Allen County, Indiana Wildlife

Milk Sickness from White Snakeroot Plant

Go to: Dr. Anna, Newspaper articles, White Snakeroot.

  1. 1923 - White Snakeroot - Grows Typically in Woodland Pastures

    Article from Sep 3, 1923 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Milk sickness

    1923 - White Snakeroot - Grows Typically in Woodland Pastures The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Monday, September 3, 1923, Page 13.

    WHITE SNAKEROOT GROWS TYPICALLY IN WOODLAND PASTURES. [ See White Snakeroot ]

    Flower Clusters opposite White and very conspicuous - 3 Conspicuous veins - LEAF Very thin Upper surface dull, under surface lustrous, (SINGLE COMPOSITE FLOWER (enlarged)) - ROOT Fibrous - perennial HEIGHT 1-5 feet. -

    White snakeroot, the cause of trembles, a fatal disease of sheep, cattle and horses, and the piant that poisons milk and causes a human disease known as milk sickness, is common in woodland pastures in all parts of Indiana. The accompanying photograph shows it to good advantage. Both trembles and milk sickness was much more prevalent in former years than now, since the plant does not persist after the land has been cleared and cultivated. Nevertheless it has been clearly demonstrated by Purdue University workers that a considerable amount of forage poisoning in Indiana is due to this plant and numerous cases of milk sickness in the state occur from time to time. Entire townships have been found in which both milk sickness and trembles is prevalent every year. The poisonous properties of white snakeroot have been demonstrated by experiments, conducted at the Purdue agricultural experiment station. The fact that white snakeroot is the cause of trembles and milk is a comparatively recent discovery.

    According to A. A. Hansen, of the agricultural extension department, the typical symptoms of white snakeroot poisoning in sheep and cattle are spasms of severe trembling, which are especially noticeable when the poisoned animals are driven. Ordinarily a quantity of snakeroot equal to about 10 per cent of the weight of the animal is necessary before the results are fatal, but the poison may accumulate in the sygtem during a period of several weeks. The disease usually becomes apparent after the first of July.

    The typical symptoms of milk sickness in the human are severe intestinal paralysis, accompanied by vomiting, foul breath and occasional delirium without rise in temperature. Many early pioneers including the mother of Abraham Lincoln, died as a result of contracting milk sickness from snakeroot poisoned milk, although the cause of the trouble was then unknown.

    The most practicable way to destroy white snakeroot is by hand pulling during September and October, when the bright white flower clusters are conspicuous. Mowing is of little value since the roots will sprout even after close cutting. Fortunately the roots are shallow and the plants are not difficult to pull.

    White snakeroot has a number of harmless relatives that so closely resemble the poisonous plant that identication is frequently difficult. All farmers who have lost stock in woodland pastures from plant poisoning should examine the land for white snakeroot. In case of doubt, send specimens identification to the division of botany, Purdue University agricultural experiment station Lafayette, Ind.

  2. October 7, 2014 post by the Lincoln Collection on Facebook:

    On October 5, 1818, Abraham Lincoln’s beloved mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of milk sickness. She was buried near the family’s home in southern Indiana, in what would later be called Pioneer Cemetery, but her grave was left largely unattended until efforts to commemorate her son renewed attention toward Nancy and her family. In 1880, a gravestone was erected over Nancy’s burial site, paid for by Clem Studebaker. In 1900, a new, larger monument was commissioned, using stones from the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Springfield. That memorial was dedicated on October 1, 1902, by Governor Winfield Durbin, in what is now Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. The initial artist’s sketch by Thompson Stickle and the finished monument are pictured here. Read more in the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection’s information file about Nancy Hanks Lincoln memorials here: http://lincolncollection.org/search/results/item/...

