Death In the Schools

 

If you will indulge me, one more blog post on new information I found on my Kuck ancestors before returning to the bedroom swap project in progress. I have more material for future posts but I will save them for another day further along. 

John and Mary Meyer Kuck had seven children (an eighth was either born stillborn or died within days of birth), five of them who died of diphtheria along with their mother Mary all in the space of six months. Many years ago, a kind researcher who had access to the microfiche of the local newspaper copied out the death notices for three of the children and Mary but either didn't find or didn't know about the other two children. It cost me money for a cup of coffee so worth what information I did receive. One of the missing death notices was for oldest daughter Anna who was 17 at the time of her death. So fresh off the success of learning more about John, I did a newspaper search for Anna and found two articles, the one above talking about the recent number of deaths in the school system and Anna's death notice shown below. Note the article above mentioned Georgie Kuck who actually survived and probably meant Eddie Kuck who would have been eight and in school when he died from diphtheria. Transcriptions of all articles are below.

The missing death notice still remains missing and probably non-existent. In the death notice for Eddie and Lydia Kuck, it mentions that three children survive and two of them are sick with two expected to pull through. I assume the one not expected to pull through was John Kuck Jr. who indeed died the day after that death notice was published. I have scoured the following weekly newspaper but it doesn't mention a word of John Jr.'s death. He was only five years old at the time and so wasn't probably out and about in the community. And perhaps by then, it was just known and wasn't a surprise. By the time the following week's newspaper had been published, is loftily said that the "clouds of affliction have at last been lifted" though in less than six month's time, John's wife Mary would also die though it isn't clear what caused her death at age 42. 

Transcriptions:

Death in the Schools - From the records of Secretary French we glean the following about the mortality among the school children of this district since 1871: Deaths: 1871, Rosanna Brown; 1872, none; 1873, F Paterson; 1874; Margaret Ready; 1875, May McClarty, Charles B. Miner, Fannie Judd; 1876, Mary Brown, John H Hacker; 1877, Clara Burnham, Harry Taylor; 1878, Annie, Lydia, Emma and Georgie Kuck, Elizabeth, Agatha, Fannie and Mary N. Figi, Lizzie Shultz, James Van Steenburg, and Charlie Cramer. It will be seen that 1878-9 has been a fatal year to the little ones, the number of deaths in the past six months being larger than in all the other years taken together. - 27 Feb 1879 - Charles City Intelligencer

Kuck - Saturday, Dec 14th of diphtheria, Anna S., daughter of Mr. John Kuck, aged 17 years. The funeral was held Monday, Rev. J. S. Anderson conducting the services. The High School was closed for the afternoon and the students attended the funeral in a body. Miss Anna was a girl of most amiable character and was universally beloved by her family and friends. Her untimely death will cause a sad void in the family circle. It has been reported that she took the fatal disease while attending the funeral of a friend in the country. Mr. Kuck informs us that is not so, as she had not been out of town for some months. - 10 Dec 1878 - Charles City Intelligencer

 The clouds of affliction have at last been lifted from above Mr. Kuck's household, and the hand of the destroyer is stayed. Henry, the oldest boy, is now considered out of danger, and the hired girl has recovered. Let us hope and pray that our city may not be called upon to see more of such sad and harrowing scenes. - 9 Jan 1879 - Charles City Intelligencer