Grace Rickards died of Sleeping Sickness??

     You never know what you are going to find when you start researching. It is so exciting though to be able to add another piece of a puzzle to your family that you didn't have before.  I logged into my Ancestry account a couple days ago to find a new hint for Ruth Rickards, my husband's great Aunt. It was a newspaper clipping from Newspapers.com. How intriguing! In order for me to view the article though, I had to have a subscription to the site. Thank goodness I can have access through the St. Louis County Library website.
     The article turned out to be an obituary for Great Grandma Grace Rickards, Ruth's mother. Unbelievable! I didn't have a copy of that. She died in Centralia, Illinois and the newspaper that ran the obituary was located in Decatur, Illinois. No wonder I hadn't found it. I would not have thought to look there. Wonderful! So let's glean it for information.

Decatur Herald, Decatur, Illinois 

2 Sep 1925 -- Page 15

     Sleeping Sickness? What is that? Obviously not a medical term, but a nickname. Time for a Google search of "Sleeping Sickness". The first thing that popped up was an African Sleeping Sickness. Yeah, doubt that's what it is. So I modified the search terms to include "1925". Boy was I in for a surprise.
     Sleeping Sickness or "sleepy" sickness was actually a disease called Encephalitis Lethargica. "A disease of unknown cause that occurred worldwide in the 1920s affecting millions of people, especially in Europe. There was paralysis of the eye muscles and a striking tendency to sleepiness. A high proportion of those who survived developed Parkinsonism within months or years. It was also known as ‘sleeping sickness’ or ‘von Economo's disease’." Medical Dictionary
     Oh, poor Grandma Grace! What a horrible way to die. To learn more about this particular disease, I looked up more articles on Newspapers.com. The first article was published the same year Grandma Grace passed away. It mentions J.P. Morgan's wife who apparently passed away from this same disease. The other two were published in the late thirties by a doctor hoping to explain the disease to the readers.

Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, Illinois

17 Aug 1925 -- Page 4

The Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, Illinois

21 Oct 1937 -- Page 4

The Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, Illinois

20 Oct 1937 -- Page 4

     Thanks to this doctor, I was able to learn more about this disease and what Grandma Grace apparently went through. But this isn't over yet. I still have more places to research. First and foremost, I have to get a copy of Grace's death certificate from the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, Illinois. This will give more details about her death, the official cause of it and the attending physician. That will then help me try to track down any journals, diaries, or notes the doctor may have left behind about his life and treatment of his patients. That information may then be available in Centralia, Illinois where Grace was treated and eventually died.
     One other interesting piece of information I learned while researching this disease really blew me away. Have you ever heard of the movie Awakenings starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams? It came out in 1990 and was nominated for three Academy Awards. Great movie. Turns out, the main character played by Robert De Niro, suffered from this exact disease! While the main focus of the movie takes place after the epidemic is over, it addresses the lasting effects this disease had on the patients. So if you have not seen this movie, I absolutely recommend it. Have tissues ready.
     Some of you may be thinking, "What's the point of continuing to research more about this subject? You already know what she died from. Isn't that enough?" My answer to that is a resounding, "NO!" The purpose of this journey is to bring our ancestors' stories to life! It's not enough just to learn about when they were born, married, lived, and died. It's about what they went through. Their hobbies. Their experiences. Why? Because those things have shaped the lives of ancestors and then, in turn, have shaped us. What they went through, directly impacts our lives.
     Grace was only 52 when she passed away. That is still quite young! Her children really must have felt the effects of this loss especially the youngest. Ruth was only 29, Joseph (Mark's Grandpa) was only 27, Franklin was only 22, and Scott was only 10. Can you imagine losing your mother when you were 10? If Grace had not passed away when she did, the lives of her children would have been different. They would have possibly led different lives. We don't know for sure, but we do know that when we don't have our mother around, we are usually completely and utterly lost and destroyed.
     So I want to know more details about their life. I want to know their stories. Like I said, their experiences affect our lives. So understanding their trials and tribulations lend understanding to me why they thought, said, or acted the way they did in their life. Tragedies have a way of shaping our future. So I tell you, take the time to learn about their lives.
     I will end this post with some photos I was blessed to receive. The first one is from Mark's mom and dad. It is a picture of Grace from about 1906. Beautiful photo. The second picture was given to me by Bob Richardson, a cousin down the Rickards' line. A copy of this photo was also in the possession of Geoff Louis, another cousin through the Rickards' line. With their help, we've been able to identify all the family in this photo. This photo was taken in 1922, just 3 short years before Grace passed away. So this photo is definitely a treasure. Not only does it have Grace(she is in the back, three in from the right), but it also has her mother-in-law, Sarah Rickards (center, sitting), who also lived with the family until her death in 1934. She must have become like a second mom to the kids. I am told Franklin had wonderful memories of Sarah and spoke very highly of her.

