October newsletter now out!

claires-newsletter-3b3509.beehiiv.com/p/october-ra...
#IrishGenealogy #Speirgorm #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #AncestryHour #GenHour

#GenHour Murphy's Law of #genealogy: the other parts of the death certificate in that screenshot have writing with better ink. Of course the readable bits are the questions where I already knew the answer.

#GenHour It boggles the mind that there are people who think we should throw away all the advances we've made in medicine and public heath, and just let everyone die of infectious diseases we could easily prevent. TB is still around and will kill people again if we let it.

#GenHour
Yes, I inferred that. I've watched/read All Creatures Great & Small and am aware of the prevalence of TB in cattle and the spread from there to humans.

More recently, there's Helen's book. IIRC, transmission happened via drinking milk from infected cows.

bsky.app/profile/hele...

#GenHour
Here's the same section with the colors inverted.

… cattle, so their father got sick, and passed it onto her, and since she was so young, she couldn’t last as long and died quickly.

(Side not: She died 2 days before Yom Kippur. The burial was the next day on Erev Yom Kippur.)

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Oof. That’s young. According to family lore & docs, my great-aunt died at 7 (her death certificate) or 9 (based on her age listed on the manifest 2 years prior). I forgot to mention that her brothers thought she died of tubercular meningitis b/c they thought their dad handled infected…

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#GenHour That code 71 is written under the space for contributory (secondary) causes of death. I don't think it refers to the primary because none of the words there are the right shape for meningitis.

ICYMI: Our special episode “The Place” in support of this year’s #AATP with Lori Samuelson, Debbie Bradley, and Dr Patrice Connelly.

#GenHour #FamilyHistory #Genealogy

familyhistoriespodcast.com/2026/09/18/s...

#GenHour Oh, wait, there's a code: 71. The 1920s revision of the ICD code tables says this is for Meningitis.
oriseapps.orau.gov/cedr/ICD3.aspx

#GenHour I had to go look at Betty's death certificate. I couldn't remember the cause of death because I can't read it. The writing on the image is too faint. I might be able to bring it out in IrfanView.

She was 1 year, 5 months, 11 days old.

…tubercular meningitis because their father was a butcher, he died of ”tuberculosis of the lungs,” & they think she died quickly. I don’t know what she had; the newspaper listing said she had abdominal problems. 🤷‍♀️

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I get that.

In my case, the sister has lived long in family memory as the one who died young. Her death certificate lists peritonitis as cause of death; her 2 brothers (my GF & his brother) - both doctors - long before we got her death certificate thought she died from…

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#GenHour Thanks all for chatting! See you next week.

#GenHour From Fishwrap:

#CelebrityTraitors season 2 cast: Before they were famous.

blog.newspapers.com/uk-celebrity...

#GenHour My father had a baby sister whom I only know about from doing #genealogy research.

I really don't understand why some people want to bring back the days of high infant mortality.

#GenHour In case it isn't clear: the North Adams city farm is the US equivalent of the Workhouse in the UK.

#GenHour Sadly, it is 2026 and some things are still the same. There are unhoused people today who prefer the streets to living with their families (and knowing how families can be, I can't blame them for wanting their independence instead).

#GenHour This is one of my all-time favorite finds.
"It is said that he has relatives able and willing to care for him and that if it were not for some pecullar notions of his own he would not need to be in the poorhouse." (Did Kenley's sister scold the editor?)
www.newspapers.com/article/nort...

#GenHour North Adams, Massachusetts has been especially interesting. The 1904 Smallpox outbreak 👇

www.newspapers.com/article/nort...