100 Community

Mary Welsh was a teacher in Colville School who was attending Prince of Wales College in 1885. She went to the wake of a small child in Charlotte- town before returning to Souris. There she became ill. Magistrate Michael McCormack insisted that she be treated in the Marine Hospital, much to the chagrin of the Jack MacDonald family. They had been caretakers in the building ever since it was built and had never before met with a patient. Mrs. P.W. Robertson, who ran the Lincoln House in what is now Waldron Dingwell’s home, always took care of sick sailors. Apparently the Marine Hospital was never furnished inside to accommodate patients. So the “Gray J ack” family moved out but “Maggie Gray Jack” stayed to take care of the quarantined Mary Welsh.19

Fortunately, Mary recovered. But 5 in Souris and 53 in Charlottetown died during that bout with the disease. In an earlier epidemic in 1849, the school at Rollo Bay was used as a temporary hospital. It was burned afterwards by order of the Board of Health.20 Mary Welsh was the only gatien}: ever in the Marine Hospital which is, today, the home of Mrs. Harold

rouc er.

Diphtheria

Diphtheria was another age old disease that afflicted children more often than adults. It began, innocently enough, with a mild sore throat and slight fever. Unless the parents checked the child’s throat for the small white spots that indicated the start of the disease, they were unaware of the danger to the child and the rest of the family. Even those cured of the disease could spread it to others for a long time after.

In 1877, Donald Clark of Annandale arrived home on a Saturday and died a week later of diphtheria. In all, five in the family were taken within a short time.21

In 1878, Janet McLauchlan was visiting with her daughter-in-law, Theresa, wife of James McLauchlan, a prominent Souris merchant. While the father was in Halifax on business and the mother up country visiting, Margaret McLauchlan, age 151/2, became ill with diphtheria. The Souris Board of Health promptly quarantined the house leaving the grandmother to care for the girl. Margaret died a few days later. Then her 13 year old sister, Mary Wilda, took sick and she also died. Neighbours placed coffins on the porch and later, after the grandmother had prepared the girls and placed them inside, picked them up and took them to Kingsboro Cemetery for burial.22

Cholera

The outbreak of cholera at East Point in 1834 can be traced back to India. It originated there in 1831, spread across Europe, taking thousands of lives. It arrived in Quebec, June 1832, via a British immigrant ship on which 42 passengers had died during the passage. From there, it spread across the New World. We read in Wardens of the North: “The disease struck its victims down with little or no warning, turned their living bodies a horrible bluish-purple, reduced the voice to a whisper, and tortured the limbs with such agonizing cramps that muscular contractions and twitchings con- tinued for some time after death—an awesome spectacle to the ignorant hospital attendants...”5’-3