If death certificates state that my great-great-grandmother died of liver cancer in 1929, and my great-grandmother of stomach cancer in 1933, how accurate are those diagnoses?
I’m guessing that Agnes Bray Eldridge didn’t have any exploratory surgery at age 78, nor do I know what might have been available to Etta Eldridge Roberts at age 51 just four years later.
So when doctors ask me whether I have a family history of this or that, sometimes I’m inclined to think, “Who knows?”
In most cases, I realize, physicians are asking about family history a little more recent — parents, grandparents and siblings, for example. There’s no denying my dad’s heart disease or my grandmother’s Type 2 diabetes.
I think it’s well worth obtaining death certificates for ancestors back three or four generations and also making note of any ailments that may have turned up in life or on the death certificates of their siblings, as well. Keep in mind that you don’t need to spend the money for certified death certificates if your major interest is the information.
Birth, marriage and death certificates for 1892-1955 are online at several Maine libraries, where they can be viewed free and printed off for little to no cost: at Augusta, Maine State Library; Orono, University of Maine Fogler Library; Portland, Maine Historical Society; Portland, Portland Public Library; Presque Isle, University of Maine at Presque Isle Library; Searsport, Penobscot Marine Museum; and Springvale, Springvale Public Library.
I have used the vital records microfilm frequently at Fogler Library, where the reels are located in the Microforms Reading Room on the first floor. In the same area, you will find U.S. Records for Maine, which also include mortality schedules with cause of death for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880.
In recent years, I think most of us worry about Alzheimer’s disease, especially if we have ancestors who suffered from dementia in their later years. But keep in mind that not all senile dementia is Alzheimer’s. Some is multi-infarct dementia, caused by a series of small strokes — the disease I am guessing that my grandfather and his mother both had because of the way it manifested itself in my grandfather. Can that form of the disease be managed or reduced by good management of one’s blood pressure? That’s certainly a subject for discussion with a health care provider.
On another topic, we always knew that my grandfather’s baby cousin came to live with the Steeves family because his mother had died young. It sure made me sad to learn a few years ago that her death in 1918 had been caused by the Great Influenza.
How lucky we are today to have flu shots to help us avoid or minimize the effects of getting influenza. My family began getting flu shots more than 30 years ago when one of my sons found his asthma aggravated by viruses such as flu.
This year, I researched flu vaccine, learning that by design, the trivalent shot each year contains vaccine to protect against two “A” strains and one “B” strain. It turns out that there are two “B” strains identified this year, and a quadrivalent shot containing the fourth vaccine, also, has been widely available since 2012.
Why don’t we automatically get the shot with four vaccines? Because it costs more, and our whole system of payment — by insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration, government and defense employees — is based on the shot with only three vaccines. This continues to be true even though the Centers for Disease Control website acknowledges that getting the four vaccines provides broader coverage against flu. I found the flu shot with four vaccines available at a local drugstore for $34.99.
I haven’t found any ancestors yet whose cause of death was listed as colon cancer, but it doesn’t take a family history of that disease to prompt me and my husband to get colonoscopies regularly — about every five years, as recommended by our doctor.
Though we all would prefer to be on the 10-year plan, shorter intervals are recommended for individuals with polyps, especially “precancerous” polyps which could develop into cancer. We both had that kind of polyp removed some years ago, and we certainly were grateful to still be around this year to meet our new baby granddaughter. Thanks, Doc.
For i nformation on researching family history in Maine, see Genealogy Resources under Family Ties at bangordailynews.com/browse/family-ties. Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402, or email familyti@bangordailynews.com.