Unfit for any deenpahon????????????

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Fri May 18, 2007 1:35 pm

Anyone want to make a guess as to what "Unfit for any deenpahon" might mean? This was under occupation on an 1861 Census entry for Hannah Monro, Old Machar, Aberdeen. She was 20 years old at the time and living at home.

Hannah was my great Aunt Agnes Munro's aunt-in-law. Agnes married David Monro in 1916 and became Agnes Munro Monro. Apparently the family felt this was a bit much because on their gravestones she is a Munro and he is a Monro!

Carol

Alison Plenderleith · Post by **Alison Plenderleith** » Fri May 18, 2007 1:42 pm

Hi Carol,

I'm guessing "unfit for any occupation".

I'm also guessing this was on Ancestry........

Kind regards,

Alison

Post by **AndrewP** » Fri May 18, 2007 2:45 pm

Hi Carol,

I had a quick look at that census page and agree with Alison's guess of unfit for any occupation.

All the best,

AndrewP

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Fri May 18, 2007 6:41 pm

Alison,

You're correct it was on Ancestry. Usually I can figure out the mystery words, but this one really threw me!

Thanks Andrew too. Occupation makes sense, but it was so far different I wasn't sure if there wasn't some technical term that I wasn't familiar with.

Now I have to wonder what happened to her because in the 1851 census she was listed as a scholar meaning that she was attending school which I doubt was the norm for kids with disabilities at that time.

Carol

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Fri May 18, 2007 9:44 pm

Hi Carol

In 1851 Hannah was fit enough to attend school so her disability must have been a physical one. If by 1861 she was unfit to work but survived for years past that time then the most likely culprit would be something like Tuberculosis of bone and joint. We read so many certificates where Consumption or Phthisis is the cause of death i.e. TB of the respiratory system, but there is no mention of skeletal forms of the disease because it rarely was the illness which actually killed them, instead it left them crippled and useless, unable to support themselves so they were often on crutches or housebound. It affected bones, joints and could cause the spinal column to collapse so they were left paralysed in extreme cases yet they survived to die of pneumonia or some form of fever later on.
Milk may be good for keeping healthy bones but only as long as it comes from a cow which does not have TB. It was only the 1950's when they began to do vetinary inspections on milk herds.
Us humans benefitted from the BCG which was only introduced around the same time.

Russell

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Sat May 19, 2007 2:35 am

Russell,

You nailed it! I pulled Hannah's death extract and it was Phthisis. She died at the age of 42 in the Aberdeen Poor House. In the left column under her name the word imbecile was written in so the disease must have affected her brain too. Or maybe just trying to cope with it sent her around the bend. Very sad. We take so much of today's medicene for granted, but one of my mothers siblings died from complications of TB and another had half a lung removed and spent months in a sanitorium. I can still remember the sanitorium in our area which later was converted to a community college. I can also remember getting polio vaccine on a sugar cube in elementary school and the whole neighborhood holding it's breath when one of my playmates came down with a high fever that lasted for four days and the doctors couldn't explain it away. No one will ever sell me on "the good old days"!

Carol