The Dangers of Childbirth

Our ancestors generally had very large families, with as many as a dozen or more children in some families.  And it is quite miraculous that so many children and mothers survived childbirth, especially when you think of all the things that can go wrong including breech presentation, incompatible Rh factors and infection. 

Although the majority of my female ancestors survived childbirth, I have come across a number who didn't.  One was my grand aunt Rebecca Shaw Waggoner, my grandmother's younger sister.  I remember my grandmother talking about this with my mother.   Becky was apparantly Rh Negative and her baby Rh positive.  Since this was her second child, she had already built up antibodies in her own blood to Rh positive blood, but of course routine tests were not done for blood factors then so Becky and her husband had no way of knowing how dangerous a second pregnancy could be, especially if the second child was also Rh positive.  Both Becky and the baby died from this incompatibility. 

I discovered another death related to childbirth several months ago.  Bridget, the wife of my great grand uncle, Edward Brennan, had already had seven healthy children when she died along with her eighth child.  This appears to have been due to an illness or infection but since this was in 1914, when medical science was very primitive, we cannot know for certain the exact cause of the deaths.

Just today, I discovered a third death which I believe is related to childbirth. I discovered it by accident.  Elizabeth Wagner, my second great grandmother, died on August 1, 1864 and in the 1870 census her husband John is remarried to a woman named Sophia.  At least, it appears to be the same John Wagner who was once married to Elizabeth, as the children's names are the same.

I began searching in the cemetery records of Delphos, Ohio, where the Wagners lived, to see what I could find out about a Sophia Wagner.  (In the St. John's cemetery records, the names of spouses or parents of the deceased are often listed.) I couldn't find a Sophia Wagner, but I did a Wagner infant.  The child's name was Michael John Wagner and he died in November, 1864. He was listed as the son of Elizabeth and John.   I then looked at his birth date:  August 1, 1864, the same date Elizabeth died.  I think it is reasonable to assume that Elizabeth died in childbirth, and the infant died a few months later. 

I can't help but be impressed with the courage of these women.  In the days before antibiotics, sterile environments, modern medicine and the drug Rhogam that helps prevent deaths due to Rh incompatibility (I was a beneficiary of this life-saving medication) women faced danger with each pregnancy. They are true heroes.