52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 34: Tragedy—Four Gorrell Children Lost to Epidemic

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

In 1841, the Amos Gorrell family lost four members within days of each other.

In 1840, there were six young children in the household of Amos and Leah Gorrell. Two sons under five, two sons five to ten, one son ten to sixteen, and one daughter ten to fifteen. Of course this census does not give names except for the head of household.[1]

However, I have a listing of marriages and births, perhaps taken from a family bible. The note written at the top written in my father-in-law, George J. Gorrell’s hand states “Rec’d from Linnie Oma on 1-20-2000, probably the handwriting of Amos Gorrell.” Now which Amos Gorrell is not known, but perhaps Amos Jr.[2]

From this record, I could place the probably names of the children in the 1840 census.

1840 census

2 males under 5 [Amos jr & Joseph],

2 males 5-10 [John & Duffield],

1 male 10-15 [James],

1 male 30-40 [Amos],

1 female 10-15 [Sarah],

1 female 40-50 [Leah].

By 1850, there were only two sons, Amos Jr. and Joseph. These two sons were the youngest of the children in the 1840 household, who had been under five years old.[3]

So what happened? How did the four older children die?

There are no records for their deaths, so the cause is unknown. Several different types of epidemics occurred in the United States around this time: Cholera in Ohio and Yellow Fever nationwide, but especially in the south. A history of Beaver County mentions cholera at various times but not in 1841.[4]

Ada Gorrell Thomason wrote to the Beaver County (Pennsylvania) Historical and Genealogical Society about the death of the four children, giving their exact death dates.[5] I don’t know where she acquired these dates. Their answer gave no reference to an epidemic in 1841 but said it might have been diphtheria, since that was common at that time.[6]

So I researched about cholera.  It is spread through drinking water or eating food contaminated with human feces. People with cholera suffer from diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps, and they die from dehydration within days. Cholera first came the United States from Europe in the early 1830s. It spread along the water routes from the Great Lakes down the rivers and canals. The canals were shallow and the water stagnant, so a ripe place for the cholera. At this time before the advent of railroads, canals were used for travel.

Diphtheria is spread by direct contact, contaminated objects, or through the air. Symptoms include sore throat, fever, and barky cough. The neck can swell in part due to enlarged lymph nodes.

Although I don’t know how they died, it must have been horrible for Amos and Leah Gorrell to have four of their children die between March 11 and March 30. How did they protect the younger boys, Amos and Joseph, who were only four and two years old? Were they sent to other family to live? Did the other children, who where old enough to attend school, contact the disease from school?

We have no writings, no evidence about what they thought, but I know, it would have been heart-wrenching to watch as one-by-one, your child succumbed to a dreadful disease that you couldn’t stop.

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[1] 1840 U.S. census, Beaver Co, Pennsylvania,  Ohio Twp, p 4, Amos Gorrell, digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 3 Jun 2012), citing NARA M704, roll 444.

[2] Gorrell Family Papers, privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Martinez, California.

[3] 1850 U.S. census, Jackson Co, Ohio, Scioto Twp, p 360b, household 198, fam 203, Amos Gorrell, digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com:), M432, roll 698.

[4] History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (A. Warner & Co, Philadelphia: 1888), pp 194-197.

[5] Ada Thomason to Beaver Co. Historian, 22 Oct 1975; copies in Gorrell file, Beaver County Historical and Genealogical Society, Beaver, Pennsylvania.

[6] Margaret Rose, Director of Genealogy, Beaver County Court House to Ada Thomason, 6 Nov 1975; copies in Gorrell File, Beaver County Historical and Genealogical Society, Beaver, Pennsylvania.

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