old gravestones are so interesting

They died five years apart. Must have been the poison mushrooms.

We forget today how prevalent disease once was... It took people in waves like a storm surge... The science of vaccination was still many decades away and would not get into real gear until the 1900's. When just the act of drinking milk could kill you, (milk sickness was common,) life was a most uncertain prospect. Children's dollhouses even came with a coffin for the baby doll, so children could play funeral. Sounds morbid today, but infant death was so common, it was thought best to let children work through their grief via play...

Yes, the world of the 1700's was a morbid place...

The good news was that if you made it to 35, you had just about every disease there was and could look forward to another 30 to 40 years of sickness free existence.

Thank you friend for posting these pictures, they are most intriguing.