In what I would maybe describe as mildly ironic, I have become more interested in family history since leaving the Church than I ever was when I was fully-invested. While I'm not focused on making sure the temple work is done for my ancestors, I do find learning the details about their lives fascinating. Especially when there are different accounts, and the details vary enough to make you wonder what the real story is.
Growing up, I had often heard the story about how my Great-Grandpa Mouritsen was hit in the side during a baseball game, leading to appendicitis, and ultimately his untimely death, roughly two and a half months before his first child, my grandfather, was born. When I later read actual accounts, I learned that Grandpa had abdominal pain prior to being hit with the baseball and that the hit seemed to exacerbate, but didn't cause, the appendicitis.
A while ago, I got from my Aunt Kathy two documents that contained the story and I found it interesting the details that were different between these two accounts and also between those and the account with which I was more familiar in the Mouritsen Family History Book.
I am going to reproduce the three accounts I am familiar with here, along with some of my interpretation and commentary on the differences (in bold).
This is the account from the Mouritsen Family History Book (which I believe was written by my Uncle Stewart):
"On June 8, 1915 Glen purchased a resident fish and game license at Montpelier, Idaho. From this we get a better idea of what he looked like. On this license he affirmed that, 'I hereby certify that I am twenty-three years of age, am five feet and eleven inches tall (I'm 5'10 1/2", but sometimes I round up), weight two hundred pounds (I was 196 this morning), am light complexioned, have light hair and blue eyes, and that my residence is Bennington, County of Bear Lake, State of Idaho.'
Glen played on the Bennington baseball team as catcher. (His
son Glen (my grandfather) still has his father’s catcher’s mitt. (This would have been true at the time this was written, but my grandpa passed away in 2000. I'm not sure who has the catcher's mitt currently)) One day in early July, the
team had an important game to play in Fairview, Wyoming (I don't know how many people lived there in 1915, but as of 2020, Fairview, Wyoming was home to a whopping 277 people). When he left he had
some stomach pains which he thought were from indigestion. During the game he
was hit in the side with a fastball, and he immediately got much sicker. It was
undoubtedly a long, painful ride back home. At the Montpelier Hospital it was
determined that his appendix had ruptured. Dr. George F. Ashley did everything
he could for him. It soon became apparent that Glen would not live. He signed a
will dated July 10, 1915 which said that, 'In consideration of my love and
affections for my wife, Nettie M. B. Crane Mouritsen (my Great-Grandma), I, Glen Mouritsen, give,
grant, deed, and deliver all my property. The will was witnessed by L. T. H.
Hottendorf, Susan E. W. Mouritsen (Great-Grandpa Mouritsen's mother, my 2x Great-Grandma), Lester Lindsay (Great-Grandpa Mouritsen's brother-in-law, husband of his older sister Vara), and James G. Crane (Great-Grandpa Mouritsen's father-in-law, my 2x Great-Grandpa). Glen
asked his father-in-law if he would take Nettie back into his home, which James
Crane consented to do.
Bertie Rich (Great-Grandpa Mouritsen's younger sister, who would have been 16 in 1915) recalls that:
'Nettie begged Dr. Ashley to let her go in and see Glendale. He said he would
on the condition that she would not break down while in Glendale’s room. Nettie
took some time to compose herself. She went in, picked up Glendale’s hand, and
just stood and looked at him for a few minutes. She kissed him, said goodnight
and turned to leave the room when Glendale said, "So-long Kid." They both knew
that was good-bye.
'After Nettie left, Glendale turned to his father and asked him to pray for him to go. Mourits (Great-Grandpa Mouritsen's father, my 2x Great-Grandpa) cried and couldn’t talk. Then Glendale turned to Dr. Ashley and said, "Doctor, you’ve done everything you could to save my life. Now please pray for me to go." Lizzie said they all knelt down, and Dr. Ashley prayed that Glendale could be free from pain, and for God to please relieve him from his suffering and let him go. Mother said Dr. Ashley gave the most humble and beautiful prayer she had ever heard. After that, all the pain and misery stopped; and when they asked Glendale how he felt, he said, "I am not in one bit of pain anymore."
'Nettie had some relatives who lived just across the street from the hospital. She went there and sat by the window watching. Finally, she saw Mourits and another man leave the hospital and she knew they were coming to tell her Glendale was gone. Lizzie said Glendale was too perfect to live on this earth, and that God had a greater mission for him on the other side.'
Glen died July 12, 1915. He was buried in the Bennington Cemetery. Nettie was buried next to him when she died in 1960."
