and most of them don't think it wrong to have many sexual partners before marriage.

Anyone who is offended by something that happened to an ancestor perhaps shouldn't be researching (or getting someone else to research) their family history.

[Annie65115]

I agree completely with LizzieW. Syphilis was an unfortunate fact of life for many of our ancestors, as TB was (another disease which I was taught used to be considered "shameful").

I think that, before anyone knew about microbes, illnesses could be seen as a judgement; and syphilis was a judgement on matters sexual, and we all know how prurient some people can be about that!

It would be nice to think that with better knowledge, we could shed these attitudes. An ancestor had syphilis? That meant they were infected by having sex with another sufferer (and remember not all sex is consensual). And guess what? If they'd never had sex, they would never have had any descendants and couldn't be your ancestor!!

[Annie65115]

Here's an interesting article about the history of syphilis:


http://www.rootschat.com/links/01j47/

[medpat]

Children born to parent(s) with syphilis could show the proof in their teeth. The teeth of the child could have characteristic malformations.

It would be difficult to hide the fact if some of the children had their teeth malformed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_syphilis