More Dead Kirkpatricks - the Plot thickens...

Well, I say 'the plot thickens,' but all I really mean is that we have another plot at the Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, NY with more people.

In Section H, Lot 168 , bought by William Kirkpatrick on July 28, 1873 (see Chas Kirkpatrick 246 Second Avenue) we have the following people:

Burial Number       Grave Number       Interments
4255                             1                       Hattie W. d. Wm Kirkpatrick d. 7/27/1873, Cholera Infantium, age at death 1y, 10m, 14d
4290                             2                       Freddie S. Kirkpatrick
3508                             2                       Still born of Kirkpatrick 4418
13437                           3                       Samil Kirkpatrick 58 (Samuel?) d. 8/13/1892, died of Bright's Disease, father Andrew Kirkpatrick, mother Jane Kirkpatrick, age at death 58
19420                           4                       Geo H Kirkpatrick 28 d. 1/9/1905, died of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, William Kirkpatrick, brother, age at death 28 and single
19459                           5                        Chas Kirkpatrick 42 d. 2/1/1905, died of Pulmonary
Tuberculosis, age at death 42
21023                           6                        Wm. Kirkpatrick 64 d. 12/4/1907, died of Chronic Bright's  Disease, Charles Kirkpatrick, brother, age at death 64 and married
29846                           7                       Lottie A. Kirkpatrick 73 d. 9/18/1923, died of Chronic Bright's Disease, daughter, Mrs. Emery Williams, age at death 73 and a widow

According to Wikipedia, Bright's Disease is:

a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It is typically denoted by the presence of serum albumin (blood plasma protein) in the urine and is frequently accompanied by edema and hypertension.

Poor William Kirkpatrick must have gone out and bought the plot because his beautiful daughter, Hattie W., died of Cholera Infantium the day before. My goodness, your daughter dies and then you have to go spend $37.68 for 304 SF of space in a cemetery. (I can't calculate today's equivalent because the CPI calculator I found doesn't go earlier than 1913.)

We see that two other children also passed, one still born and the other, Freddie S., we don't know, but we have each child's burial sequence... it looks as thought the still born child died first, and was then perhaps re-interred as burial number 4418 in this Kirkpatrick plot.

On the bottom of the form provided to me by the cemetery, it seems that the cemetery did ask for the names of the parents of the deceased before 1900; after 1900 a relative or friend's name could be provided.

William Kirkpatrick died in 1907, at which point I assume that Charles takes over the maintenance of the plot. It seems that it is Charles who informs the cemetery of the passing of William.

I think it is interesting that both George and Charles died of Pulmonary Tuberculosis only a couple weeks apart, though the records indicate that George was living in New York City when he died and Charles was living in Troy.

I found this on Harvard University Open Collections Program web site:

Tuberculosis, also known as “consumption,” “phthisis,” or the “white plague,” was the cause of more deaths in industrialized countries than any other disease during the 19th and early 20th centuries. By the late 19th century, 70 to 90% of the urban populations of Europe and North America were infected with the TB bacillus, and about 80% of those individuals who developed active tuberculosis died of it.

Causes of Tuberculosis

For most of the 19th century, tuberculosis was thought to be a hereditary, constitutional disease rather than a contagious one. By the end of the 19th century, when infection rates in some cities were thought by public health officials to be nearly 100%, tuberculosis was also considered to be a sign of poverty or an inevitable outcome of the process of industrial civilization. About 40% of working-class deaths in cities were from tuberculosis.

Robert Koch’s identification of the tuberculosis bacillus in 1882 helped to convince members of the medical and public–health communities that the disease was contagious. Preventing the spread of tuberculosis became the motivation for some of the first large-scale public health campaigns.

Sanatoria

The sanatoria movement, which began around 1880, was an attempt to cure tuberculosis naturally and to prevent its spread by moving patients into quiet environments, isolated from normal life, where the air was pure and freely circulating. Major sanatoria included those in Davos, Switzerland, and Saranac Lake, New York.

At a sanatorium, rest in the open air was of paramount importance, and special houses, porches, and cabins were built to allow easy access to the outdoors. Because the sanatorium cure involved long periods of separation from home, work, and family, it was sometimes avoided until the disease was well advanced. Cost also was a deterrent.

The sanatorium model was adapted for use in urban environments, and dispensaries, free public clinics for the poor, also advised patients using the sanatorium model. However, following the dispensary’s advice was often difficult because of urban living conditions. If a patient had the means and the opportunity, moving to a different, more beneficial climate was another way to attempt a cure.