I was searching for information about my great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Winslow Coffin, when I read the following about Elizabeth Holmes Winslow of Holmes Hole (Homes Hole), a town that was founded in 1671 and later became known as Tisbury, Massachusetts. Elizabeth was born 18 Apr. 1756 to Peleg (pronounced PILL-ick) Holmes of Yarmouth and Abigail Bradford of Nova Scotia. Elizabeth was a direct descendant of William Brewster and William Bradford of the Mayflower.
Elizabeth's parents must have loved their daughter very much. The historical records say that Elizabeth's father remembered her in his will. The documents add, however, that she drowned herself "in a state of insanity."
I understand her despair.
In 1795, in the month of November, Elizabeth and her husband James lost all but one of their six children. They died of what was called canker rash. Today, we know it as scarlet fever. In the 18th century, it was common for children to die young. These were the years before modern medicine and the advent of antibiotics. I can just imagine her helplessness and horror when one after another of the children got sick. I suppose that several children shared the same bed as was common in those days. Isolating them from one another was not an option, and the new baby who perished is not even listed as having a name.
Elizabeth had her first baby the day before her 24th birthday. After that, her other babies were born about 3 years apart. Then, the unthinkable.
Two years after their children died, Elizabeth and James had a baby boy they named George. Eight years later James passed away and four years after that Elizabeth took her own life on 2 July 1809.
At age 12, George was an orphan. I hope his sister, Abigail, took him in and took care of him.
The children of James Winslow and Elizabeth Holmes Winslow were:
66. Abigail Bradford2 Winslow was born 17 Apr 1780 in Tisbury. She married Capt. Thomas Manchester Jr.
67. James Winslow was born about 1783. He died in Nov 1795 in Holmes Hole of "canker rash or throat disorder."
68. Newell Winslow was born about 1786. He died in Nov 1795 in Holmes Hole of "canker rash or throat disorder."
69. Polly Winslow was born about 1789. She died in Nov 1795 in Holmes Hole of "canker rash or throat disorder."
70. Zebulon Winslow was born about 1792. He died in Nov 1795 in Holmes Hole of "canker rash or throat disorder."
71. (Child) Winslow was born about 1795. He/she died in Nov 1795 in Holmes Hole of "canker rash or throat disorder."
72. George Winslow was born in 1797 in Tisbury. He married Elizabeth A. Jackson.
Two hundred years later, Jasper Kane discovered the secret to mass-producing penicillin, thus saving countless children's lives from bacterial infections like scarlet fever. During World War II, penicillin was reserved for military use only. Family tradition says that a New York City doctor asked Jasper and his colleague to give him some penicillin for a little girl who was dying from a heart infection called subacute bacterial endocarditis. The doctor thought that penicillin might save her. Civilians were not allowed to have penicillin since it was vital to the war effort. But Jasper and his friend had little time to wrestle with the dilemma. They gave the medicine to the doctor; the child's life was saved; and (as I understand it) a court of law dismissed all charges when the infraction came to light.