Clara Barton’s Obituary

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Saturday, April 13, 1912: I was so busy mending my numerous rips and tears and getting to something like they ought to be.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma probably was mending the hole in her waist (shirt) that she got on April 10 when she fell and hurt her shoulder.

Since the diary entry that Grandma wrote a hundred years ago today is self-explanatory, I’m going to share an article in the local paper from a hundred years ago today.

The Civil War ended 147 years ago. The surviving veterans, and other heros and heroines, were very elderly. On April 13, 1912 the Milton Evening Standard reported Clara Barton’s death. She’d died the previous day.

CLARA BARON,

RED CROSS FOUNDER,

DIES AT AGE OF 90

Washington, April 13—Miss Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross Society, died at her home in Glen Echo, Md.

The cause of her death was chronic pneumonia, with which she was stricken about a year ago. Her brother, Stephen Barton of Boston, was with her when she died.

Few names in all of the history of American philanthropy are better known than that of Clara Barton. Her life of ninety years, beginning with the happy significance on Christmas Day, in 1821, was given almost entirely to the cause of alleviating human suffering. Even in her old age she experienced no decline of faculties or activity, and almost to the very end declared that it was work which kept her young. . .

It was in the Civil War that Clara Barton first became a national figure. She faced all of the horrors of the campaigns in the south and was a pioneer in lending the healing touch of women’s hand to the wounded and sick of the battlefield. She was also of great service in the work of searching for the missing. In 1865, she laid out the ground of the National Cemetery at Andersonville. . .

Clara.Barton — Clara Barton (Source: Wikipedia)

A Dry Book About the Doings of the Greeks

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, April 12, 1912: It rained this afternoon. I got rather wet coming home from school this evening. I’ve started to digest a dry book about the doings of the Greeks.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

What book was Grandma reading? This diary entry sent me searching for an old book on the Greeks.

I found a dry –I want to call it mind-numbing–book called Greek and Roman Civilization by Fred Morrow Fling, Ph.D. that was published in 1902.

Amazingly on the inside cover there was a stamp which indicated that it once had been in a public school library (though the library was in the wrong state). But it provides an indication of the types of books that were in high school libraries years ago.

No. 1800 Price _____

Public School Library

Dawson, Minn.

Library Rules— No person shall have more than one book at a time, nor keep that more than two week, and if kept longer a fine of five cents shall be imposed.

If a book is lost or injured, the price of the book or set shall be charged.

Here’s how Chapter 1 begins:

THE HOMERIC AGE

Homer probably never lived, and the Iliad is evidently a national product, not composed by one man at one time, but by many men at different times. As a record of the Trojan War, the poem has practically no value. Its real value to the student of history is due to the fact that it unconsciously reveals to us the manners and customs of the age in which it was composed. While the imagination may construct wholes that are not really, the real elements with which the poet or novelist works are drawn from experience. It is possible, then, for the historian to sift out these elements and make use of them. . .

A Little More About Sister Besse

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, April 10, 1912: Nothing to write about.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Usually I’m disappointed when Grandma doesn’t write much—but this time I’m relieved. It probably means that Grandma’s life was settling back into normal routines. She’s had a rough week with two deaths—a friend died after a long illness and her sister Besse’s son died shortly after his birth.

I feel like I’ve been mourning the death of Besse’s baby all week—so I’ll tell you a little more about Besse.

Besse and her husband Curt Hester ran a butcher shop in nearby Watsontown for many years. They had one child who survived beyond infancy. Curt, Jr. was born in 1915.

Curt Jr. and his wife Mae never had any children.

Besse, Curt, Mae, and Curt, Jr. are buried next to each other in the Watsontown cemetery.

An aside– When I was young Curt, Jr. and Mae lived on the farm that Grandma lived on when she wrote this diary. I remember that Mae had a beautiful yard which included a small pond with lily pads and large golden fish. (I’ve never known anyone else with a fish pond in their yard and was awed by it.)

Infant Mortality Rates: 1912 and 2012

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, April 10, 1912: I rubbed my shoulder rather badly when I happened to get a tumble. It’s sore yet, besides I have a big hole in my waist to mend.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since Grandma’s diary entry a hundred years ago today is self-explanatory, I’m going to follow-up on yesterday’s post.

She wrote that her nephew died shortly after he was born. I wondered how much infant mortality has decreased over the years.

