I think one of the most sobering parts of researching family history is seeing the rate of infant, child, and maternal mortality, and thinking about the family implications. It’s true that mortality was a much more common part of life in the seventeenth or eighteenth century; you expected that not all of your children would live to adulthood, and you might not live to a ripe old age. Yet each family had a story, and as I enter in dates and names, I think about them.

Take Anna Goertz Sengel, born in 1681 in Illkirch. She married Diebold Sengel at the age of twenty on 21 February 1702, and they had their first child, Margaretha, on 28 September of 1704; Margaretha died just shy of her fifth birthday on 21 September 1709. Their second daughter Anna was born on 6 February, 1708, and passed away the next day. Their third daughter Maria was born on 20 October, 1711, and died three weeks later. Their fourth child, a son named Diebold, born January 4, 1713, was their only child to survive to adulthood (my 6-great grandfather). Fifth child Catharina was born on 24 February, 1717; she died at the age of seven. Sixth child, Anna, was born 24 February 1720, and outlived her mother, the only one of the daughters to do so; even so, she died when she was nine. Seventh child Maria was born 20 September 1722 and died on 3 December of the same year, and their final child, Salome, was born on 10 August 1724, and died on the same day as her mother Anna, 5 October, 1724, three weeks after seven-year-old Catharina.  A whooping cough epidemic in Alsace in 1724 may be to blame for the death of mother and these two children, though the family was clearly plagued by ill health in general, losing seven of their eight children between 1704 and 1729.

Diebold took a second wife a year later, marrying Anna Michel on 13 May 1725, but he died on 1 March, 1726, leaving his wife pregnant with twin boys who were born on the first of September. One of the boys, Johannes Georg, died before his second birthday, but the other twin, Johann Michael, lived until the relatively advanced age of 59.  Thus of the ten children of Diebold Stengel, only two survived to adulthood: my 6-great grandfather Diebold, and his half-brother Johann Michael.

The next generation faced similar tragedy. Diebold was a fisherman, and he married Barbara Mursch on 12 March 1737. Their son Diebold was born 28 September 1738; he died just before his fifth birthday. Their second son, Georg, only lived three years. But their daughter Anna, my 5-great grandmother, was born 1 April 1748 and lived until she was seventy-three.

Diebold’s half-brother, Johann Michael, became a cooper and innkeeper at “The Swan” in Illkirch (Cygne).  His first wife was Margaretha Steuer; their son Johann Michael was born 27 April, 1749.  She died when their son was only six months old; he married again, but he and his second wife, Barbara Walther, had three sons who did not live past their second birthday. So, of this generation, only two of the seven children survived to adulthood.

Johann Michael’s only living son, Johann Michael II, went on to accomplish a great deal in his life: he was a cooper; he continued his father’s role as the innkeeper of The Swan; he was the mayor of Illkirch from 1790-1793, and he was the Chief Commissioner in Geispolsheim.  He married Anna Maria Goertz around 1767 and they had four sons and one daughter.  But the same infant mortality seen in the previous generation continued: his first son, Johann Michael, died before his second birthday. Happily, their daughter, Anna Maria, lived a relatively long life (1771-1822). Their third child, also named Johann Michael, lived only two weeks. Their fourth child, the third Johann Michael, lived to adulthood and continued the tradition of being the innkeeper of The Swan.  Their fifth child also lived to adulthood; he was named Johann Georg, after his grandfather’s twin brother, and lived as a farmer in Illkirch.

Similarly, Diebold’s daughter Anna, my 5-great grandmother, bore six children and saw four of them survive to adulthood.  Andreas (1767-aft. 1798) became a fisherman and innkeeper and had four children; Diebold died at age 5; Anna (1773-1835) married and had one son; Diebold (1777-1851, my 4-great grandfather) was a day laborer and saw six of his eight children live to adulthood; Anna Maria died at the age of eight; and Margaretha (1782-1826) married and had five children. Only one, however, lived to be an adult.

I am not sure whether there was a particular genetic trait that wreaked havoc with these families, or whether it was simply living in a time of disease, war, and hardship. As I research other branches of the family, I’m sure I’ll have a better sense. But as I read through the names and saw infant siblings and uncles and aunts remembered by surviving family members, it seemed to me that, regardless of the common nature of infant mortality, each child was still mourned and remembered. It makes me feel humbled to think of how many times my ancestors were one of only one or two surviving children; humbled, and grateful.