#8 It Takes a Village Part 3 – The Story of the Hart Children
In the previous post we learned of a number of remedies
shared among valley neighbors to meet just about any need, from fixing a broken dish to how to "clence" a wound to relief for my aching back. But life has a way of teaching us we must be prepared for
great sorrow as well as great joy no matter how much help we give to each
other.
Members of the community still got sick, still
experienced tragedies. Indeed, there wasn't a member of the entire community who could offer a remedy strong enough to "clence" the wounds left by the story of the Hart
children.
Anna Margaret Rosina Drum was the 5th child
and fourth daughter of Jacob(George, Jacob, Philip) and Anna
Margaret Balliet Drum. Born August
22, 1829, Anna grew to be a fine, young woman. Around 1850, she fell in love
with, and married, John Hart, a farmer from Hobbie, PA. Hobbie is a village in
Hollenback Township located about 10 miles north of Drums and just east of
Berwick, Pennsylvania. There on his farm, Anna settled in with John and set up
house. In 1852, they had their first child and named her Amelia. Emily was born
next in 1854, Alphia arrived in 1856, and little Anna Margaret, named for her
mother and grandmother, was born 1858. By the end of July, 1860, all four
children would be dead.[1]
Once again, the details left for us are few but based on
census data, descriptions of the disease from the 1860’s[2]
and examination of the grave stones that mark these children’s graves, we can
guess what must have taken place.
One day in 1860, late in the month of June, one of these
little girls, probably Emily, started complaining of a sore throat and a runny
nose. Anna would have already noticed how tired Emily had been recently, sleeping
much more than usual. Of course, everyone would have thought the poor child had
gotten a cold. By the next morning, however, Emily’s “cold” was much worse, now
with a fever. By that afternoon or the next day she would have begun to have
trouble catching her breath between fits of coughing.
Anna would have been very worried by now but this would
only be the beginning; things would get much worse quickly. Soon Alphy would be
complaining that she, too, had a sore throat and a runny nose. She too would
have been sleeping more than usual and her neck was quite stiff. Soon both
girls were coughing, had fevers, and both were growing very weak.
Amelia, at age 8, was probably Anna’s only real help at
first with the two sick children and the 2-year -old Anna, but now Amelia was
getting sick, too!
Anna must have been frantic! Surely, these “colds” would
begin to improve soon and her babies would get better! Neighbors would have come
by to help as the news spread, to give Anna a break so she could get some rest.
Anna would have needed the help! Except for a 16-year-old farm hand named Josiah
Shelly[3],
Anna would have been all by herself with these children because John would have
left in search of the doctor.
If John returned with the doctor before any of the
children had died, the doctor would have found at least two of the three children
near death, all three coughing, feverish, and extremely weak. The children would
hardly have been able to swallow; their throats being so sore. Emily and Alphy
were by now coughing up a thick mucus and would have been so weak that neither
would hardly have been able to move.
The doctor would have taken their temperatures and found
low-grade fevers. A check of their pulses would have shown rapid heart-beats.
Glands in their necks would have been swollen and upon checking the backs of
their throats, the doctor would have found a thick, foul-smelling, grey
membrane had formed. He would immediately have diagnosed their illnesses as
Diphtheria.
Although we can be sure he did all he knew how to do,
there would have been very little the doctor would have been able to do, given
the state of medicine in 1860. He may have tried having the children breath a
mercury Iodine vapor alternating with that of Belladonna. He may even have
tried bleeding. What is certain is the doctor’s attempts to save these
children’s lives were futile.
Emily was the first to die, passing on Tuesday, July 3.
Alphy quickly followed on Thursday, July 5. Amelia succumbed to the illness on the
following Tuesday, July 10. However, this tragic story does not end here. As
Amelia lay close to dying, little 2-year-old Anna Margaret began to show the
same symptoms. Little Anna Margaret died sixteen days after Amelia, on
Thursday, July 26.
 |
| Left to Right: Anna Margaret’s rectangular stone, Emily & Alphia's stone carved to resemble two stones, Amelia's tall rectangular marker. |
On Wednesday, April 18, 2018 I visited the St. James
Lutheran Cemetery in Hobbie, PA, where these four children are buried, each beside
the other. Looking from left to right, Anna Margaret’s stone, a small, rectangular stone marked “Anna M
.M”, is first. To her right (South) we find Emily
and Alphia. Emily, written “Emly” on the marker, and Alphia, written “Alphy”,
share one stone that is slightly larger than Anna’s, carved to resemble two
stones. To their right (south) is a tall rectangular marker, twice as large as
the first stone, for Amelia.
 |
| Anna M M Hart |
 |
| Emily and Alphia Hart |
 |
| Amelia Hart |
One can only imagine the pain and horror these two young
parents must have experienced, watching their four little girls die. Yet, with
the support of the community, Anna and John continued on. What else was there
to do? They had three more children together[4],
Martin Luther in 1861, Rosa Magness in 1865, and John Calvin in 1872[5];
but neither Anna, John, nor the community, ever got over, or forgot, that terrible
month of July in 1860 when everyone lost so much.
Return to the Drums of Drums,
PA on October 8, 2018 for the 9th post, George
Builds a Tavern; A Place gets a name: Drums.
[1] Helman,
Laura M., History and Genealogy of the Drum Family (Allentown, PA:
Berkemeyer, Keck & Co., 1927) page 19.
[2] Neidhard,
C., M.D., Diphtheria, as it prevailed in the United States, from 1860-1866,
preceded by an historical account of its phenomena, its nature, and
homoeopathic treatment (NY: William Radde, 1867).
[3] Information
derived from 1850 & 1860 census data. 1860 data is not clearly written.
Josiah (or Jonah)’s age could either be 10 or 16. Neither name appears in the
1870 census for Hollenback or vicinity. A Josiah Shelly is listed in the 1850
census as living in Hazle Township, age given as 7.
[4]
Helman, p 19.
[5]
Helman does not include the boys’ middle names, only initials, and gives Rosa’s
middle name as “Maggie”. The middle names included here came from their
gravestones.
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