In Jacksonville, Ore., many children died in accidents and disease outbreaks in the early days, including diphtheria in 1859 and smallpox 10 years later. Eight-year-old Mary Bailey was shot when her older sister tried to take a dangerous gun away from her. Mary Angel was 18 months old in 1858 when she fell into a washtub filled with scalding water and died the next morning.
Fifteen-year-old George Brown went hunting with a full powder horn and rifle and was crawling through brush when the rifle’s trigger snagged, firing toward the powder horn, which exploded and burned a hole in Brown’s thigh. He had almost bled to death when he was found.
Accidental poisoning was a danger for small children who put everything in their mouths. Four-year-old Lillie Banister drank lye and toddler David Phipps swallowed opium. They died almost immediately.
Patrick Donegan lost a wife and five of his eight children. Four children died of disease or birth complications, but 11-year-old Peter died of tetanus after a toy pistol exploded in a Fourth of July accident.
In the early days, it was rare for all of a family’s children to survive.
Source: Miller, William M. Silent City On the Hill. William Miller: 2014. Print.