I discovered that the infant death rate has decreased a lot over the years–modern medicine has done wonders—but that it’s complicated to come up with accurate numbers.

First, a couple definitions—

Neonatal mortality rate—The number of babies per thousand births who die within the first 28 days after birth. (The definition was a little looser a hundred years ago.)

Infant mortality rate—The number of babies per thousand births who die within the first year after birth.

Now the complications–

In the early 1900’s most births were at home—and the births and deaths of babies who were stillborn or died shortly after birth were often not recorded. Only 7 states calculated a neonatal mortality rate back then, but fortunately Pennsylvania—where Grandma lived– was one of those states.

Pennsylvania’s neonatal mortality rate a hundred years ago was 140 deaths per thousand births which was about average for the states that calculated the rate. Today the rate is 5 neonatal deaths per thousand births. As it was a hundred years ago—Pennsylvania is still a typical state near the median of all states.

Likewise the infant mortality rate was much higher a hundred years ago than now. Back then 150 infants per 1,000 births died in the first year of life. Now it is about 8 per thousand births.

For those of you who care about the details or want to dig deeper into the data—

Since I couldn’t find 1912 details, I used 1910 data and assumed that the neonatal and infant mortality rates were about the same. Likewise, I couldn’t find 2012 data—so used date from the most recent year available (2007).

The rates from a hundred years ago are from a 1915 journal article published by the American Statistical Association called The Present Position of Infant Mortality: Its Recent Decline in the United States.

(It’s interesting that the title suggests that even in early 1900’s the infant mortality rate was declining. I wonder what it had been in the 1800s.)

The recent numbers were calculated by the Center for Disease Control and are on the Child Health USA site.

“I Am An Aunt No Longer”

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, April 9, 1912: I was an aunt for one brief half a day yesterday, but didn’t know it until this morning. I was so disappointed when I heard it was dead. My little nephew was buried this afternoon. The baby I never saw. I feel like crying, when I think I am an aunt no longer.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I also feel like crying as I write this post, even though the birth (and death) happened a hundred year ago. It’s never easy when a baby dies. . .

I’ll give you a bit of background information. Grandma’s oldest sister Besse was married to Curt Hester, and they lived a several miles from the Muffly farm.

Surprisingly, Grandma never mentioned her sister’s pregnancy in the diary. There’s just this entry about the birth—and death of her nephew.

Besse only had one child who survived beyond infancy–D. Curtis. He was born in 1915.

This has been a rough April for Grandma. This is only the second death mentioned in the fifteen months that Grandma had been keeping the diary. The first one was mentioned just five days earlier on April 4, 1912 when a girl from her Sunday School class died.

An aside–I looked through the old microfilms of the Milton Evening Standard and could find neither the baby’s death (which didn’t surprise me) nor the friend’s death (which did surprise me). Milton is about 6 miles from McEwensville and maybe the death of a teen after a long illness just wasn’t considered important enough to put in the paper–though I have seen other McEwensville obituaries in the paper.

Need to Gather Eggs

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Monday, April 8, 1912: I have to gather the eggs now, and I don’t like it any too well. We had our exams today. I wonder about what some of my marks could be.

DSC03471.crop — Source: April, 1911 issue of Good Housekeeping Magazine

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Why was gathering the eggs a new task for Grandma? Who did it before—her mother? . . . . her father? . . . her sister Ruth?

Maybe the hens had just finished molting. Chickens periodically molt—and they lay few eggs while molting.

. . . or maybe the family had just bought some new chickens.

A Quiet Easter

17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Sunday, April 7, 1912: Had a long time deciding whether or not to go to Sunday School this afternoon, as I rather expected some company. At last I made up my mind to go regardless of the rain. Easter came today and didn’t bring me any goodies.

Recent photo of house where Grandma grew up.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Was Grandma hoping that some relatives would stop by for Easter? Since the Muffly family didn’t have a phone they may not have always known whether or not someone was planning to visit.

I’m always surprised how little the Muffly’s celebrated holidays. For example, on Thanksgiving, 1911 Grandma wrote:

Today is Thanksgiving. We didn’t have such a terrible sumptuous repast either. I would have liked to have had a piece of a turkey gobbler and a dish of ice cream, but we were far from that. I sat at home all day doing miscellaneous jobs which I didn’t relish any too well. . .