Death and Despair in a Farmhouse

When a mother died during childbirth in the 1920s, it was probably a common occurrence. But to the children who witnessed it and the husband who depended on her, life would never be the same.

Grandmother Margaret Klaver Kennedy (34) died at home during the birth of her 5^th child on March 18, 1924. Maternal mortality rates at that time were about 63 deaths per 100,000 people but rural rates were much higher than that. Currently in the U.S., there are about 15 deaths per 100,000.  

The impact on a family in which a mother dies during childbirth is far greater than the death of any other member of a family, especially a young family. Such was the case of the Kennedy family headed by Dan (46) and the children. Florence (12), Rita (11), Tom (9.5), Ray (5), and the newborn baby were totally depending on their father. 

The Farm

My grandfather Dan Kennedy owned a 120-acre farm in Florence Township near Symerton, Illinois. By 1920, Dan and my grandmother Margaret were raising children as well as crops. Florence (b.1912), Rita (b.1913), Tom (my dad, b. 1914), and Ray (b.1919) were close enough age wise to challenge even the hardest working farmer.

The surviving members of the family now had a newborn baby in a house without a mother. The likelihood of preserving the household and the farm under these circumstances would prove to be impossible.

Demands on the Farmer in the 1920s

Grandpa Dan’s farm probably had neither electricity nor indoor plumbing. Every member of his family had chores like caring for a vegetable garden, milking cows, gathering eggs, washing clothes, preparing meals. Kids had to go to school. There was hard work, long hours, and little money.

In addition to the domestic challenges, there was a national farming crisis after WWI. Crops were producing surpluses and farm prices dropped steadily during the 1920s. As the demand for food dropped, farmers’ incomes kept dropping. 

Grandfather Dan Kennedy, now a 46-year-old widower, really had few choices except to have other families take the baby and his younger son, Raymond. Somehow, he would try to manage family and farming affairs with the help of the two older daughters and his 10-year-old son. The two girls would manage meal preparation and household chores while Dan and my dad worked the farm. 

Doing the Best They Could

Even at his youthful age, Dad disagreed with his father’s decision to send Ray away. He was upset enough that he walked some distance to the neighbor where Raymond now was placed and retrieved his younger brother. Dad would not accept the idea of not having his little brother with him.

In the best interest of the newborn baby, now named after her deceased mother, Dan gave Margaret to a family that could provide the best care. Ed and Mary Wurtz, who lived on Kankakee Street in Wilmington, agreed to adopt Margaret. Ed, a carpenter by trade, and his wife raised her as their own child along with their own daughter, Mildred. Mildred was 22 years old at the time and later married Peter Joyce.

While I lived in Wilmington between 1972 and 1986, I knew Mildred Joyce but had not known this story.  She and I were active at St. Rose parish, but I was unaware of the relationship she had with my Aunt Margaret. (Only recently did I discover this fact and have questions that will forever be unanswered.)

The Kennedy Family Endured

The tragedy of a farm woman’s death during childbirth, although not uncommon at the time, gives witness to the durability and resolve of our ancestors. Its true that Dan ultimately lost his farm during the Depression, but he, with the help of the boy he tried to “give away,” ultimately survived. (Within a year after Margaret died, Dan’s hair would become white.) My uncle Ray took care of his father until Dan died in 1964. They were separated only while Ray served in the military during WWII. 

Florence would marry Garrett Postuma (Indiana) and have 3 sons, and Rita would marry Francis Bell (Wilmington) and have a daughter Patricia. Dad married Adele Ginter and Ray would marry Mary Dinger (one son). Baby Margaret Kennedy Wurtz married Bob Anderson, a Joliet policeman (2 sons and a daughter). Dad and his brother would always be concerned about their siblings and would often try to be in contact with Florence, Rita, and Margaret. 

The bond of the brothers, Tom and Ray, was forged during that awful day when they witnessed the dreadful death in that drafty old farmhouse near Symerton. That bond was fortified by a brother who refused to accept the loss of his best friend, Ray, at the same time as the loss of his mother. 

That same bond was replicated in my own relationships with brother Kenny and sister Carole. We didn’t experience the terrible tragedy that our father endured, but by growing up together in Braidwood and witnessing the stresses and demands placed on our parents, we are separated only by miles, not remoteness. 

Top left: Dad and Mildred Joyce with sisters Florence and Rita; top right Dan and Margaret; middle left: Dan, brother Frank, Ray, and Dad; lower left: Dad at age 4(?); lower right: Dad and Ray.