After writing about the deaths of Harjo Jackson’s children, I decided to look through the newspaper reports to see if there was any more on Harjo. I didn’t find anything, but I did start to notice the other causes of death as I went through the weekly reports in the Montgomery Advertiser. Today I am sharing some of those.
The notifications were for interment in the Montgomery Alabama City Cemetery, which is now Oakwood Cemetery. This is the cemetery where my 2Xs great grandparents Eliza and Dock Allen are buried. I named this blog for Eliza. Other family members are buried there.
Oakwood Cemetery started with donations of land by Andrew Dexter and General John Scott in 1817 and 1818. The earliest part of the cemetery was known as Scott’s Free Burying Ground. Over 200,000 are buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Both black and white are buried there, although in different sections.
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Below is a random sample of some of the interment reports for 1883. The numbers in front of the names are the dates on which those deaths occurred. I have added explanations for various obscure causes of death.
The Montgomery Advertiser. February 27, 1883 Page 2
The interments in the city cemetery the past week, ending last night the 24th, were as follows:
WHITES.
18. *Child of Norah Reed, bronchitis. •
COLORED.
18. Randal Brooks, menengitis.
19. Ruth Ann Lewis, consumption.
20. Child of Walter Freeman, premature birth: *Laura Meriwether, a child, inanition; *child of Mary Miles, infantile remittent fever. (Malaria is a common cause of intermittent fever)
21. *Alice Jones, syphilis, (tartary.) (Tertiary syphilis final stage of an untreated infection, occurring 10–40 years after initial exposure. It causes widespread, severe damage to organs, including the heart, blood vessels, brain, and nervous system
23. Betsy Hailes, pneumonia.
24. Dave Driver, consumption; child of George Robinson, unknown, no physician.(Cause of death was unknown because no doctor was on the case).
Whites. 1 Colored . 9 Total. 10 *Died outside city limits 4
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The Montgomery Advertiser. April, 10, 1883 Page 2
The interments in the city cemetery the past week have been as follows:
WHITES.
4. Child of John R. Pugh, Bronchial Phthisis (Bronchiectasis is a condition where damage causes the tubes in your lungs to widen or develop pouches. It makes it hard to clear mucus out of your lungs and can cause frequent infections. Coughing a lot with pus and mucus is the main symptom.); E. Cleveland, Insanity and Inanition. (Inanition – physical or mental exhaustion due to lack of nutrition.)
6. C. L. Lowery, Congestion.
COLORED.
*2. Child of James Green, unknown no physician.
4. Louisa Sturdivant, a child, after effects of measles.
*5. Louisia Lewis, Consumption; child of Caroline Ligon, Convulsions.
*6. Child of Matty Smith, Trismus Noscretium (lockjaw).
7. Child of Ida Fair, still-born.
Whites 3: colored 6. Total 9. *Died outside of city limits.
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The Montgomery Advertiser. September 11, 1883 Page 3
The interments in the City Cemetery the past week were as follows:
WHITES.
Mrs. Carrie Cater, puerperal eclampsia. Thomas J. Dillard, opium poisoning suicide.
5. Child of Emmet Fowler, meningitis. MA Bellie L. Schley, typhoid fever.
COLORED.
3. Child of Henry Ball, cause of death unknown; no physician.
4. *Maggie Johnson, cories of vertebra. (I found nothing for “cories”)
7. *Eddy Washington, old age and cancer of liver.
whites 4; colored 3; total 7.
*Died outside the city limits.
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The Montgomery Advertiser. April 1, 1883 Page 4
The interments in the city cemetery for the week end March 31st, were as follows:
WHITES.
26. *Child of Charles W. Joseph, cause of death unknown; Woodie Carter, smallpox.
30. *Mrs. Harriet I Singletary, heart disease.
31. *J.N. Waddell, Bright’s Disease. (a historical classification of kidney disease)
COLORED.
26. Child of Jane Sturdivant, inanition.
27; *Edward Jefferson, child, unknown.
29. Child of Richard Scott, pneumonia; Eliza E. Jackson, a child, scrofula.(An infection in the lymph nodes of your neck. It causes a swollen, sometimes discolored mass that’s usually painless.)
30. Rosa Syers, a child, unknown, No physician.
Whites 4; colored 5. Total 9. *Died outside of city limits.
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The Montgomery Advertiser. Mar, 25, 1883 Page 5
The interments in the city cemetery for the past week, ending Saturday, March 24th, have been as follows:
WHITES.
22. Child of M. M. Turbyfill, still-born
COLORED.
19. *Margaret McKenzie, dropsy. (edema is a medical term for swelling caused by excess fluid trapped in the body’s tissues symptom of heart failure. modern medicine identifies the underlying cause, such as congestive heart failure, kidney disease, or liver issues)
22. Gracy Thomas, worms (Children, particularly in areas with poor sanitation, can die from severe intestinal worm infections (helminthiasis)—such as roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms—which lead to acute malnutrition, anemia, and intestinal obstructions.)
24.*Charles Seaborn, old age.
Whites, 1; Colored, 3. Total, 4. *Died outside of city limits.
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The Montgomery Advertiser. Oct 21, 1883 Page 4
The interments in the City Cemetery for past week have been as follows:
WHITES.
14. Miss Mary Josephine Howell, congestive fever. (malaria or severe malarial chills)
18. E. A. Curtis, typhoid fever.
19. *Child of Charles Newman, from Greenville, inflammation of bowels (Symptoms of both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease usually include belly pain, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, extreme tiredness and weight loss.); Tommie Stewart, lock jaw.
COLORED
14. *Fenton Harris.
17. *Charlotte Oliver, hypertrophy of heart (abnormal thickening or enlargement of the heart muscle). child of Matthew Stodemeyer, ulceration of bowels (Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes chronic inflammation and ulcers in the superficial lining of the large intestine).
19. Reuben Dean, unknown, no physician; child of John Young, teething. (historically used as a catch-all diagnosis for infant deaths caused by infections, diarrhea, or malnutrition in the 19th century)
20. Henry Drayton, tuberculosis; *Cheney Fraser, cancer of liver.
Whites 4, colored 7; total 11. *Died outside of city limits.