  3. October 6, 2020 post by the Lincoln Collection on Facebook:

    Abraham Lincoln’s mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln died on October 5, 1818 due to milk sickness—an ailment caused by consuming milk from a cow that has ate white snakeroot, a poisonous plant. Abraham was only nine years old at the time. The Lincolns didn’t grieve alone; the late summer of 1818 brought milk sickness and related deaths to communities across southern Indiana. Nancy’s grave is located in Pioneer Cemetery, on the grounds of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana.

    Learn more: [ See more Nancy Hanks Lincoln on our 1818 Timeline ]

    Abe Lincoln and Nancy Hanks by Elbart Hubbard: https://archive.org/.../abelincolnnanc00.../page/n3/mode/2up

    Grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln: https://www.lincolncollection.org/search/results/item/...

    Nancy Hanks Lincoln by Lloyd Ostendorf: https://www.lincolncollection.org/search/results/item/...

    Nancy Hanks: The Story of Abraham Lincoln’s Mother by Caroline Hanks Hitchcock: https://archive.org/.../nancyhanksstory1.../page/n7/mode/2up

  4. October 5, 2023 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook

    #OTD in 1818, Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy, died at Little Pigeon Creek Community in present-day Spencer County of milk sickness. She contracted the illness after drinking the milk of a cow that had consumed the poisonous white snakeroot plant. After her passing, Lincoln helped his father Thomas construct Nancy's coffin, and they buried her near the family farm. According to the NPS, " Undoubtedly, she left her mark on the young boy in the countless small and intimate ways that mothers do with their children. The experience of her death also prepared her son for facing the tragedy and loss that is a part of life as well. The intangible effects of both her life and her death became a part of Abraham's life and helped shape the man he became."

    Read more about Nancy Lincoln here: https://www.in.gov/icw/files/20160331_Lincoln_Nancy.pdf

    Portrait of Nancy Lincoln courtesy of the History of American Women.

  5. In 1818, a mystifying sickness swept through nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln’s Little Pigeon Creek community in southern...

    Posted by Lincoln Collection on Sunday, October 13, 2024

    Sunday, October 13, 2024 post by the Lincoln Collection on Facebook:

    In 1818, a mystifying sickness swept through nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln’s Little Pigeon Creek community in southern Indiana. Frequently transmitted through milk contaminated by a poisonous native plant known as white snakeroot, the illness was variously referred to by settlers as the “trembles,” the “staggers,” or the “milk sick.” Abraham’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who was then only thirty-four, likely contracted milk sickness in late September after nursing relatives afflicted by the illness. Declining rapidly, she passed away on October 5th. “Here in this rude house, of the milk sickness, died one of the very best women in the whole race,” a family member later recalled. Although she was interred without a funeral or lasting monument, many tributes and memorials were later dedicated to Nancy’s memory, including these lines of poetry preserved for the Lincoln Collection in 1942:

    “What though her home's rude walls were bare?
    The melody within her soul
    Was richer treasure than e'er found
    In gleaming heaps of hoarded gold.”

    Poem: https://archive.org/.../lincolnpoetry.../page/n1/mode/2up...

    Want to learn more about tributes made to Nancy Hanks Lincoln? Visit: https://archive.org/.../hanksfamilyna.../page/n1/mode/2up...

  6. 1860 Mortality Schedule, Allen County, Indiana at Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana:

    Johnson, Almira age: 3, female, died in July, of Milk Sickness, after 21 days in Lafayette Township.

    Stump, Mary age: 21, female, in Oct, of Milk Sickness, after 3 days, in Lafayette Township.

  7. 1869 - Boone County "milk sickness" first cases in long time

    Article from Jul 24, 1869 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1869, Milk sickness

    1869 - Boone County "milk sickness" first cases in long time The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Saturday, July 24, 1869, Page 1.

    The Boone county Pioneer reports two cases of " milk sickness" in the neighborhood of Lebanon, lately; a child which will probably recover, and its mother, who died. These, with those at Evansville, are the first cases of this strange malady we heard of for a long time.

  8. 1871 - Several cases milk sickness Daleville, Delaware county.

