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News from 100 years ago: A darker side then, brighter now

An intense study of the newspapers of 100 years ago reveals that, by today's standards, Adair County was not nearly the healthy place to live it is today. There was rampant TB, and outbreaks of diptheria, typhoid fever, whooping cough, measles, mumps and other contagious diseases on a regular basis. Death more commonly visited at a much earlier age than it does today. -EW

By "Jim"

I try to keep the news from long ago on the light side, but now and anon, a darker side wins out. While perusing the old editions of the papers in search of material for the "100 years ago" column, headlines of articles frequently stick in my tired old mind. Here of late, three of those were:



Miss Artelia Coffey, After a Long Illness Succumbs to the Inevitable (died June, 1911, age 20)

Ina Ethel Hulse (died May, 1911, age 22)

Death of Miss Clara Ann Wilson (died May, 1911, age 22)

These, and too many like them, got me to pondering. Life was simpler a century ago -- but for most, it was considerably shorter. The nearest hospitals were in Nashville, Louisville, and Lexington, at least a half a day away in the best of circumstances; antibiotics were a generation in the future; and other than aspirin, there had been few if any advances for decades in the medicines available to doctors.

Despite the News' frequent claims of Adair County being a healthy place to live (and relatively speaking, it was), tuberculosis was common (very nearly rampant in some areas of the county) as were outbreaks of diphtheria, typhoid fever, whooping cough, measles, mumps, and other contagious diseases.

Consider this: in 1911, the first year state-mandated vital statistic records were kept, the deaths of 225 Adair County residents were recorded (and most likely, several went unrecorded, mandate or not.) In 2011, with over 2,000 more residents than a hundred years ago, the number of Adair County deaths (barring catastrophe) will be around 150.

The grim numbers of fivescore years ago speak for themselves. Of the 225 recorded deaths,
59 were of children under one year of age;
27 were of children ages 1-5; and
41 were of females ages16-45 (there were 17 deaths in the 16-25 age group alone)
To put this in perspective: in the first half of 2011, ColumbiaMagazine posted (for Adair County residents) the obituaries of one infant under one year of age; of no children 1-5 years of age; and of one female 16-45.


Sources:
1910 Adair County census (16,501 inhabitants)
2010 Adair County census (18,656 inhabitants)
1911 Adair County death certificate index (227 recorded, including two duplicate entries)
Obituaries posted on ColumbiaMagazine of Adair County residents who died January 1 - July 1, 2011.

Data compiled, story written entirely by "Jim."


This story was posted on 2011-07-06 01:43:32
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