5 Oldest Ziegler Children - their Story in 1864 Saturday, July 11, 2009

In early 2008, I found a "Henry Ziegler", son of Fred and Mary Ziegler, in the 1860 US census, about 2 years old, born in Ohio, but he was not listed in the 1870 US census. What had happened to him? We had heard that 5 of Fred and Mary's children had died, possibly from diphtheria, but we were not sure when that was.

From the book, History of Outagamie County, part 8, we learn that there was a terrible diphtheria outbreak in May 1864 as well as several other outbreaks such as smallpox that same year. While there had been doctors in Outagamie County since about 1850, apparently, some were better trained than others (as discussed below).

Excerpt from History of Outagamie County, part 8

"In July, 1863, diphtheria raged fatally in the town of Ellington. Many children and even adults died in spite of physicians and good care.

It was noted in May, 1864, that there never was so much sickness in the river valley as at this time. The mortality among children was enormous. Diphtheria and various lung complaints were the diseases. The cause was not known unless it was due to the unexampled severity of the previous winter or the drought of the summer.

In May, 1864, several cases of smallpox appeared in the eastern part of Appleton, and the authorities immediately took steps to prevent its spread. The cases upon examination proved to be of a mild type, and the physicians became involved in a newspaper controversy over whether it was smallpox or chickenpox.

It having been disputed whether the sickness in Appleton was smallpox or not, Dr. M. F. Page was asked to make an examination and a report. He described fully the symptoms of measles, chickenpox, smallpox, scarletina, etc., in an official bulletin which was printed and circulated. This doctor criticized severely the physician who had pronounced several cases smallpox, and declared that one physician diagnosed a case at a distance and pronounced it smallpox when it was nothing but prairie itch.

Dr. J. Sutherland of Appleton in June, 1864, wrote an article entitled "Quackery" in the newspapers, in which he explained the difference between a duly licensed physician and a quack. He insinuated that several of the latter were endeavoring to gain a foothold in this county. He said: "Let a man say that he came from some large city, let him rent a house in a respectable street, put on the door in large gold letters 'Physician and Surgeon,' furnish himself with a case of medicine bottles, buy a horse and buckboard, dress himself invariably in black, drive like Jehu up and down the streets telling everybody who will listen that he has an immense number of patients; let him tell of extraordinary cures he has made, making of the slightest colds and sore throats cases of typhoid and diphtheria; let him do all this and you may set it down that he knows nothing or less than nothing about the properties of medicine or the character of disease."

In July, 1864, Dr. M. Page again came out with a circular concerning facts and figures to enable people to distinguish between chickenpox, smallpox and other diseases. As a matter of fact there was a decided difference of opinion between the physicians themselves at Appleton concerning the nature of smallpox. Several declared that a person broken out with the disease could pass through the streets and come in contact with people without any danger of spreading the affection. Others denounced this statement in strong terms."



I have since learned the names, birth and death dates because there is a memorial to the children in Freedom/Center (not sure of official address), Outagamie, Wisconsin. The memorial and the three headstones are shown in the photos included in this post. Not only did all 5 children become ill, apparently Mary did as well, but was able to recover.

Here are the names and vital statistics for the 5 children.

1-Christian Frederich Ziegler
+Anna Marie Koehler
|--2-Christian Henry b. 1858, Cleveland, Cuyahoga, OH, USA,
--------------------------d. 20 Aug 1864, Center, Outagamie, WI, USA

|--2-Frederich August b. 1859, Center, Outagamie, WI, USA,
----------------------------d. 27 Aug 1864, Center, WI, USA

|--2-John Douglas b. 1862, Center, WI, USA,
-----------------------d. 23 Aug 1864, Center, WI, USA

|--2-Mary M. b. 1860, Center, WI, USA,
-----------------d. 19 Aug 1864, Center, WI, USA

|--2-Rosena Elizabeth b. Feb-Mar 1864, Center, WI, USA,
---------------------------d. 9 Oct 1864, Center, WI USA

Photos provided by Susan and Shirley