It sounds like appendicitis to me. I am certainly missing my appendix, as
is one of my nephews. If either of us had lived over a century ago, we
would be dead now.
People back then sometimes had odd ideas about what caused disease. Your
GGF's appendicitis was not related to his ride on a railroad, but his grief
stricken family may have thought it was.
http://home.teleport.com/~larryc
----- Original Message -----
From: <KenHarrison11(a)cs.com>
To: <CALDWELL-SCOTLAND-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 8:33 PM
Subject: [CALDWELL-SCOTLAND] Medical Advice - cause of death
I'm writing this to several Lists, so my apologies in advance to
those of
you
who will read this several times .......
Is there SKS with medical knowledge who can explain something for me?
My GGgfather died in 1864 of what was loosely termed "damned foolishness"
in
the family. 30 years ago his last-surviving grandaughter used this
term
and
explained to me that he had ridden on a railway locomotive on some
inaugural
run and caught a "chill" or something like that, and died
of that.
Then this past year I found his death certificate, which says the cause of
death was "peritonitis".
In my meagre medical knowledge I can think of no way to suffer peritonitis
from getting a chill .... but am I missing something? I have found that
these old family stories usually have a kernal of truth buried somewhere,
and
so can't help wondering whether there is a connection. I do know
that he
died very suddenly, aged 39, away from home, within 24 hours after writing
a
hasty Will.
Any help appreciated.
Unless specifically stated otherwise in this message, there is no
intentional
attachment on this e-mail transmission.
Ken Harrison
North Vancouver, Canada
kenharrison11(a)cs.com
HARRISON Yorkshire, Staffordshire, London (Highgate/Hampstead)
POTCHIT Yorkshire
FISHER London (Highgate/Hampstead)
GRIFFIN Staffordshire
STANLEY Staffordshire
SMELLIE Lanark, Orkney, Glasgow, Tasmania
STIRRAT Ayrshire & Glasgow
BAIN Caithness
MILLER Caithness, Swaziland
SPENCE Orkney
TRAILL Orkney
SELKRIG Lanark
WICKETSHAW Lanark
MORRISON Perthshire, Islay, Dumbarton, Glasgow, Australia (Vic)
BAIRD Renfrew
HAM Australia (Vic)
THOMPSON Suffolk
AGGUS Suffolk
BRIGHTWELL Suffolk
LAWSON Clackmannan
McNABB Islay
MURRAY Dumfries, Renfrew
GILLESPIE Dumfries
HENDERSON Dumfries
TICKET (TAKET) Dumfries
CALDWELL Tyrone, Renfrew
GRAHAM Tyrone, Ontario
Genealogists never die ... they just lose their census.
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