    Article from Aug 28, 1871 The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1871, Milk sickness

    1871 - Several cases milk sickness Daleville, Delaware county. The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Monday, August 28, 1871, Page 2.

    State Items.

    SEVERAL cases of what is supposed to be milk sickness have appeared in Daleville, Delaware county.

  9. 1872 - A case of milk sickness is reported in Washington township

    Article from Aug 8, 1872 The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1872, Milk sickness

    1872 - A case of milk sickness is reported in Washington township The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thursday, August 8, 1872, Page 4.

    A case of milk-sickness is reported in Washington township, but we presume, like all other diseases of that character, it will keep just one-half mile ahead of all investigation.

  10. 1880 - Orange and Harrison counties are suffering from milk sickness

    Article from Dec 7, 1880 The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1880, Milk sickness
    1880 - Orange and Harrison counties are suffering from milk sickness The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Tuesday, December 7, 1880, Page 3

  11. 1884 - The Milk Sickness - Dread Disease Was Once Pioneers Mortal Foe - "Trembles"

    Article from Jul 16, 1884 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1884, Milk sickness, Trembles

    1884 - The Milk Sickness - Dread Disease Was Once Pioneers Mortal Foe - "Trembles" The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wednesday, July 16, 1884, Page 8.

    THE MILK SICKNESS. The Dread Disease Which Was Once the Pioneers Mortal Foe. Locality and Habitat of a Deadly Poison- The Trembles of the Brute, The "Milk Sicknoss" of Man.

    [J. W. Compton in The Current.]

    Deep in the shaded recesses of the almost unlimited forest and along streams that meander through the vast prairies of the west, there lurked an undiscovered poison, alike fatal to man and beast. An interesting and most significant fact in relation to the locality and habitat of this deadly poison, is that it occurred only in places where the soil was still in its virgin state, and that it disappeared immediately after the cultivation of the soil. It appeared unable to perpetuate its aggressive and dangerous life, where the sunlight of heaven was permitted to shine. Therefore, through the stalwart enorgy and enterprise of the woodman and his ax, the dark, gloomy and infected forests, which it claimed as its home, have been transformed into waving fields and cheerful pastures, and this pestilential poison, whatever it may have been, has taken its flight, and its dangers are no longer felt or feared.

    The disease produced by this poison occurred originally in the herbivore -the ox, horse, sheep, etc. -but was transmitted to the carnivorous animals and birds which had fed upon the flesh of other animals dead from the disease, as the dog and the vulture. The flesh and milk of diseased animals were capable, when eaten, of imparting the disease to others; the cow, through her milk, poisoned her calf and poisoned the people who drank the milk or ate of the butter made of the milk. When the poison had once been introduced into the system, it had the property of self- propagation and of imparting the same intensely poisonous properties from one animal to another, and was capable of perpetuating the disease in a continuous chain of animals as one should eat the flesh of another; thus, each pound of the flesh of a dog which had been poisoned by a pound of flesh of the cow would poison the vulture, and so through a long chain of anisals, the last pound of flesh partaken of being as fatally poisonous as that taken from the first affected animal.

    There is no known mineral or vegetable principle which, when taken into the system, can thus multiply itself and perpetuate its poisonous principle, Its origin can be accounted for only on the germ theory of disease. The disease in man derived its name from the well-established fact that it was produced by eating the flesh or milk, butter or cheese made from the milk of cows or other animals which had become poisoned in consequence of frequenting certain limited ranges of uncultivated pastures. It was called "milk sickness," and the seque as denominated "tires." Through its annual destruction of large numbers of domestic animals and its fatality among the early sottlers, it was one of the most promineut enemies to the prosperity of the pioneers.