Grace Rickards

cir 1906

Rickards Family

Centralia, Illinois - 1922

So the search continues... what will we find next?

Links to information about Encephalitis Lethargica 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3930727.stm

https://www.medlink.com/article/encephalitis_lethargica

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1391136/?page=1

Week 16: Out of Place

     What an obscure prompt. Out of Place. I had to think about this one cause at first thought, I couldn't come up with anything or anyone that was out of place. At least not that I could comfortably put under that "definition". Hence why my post is a little delayed this week. Well that and we have had quite a lot of unexpected unfortunates happen. So I took some time to read through some blog posts about how they interpreted the prompt. One post talked about two women who "died out of place". Then it hit me! Where my Grandma Maggie Helfrich is buried, there are two unknown (well unknown to me) people buried with her. Talk about being out of place!
     When I first visited Grandma Helfrich's grave back in 2013, I was informed that two other people were buried there with her. Joseph Helfrich and Pearl Pinnell. Two names I had never heard of, although I assumed Joseph was her husband or brother in law or something. I was still new to genealogy research (started in 2012) and just dismissed the information. I was more excited I found Grandma Helfrich's grave! (I know, all the genealogists reading this are yelling at me, "How could you not have researched!" I was a newbie ok lol! I had not yet been bit by the addiction bug. Now I'm paying for it) Since then, I have researched more and more about the Helfrich family, so hopefully it should be easier to determine who Joseph Helfrich is at least.
     So here I am, about six years later and FINALLY researching this mystery. Who are these unknown people that are buried with Grandma Helfrich? I contacted the cemetery office at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery for information on her lot. I was so thankful, the caretaker was available and happily made a copy of the "Lot Owner" paper. Maggie Helfrich was the owner, for sure. The lot was all paid for. The first to be buried was Joseph Helfrich. According to the card, he was 25 when he died and was buried February 3, 1905. Next to be buried was Pearl Pinnell. She was just 14 days old. Even though she is listed as buried there, she has no grave number. The caretaker told me, she might just be buried at the head or feet of whomever was buried there. She was buried October 12, 1917. Then finally Maggie was buried there when she died on January 31, 1943. She was buried three days later on February 3rd.

     OK let's try to sort this out. We will start with the baby, Pearl. Missouri has their death certificates online for the years of 1910-1968 (and up), so that's a good place to start. Took a little bit of searching, but I did end up finding her death certificate. Her last name was spelled PENNELL, not Pinnell. Her full name was Pearl Thelma Pennell. (A blessing to have a full name with just being an infant; lots of babies go unnamed) She was the infant daughter of Thomas & Pearl Pennell nee Harris. So who are these people, and why was their infant daughter buried in Grandma Helfrich's lot? Well one thing did catch my eye on Pearl's death certificate: The address listed for her and the address listed for the informant. It lists 8229 Michigan Ave. That's Grandma Helfrich's address. From the stories I was told, she ran a boarding house to bring in money. So it's possible, this family was living at her boarding house in 1917, when the wife gave birth prematurely. Maggie must have offered to have their infant daughter buried in her lot, so they would have a place for her. Now whether the family was connected in any way shape or form, I have not yet found. I will keep looking, but for now, this makes sense.

     Now for Joseph Helfrich. As I stated before I thought that might have been her husband. But after doing research on the Helfrich for six years, I have proven this was not the case. Ok so brother? Not by what I have proven as of yet. I created a whole tree of Helfrichs when I was trying to trace Maggie's husband and no Joseph fits that age. So a nephew? Can't prove that either yet. At the moment, I am completely lost. He just does not fit in anywhere. This is going to be one of those mysteries that can't be solved in just a few days. It's going to take visiting the St. Louis Library Headquarters to go through their newspapers to find any death mentions. Then going through city directories. Then process of elimination of all the Joseph Helfrichs I have in my tree.
     What? No! I'm not grinning! I don't know what you are talking about. I'm not excited about the prospect of solving a mystery! I'm not looking forward to the endless hours of looking through records to find just the right one! I'm not..... shut up.... Ok put on some coffee. It's going to be a long night.

To be Continued....