A is for Arbitrary: the 8 Losses of Ida and Leonard Moore

Anyone with a fondness for cemeteries will know what I'm writing about.  You visit a sacred place -- maybe it's a single tombstone, or maybe it's a family lot -- and you can't help but feel a tug of emotion.  Nothing too crazy, mind you.  A lot of times I simply and softly utter, "Wow." Something moves you enough that you can't simply pass by without acknowledgement.

This happened when I visited Ida Herring and Leonard Wilson Moore at Mt. Olive Cemetery in the Pinehurst area of Dooly County, Georgia.  Ida (d. 1949) lived to be almost 73, and Leonard (d. 1955) almost 89.  But not long after they came together (about 1896-8?), they began losing children.  At least eight of them were buried in the family lot at Mt. Olive.  Yep.  I typed eight.



A stone for the eighth child cannot be seen above, as it is located to the right of the infant in the back row.  You can see there are three stones behind Ida and Leonard in this photo:



Ida and Leonard buried two children in the year 1900, a daughter and a son.  Ida even gave birth to two sets of twins (isn't that rare?), three girls and one boy.  Those three daughters all died young.  One set of twins, girls who lived less than a year, not only have the same birth date, but also the same death date.  Since it was 1918, I can't help but think of the influenza pandemic.

I wondered if Mr. and Mrs. Moore had any children that made it to adulthood, so I went looking for census records at Ancestry.  I found the family in 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940.  Based only on those records and the tombstones at Mt. Olive, this is what I pieced together:

1. Luther Moore, found in 1900 census and cemetery, b. 28 Oct 1898, d. 11 Jul 1900.
   
2. Imogene Moore, found in cemetery, b. 29 January 1900, d. 25 February 1900.
   
3. Seth H. Moore, found in 1910, b. abt 1901 (could be one of two infants at cemetery).
   
4. Elijah F. Moore, found in 1910 & 1920, b. abt 1903.
   
5. Lulu/a Moore, found in 1910 & 1920, b. abt 1904-5.
   
6. Margaret "Maggie" Moore, found in 1910 & 1920, b. abt 1906-7.
   
7. George Moore, found in 1910 & 1920, b. abt 1907-8.
   
8. Charley/ie H. Moore, found in 1910 and cemetery, b. 12 Dec 1908, d. 12 Aug 1910.
   
9. Vand Lee Moore, found in 1920 – 1940, b. abt 1910-14.
   
10. Paul Moore, found in 1920 & 1930, b. abt 1915.
    
11. Paula Moore, found in 1920 and cemetery, b. 4 Aug 1914, d. 20 Jan 1921.
    
12. Martha [C?] Moore, found in cemetery, b. 28 Jan 1917, d. 23 Jan 1918.
    
13. Mary [L or E?] Moore, found in cemetery, b. 28 Jan 1917, d. 23 Jan 1918.

So counting the two infants at the cemetery, of which Seth could be one, Ida Herring and Leonard Wilson Moore appear to have had fourteen or fifteen children.  More than half did not see seven years on this earth.  This of course begs the philosophical question of why did some children die? Why did some live? And that's why A is for Arbitrary.

Assumptions aren't always accurate! At least one was made in this post.  If I've royally messed up the list of offspring for Ida and Leonard Moore, please let me know.

[If you're wondering what's up with all the "letter" posts:  I am attempting to follow the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Wish me luck!]