A Carter Family Portrait

I've written a number of times about my 3X great-grandfather, Elias Mellen Carter and his family. Here is a picture of Elias and his wife, Rebecca (Williamson) Carter and their eleven children. Rebecca was from Ireland and is my most recent immigrant ancestor. The Williamsons came to Maine sometime around 1820 so they were not part of the potato famine migration.  

In the front from left to right are children: Julia Elizabeth, Emily Jane, Timothy Cullen, William Lawson, Sarah Lillie, Helen Louise, and her twin, John Herbert.
In the back from left to right are children: Mary Elizabeth, Frances Ann, Augustus Mellen, and Anna Grace (in her mother's arms) and parents, Rebecca (Williamson) & Elias Mellen Carter.

Elias Mellen Carter
Augustus Mellen Carter
Edward Mellen Carter
T. Richard Carter - my grandfather

Other posts about the family:
Five Daughters Suddenly Gone
The Carter Farm - 1860 & 1880
The Carter Farm 1860
Rebecca Williamson - Fearless Female
Squire of the Little Village
We Consider Her Very Dangerous
Thanksgiving in Paris
Letters Found on E-Bay
Close Call

Five Daughters Suddenly Gone

Middle Interval Meetinghouse and Cemetery

At the beginning of September 1861, my 3rd great-grandparents, Elias & Rebecca (Williamson) Carter, had eleven children. By the end of the month, they had only six children. The household was struck by a diphtheria epidemic and five young daughters died in between September 13th and September 30th. Julia Elizabeth (age 11) died on September 13th followed by Helen Louise (age 7) who died on the 20th. Emily Jane (age 14) and Sarah Lillie (age 9) and died on the 25th and 26th, respectively. On September 30th, Anna Grace (age 4) was their youngest child and the final one to die in this household. 

The girls were buried in the family plot in the Middle Intervale Cemetery across the road from their home. 

One can only imagine what life must have been like in the household during that month. Two older daughters survived. The oldest, Frances Ann was 23 and Mary Elizabeth was 18 and surely helped care for their ailing sisters. There were four sons including my 2nd great-grandfather Augustus Mellen. He was twenty at the time and would soon be going off to fight in the Civil War. Edward Lawson was 16, Timothy Cullen was 15 and John Herbert was 7. John and Helen were twins.

"Throat distemper" is what diphtheria was often called in the death records of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was particularly lethal among children under the age of ten. In addition to local outbreaks, New England suffered a major regional outbreak between 1735-1740. Fortunately, today there are vaccines to prevent diseases like diphtheria that once took many lives each year. In the 1920s, there were about 150,000 cases with about 13,000 fatalities annually (bacteriology.net). The diphtheria vaccine became available in 1926 and has been in widespread use since the 1940s. However, recently the number of children who are not properly vaccinated has increased. Hopefully, there won't be more outbreaks in the future. 

Diphtheria under the microscope - read the description below

Diphtheria: an acute infectious disease caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae. It is spread by respiratory droplets of an infected person or someone who carries the bacteria but has no symptoms. It can also be spread by contaminated objects or foods. The bacteria most commonly infect the nose and throat. The throat infection "causes a gray to black, tough, fiber-like covering, which can block the airways...Once infected, dangerous substances called toxins, produced by the bacteria, can spread through your bloodstream to other organs, such as the heart, and cause significant damage" (PubMed Health). 

An Immigrant's Story - Fearless Females Series

Rebecca Williamson came from Ireland in 1821 with her father, John, mother, Ann, and brother, William. She was born in Manorhamilton, Ireland in January 1814. The family settled in the part of Bethel, Maine, known as Middle Intervale. Her father and his brother were shoe makers but her father became a farmer during his time in Bethel. Her brother, William, attended Bowdoin College and became a doctor. I don't have any immigration documents or photos of her or her family. The sketch of her father, in The History of Bethel, Formerly Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890, by William B. Lapham, says that John never became a naturalized citizen of the United States. 

Rebecca married a neighbor, Elias Mellen Carter. Their first child was born in 1838 so the marriage is presumed to have taken place shortly before then. Elias was the son of Dr. Timothy & Frances (Freeland) Carter and was born September 11, 1811. He and Rebecca took over the family home known as the Brick End House. Dr. Timothy Carter was the first doctor in Bethel. 

