A random search for deaths from tuberculosis (consumption) in 1910 led me to the lives of six people in McLean County. But the Bureau of Charities' annual report of 1911 indicated that four other people, whose death notice I did not find, also died of tuberculosis . Were these impoverished people beneath the notice of the Pantagraph, or was the Pantagraph leery of publishing every frightening death when there was already so much fear? The Bureau tried to alleviate the suffering of these people by training them in the accepted methods of battling tuberculosis -- building up health with nourishing food such as milk and eggs and sleeping in tents in the out of doors. Cleanliness was also considered very important, but cleanliness was hard to achieve in a crowded house that lacked running water or electricity. Many impoverished families in Bloomington were described as living in "shacks." Tuberculosis was a disease that attacked mainly the urban poor, who lived in crowded conditions. It also tended to attack people between the ages of 15 and 45.
Stella Webb (age 45) was living with her parents on South Prairie Street in Bloomington, and her husband was operating the Standard Oil plant in Hoopeston. She had stayed behind because she was dying of tuberculosis. But life had to go on. William Webb had to have work to support his family, which included two children, Grace (18) and Clifton (12). Stella died a very slow death, suffering from tuberculosis for seven years and spending her last six months in bed. William Webb remarried and had two more children. Only Grace could be traced, and she lived to a healthy old age.
Dudley Smith, (age 52) a son of the dry goods merchant Stephen Smith, was another victim of the White Plague in 1910. A member of a prominent family, Mr. Smith would have had every advantage in his fight against the dreaded disease. But once tuberculosis was contracted, it was often fatal. At one point, 450 people a day died in America of tuberculosis. Dudley helped to run the family business and was on the committee that rebuilt the courthouse after the 1900 fire.
Della Wilson was 21 years old when she died of tuberculosis. She lived with her parents, Robert and Julia Wilson. They were an African American family, or noted as "mulatto" in the 1910 census. Robert had a job that is somewhat unexpected for a black man in Bloomington. While most African Americans i Bloomington were relegated to unskilled work as janitors or drivers, Mr. Wilson was a candy maker. Della was working as a stenographer and in the 1900 census her sister Ella had worked as a music teacher. Both of these young women obviously had achieved a good level of education. Two years after her death, her father's name was mentioned again in the Pantagraph. On December 17, 1912, he was noted as the victim of a robbery on East Market Street. He was grabbed from behind and robbed of a watch he treasured because it had belonged to his deceased daughter.
Cora Wiggs (age 35) died March 27, 1910. She was the wife of a day laborer, Charles Wiggs, and the mother of four children, the eldest being sixteen years old. The Pantagraph reported that she had suffered from tuberculosis for six months. Her extended family had come to Bloomington from Bellflower and she had several full and half siblings in Bloomington/Normal.
Daisy Hamblin came to Illinois from Tennessee when she married Charles Hamblin in 1900. She died January 10, 1910 on their farm in Randolph after an illness of 2 years. Her funeral was held in the Wesley Chapel in Randolph. She left a husband, son Ernest and daughter Olive. Charles returned to Tennessee and married again in 1912.
Edward Francis Welsh of Colfax died at the age of 34 after one years illness with tuberculosis. The previous year had been spent chasing a climate that would cure his illness. When his health finally failed, he came home to die. His widow Miriam Viola nee Dameron was left with three small sons to raise: Ralph (never married), Francis and Marian. Miriam kept her family intact without remarrying, and her sons were all tenant farmers in McLean County. (The photo is of the four Dameron sisters of Colfax, Illinois and their husbands.) Marion's obituary recounted how his father died before he was even a year old. The young family moved into a "cold log cabin" near Colfax. The boys were farming together by the time young Marion was ten years old, guiding the horse pulling a corn planter while his brother operated the drill. The fortitude of Miriam, to endure the hardships of life on a rather primitive farm with three very young boys, is nothing short of amazing. David left an estate worth $140,000 when he died in 1969 and left it all to his brothers.
Another death from tuberculosis occurred in 1910, but in Springfield. It was of great interest however, because this young woman died without ever seeing a doctor. She was not deprived of medical care due to lack of money, but because of her family's religious beliefs. Grace Noblett was a follower of Christian Science, a religion that requires its followers to abjure medicine and trust in their religion for all healing. The coroner of Sangamon County found that Grace died through the negligence of her parents, even though Grace was an adult and had made this decision independently. The state's attorney and had not decided whether he would bring any charges against Grace's parents. One letter defending the rights of the Noblett family was printed in various papers around Illinois, but little other notice was paid to this letter.
The danger of tuberculosis inspired many people to great efforts to defeat the disease and prevent the many deaths that were occurring. But there was no cure for tuberculosis in 1910 and the fight was nearly useless. A vaccine was not developed until 1906 (in France) and was not distributed widely until after the Great War. The disease was greatly feared and one wonders whether the Pantagraph was always willing to print each fatality for fear of truly frightening the citizens from leaving their homes for fear of the contagion or marking the town as a place rife with the White Plague.