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Tuberculosis
1889
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Family Challenges in the Past -- April 12, 2020
While
avoiding COVID-19 dominates life for all of
us presently, family history teaches us
lessons and gives an appreciation of the
ability of medical science and public health
policy to minimize the impact diseases have.
The years 1889-1891 were hard in the Nova
Scotia branch of the family
when
tuberculosis arrived. On Elm Farm in Ste.
Croix,
my great-grandfather David
Scott
(a grandson of Sgr. David the
immigrant)
and great-grandmother
Jane Dill had established a
large family. While they
themselves had tried to
establish an urban life as
merchants in Halifax during 1878-1879, their
venture failed and brought
them home to their farm
(along with three mortgages
to pay off.)
David Scott opened a small store on the property, likely with stock he had in Halifax beside the "apple house" where apples from the orchard as well as oats were stored. He is credited with being the first person to introduce Merino sheep into the province.
David and Jane had six daughters and two sons yet everything would change with the arrival of tuberculosis. Three of their daughters would die, two within a month during the winter of 1889. Isabella was 30 and Jessie was 16 that deadly year. Armenia survived the first wave and died at age 36 in 1891. They were all great-aunts of mine, and their three sisters and two brothers along with their parents somehow survived the disease. Two of the remaining daughters never married but played a key role in the family; the third named Ada Scott was a church organist who married a storekeeper, and had a daughter named after her beautiful sister Jessie who had died so young. Alas, the toddler Jessie died at the age of two, meaning that none of the six sisters had descendants, and the family line continued through their brothers.
Alexander Dill Scott (1860-1945) and John Albert Scott (1866-1954) were six years apart as brothers and the decision by Dill Scott, the elder brother, to head west in 1883 with a group of settlers on a specially rented rail car would establish his family in California where he became a store keeper and postmaster in Novado. His descendants now include 14 great-great grandchildren and 15 great-great-great grandchildren.
John remained on the family farm in Nova Scotia along with his sisters. At the age of 41, with friendly encouragement from neighbours, his correspondence with a nurse from the village who had moved to Boston led to their marriage on New Year's Eve 1907 in Boston. Lilly Harvey became his bride and it was an occasion which was celebrated with John's Boston relatives, before they headed home to Nova Scotia. John and Lilly had two sons, eight great grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.
The story of how TB impacted families is not unique but knowledge was gained and science advanced each time mankind faced a new epidemic, and while in the moment we struggle to face limitations and the reality of deadly diseases that impact our lives and our loved ones, a look backwards at history reassures us that ultimately families do find a way to continue, and life does go on.
David Scott opened a small store on the property, likely with stock he had in Halifax beside the "apple house" where apples from the orchard as well as oats were stored. He is credited with being the first person to introduce Merino sheep into the province.
David and Jane had six daughters and two sons yet everything would change with the arrival of tuberculosis. Three of their daughters would die, two within a month during the winter of 1889. Isabella was 30 and Jessie was 16 that deadly year. Armenia survived the first wave and died at age 36 in 1891. They were all great-aunts of mine, and their three sisters and two brothers along with their parents somehow survived the disease. Two of the remaining daughters never married but played a key role in the family; the third named Ada Scott was a church organist who married a storekeeper, and had a daughter named after her beautiful sister Jessie who had died so young. Alas, the toddler Jessie died at the age of two, meaning that none of the six sisters had descendants, and the family line continued through their brothers.
Alexander Dill Scott (1860-1945) and John Albert Scott (1866-1954) were six years apart as brothers and the decision by Dill Scott, the elder brother, to head west in 1883 with a group of settlers on a specially rented rail car would establish his family in California where he became a store keeper and postmaster in Novado. His descendants now include 14 great-great grandchildren and 15 great-great-great grandchildren.
John remained on the family farm in Nova Scotia along with his sisters. At the age of 41, with friendly encouragement from neighbours, his correspondence with a nurse from the village who had moved to Boston led to their marriage on New Year's Eve 1907 in Boston. Lilly Harvey became his bride and it was an occasion which was celebrated with John's Boston relatives, before they headed home to Nova Scotia. John and Lilly had two sons, eight great grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.
The story of how TB impacted families is not unique but knowledge was gained and science advanced each time mankind faced a new epidemic, and while in the moment we struggle to face limitations and the reality of deadly diseases that impact our lives and our loved ones, a look backwards at history reassures us that ultimately families do find a way to continue, and life does go on.
The picture
was taken at Elm Farm in
Ste. Croix captures the
majority of the family
(along with a hired hand
holding the horse). It was
taken after Dill Scott had
already moved to California.
An
identification guide
is available.
Scott@HomePort
HomePort
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