My Aunt AliceHmm. I was Googling Jules Crepeau, my grandfather again and found a new document: the report of the sanitary departement of Montreal for 1888, Dr. Louis Laberge, Head Medical Officer, Jules Crepeau Message Boy. My grandfather started out as message boy here and rose to be Director of Services.
This document is most interesting with respect to Flo in the City, my novel in progress based on the letters of www.tighsolas.ca.
If you believed this report, the Montreal Sanitation situation was well in hand in 1888, but not really. And it only got worse with the mass immigration around 1910.
In 1888, according to this wonderful document, there were 200,000 people in Montreal. Major diseases were diphtheria and typhoid. Pneumonia caught up in 1910, for some reason. There are some diseases I never heard of. What is dentition. (Bad teeth?)
Contaminated milk and water was a major issue in 1910, but in 1888 ICE was the problem. Bad water was being used for ice.
Privies, too. Those holes in the ground for toilets. Water Closets were being encouraged, but not all streets had sewage pipes.
Ethnic groups were Italians, Germans, apparently. French Canadians had twice the fertility rate of English Montrealers, but a much higher infant mortality as well.
Anyway, I just scanned the document. It will be interesting for my next book... Water and Milk. My grandfather had a terrific memory so he probably did not waste his time at the Sanitation Department.
