My 2nd Great (paternal) Grandmother from Germany had eight (possibly nine) children. Among them, two sets of twins. They all survived childhood.
But not so for her granddaughter, Alice Clayton, who had ten children with husband, William Horton, in southeast Texas. That is a hot HOT part of the state. In reviewing their history, I realized something awful.
Only four of their children lived past age 27. Two of them died at age 26, and the other four died as infants.
On one memorial page was written:
Alice herself, mother to these ten, died at age 40 in May of 1921. I had imagined it was from heart ache, but the death certificate has the cause of death as typhoid.Daughter of William Horton & Alice Clayton. Died of cholera infantum - Sometimes called "Summer Complaint" because it appears during hot, wet months. It was often a fatal form of gastroenteritis occurring in children, which is not true cholera but appears as such.
Their four daughters lived much longer lives: Rosa Roberta, Violet, Iris Dora May, and Iva Fern
In memory of the Horton babies: Lillie Edna, Perry Edward, Clara Alice, Osborne Douglas, Will Milton, Daisy Louise.
