Tragic update on the special shoemaker

My June 15th post mentioned the namesake of my great great grandpa, Charles Arnold Webber.  I had found from census records that he was named after a man who lived with them named Charles M. Arnold who died at the age of 33.

After a little bit of digging, I found that Charles and Mary Ann Arnold were not just boarders in the household with the Webber's.  Mary Ann was Lucy's sister.  So Charles was their brother-in-law.

I decided to do a little bit of digging to find his cause of death.  One word: wow.

Here is the typed version of the document below:
"An incident of him, occurring was the closing sum of his mortal career, was this: He was confined by sickness to his room; his disease was typhoid fever, accompanied with fits or seasons of mental aberration and estrangement.  In one of these turns he sprang suddenly from his bed, hallooing "murder," and made for a window, with the declared or manifest intention of going out; his wife, the only attendant present, attempted to prevent this, but was unable so to do; he abstracted himself from her grasp, leaped from the window to the pavement or ground outside; the window was in the third story of the building, and by force of the fall both his legs were broken just above the ankle joint.  His death ensued a few days after from the combined effect of his anterior disease and the injury received from his leap from the window."

I can't imagine the heartbreak! What a tragic loss.  And what an amazing account to leave to posterity.  The account continues:
"He was a man of rather prepossessing personal appearance, of fair intelligence, and general good behavior."

You know what?  People in the 19th century did amazing things.  My theory is that they just had more time.  No TV, no internet.  They came home from a day's work and said "what do I want to do tonight?" And then had no distractions.

During the mid-1800's, record keeping was meticulous in Massachusetts.  There is so much detail.  I have never encountered a document like this, but the author was amazingly thoughtful, poetic and prolific.  He wrote a short summary of all the individuals in the town, even if they only lived there for a short time.  There are over 350 pages of families.