Long, Hard Life for a Husband & Wife

John L. G. Rogers & Isadora M. Moore of Christian County, Kentucky

John was born in 1854 and his wife of 65 years was born in 1856. John died on 26 May 1938 while Isadora died 4 days later on 30 May 1938. He was about 84 & she was about 82 years old.

For some reason this caught my attention. Here they were in their 80's having been married for 65 years, and after raising 12 children, as well; then, they die just a few days apart. John Rogers died first from Influenza that he had been battling for about 2 weeks. She died from a 3 year long illness. I suspect that she wore herself out caring for her husband, and, with his death, it was all too much for her to continue.

It amazes me that the two lived for so long in times when medicine and doctoring was at a minimum.Having and raising 12 kids could not have been easy. He was a farmer working at a hard job... more than likely a tobacco farmer. She maintained the house and chores assigned to a housewife, such as cooking, cleaning, sewing, gardening, etc. while looking after the little ones. She got some help, surely, from the older children that did not help with the farming. It was a rough life without air conditioning or good heating systems or cooking set-up. There were no TV's, radio or computers to entertain or amuse each other. Some families learned to play musical instruments to entertain themselves when they were not too tired. They generally awoke early in the morning with each having chores to complete before eating and then onto the day's work! They may take a lunch break, but then it was back to work, soon, until after dark when they would eat a dinner and soon go to bed to start all over again the next morning. To use a saying of today, this would be their lives 24/7/365! Some families took a little time for non-work activities... mostly going to church or school for the younger children.

Could we survive a life like this family had? I think this family survived pretty good for the times!

- Written by JGWest