Sunday, July 10, 2011

Rachel Luttrell and Her Widow's Pension Woes-Part 3

Rachel's affidavit from 30 July 1888 gives a grim account of her husband's declining health.

" My Family Physician who attended my Husband in his last sickness is dead his name was James Brown his Post Office address was Fort Scott, Kansas. The doctor told me on his last visit to see my Husband that Cattrrah of head and Bronchitis had reached the lungs and caused Consumption and [?] wer brough about by exposure in the military servis of U.S. and this seems to be the general Impression of all his neighbor that his disability was brought about by Exposure in the military service."


The one word I had trouble with appeared to have something to do with a disease of the thoracic cavity. I tried to google variations of what I thought the word was but did not come up with anything specific. There were a number of misspellings in this passage and perhaps this word is also one of them, making it difficult to track down.

At any rate, I'm left wondering if Dr. James Brown's records are preserved somewhere. If they are, is my Luttrell family mentioned in them?

2 comments:

  1. Cinamon, do you have a copy of the original affidavit? If so, could you possibly post an image of that part of it that pertains to "the disease of the thoracic cavity" you can't identify? Another set of eyes (or several sets) might have better luck.

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  2. Great idea! I will do that in an upcoming post.

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