Childbirth Complications

ANNIE C. FOUKE- died from “child-birth Complications!”- April 27, 1896- Aged 37 years.

In the rough and unforgiving mining town of Bodie, the “perils of childbirth” were all too common, starkly reflecting the harsh realities faced by the pregnant Women during that challenging era.

One particularly notable example is Julia Hayden Butler, who tragically died at the age 38 years on October 20, 1881, just days after giving birth, “leaving her husband, a new-born baby, two very little children. -” (Her first-born child-Three and half years old and her second born child-Eighteen Months,) behind to grapple with their profound loss.

Likewise, the headstone of Anna Christine Fouke,, who passed away at the age of 37 years, on April 27, 1896, shortly after the birth of her third baby daughter, tells a “heart-wrenching story of loss and hardship” that resonated deeply within the mining-town surrounding community.

The “un-named New-Born-daughter” was two days old when Annie Fouke died of “Child-bed Fever.” Her last wishes, “her newborn baby was to be given to her best friend, Lavina Kilpatrick.”

The day after Annie Fouke was laid to rest (April 29, 1896) in the Bodie Cemetery, her daughter was “Christened Genevieve Kilpatrick.” Three-days-old-Genivieve left Bodie with her adaptive parents, to reside in Bishop.

It was unknown to Genevieve Kilpatrick that she was adapted, until after her Mothers death. At college age, Genevieve was tasked with cleaning out her family home in Bishop.

She found in the attic, “a old trunk, in it were an infants dress, old photographs, a Sealed Envelop, which inside were official Adaption Papers- naming Annie Fouke as her “Birth Mother” and Richard R. Fouke as her “Birth Father.” After her “Attic Discovery”, she never spoke, or had a need to “reveal her “Birth-Mother,” or was curios about her “adaption circumstances.”

At 101 years of age-with her children in their 70’s- Genevieve Kilpatrick told them the “story of finding her “Adoption Papers.”