    In the beginning the symptoms were not well marked, so that the milk or flesh of really diseased animals might be inadvertently eaten under the supposition that the animal was in good health. Their most attractive and healthy-looking condition, even their extreme fatness, did not give complete assurance, of their exemption from the disease. In this state they were often ??? appetite and energy; with their eyes red and watery, and to stagger, tremble, fall down in convulsions and die. Sheep, when seized with a paroxysm of the "trembles" would struggle as if trying to free themselves from the grasp of some terrible enemy, and would soon surrender and fall down, uttering' the most plaintive bleating, as if suffering intensely painful distress. The farmers had a test. for the healthfulness of beef cattle just off the wild range; it may be designated as the "fatigue" test. I have often seen the test applied. It consisted in placing the animals in a field or lot, and boys, with coats and bats off, were directed to chase them around and urge them to their greatest speed. If, after a long chase, the cattle did not evince signs of muscular weakness, stagger, tremble, and fall down, they were pronounced healthy, and at once slaughtered and their beef eaten with the utmost feeling of security against the disease.

    Any attempt, on the part of a man not fully recovered from an attack, to walk or run fast would induce a paroxysm of trembling, attended by great muscular prostration and debility. He would be compelled to sit down and rest, or fall down. Active physical exertion, stimulated by excitement, would immediately endanger life. A farmer lived on a public road. His dog was sick with "trembles." A neighbor passed along the road, with a dog following him. The sick dog did not see the other until it had passed some distance beyond the house. The old habit of chasing every dog that came in sight of the farm had become second nature, and so stimulated him to run after, catch and punish the intrudor, that he started off at his greatest possible speed, but, before catching up with the strange dog, he was seen to fall down, tremble as with a convulsion. and, before the farmer could walk to where he fell, was dead. Dogs which had eaten of poisoned flesh became, in a few days, so stiff and helpless that they could not get over a three rail fence, and were utterly unfit for the chase of game, or to drive stock from the fields. Work-oxen could endure but little travel or work. Horses ouce affected- though looking well- were worthless: for work or travel, and traders could not speed them: back and forth to exhibit their superior gaits, but had to trade them, standing. If a man started to ride to a neighbor's, few miles away, his horse was liable to give out on the road and leave him to walk home.

    In the primitive days, when it was claimed that men were more honest than now, it was not always an easy matter to determine just in what particular neighborhood the poisonous principle vas located, as the story has been current for thirty years that travelers or land buyers, seeking homes in the west, found it very difficult to catch up with the place where it had its habitation; that in answer to their questions as to whether the neighborhood was troubled - with it, they invariably received the assurance that the disease did not exist there, but "over at Jones', five miles abead, it was bad." Farmers then appeared to be as ready to suppress the existence of this disease near them commercial men and newspapers are to suppress the existence of epidemic or contagious diseases in the great marts of business. The disease was in North Carolina more than 100 years ago and as emigration flowed westward it was found to exist in Tennessee, Kentucky, and has prevailed in these states, as well as in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Virginia and perhaps several western states other than those mentioned.

  12. 1888 - A Great Discovery - If It Pans Out - The Cause of Milk Sickness Revealed

    Article from Aug 14, 1888 Fort Wayne Daily News (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1888, Milk sickness

    1888 - A Great Discovery - If It Pans Out - The Cause of Milk Sickness Revealed Fort Wayne Daily News, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Tuesday, August 14, 1888, Page 4.

    A GREAT DISCOVERY [ See Dr. Anna ]

    If It Pans Oat The Cause of Milkness Revealed

    VINCENNES, Ind. Aug 14.-- W. T. Ratcliff, of Olney, has made a wonderful discovery of the plant that causes milk-sick ness. Some time ago Ratcliff, who lives eight miles south of Olney, was climbing over a fence and broke weed which came in contact with his band. Mr. Ratcliff had at one time been afflicted with milk sickness he noticed the broken weed had a peculiar smell, reminding him of his illness. It so impressed him that he resolved to test it. He took from his herd of cattle a young calf and fed the weed to it. The animal soon came down with the milk sickness and died. Mr. Ratcliff was not satisfied, and he fed the weed to two other healthy cattle from his stock, but the result was identically the same. He took the weed to Olney and placed the matter before a doctor friend, who is now in conference with the Ilinois state board of health. The discovery has created a good deal of interest and a thorough test will be made by the state authorities. The discovery is very important, as a large standing reward bas been offered for years for the discovery of the cause of the dreadful milk-sick ness.

