I spent a while with my parents this weekend and my dad talked a lot about history. Times have changed and we forget how fortunate we are to live in a part of the world where life is taken for granted.
These are the graves of four of my aunts and uncles that died as babies (or young children). The first born died in 1921....(maybe). My grandmother and grandfather lost their first four (maybe five) babies. My dad told me yesterday that somebody in the family has my grandpa's Bible. The page where they recorded deaths is there, but the birth page is torn out. Just gone.
We had some very nice talks...about the past, relatives, time.
amanda
I just read your post about your aunt Leila . . . what did yall ever decide about the fifth grave marker?
Another possibility would be did they/were they forced to give her up for adoption? It would seem less likely since they had her when she was a five month old and went on record for that . . . but could it still be a possibility?
Do you think the reason they don't mention her on the death records is because she may have been conceived out of wedlock? Bury the child with her younger brother, only record the brother's death, remove the birth page and now there is no evidence for future generations?? Is that what yall were thinking??
Ellen
That's a possibility - that they got married before the house was finished makes is seem like there was a "hurry up" wedding - but they had claimed her.
I don't think that adoption was likely, because they lived on a farm and family lived all around; they would have been able to get help.
We just don't know and all the people that would have known are dead now.
amanda
So interesting.
My greataunt did just the opposite. They had a "funeral" for a baby that never died. About five years ago, he found her and reconnected ties. Her husband had made her give up the baby for adoption, but she was too ashamed to tell her family they had given it up so she told all her sisters the baby had died. And told no one the truth till five years ago.
It must be so weird for yall just not knowing and having no way to know.
It must've been so hard on them (your grandparents, my greataunt and others) to live with a secret and heartache they couldn't/wouldn't tell/talk about.
Ellen
We live in a different time. It is very weird and I would love to know whether there are 4 or 5 babies buried in that spot. It would be prohibitively expensive.