about Verla Lund

In one of my Family History Library trips I found a book containing the cemetery records for the Plain City Cemetery. I copied the pages with Lund's and Taylor's then added them to my database. Under "LUND" there was an entry for Verla.

Source: Evelyn B. Christensen Harris, Plain City, Weber County, Utah cemetery records, typed by the Genealogical Society of Utah (N.p.: The Genealogical Society of Utah, n.d.), 26.

Verla, b. 20 Jan. 1922, Plain City, Ut. child of Victor Erastus Lund & Edith Pearl Taylor, d. 29 Jan. 1933.

This young girl died at 11 years old! At the time I didn't continue my research, but since I've been looking at census records for Victor Lund's family I found Verla's name again. In the 1930 census she was 8 years old.  How did she die? To find out I went to the Utah State Archives and found her death certificate.

Source: State of Utah, Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1956, Series 81448, Entry 14159, Verla Lund, 29 March 1933; digital images, Utah State Archives and Records Service, Utah State Archives (archives.utah.gov : downloaded 4 March 2012); Series no. 81448.

Transcript:

1 Place of Death County or Precinct or City  /  no.  /  ward	Weber Ogden  /  Dee Hospital
2 Full Name Residence No. / St. Length of residence in city or town where death occurred (yrs. mos. ds) How long in U.S., if foreign birth?	Verla Lund Plain City, Tuah
3 Sex	Female
4 Color or Race	White
5 Single, Married, Widowed, or Divorced If Married, Widowed, or divorced, Husband of (or) wife of	Single
6 Date of Birth	January 20, 1922
7 Age	11 yrs. 2 mos. 9 ds.
8 Occupation	Student
9 Birthplace (City or town)	Plain City
(State or Country)	Utah
10 Name of Father	Victor Erastus Lund
11 Birthplace of Father (State or Country)	Plain City, Utah
12 Maiden Name of Mother	Pearl Taylor
13 Birthplace of Mother (State or Country)	Plain City, Utah
14 Informant	Mrs. R. F. Cottle
Address	2975 Jackson Ave, Ogden
15 Filed / Registrar	Mar 30 1933  /  N. H. Savage
16 Date of Death	March 29, 1933
17 I hereby Certify, That I attended deceased from Feb 28, 1933 to Mar 29, 1933 that I last saw her alive on Mar 29, 1933 and that death occurred, on the date stated above, at 5 PM. The Cause of Death was as follows: Ruptured appendicitis and peritonitis Duration: 31 ds.
18 Where was the disease contracted if not at place of death? Did an operation precede death? Was there an autopsy? What was the confirmed diagnosis? (Signed), M.D. Date/Address	Plain City, Utah No No -- (signed) 3-30, 1933 / Ogden, Utah
19 Place of Burial, Cremation or Removal      Date of Burial	Plain City, Utah April 2, 1933
20 Undertaker      Address	Lindquist & Sons Ogden, Utah
21 Registered No.	126
22 no of Burial or Removal Permit	12

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• Cause of death is listed as "ruptured appendicitis and peritonitis". So for 31 days this young girl not only had endured the pain of a ruptured appendix but the subsequent infection that ultimately took her life. How overwhelmingly sad. The more I research family history the more grateful I am for the blessings of living in the modern world, and especially for modern medicine. This cause of death would be unheard of in the USA today.
• I'm not sure who the informant, a Mrs. R.F. Cottle, is. The only Cottle in my database is a Laurence Nelson Cottle, who married Victor's aunt Lettie Rosella Lund. Could the R.F. refer to one of their son's meaning the informant was his wife, making her Victor's Cousin-in-law? Alternatively, perhaps one of Edith Pearl's sisters married a Cottle.
• The death date is listed incorrectly in the cemetery records.