Friday 14 April 2017

A to Z Challenge - L is Little Lottie

Snippets from the life of Martha Sarah Ellis.

Martha had a total of 7 children.  All but one lived to adulthood.  Poor Little Charlotte known affectionately as Lottie died at only 4½ months old after 5 weeks of Whooping Cough.[1]

'Family Notices', Malvern Standard, 9 January 11909,p. 3. , viewed 12 Apr 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66383631 

The loss was keenly felt and death notices appear in several of  Melbourne’s main newspapers, first in The Argus on Saturday 2 January 1909 followed a week later by the two local papers, the Malvern Standard and The Prahran Telegraph.[2]  

She is buried in a public grave with 9 others who were all buried between 23 Dec 1908 and 31 Dec 1908.  Eight of the burials were less than a year old (including Charlottes).

To Read more about Martha's life for articles previously posted for the A to Z Challenges click the Letters below:-

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Sources

[1] Death Certificate of Charlotte mary Todman, died 28 December 1908, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria 15364/1908
[2] 'Family Notices', The Argus, 2 January 1909, p. 9. , viewed 12 Apr 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10697965; 'Family Notices'Malvern Standard, 9 January 1909, p. 3. , viewed 12 Apr 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66383631; 'Family Notices'The Prahran Telegraph, 9 January 1909, p. 1. , viewed 12 Apr 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article144514218

8 comments:

  1. Oh dear. The poor mite. She must have been absolutely exhausted from all that coughing. Poor poor parents.

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    1. I can remember my own daughter being very sick for a while when she was young with a terrible hacking cough. It is hard what it must have been like with 6 other young children and a child that you felt helpless to help. The nights must have been very long and lonely.

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  2. It's always so sad to learn about childhood deaths. By finding and writing about Lottie, you are assuring her brief life is not forgotten.

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    1. I suppose you are right I hadn't thought of my writing as being like a memory marker for someone who has no descendants to write about them, Thanks for dropping by Molly.

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  3. My grandmother wrote those same words "God knew best." When writing about the death of her 3 year old son. Five weeks, how absolutely awful.

    I wrote about a Lottie today too,, but she lived to be in her 80s.

    Finding Eliza

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    1. The loss of any life is awful, but losing life so young must have been heart rendering for the family.

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