At 4:40 p.m. on this date in 1911, my great grandfather David Lyman Blacker passed away in Helena, Montana. He died at the family home at 335 N. Rodney and according to newspaper accounts was surrounded by his wife Ada, three daughters Muzetta, Katherine and Helen, his brother Jake, and close friend Moses Morris. His son Jack was in Seattle at the time.
The doctor who signed his death certificate – C. B. Miller, M.D. – stated that the cause of death was “senile debility” and that Mr. Blacker1 had “been feeble for years”.
I know it happens. It happened to my own father. But it’s always sad to think that a man who was so smart and so vital was reduced to “senility” in his later years.
On a completely different note, I just want to point out one interesting bit of information regarding the death certificate – which is that his birth date was stated to be January 12, 1830. His brother “J.C. Blacker” is the informant on this record. Of all the sources available for his birth date, this is the only one that states this particular date. All others state either “August 1829”, “August 29, 1829”, or are unclear as to a specific date. I have written previously about this issue (click here) and have concluded – for the time being – that his birth date is most likely August 29, 1829.
Tomorrow I will post two newspaper articles that were published in the Helena papers in the days following Mr. Blacker’s death.
Copyright (c) 2016, Lark M. Dalin Robart
NOTES
- My mother said her grandmother Ada always referred to her husband as “Mr. Blacker” so I’ve always found myself doing the same. ↩
