52 Ancestors: Edith Christie - Born 10 years to early

This is my latest post in the 52 Ancestors challenge to write about an ancestor once a week for 52 weeks. I am starting to forget how many weeks I have written so far (I need to go back and count) but I do know that since I started, I have not missed a week! I want to thank everyone for all the encouragement, kind words and sharing of my posts, this has really helped to motivate me to write the next entry each week.

On Wednesdays of each week www.nostorytosmall.com posts a weekly recap of everyone who has signed up for the 52 Ancestors challenge. This recap includes the titles and links to the posts. I have started checking this recap weekly not only to see my link there :-) but to skim all the other entries looking for possible links to my family tree. So far no connections but I have been treated to many interesting and inspiring stories. One of those stories, wish I had saved the link, stuck with me and inspired me to write about this weeks ancestor.

This weeks ancestor is my aunt, my Mom's older sister, Mary Edith Christie. I have never seen a picture or heard a story about Edith, as she was probably called (all the girls had Mary as their first name). All I knew was that my Mom had another sibling that died before she was born (turns out there was more than one other sibling that died before she was born, but that story is for another day).

On the 1921 Canadian census Frank and Laura (Delores) Christie have three children listed: Irene, Clifford and Edith. I knew my Aunt Irene and Uncle Clifford so Edith must be the unknown sibling that my Mother was referring to. In the 1921 census Edith is listed as being 10 months old, that puts her birth in 1920. So far I have been unable to find a record of her birth or baptism, more work has to be done here.

1921 Canadian Census, Gloucester County, Edith Christie (Library and Archives Canada, accessed ancestry.ca March 1, 2014)

The rest of my knowledge of Edith comes from her death certificate. She was born July 17, 1920 in West Bathurst. She died in West Bathurst when she was just 4 years and 9 months old on April 1, 1925 at 1:00am from Diphtheria. Her parents had her seen by a doctor on March 31st, at which time she would most likely have been to sick for any medicine to help. Frank, Laura and the doctor must have all been at Edith's side when she took her last breath. The doctor last saw her alive on April 1st and is able to state an exact time of death. It must have been difficult for her parents to see her so ill and be unable to make her better. The grief they must have been suffering and the worry they must have had for their other children, would they contract this contagious disease and die as well? What about their unborn child, my mom, who was due in 4 months, was she at risk too? I don't know if anyone else also became ill, if they did they recovered as Irene, Clifford and my mom all survived into adulthood.

Had Edith been born 10 years later she would have most likely not died from Diphtheria as vaccinations against Diphtheria became widely practiced in Canada in 1930, see Diphtheria in Canada .

Rest in Peace Edith, your story like you was not too small to be told.