Death from Dropsy at Eighteen
Catharine R. “Kate” Leachman Houston: 1839-1857
Catharine
R. Leachman, known as Kate, was the younger sister of Bruce’s second-great-grandfather
William Parker Leachman. She was born April 17, 1839 to parents George Leachman
and Mathilda Robertson Leachman in McLean County, Kentucky.
Kate
married a local farmer, Joseph “JL” Houston on February 15, 1855. She was only
16 at the time, while JL was 28—quite the age difference.
 |
| Marriage record for JL Houston and Catharine Leachman |
Tragically,
Kate died barely two years later on April 30, 1857, at age eighteen. The cause
of death was listed as “dropsy”. That’s not a diagnosis you would hear today. When
I have run across the term in the past, either in novels or in my research, the
sufferers were usually older people who had been in poor health for some time. So
what exactly killed this teenage girl?
According to
my research on Healthline,
“Edema, called dropsy long ago, is swelling caused by fluid
retention. This condition usually occurs in your feet, legs, or ankles.
However, it can also occur in your hands, your face, or any other part of the
body…The major underlying causes of dropsy are congestive heart failure, liver
failure, kidney failure, and malnutrition.”
It’s hard
to imagine such a young woman having any of those conditions, although I
suppose she could have gotten some sort of kidney infection that led to kidney
failure. I wonder if she was pregnant at the time of death. Perhaps she
suffered pre-eclampsia, which can lead to edema.
Kate’s
death is a reminder that health care in the nineteenth century was limited by
lack of knowledge, drugs and equipment. Something minor could turn deadly
quickly, and conditions that could be easily treated today had no cure then.
Kate was
buried with her husband at the Oak Grove Cemetery in McLean County, Kentucky.
JL Houston died young as well, on February 13, 1861. He was only thirty-four.
He never remarried.
Sources:
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