Ester was the daughter of Nancy Caldwell and Scott H. Durbin, the last of 11 children to die. She will tell their family story.
Life was fragile in the 19th and early 20th centuries; being born was probably the biggest risk to life followed by disease epidemics and then accidents.
The first three Durbin children died at or shortly after birth, the next four oldest children died within four weeks of each other in the diphtheria epidemic of 1878, an adult daughter died of consumption (tuberculosis) and a son died by drowning in the Mississippi river.
Yet through all of this the family survived and grew strong in their faith.
Photos taken by Barry Hurto
Return to Sugar Grove Cemetery Walk