2024 Week 23: Health #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

Like many other people I have had my DNA tested at 23andme. In my case, it was mainly to access another database of possible DNA matches to help in my genealogical research, but I was interested to see what their health data showed up. I seem to be very fortunate in that I do not seem to have anything in my genes which suggests I have a high increased likelihood of suffering from the many things that are tested for, although I do have a slightly increased likelihood of a few things that seem to 'run in the family'. Many people test specifically with 23andme for the health data as other DNA testing sites do not provide such options, but it is necessary to be aware that even if your results show you have a high likelihood of a disease, there are always more factors at work than just your genes. Having a predisposition to something does not necessarily mean you have it.

Our ancestors, of course, did not have such genetic analysis available. They also did not have the medical knowledge and pharmaceutical products which we can benefit from. It is therefore not surprising when you look at ages at death and causes of death that you find many people dying at a young age from things they would almost certainly survive nowadays.

Again, maybe my direct ancestors were lucky in their genes or their life in general, but going back four generations, I can only find 4 direct ancestors who died in their 50s, all the others lived longer. Those four direct ancestors died of diseases which these days could be treated by antibiotics - pneumonia, typhus, bronchitis and tuberculosis.

However, the same cannot be said of the siblings of my direct ancestors, many of whom died as babies or young children. My own paternal grandmother lost four children, her eldest son John at age 8 to 'convulsions of brain' ( possible epilepsy?), another son, George, of measles at age two, her second born child Jeannie at eight months old of enteritis,

and another daughter, Christina, also around eight months old of meningitis.

Sources: Scotlands People

All of the above would likely have lived had today's medications and vaccinations been available. John, the eldest is named on a family gravestone at Kirk O'Shotts. The three babies are not.

My family tree is full of children like this on both sides of the family. Losing a child must be one of the hardest challenges life can throw your way. To lose so many must have been devastating, no matter how 'normal' it was in those days.

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