Wednesday, September 5, 2012

McKenzies of Avilton, MD


A treasured photograph from my cousin's collection, this is Charles and Ellen McKenzie of Avilton, Maryland. Together they had twelve children. Not all would survive childhood, indeed even the teen years were fraught with danger (in the coal mines and  they lost a son in a mining accident.) She died at the young age of just 35, a month after giving birth to her last child from peritonitis resulting from a gallbladder attack. She left behind children ranging from 1 month to 17 years of age. Charles, "Barney" as his friends called him, did as his wife begged him on her death bed, and kept the children together. No easy feat for a widower in those days I am sure.

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