Scarlet Fever's 19th Century Impact on South Dedham Children

Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is a bacterial illness that can develop in some people who have strep throat. It features a bright red rash that covers most of the body. Scarlet fever almost always includes a sore throat and a high fever. Scarlet fever remains most common in children 5 to 15 years of age.

In the nineteenth century, before the inception of antibiotics, scarlet fever was a serious childhood illness, one that could easily become life-threatening. Even today, if left untreated, scarlet fever can result in serious conditions that affect the heart, kidneys and other parts of the body.

Four small children who were victims of scarlet fever have been identified as being interred in Old Parish Cemetery. There are likely more whose cause of death was not recorded.

 Martha Adelaide Rhodes (1849-1852)                                            Lot 62

Martha Adelaide Rhodes was born in February of 1849. She was the daughter of John Wesley Rhodes and his wife, and the granddaughter of Eliphalet Rhodes, Jr. and Sally Gay Rhodes. Only three years later, on December 21, 1852, Martha Adelaide Rhodes died of scarlatina. Her father, John Wesley Rhodes, erected a small obelisk stone to her memory; it has a lamb engraved on it. It stands in the family lot of her grandparents, whose stone John Wesley Rhodes also had erected.

Martha Adelaide Rhodes

Fred Eugene Baker (1856-1861)                                                      Lot 8

Fred Eugene Baker was the son of Robert E. Baker and his wife Mary. Fred was born on June 28, 1856 in Dedham and died on April 10, 1861 from scarlet fever. He was 5 years old. He was the grandson of Robert and Eveline Baker. There is a gravestone for Robert and Eveline Baker in the lot, but none for their grandson.

Fred E. Baker also interred in the lot of his grandparents Robert & Eveline.

Laura Phipps (1857-1863)                                                                Lot 79

Laura Phipps was the daughter of Loami and Lorianna Phipps. She was the youngest of the Phipps siblings. Her brothers, Charles, Benjamin, and Eugene, enlisted in the Civil War; one of them, Charles, died in combat. As the war was raging, Laura died in 1863 of scarlet fever at only 6 years of age. She has a small marker next to the regimental markers of her brothers. Their parents are also interred in this family lot. They do not have a gravestone.

H. Willie Baker (1872-1879)                                                            Lot 73

Harlin Willie (called H. Willie) Baker was born on October 4, 1872. He was the son of Harlin and Julia Johnson Baker. His grandfather, George W. Johnson, was the postmaster and ran the tavern in East Walpole. On January 22, 1879, H. Willie Baker, then six years old, died of scarlet fever. He was buried alongside his grandfather and a small gravestone was erected; it bears his name and that of his brother, who had passed away a year earlier.