Life and death on the S.S. Switzerland

Reading through the S.S. Switzerland manifest for the voyage that brought our family to the U.S., one encounters several depressing marginal notes:

• Aaron Cornelson, age twenty-one, “died at sea from meningitis”
• Helena Wiens, thirty-four-year-old mother of two, “delivered stillborn child on Tuesday, June 17, 1879; 11 p.m.”
• Sara Voth, twenty-five-year-old mother of a one-year-old daughter, “died in child bed June 23, 1879, 11:30 a.m.” (the fact that no newborn child is listed on the manifest probably means that mother and child both died during childbirth)

At least four people died on this one journey to a new land and a new life—Sara Voth and newborn child a mere day before the ship docked in Philadelphia.

To make matters worse, it is likely that not one of these individuals endured his or her final struggle in any form of comfort or even privacy. As the earlier discussion on traveling in steerage class made clear (see here), the 700+ Mennonites on this ship had little if any “personal space” during the voyage. Thus, these life-and-death events were played out within full hearing, and probably in partial view, of all who shared that limited space.

How were Peter Voth and one-year-old Maria able to go on after the loss of wife and mother? What thoughts and fears passed through the mind of six-months-pregnant Sarah Siebert Buller as she learned of the childbirth-related deaths that took place on board? It is fascinating to speculate, but that is all it really is—speculation. The one thing we can know with certainty is that we owe our forebears a debt of gratitude for the courage and determination that led them to undertake such a difficult and perilous journey on the way to a new land and a better life for all of us.