Six children of Eliza Kilpatrick died from diphtheria in 1864

Eliza Cranwill was born on 8 October 1819 in Dublin, Ireland. She was the daughter of Thomas Smith Cranwill and Frances nee Johnston.

On 28 December 1845 at St Peter’s, City of Dublin, Eliza (26) married James Kilpatrick (25), a linen draper, “in accordance with the rites of the Church of Ireland” [Protestant].

They had five daughters in Ireland. The family emigrated to Victoria in 1854. They lived first in Melbourne, where a son was born at Richmond. In 1856 they moved to Avoca where they had three more children. James Kilpatrick ran a store. The family were active in the Wesleyan Church.

In 1864, in just over three weeks, six of their nine children from died from diphtheria.

1. George Frederick William Kilpatrick 6 years died 23 Mar 
2. Evangeline Jessie Kilpatrick 11 years died 25 Mar 
3. James John Thomas Kilpatrick 8 years died 31 Mar 
4. Alfred Hayes Kilpatrick 6 months died 8 Apr 
5. Charles Edward Cranwill Kilpatrick 3 years died 11 April
6. Caroline Mary Kilpatrick 14 years died 17 April 

One of Eliza’s granddaughters recalled  that

“The undertaker apparently refused to attend the Kilpatrick’s home, scared that he would contract the disease and the Reverend and James Kilpatrick had to take the children, one by one to the cemetery to bury. It must have been a terrible ordeal. The Reverend came back each time over the space of five weeks to help James and Eliza bury their children, and to offer prayers. On the last occasion he turned up with a bottle of sulphur dust, and each of the surviving daughters were administered by the Reverend who poured the sulphur mixture down their throats to hopefully stop them from catching the disease. He apparently turned to the parents and told them he didn’t have the heart to keep coming back to their door, and he had heard that this was a remedy of sorts. It probably burnt the girls’ throats, but that was better than dying. It did the trick, and Elizabeth and Agnes survived.”

Fifteen more deaths from diphtheria are recorded in the Avoca cemetery burial register for 1864, most of them in March, April, and May.

Diphtheria is a bacterial infection, usually affecting the mucous membranes of the nose and throat. With widespread vaccination against the disease from the 1920s, diphtheria is now rare in developed countries.

The Avoca Mail of 21 May 1864 offered the following possible remedy for the disease:

Smarting, as many on Avoca are, under the late bereavements from diptherea, we think it not out of place to reprint the following recipe for its cure, from an English paper, and give it for what it is worth. The introductory part of the paragraph would lead one to the conclusion that some reliance ought to be placed in it, or that, at any rate, it is worth the trial. The paragraph reads thus :— 
"Diphtheria.— The following is a recipe for the cure of diphtheria, from a physician, who says that in 1000 cases in which it has been used not a single patient has been lost. The treatment consists in thoroughly swabbing the back of the mouth and throat with a wash made thus :— Table salt, two drachms ; black pepper, golden seal, nitrate of potash, alumn, one drachm each. Mix and pulverise, put into a teacup, which half fill with boiling water, stir well, and then fill up with good vinegar. Use every half-hour, one, two, and four hours, as recovery progresses. The patient may swallow a little each time. Apply one ounce each of spirits of turpentine, sweet oil, and aqua ammonia, mixed, every four hours, to the whole of the throat, and to the breastbone, keeping flannel to the part.

A gravestone at Avoca cemetery gives the names of the six children of the Kilpatrick family who died of diphtheria, and their parents, Eliza and James.

