A Bradish Baby

Baby Boy Bradish (1960-1960)

brother

 

In August 1960, my family was looking forward to the birth of the newest member of the Bradish family. The baby would be my parents' fourth child. I was almost eleven, my sister, Jan, was eight, and our brother, Scott, was three. It was a happy time.

 

My mother wrote this on the back of the photo:

October 1960 

Janice Bradish - 8 yrs. 9 mo.

Scott - 3 yrs. 5 mos.

Jodell - 10 yrs. 11 mo.

 

Finally, the day arrived. Sometime on the morning of Saturday, August 20, my parents left for WCA Hospital in Jamestown. Our grandmother, Gertrude Scott, stayed with us while we waited to hear whether we had a baby sister or brother. We were quite excited to meet this new little person.

My most vivid memory of that day is watching my father back down our sloped gravel driveway. As always, he held the driver's door open and looked over his left shoulder as he leaned out to see where he was going. He steered with his right hand. What caught my attention, though, was that Dad's face was red. We could see he had been crying when he stepped into the house. Then, with his voice shaking, Dad told us the heartbreaking news - our baby brother died 45 minutes after his birth. I remember bursting into tears. 

The funeral took place two days later on the 22^nd of August while my mother was still in the hospital. I recall only two things from that day. The first is a blur. It's an image of my aunts, uncles, and my parents' close friends sitting solemnly as they dabbed at their eyes with handkerchiefs. The second image is crystal clear – men walking past me carrying the tiny, white casket that held my baby brother. 

 

– AFTERWARD – 

A month or two after Mom came home from the hospital she and Dad got dressed up, as people did in those days, to go to dinner at a nice restaurant in Jamestown. I think Dad was trying to get Mom's mind off our brother, but his plan didn't work. Dad told us a baby started crying somewhere in the dining room and, upon hearing it, my mother was overcome with emotion, so much so that they had to leave the restaurant. 

My parents never named their infant son, perhaps because of their profound grief, and it was years before a plaque was placed on his grave in Sunset Hill Cemetery. In addition to my parents' names, the grave marker says, "Baby Boy Bradish - Aug. 20, 1960." Now they all rest together. 

 

Sunset Hill Cemetery, Lakewood, Chautauqua County, New York (Google Nov 2021)

Grave marker in Sunset Hill Cemetery: BRADISH - Elwood E. 1921-2018, Shirley S. 1923-2002, and Baby Boy Bradish - Aug. 20, 1960 (Photo by Jody Bradish)

*               *               *

After my father died in 2018, I sorted through my parents' papers. Among my mother's, I found two obituaries for my infant brother. This one was published in the Jamestown morning paper August 22, 1960. Mom changed "Lakewood" to "Celoron."

There was also a letter to my mother from her Aunt Kate, my grandmother's sister, dated August 21, 1960, the day after the baby died. Aunt Kate never had children of her own and was close to my mother. In addition to her condolences, Aunt Kate wrote, "... I am very glad you are all right and hope to see you home soon." She closed the letter saying, "... I love you very much. You are still a little girl to me. Hurry home. Love, Aunt Kate." 

 

 

– MY MOTHER'S RESEARCH –

 

As long as I can remember, Mom clipped articles she found useful or interesting from newspapers and magazines. She usually saved them in envelopes she kept in the cubbyholes in her desk. After I moved away from home, my mother often included a clipping or two with the letters she sent me. 

 

Given Mom's habit of saving articles, I wasn't surprised to find one she took from Reader's Digest. I had never seen it. The article describes neural-tube defects that can be present at birth. Anencephaly, the defect my sister and I believe our brother had, is one of them. According to the Cleveland Clinic, this condition is sometimes called "open skull." The website has more information on symptoms, causes, and prognosis.                               

 

[Left: The Reader’s Digest article, “Vitamins Before Birth,” was possibly published in 1989. It was a drastically condensed version of the original, “Vitamins May Cut Birth Defect Risk,” published in The New York Times on Friday, December 2, 1988.]   

 

– MY PARENTS' EXPERIENCE –

 

My mother probably didn't have any memory of my brother's birth. In the 1950s and 1960s, doctors routinely put laboring mothers in "twilight sleep" by using a combination of morphine and scopolamine. This decreased the pain of childbirth and removed the memory of the pain. 

 

However, there were serious negative aspects for both mother and baby. Mothers were completely removed from the birth experience, often having no memory of it, and the drugs depressed the babies' central nervous systems, making them lethargic. The result was that doctors had difficulty getting babies to breath normally.

 

Because men weren't allowed in the room during childbirth, my father wouldn't have known anything about my brother's birth until the doctor met with him in the waiting room. It was there that the doctor would have informed Dad that he had a son and that Mom was fine. What I didn't know until recently was something my father told my sister. The doctor had said, "You don't want to see him. He's a monster."
                                                                       

I doubt my parents ever recovered from the loss of their infant son. The events of that tragic day and those that followed would be seared into their memories forever.

 

– RECORDS: SOME HOUSEKEEPING –

 

I found two records of my brother's death, both based on information from the New York State Department of Health in Albany. Neither has his cause of death.

• FamilySearch used their database, New York State Health Department, Genealogical Research Death Index, 1957-1963. 
  

• Ancestry.com used their database, New York State, U.S., Death Index, 1957-1970.
  

There are a couple of discrepancies. The FamilySearch record names the Town of Busti as my brother's place of death. However, he died at WCA Hospital in Jamestown in the Town of Ellicott. (We lived in Lakewood in the Town of Busti.)

 

Ancestry.com shows Boomertown (a hamlet in the Town of Busti about two miles from where we lived in Lakewood) as my brother's place of residence. Since my brother never left the hospital in Jamestown, he didn’t have a residence. The record might refer to my parents' place of residence, but that was Lakewood, as stated before.
   

Map showing the locations of Ridge Road and Boomertown in Chautauqua County, NY (Google Maps)

Without seeing original records, it's difficult to determine how some of this information was categorized in these databases. To find my brother's cause of death, I'll have to obtain a copy of his death certificate.

– UPDATE: AUGUST 2022 –

In late July, I took three of my grandchildren with me to visit family in Chautauqua County. While I was there, I made a trip to the Jamestown City Clerk's office where I was able to get a copy of my brother's death certificate issued August 22, 1960. All the information is correct, so I'm at a loss as to how the New York State Health Department interpreted it incorrectly in two different ways. But, most importantly, this document confirms what we believed to be our brother's cause of death: anencephaly.

The upper portion of my brother's death certificate - born and died August 20, 1960, at WCA Hospital in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York.

 *              *             *

 

 

Bradish-Scott Family History - June 2022