RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Hertfordshire => Topic started by: Wiggy on Tuesday 04 October 16 06:56 BST (UK)
-
This has nothing to do with my family . . .
I just stumbled across it one day while looking for a death - and it made me wonder what was going on in this part of the county as there seemed to be a shocking number of infant deaths this year.
I am just interested to know if anyone can tell me . . . . was there an outbreak of some awful disease in 1729? Such a sad list. The other side of the page looks just as bad.
Wiggy
-
Maybe; http://www.rootschat.com/links/01img/
-
Thanks YT.
I don't know . . . Those seem to have spread during 1729, but that list starts showing deaths very early in the year. You are probably quite right. Definitely worth further nvestigation.
Wiggy. :)
-
It was probably a combination of factors. Have read of this, it is interesting and may shed some light on your query; http://www.rootschat.com/links/01imi/
-
Smallpox, measles, dirty/contaminated water causing diarrhoea.....
-
Thanks for that link YT - I will peruse it at more leisure.
Yes Dawn - any of those and at any time - but this seems to have been a particularly bad year with the page nearly full of infant deaths. :(
As I said not my family - - just really interested and sad to see such a collection on one double page of records.
Wiggy :)
-
Wiggy
You don't appear to have expanded on where you found the sheet nor geographically where it was applicable.
"Smallpox (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox) broke out in Hertford gaol in 1729, and spread into the town. The next year, smallpox hit Hitchin, killing 158 people."
. . . . . may be worth following up?
Ray
From memory, Sarratt also had some kind of outbreak. The field(s) beside/behind the pub opposite the church was used as a burial ground.
Holy Cross, Sarratt
http://www.hcsp.net/holy-cross/history
-
Sorry Ray - I should have put more info shouldn't I. :-[
I think at the time I was looking around Essendon & Hitchin . . but to be honest I was looking all over Hertfordshire and just landed on this . . have subsequently forgotten the exact parish I was in at the time. :-[ :-[
I have been tracking back trying to find exactly where I found this, but I didn't leave enough breadcrumbs. :(
Thank you all for you input.
Wiggy :)
-
Of course I can find my way back :D
. . . that record was from Hatfield Herts.
Just remembered how to use my addled brain. ::)
Wiggy :)
-
Hiya!
So,
''Ertford gaol to ''Itchin to ''Atfield aren't very big jumps at all . . . . .
R
-
Well, could be smallpox I suppose, but this run of infant deaths started very early in the year - I showed the second half of the year, but the first half was equally as devastating for those poor people.
It is interesting and sad to think how bad it was for those families.
Thanks for the info on the proximity of these places, Ray . . It is easy to look at a map, but hard to think how difficult it would have been to move between the towns, not knowing the topography.
Wiggy.