1884 Heartbreak

As I've read and catalogued so much research material, every now and again I come across a set of articles that makes me pause for a moment. Part of my thoughts continuously tend toward how difficult and fragile life must have been in the late 1800s. Maybe in many ways better than today in not having all of the distractions we own, but so much harder in sustaining life. Science and technology have advanced amazingly far since then.

In the late 1800s and into the early 1900s, the Rounsville name was very prominent; both in the grain elevator business and in real estate. Following are two articles and a thank you note published in The Fowlerville Review in 1884:

Rose E., eight-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F.G. Rounsville, died Monday, March 19, after much suffering for about six months, the final ending of her earthly existence being attributed to heart disease. The funeral services were held at the house Wednesday and the remains were deposited in the dooryard (the yard by the front door). They have the sympathy of the community in their bereavement. During their grief, a little boy was also added to their family on Tuesday.

Followed by:

Editor Review:

Please allow us, through your columns, to render our many kind friends and neighbors our most sincere thanks for their untiring kindness and sympathy during our late terrible bereavement in the sickness and death of our darling little Rose.

Mr. and Mrs. F.G. Rounsville

But then, The infant child of Mr. and Mrs. F.G. Rounsville died Monday.

I found myself hurting for people I've only met through their involvement in the community and what was written in the newspapers.

As a side note, a few years later, when the new cemetery was created at East Grand River and Cemetery Road, the Rounsville family installed a state-of-the-art monument for their family plot. A couple years later, F.G. Rounsville removed the remains of his two children to the new cemetery on Monday afternoon.