Exploring history’s mysteries, one leaf at a time.
While I was researching this portion of my family tree, I discovered a disturbing trend. At least seven members of the family met their demise as a result of suicide. There were different reasons and different time periods, but it really got me thinking about the prevalence of suicide in certain families. Are certain people more predisposed toward suicide as a way out or could any of these people have been saved? Is suicide something that runs in families like Aunt Eva’s curly hair or grandpa’s baldness? Or were these people just victims of their circumstances?
Life was not easy as a farmer or a coal miner in rural Pennsylvania during any time period. The work was hard and the pay was little. Many people did not have access to things that we take for granted, like regular doctor visits. If taking care of physical health was an afterthought, then mental health was not even part of the vocabulary.
Take for example Otis Oliver Erdman. He was born on July 21, 1880, the oldest of eleven children. He married and had two children while working on a farm. In 1930 there was a drought and his crops failed. He therefore had no money to pay his bills. On March 23, 1931, he was found hanging from a rafter in his barn. He was 53 years old
His brother, Howard Homer Erdman was born on September 12, 1887. He worked as a carpenter but had been in ill health. He went hunting with his son and some other relatives on December 23, 1925 and wandered away from the group. A search party was organized to look for him. When he was found, he had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the top of his skull. He was 35 years old.
Their brother John Jasper Erdman was born on December 30, 1892. He was a carpenter by trade. On March 2, 1937 he hung himself in his garage. I was unable to find a reason, but he left behind a wife and five children. He was 44 years old.
Their sister Vesta Viola Erdman was born in September of 1896. One hot, summer day she shot her two young sons before shooting herself. Their bodies were discovered by her husband when he returned from working in the mines. Some blamed the hot weather for her actions, but it was more likely domestic problems that caused this murder/suicide. Vesta was 23 and her boys were 9 and 2.
Lastly, brother Miles Monroe Erdman who was born on February 13, 1898 was in such poor mental health that he was under death watch by his family. Early on the morning of May 14, 1940, his son who was supposed to be watching him fell asleep. He took that opportunity to hang himself by the stairway bannister in his home. He was 42 years old. He left behind a wife and seven children.
That is five of eleven siblings committing suicide, prompting me to wonder if mental health problems do in fact run in families.
Meanwhile, nephew Ray Forrest Erdman who was the son of another Erdman sibling, poured gasoline on himself and lit himself on fire on the morning of April 2, 1969. The reason for his suicide is unclear, although it could have been brought about by his son’s suicide just a year and a half prior. He was just shy of his 46th birthday.
His son, John Ray Erdman served in the Army during the Vietnam War where he was trained in the use of explosives. Upon his return he got married and he and his wife separated not long after. He was driving in his car near the home of his in-laws, which happened to be where his estranged wife was living, when the dynamite he had with him exploded and killed him. While this particular death was technically listed as an accident, it is clear that suicide if not murder/suicide was the intent. Why else would he be driving to the home of his estranged wife with dynamite in his car? He was 24 years old.
Whatever the reason, genetic or environmental, it is clear that seven members of the Erdman family were taken way too soon.