Genealogy Chat

... when I receive a death certificate for my 3x gt grandfather dated 160 yrs ago and am devastated to find out he committed suicide by hanging! Why, Joshua, why? - Sue, in mourning....

Oh Sue, How awful to receive news like that when you have been waiting with such expectations for the cert to arrive. It is difficult to say why he did it as stress and pressures were different then. Maybe he was ill and could not stand the thought of carrying on, maybe he was in pain, maybe he had been a 'naughty boy' and was waiting for the consequences. There must have been an inquest and perhaps that info is on the death cert. perhaps that would give you a hint !!!! Try not to dwell on it too much, but you now have a better understanding of that part of your tree. hugs and cuddles. Kathlyn

Thanks Kathlyn I haven't taken it that personally really but it makes you think tho, doesn't it? Will now have to find time to get to Southwark Local History Centre in the hope that there might be a newspaper report. Sadly the LMA only holds Southwark Inquest reports from 1862 - Joshua died in 1858 so unless Southwark have earlier copies I may never know why. Sue PS Haven't told my 87yr old mother - she'll think its an inherited trait or something!

That is upsetting. My OH thinks I'm daft too, because it made me cry when I found out that my grandmother's brother was put in an orphanage shortly after he was born, and died there at the age of 5 - although his parents were alive and went on to have more children. I don't suppose I shall ever find out why.

Truth is there was just as many reasons for people to take their own lives then as now, if not more so. That's if he even had a reason. Mental illnesses are not a preserve of the modern age, 'schizophrenia' etc are on record right back to beginning of recorded history. Sadly they have a fairly high suicide rate even now, with a plethora of medications available and a supposedly caring health system. Imagine the situation for these poor folk 150 years ago, at best you could expect to be looked up in an asylum and forgotten, if diagnosed at all. Mental illness back then was not always a hereditory illness or a sign of personal 'weakness' either. King George III 'Madness' has recently been found out to be the side effect of the Arsenic in the medicine being given to him for another condition. Lots of the potions etc around at the time for other illness were dodgy and could cause it. I don't think it's at all silly to be upset by these things. I dread buying death certificates for my ancestors who died under 60, because lets face it it's not likely to be anything 'nice' to have killed them younger than that. Just yesterday I found out my g-g grandfather, had not died in 1948 as I had down on my tree, but 1915 at just 46. Felt very sad indeed, and now dreading getting the certificate and finding out what happened. It is of course long gone history, but these people were part of you, your family, and carry on in your genes, so understandable to feel an emotional response to them.

The worse for me were: a great grandmother who died of puerperal infection 2 weeks after giving birth in 1885 and another who died of exhaustion following childbirth. I was a midwife so these deaths struck me pretty hard. Jennifer

Family history does make you care about ancestors. I was very sad when I found my 3x great grandfather died in prison because he had dementia or some other brain condition and had tried to murder his wife. He'd been locked up for his own and others' safety though he'd been found not guilty on the grounds of madness. My poor 3x great grandmother was nearly disembowelled according to the newspaper reports but she survived and lived a further 6 years. If we didn't care then this hobby really would be no more than name collecting. I've stood in places where ancestors lived and worked and I've seen their signatures on documents. It doesn't matter that they lived long before even my grandparents were born......I still feel as if there is a connection with some of them. Sue

The one great thing (only?) about GR is it's members! I knew that there would be other people out there who understood how I felt about Joshua, not like my nearest and dearest who seem to think it's quite funny. I've also had a couple of pm's from people offering to help find out more (thanks again Wendy and Athena) So thanks to you all for support - warm fuzzy feeling coming over me now, lol, Sue Ps Only just got in from work and wasn't expecting this thread to still be showing....