We dedicate this IN MEMORIAM page of our ANTECEDENTS: The Stories of Us! website to the babies. The babies in our families who died during childbirth, before the age of 1, or as young children. Almost all came from large families, and we know from history that families were large in previous centuries. We also know that society believed that a woman’s purpose in life was to have babies, childbirth was a dangerous time for mother and baby, and infant mortality was high. Unquestionably, the struggle for survival was punishingly hard for babies in the past.

 

Our ancestors were no exceptions. Our ancestor babies died from

harsh living conditions, failure to thrive, and the scourges of

diseases—cholera, pneumonia, typhoid fever, polio, measles, scarlet fever,

diphtheria, smallpox—that took their young lives. In fact, a shocking

20% of our ancestors’ households experienced multiple losses within

their family unit. In the late 1700s, one ancestor bore 24 children and

lost 18 of them, all in infancy. In the 1900s, another ancestor bore 4

children who died from diseases like cholera and measles but, thanks

to two centuries of medical advances, she also bore 4 other children

who were healthy and lived into adulthood. The heaviness, mentally

and physically, of profound loss runs deep within our lineage.

 

Sadly, the babies on this list did not survive. These are the babies

who were born to our ancestors as they moved from one country to

another and emigrated for a better way of life. They were born

while our ancestors cleared the land, built their homes, and became

citizens of new worlds. More often, they were born in times of

cramped and brutal living conditions with a lack of access to the basics we take for granted today like running water, proper sanitation or ventilation, and medicines and vaccines to prevent diseases.

 

Let’s remember these ancestor babies who number in the hundreds and lived for 10 years or less, the majority dying before their second birthdays. Give thanks for them as you read through their names. May these babies remain in our memory as a blessing as we honor their precious lives. Indeed, as antecedents, they are part of our ancestral journey and the stories of us!