Brick End House & Rebecca Williamson (Carter) Bailey on left with an unidentified woman on the right. Rebecca Williamson (Carter) Bailey was the great-granddaughter of Rebecca Williamson, the Irish immigrant.

Elias & Rebecca had a large family of eleven children, seen in the 1860 census below. Daughter Frances Ann, age 20 was already out of the household, but the other ten children were Augustus Mellen, age 19; Mary Elizabeth, age 16; William Lawson, age 15; Timothy Cullen, age 13; Emily Jane, age 11; Julia Elizabeth, age 10; Sarah Lily (listed as Lily S.), age 8; twins John Herbert and Helen Louise, age 6; and Anna Grace, age 3. 

1860 Census page 1

1860 Census page 2

However, in 1861, the family lost 5 daughters, between September 13th and September 30th, to diphtheria. Emily & Julia died on September 13th, Helen on September 20th, (Sarah) Lily on September 26th, and Anna on September 30th. The 1870 census shows the much smaller family. Rebecca also lost her mother in 1861 and son, Augustus went off to fight in the Civil War the next year. Fortunately, he survived the war and became the next to inhabit the family home. 

Rebecca was widowed later that year. Elias died on November 17, 1880. In the 1900 census, Rebecca is living with her recently widowed son, Augustus and his two children, Edward age 25 and Frances age 21. Augustus has also taken in his sister, Mary (Carter) Wiley and her son, William. 

Rebecca died on April 2, 1906 of cancer of the scalp. 

My line of descent from Rebecca is through her son, Augustus, to his son, Edward. My grandfather, Thomas Richard Carter, was the second son of Edward. The only daughter of Edward was named after his grandmother, Rebecca Williamson (Carter) Bailey. 

Tragedy Strikes - The story of the five daughters who died in 1861. 

Thank you to Lisa Alzo, author of The Accidental Genealogist, for providing 31 prompts celebrating Women's History Month. This is her 6th year and she has some great resources (with some discounts) for finding one's female ancestors. 

Tragedy Strikes

Diphtheria: an acute infectious disease caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae. It is spread by respiratory droplets of an infected person or someone who carries the bacteria but has no symptoms. It can also be spread by contaminated objects or foods. The bacteria most commonly infects the nose and throat. The throat infection "causes a gray to black, tough, fiber-like covering, which can block the airways...Once infected,dangerous substances called toxins, produced by the bacteria, can spread through your bloodstream to other organs, such as the heart, and cause significant damage" (PubMed Health). 

At the beginning of September 1861, my 3rd great-grandparents, Elias & Rebecca (Williamson) Carter, had eleven children. By the end of the month, they had only six children. The household was struck by a diphtheria epidemic and five young daughters died in between September 13th and September 30th. Emily Jane (age 14) and Julia Elizabeth (age 11) died on September 13th followed by Helen Louise (age 7) who died on the 20th. Sarah Lillie (age 9) and Anna Grace (age 5) died on the 26th and 30th, respectively. 

Once can only imagine what life must have been like in the household during that month. Two older daughters survived. The oldest, Frances Ann was 23 and may have been married by that time. Mary Elizabeth was 18 and surely helped care for her ailing sisters. There were four sons including my 2nd great-grandfather Augustus Mellen. He was twenty at the time and would soon be going off to fight in the Civil War. Edward Lawson was 16, Timothy Cullen was 15 and John Herbert was 7. John was the twin of Helen.

"Throat distemper" is what diphtheria was often called in the death records of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was particularly lethal among children under the age of ten. In addition to local outbreaks, New England suffered a major regional outbreak between 1735-1740. Fortunately, today there are vaccines to prevent diseases like diphtheria that once took many lives each year. In the 1920s there were about 150,000 cases with about 13,000 fatalities annually (bacteriology.net). The diphtheria vaccine became available in 1926 and has been in widespread use since the 1940s. 

Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002575/ 
http://textbookofbacteriology.net/diphtheria.html 
Ancestry.com. History of Bethel, formerly Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890 : with a brief sketch of Hanover and family statis [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.

Original data: Lapham, William Berry,. History of Bethel, formerly Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890 : with a brief sketch of Hanover and family statistics. Augusta, Me.: Press of the Maine Farmer, 1891.