In affectionate Remembrance
of
the beloved children of
JAMES and ELIZA KILPATRICK
~~~
GEORGE FREDERICK WILLIAM
died 23rd March 1864, aged 6 years
EVANGELINE JESSIE
died 25th March 1864, aged 11 years
JAMES JOHN THOMAS
died 1st March 1864, aged 8 years
ALFRED HAYES
died 8th April 1864, aged 6 months
CHARLES EDWARD CRANWILL
died 11th April 1864, aged 3 years
CAROLINE MARY
died 17th April 1864, aged 14 years
also ELIZA KILPATRICK
died November 18th 1907, aged 88 years
THE LORD GAVE AND THE LORD HAS TAKEN
AWAY, BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD
also their dear father
JAMES KILPATRICK
born Armah(sic), Ireland
died at Adelaide 19th May 1894
LOVED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM.

Three daughters survived, married, and had children. Two married brothers, Henry and George Wise, sons of William McOboy Wise, an Avoca businessman.

In 1879 Eliza and James moved to Adelaide, where they settled at Mile End. There they kept a store and post office.

James died in 1894. Two years afterwards his body was exhumed and reburied with his children in Avoca.

Eliza returned to Victoria to live with her daughter Elizabeth Grewar at Cope Cope near Donald.

Avoca Mail Tuesday October 22nd 1907

Death of Mrs E. Kilpatrick
Yesterday (October 21st) the remains of Mrs Eliza Kilpatrick were brought from "Avondale", Cope Cope, the residence of her daughter, Mrs Grewar, to be interred at Avoca where her late husband and children were buried. Mrs Kilpatrick had resided with her daughter since the demise of her husband, and she passed away on Friday last at the advanced age of 88 years. She was a native of Dublin, Ireland, and was born in 1819. She came to Victoria with her husband in September 1854, residing in Melbourne until 1856, when they removed to Avoca, and remained here until 1880. Mr Kilpatrick had a general merchant's business in High Street where the Mechanics' Institute now stands, and later was joined in partnership by his son-in-law, Mr Geo Wise, removing to the old Wesleyan chapel - being portion of the premises now occupied by the "Avoca Mail".
Old residents of the district will remember the sad bereavement sustained by Mr and Mrs Kilpatrick during their residence here when in 1864 they lost six children (four sons and two daughters) within four weeks from that dread scourge, diphtheria. They had three daughters left who afterwards married and removed from the district, viz., Mrs Grewar, of Cope Cope, who married a brother of Mrs E.Snell, of Avoca; the late Mrs H. Wise, of Percydale, who was the second daughter; and Mrs G. Wise, of Sydney, the third. In 1880 Mr and Mrs Kilpatrick removed to South Australia and resided in Adelaide where the former died in 1894. Two years later Mrs Kilpatrick returned to Victoria and resided till her death on October 18th, 1907, with her daughter and son-in-law, Mrs and Mr John Grewar, who accompanied her remains to Avoca. Messrs James, Archie and Gordon Grewar, and Arnold Cummings (four grandsons), and Messrs B.D. Snell, and W. M. Chellew carried the remains from the hearse to the grave. The deceased was greatly esteemed and was a good true woman, and died as she lived in Christian faith and hope. She was of a retiring disposition but was loved and respected by all who had the privilege of her friendship.
The burial service was impressively conducted by the Rev. C.R. Godbehear, of Avoca, and a number of choice wreaths were placed on her last resting place by sorrowing friends as a tribute to her memory.

Further reading

For a more detailed account of this family see : Virginia Rundle (2015, November 30). The Kilpatrick family of Dublin city and the Cranwill family of Ballycanew, Wexford, Ireland. Relatives Matter https://www.relativesmatter.com/2015/11/30/the-kilpatrick-and-cranwill-families-from-dublin-and-ballycanew-ireland/

Wikitree :

• Eliza (Cranwill) Kilpatrick (1819-1907)
• James Kilpatrick (1820-1894)
• Elizabeth Frances Kilpatrick (1847–1934)
• Jane Isabella Kilpatrick (1848–1906)
• Caroline Mary Kilpatrick (1850–1864)
• Agnes Amelia Kilpatrick (1851–1924)
• Evangeline Jessy Kilpatrick (1853–1864)
• James John Thomas Kilpatrick (1855–1864)
• George Frederick William Kilpatrick (1858–1864)
• Charles Edward Cranwill Kilpatrick (1861–1864)
• Alfred Hayes Kilpatrick (1863–1864)