A Lancaster widow has been left destitute. Mrs. Peterman, of 321 Concord alley in Lancaster City , lost her husband a few months ago. Three months ago she lost a child. Another child died last week and On This Day in 1880 another child lay dying. The Peterman family reportedly has nothing to eat. Neighbors help where they can but are said to be scared to visit since the children are believed to have died of diphtheria. Contributions for the family were being accepted at several locations in the City. The Lebanon Daily News published an article of “an unusually sad case” involving the Peterman family which gave more details. The article notes that the father, George Peterman, was alive just eight months prior. He was in ill health and barely able at that time to feed his wife and their nine children. This article, published only a week after the one in Lancaster paper, states that the children died one by one, starving to death. After the sixth child...
by Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman