Little Carl Martin Gillberg's Cause of Death

Some time ago, I shared a Wednesday's Child post in which I remembered little Carl Martin Gillberg. He was my Grandma Ingrid's only brother. You can read that post by clicking HERE.

At the time I wrote my Wednesday's Child post, I didn't know why Carl Martin died. He was only one year and two months old when he passed away in Sweden on January 23, 1906.

Just to refresh your memory, Carl Martin was the only son born to my paternal great-grandparents, Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson.

Thanks to Linda, author of the Cousin Linda blog, I now know what took the life of little Carl Martin Gillberg.

Linda surprised me with an email letting me know that she had found a Death Book listing Carl Martin Gillberg. She also found Carl's parents and siblings in a House Examine/Parish Book. These documents were from Sweden and she found them on the Swedish website Arkivdigital. I don't have a subscription to that website, so I am thrilled and so thankful that Linda supplied me with these valuable documents. Thank you Linda!

Here is the page from the Death Book¹ where Carl Martin Gillberg is listed.



Here's the cropped portion of the book above showing Carl Martin Gillberg's entry.



Because I don't speak or read Swedish, I asked Linda if she could help me out with the column headings in this book. She graciously sent me another email with the column heading translations.

Here's the information contained in this book about Carl's death. Linda, thank you again for your help with this translation.

• Carl's Death Year and Month – January 1906
• Carl's Death Day – 23
• Carl's Sex – Male
• Carl's Name – Carl Martin Gillberg
• Carl's Parents – Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson
• Carl's Birthdate – November 12,  1904
• Carl is listed on Page 1965 in the House Examine/Parish Book
• Carl's Cause of Death – Rickets
• Carl was buried on January 28, 1906

Poor little Carl Martin. He died from Rickets.  So, just what is Rickets?

Wikipedia states that,

"The primary cause of rickets is a vitamin D deficiency.^[8] Vitamin D is required for proper calcium absorption from the gut. Sunlight, especially ultraviolet light, lets human skin cells convert vitamin D from an inactive to active state. In the absence of vitamin D, dietary calcium is not properly absorbed, resulting in hypocalcaemia, leading to skeletal and dental deformities and neuromuscular symptoms, e.g. hyperexcitability."

MedicineNet.com states the following about Rickets:

Rickets is a disorder caused by a deficiency of vitamin D, calcium, or phosphate. Rickets leads to softening and weakening of the bones and is seen most commonly in children 6-24 months of age. There are several subtypes of rickets, including hypophosphatemic rickets (vitamin-D-resistant rickets), renal or kidney rickets (renal osteodystrophy), and most commonly, nutritional rickets (caused by dietary deficiency of vitamin D, calcium, or phosphate). Classic nutritional rickets is also medically termed osteomalacia.

I wonder what type of Rickets little Carl Martin had. It's interesting that the article in MedicineNet.com said that Rickets is most commonly seen in children aged 6-24 months of age. Carl Martin died when he was 14 months old. Whichever kind he had, his death must have been devastating to his parents and siblings.

I will share page 1965 of the Household Examination/Parish Book, that was referred to in Carl's entry in this Death Book, in a future post. Page 1965, which Linda shared with me, shows Carl listed with his family.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

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1 ArkivDigital Online, Eskilstuna Kloster och Fors F:4 (1903-1913) Bild 520 / sid 44 (AID: v163140.b520.s44, NAD: SE/ULA/10226)^↩