Make That Three

Rebecca Jordan was born December 22, 1848, to William and Catherine Grundon Jordan in Wabash County. There she married Samuel W McIntosh on December 25, 1872. The couple moved to Denison Township in Lawrence County shortly thereafter.

On April 1, 1880, Rebecca went into labor and before the night was over, she gave birth to 2 males and 1 female. This was her third pregnancy; she had given birth to two children before. Without modern ultra-sound machines, these births must have caused quite a sensation in the neighborhood.  In fact, the Mount Carmel Register on April 8, 1880, noted that the number of visitors to see the little trio of babies in the first two days was 72. (This was the first triplet birth in Lawrence County since births were officially recorded in 1878.)

Sadly, the newspaper  reported that one of the trio, Eyre, a little boy, died at 5 am Sunday morning but the remaining two were doing well as of Monday morning. The mother though had pneumonia. The doctor noted on the death record of Eyre that the primary cause of death was premature birth but also a loss of blood when the umbilical cord of his twin brother was divided and cut from the placenta. 

Nellie, the little girl, died thirteen days later, the actual cause recorded as “unknown.”

John Ogg McIntosh, the third triplet, survived and was shown in the 1880 Denison Twp Lawrence County Illinois census living with his parents and older brothers William B (6) and Elgin (3).  He grew up and served in WWI.

Rebecca McIntosh died on March 8, 1891, of pulmonary tuberculosis. She was 42 years of age.