9 Reasons Children Died Before Adulthood

While researching, I’ve come across family members who had numerous children.  However, out of the twelve children born to this family only three lived to adulthood.

Today this seems very odd, but before all of the medical advances of the 20^th Century this was very common.

So, why did children died in the 19^th Century?  What were some of the common reasons for death in children in the 17^th-18^th Centuries?

Some of these reasons include:

1. Children dying in infancy
2. Disease was rampant
3. Poverty lead to inability to care for or feed the family
4. Home remedies were often used to treat illness
5. No doctors in the area
6. People were treated at home
7. Poor living conditions
8. No vaccines
9. Injury in the work place—in the 19^th Century many children went to work in the mills where illness and injury were prevalent

What reasons have you found for children dying in childhood?

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