This account I was most familiar with growing up. It doesn't include a lot of dates, so my impression was that everything happened in pretty quick succession, the baseball game was one day, was in the hospital the next day, and died the day after that. But it does mention the will being signed on July 10. Since July 12 was a Monday, this is the first indication that Glendale was actually in the hospital for some time before he died. The final account makes that clear.
Here is my Aunt Kathy's account from her history of my grandpa and grandma:
"Nettie was expecting in early July (Great-Grandpa Glendale and Great-Grandma Nettie were married December 23 (Joseph Smith's birthday), 1914. My grandpa was born October 2, 1915. Not a lot of time was wasted. You do the math.) and the Bennington baseball team had an important game in Fairview, Wyoming. Glendale had a rig in which he made the forty-mile trip. It would take a day to get there and a day to return. When Glendale left for Wyoming, he had some stomach pains which he thought were from indigestion. During the game he was hit with a fastball and he immediately felt worse. Glendale began his trip home with a boy named Hall (Was this his first name or his last name? How old was this kid? And why did Great-Grandpa take him with him?). By the time they neared Montpelier, he was feeling much better (not sure if this is what happened here, but it seems that after your appendix bursts, there is some temporary relief from the pain) and, being concerned about Nettie, he drove to the Crane Ranch north of town instead of to the hospital (we'll see that this is different from what is said in the third account, which says that he didn't go to the hospital because it was closed on Sunday). Glendale felt very sick in the middle of the night. Nettie got George (George would have been 17 at the time), her youngest brother (George is not Nettie's youngest brother. That honor goes to Nathaniel. Nathaniel would have been just a few days short of four at the time), to ride to Montpelier to get the doctor. George rode Patty, thought to be the fastest horse in Bear Lake County (was there a county-wide race that Patty won?). The doctor came in a horse drawn buggy out to the ranch. When he saw Glendale his tone became urgent. 'He needs to go to the hospital immediately.' The doctor took Glendale in his buggy. The next day Nettie, her father and Glendale’s father and mother went to Montpelier to see Glendale (from this account, I am again assuming that Nettie went to see Glendale on Monday). At the hospital, the doctor determined Glendale’s appendix had ruptured. Dr. George F. Ashley did everything he could for him but it was soon apparent that Glendale would not live.
(I wonder about the timeline on the return trip. I guess we don't know what day the baseball game was on or what time but if it took a full day to make the trip home, seems that Glen wouldn't have made it back to the Bennington/Montpelier area until quite late on Saturday night. How many hours does it take to go 40 miles in a horse-drawn rig? What were the roads like?)
Glendale’s sister Bertie recalls:
'Nettie begged Dr. Ashley to let her go in and see Glendale.
He said he would on the condition that she would not break down while in
Glendale’s room. Nettie took some time to compose herself. She went in, picked
up Glendale’s hand, and just stood and looked at him for a few minutes. She
kissed him, said goodnight and turned to leave the room when Glendale said, "So-long
Kid." They both knew that was good-bye.
'After Nettie left, Glendale turned to his father and asked him to pray for him to go. Mourits cried and couldn’t talk. Then Glendale turned to Dr. Ashley and said, "Doctor, you’ve done everything you could to save my life. Now please pray for me to go." Lizzie said they all knelt down, and Dr. Ashley prayed that Glendale could be free from pain, and for God to please relieve him from his suffering and let him go. Mother said Dr. Ashley gave the most humble and beautiful prayer she had ever heard. After that, all the pain and misery stopped; and when they asked Glendale how he felt, he said, "I am not in one bit of pain anymore."
'Nettie had some relatives who lived just across the street from the hospital. She went there and sat by the window watching. Finally, she saw Mourits and another man leave the hospital and she knew they were coming to tell her Glendale was gone. Lizzie said Glendale was too perfect to live on this earth, and that God had a greater mission for him on the other side.'
Glendale Mouritsen died July 12, 1915, and was buried in the Bennington Cemetery."
This account is also light on dates. Just from reading it, I would assume that the baseball game was on Saturday, Glendale went to the hospital on Sunday, and then died sometime on Monday.
And this is the account compiled by my grandpa's sister, Thelma, and her husband (technically, Thelma is my grandpa's half-sister, daughter of my Great-Grandma Nettie and her second husband, Roy Boulter. I find it sweet that she put forth the effort to compile this history of her brother's father):
"On June 8, 1915 he purchased a resident game and fish License at Montpelier, Idaho. Here he affirmed that, 'I hereby certify that I am 23 years of age, 5 ft. 11 in. tall. My weight is 200 lbs., light complexion, light hair and blue eyes and that my resident is Bennington, County of Bear Lake, State of Idaho.' (again, includes Great-Grandpa's self-description for his game and fish license. I guess photos were too cumbersome to include on these licenses at the time, so you'd instead describe what you looked like).
In early July there was an important ball game in Fairview
or Afton, Wyoming. Glen played with the Bennington town team. When he left home
he had stomach pains he thought was indigestion. During the game he was hit in
the side by a fast ball and immediately became worse. The doctor diagnosed him
with appendicitis and said since it was Sunday for him to go home and they
would operate on Monday (This of course differs from the previous account which says he didn't go to the hospital because he felt better. I hope it wasn't truly the case that hospitals were closed on Sunday. I hate to think that my Great-Grandpa died because he got appendicitis on the wrong day of the week.) Nettie was six months pregnant and stayed with her
parents while Glen was gone. They brought Glen back to the Crane ranch. That
evening he was holding Cornelia (Cornelia was Nettie's youngest sister and was eight at the time) on his lap when he reached into his pocket and
pulled out a 'Steely' marble that was his taw to play marbles (I don't know enough about marbles to know what a "taw" is.). He always carried
it with him. He put it in her hand and told her he wanted her to have it in
case he didn’t see her again (This seems a little out of place, where in this account the doctor told him to go home and they would operate on Monday, but he's giving his eight-year-old sister-in-law his marble in case he won't see her again). She says that was the last time she saw him. His
Grandson, Seth (umm...Stewart), has the marble now. Alice (another of Nettie's younger sisters, 15 at the time) said he was always holding Cornelia
on his lap. During the night, Glen’s appendix ruptured (damn those Sunday hospital closures!). Bill (In the previous account, it was George who road to town to get the doctor. In this account, it was another of Nettie's brothers, Bill (who I'm sure went by William later in life), who would have been ten at the time. Note also that instead of going into town to get the doctor, he went to get the horses and wagon to take Glen to the hospital. No mention of the fastest horse in the county.) said his father
got him up and sent him to get the horses and wagon. He said they carried Glen
on a mattress to the wagon. His father, mother and Nettie got in the wagon and
went to the hospital. This was in the early hours of Monday, July 5, 1915 (Note that this was a full week before Glendale would die.). Bill
said that was the last time he saw Glen. When his father came home Glen had
sent a message to thank Bill for getting the horses.
Doctor Ashley confirmed [he had a] ruptured appendix and said it had gone too far to operate. As the peritonitis increased daily his body became more swollen. Alice said they wouldn’t let Nettie see him. In the Mouritsen Book his sister, Bertie, reported that Nettie begged to see him and Dr. Ashley agreed on one condition, that she would not break down while in Glen’s room. She took time to compose herself, then went in and picked up Glen’s hand and stood and looked at him for a few minutes, then kissed him and said, 'Goodnight' and turned to leave the room and Glen said, 'So long, kid.' (With the context that Glendale was in the hospital for a week before he died, I wonder at what point this final meeting took place. Was Nettie only able to visit him once the entire week he was in the hospital? Once the doctor determined it was too late to operate, were they just waiting for him to die, or were there still steps that could be taken to save him? There was an antibiotic, salvarsan, that was available after 1910. What that used in his treatment? I've researched a bit and a ruptured appendix is not necessarily a death sentence, though I'm sure survival rates then were lower than they are now)
In the Mouritsen book it states that when Nettie had gone,
Glen turned to his Father and asked him to give him a blessing. His father was
overcome with grief and felt that he couldn’t so Glen told Dr. Ashley that he
knew that he had done everything he could and asked him to give him a blessing and ask the Lord to relieve him of his pain and let him go. Dr. Ashley did as
requested and Glen then asked Nettie’s father if he would take her back into
their home. Her father readily agreed.
Glen had written a will, properly witnessed. His son, Glen, has that will and also his father’s catcher’s mitt. (again, I'm not sure who now has the will and mitt, since Grandpa died in 2000. I have this vague memory that my dad had it at one point, but now I'm not sure).
Glen died Monday, July 12, 1915. He is buried in the
Bennington Cemetery.
Mama died October 22, 1960 and was placed next to him. (Glendale and Nettie were married for less than seven months before Glendale died)"
Despite the discrepancies in the accounts, I find this story to be very poignant. I often wonder if it could have been prevented and how different Nettie and my grandpa's lives might have been, if not for Great-Grandpa Glendale's early death.
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