  13. 1888 - Considerable alarm among farmers Wabash county over increasing milk sickness in milk cows

    Article from Oct 21, 1885 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1885, Milk sickness

    1888 - Considerable alarm among farmers Wabash county over increasing milk sickness in milk cows The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wednesday, October 21, 1885, Page 6.

    There is considerable alarm among the farmers of Wabash county over a a peculiar malady which manifests itself among milch cows. The symptoms as described are very similar to the old time dreaded milk sickness. A number of cows in Wabash and adjoining country are afflicted, and, as much valuable stock is owned here, there is cause for alarm. The most prominent symptoms are restlesness, high fever and loss of appetite, quickly followed by paralysis and loss of the use of the hind parts, loss of the "quid," and generally death. No remedy has yet been found which will cure the malady. A vigorous effort will be made to stop it, however, before it becomes an epidemic. The number of sick cattle is increasing every day.

  14. 1888 - Milk Sickness in Morgan County - A family named Adkins - three of the family are down

    Article from Nov 22, 1888 The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1888, Milk sickness
    1888 - Milk Sickness in Morgan County - A family named Adkins - three of the family are down The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thursday, November 22, 1888, Page 1

  15. 1891 - Dying from Milk Sickness - James Gosnald's family - 17-year-old daughter died, father likely

    Article from Aug 6, 1891 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1891, Milk sickness

    1891 - Dying from Milk Sickness - James Gosnald's family - 17-year-old daughter died, father likely The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thursday, August 6, 1891, Page 2.

    Dying from Milk Sickness.

    TuscoLA, Ill., Aug. 5.--The members of James Gosnald's family, four in number, are lying seriously lil of milk sickness, near Camargo. Minnie, a 17-year-old daughter, died of the malady to-day. The father will probably die. Milk sickness was formerly prevalent there, but these are the first cases doveloped in twenty years. Physicians attribute its reappearance to the long dry season.

  16. 1899 - first genuine case milk sickness in Wabash county

    Article from Dec 28, 1899 The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1899, Milk sickness

    1899 - first genuine case milk sickness in Wabash county The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thursday, December 28, 1899, Page 8.

    There is spirited controversy over the ailment which afflicted Levi a well known farmer near Laketon, and from which he is now convalescing. It was diagnosed as milk sickness. Mrs. W. E. Leffel, his daughter, died of the same disease, and his son-in-law was prostrated. If it is milk sickness, it is probable the first genuine case ever recorded in Wabash county.

  17. 1902 - Has Milk Sickness - Odon, Ind. The Family of John Arney - one young woman dead - five others

    Article from Oct 31, 1902 The Fort Wayne News (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1902, Milk sickness

    1902 - Has Milk Sickness - Odon, Ind. The Family of John Arney - one young woman dead - five others The Fort Wayne News, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Friday, October 31, 1902, Page 2.

    Has Milk Sickness.

    ODON, Ind., Oct. 31.--The family of John Arnoy, who lives four miles of here, has milk sickness. One member of the family a young woman is dead and five others are at the point of death. The cow from which they contracted the disease died this morning. This is the first case in the counly for ten years. Thirty years ago the marsh where Arney lives was full of it and scores of persons died every year from the disease.

  18. 1905 - "Milk Sickness" in Illinois is Made Subject of Inquiry - Wurrtz family of five mother dead

    Article from Oct 2, 1905 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1905, Milk sickness

    1905 - "Milk Sickness" in Illinois is Made Subject of Inquiry - Wurrtz family of five mother dead The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Monday, October 2, 1905, Page 9.

    "MILK SICKNESS" IN ILLINOIS IS MADE SUBJECT OF INQUIRY.

    State Board of Health Endeavors to Solve Mystery Attached to Peculiar Disease.

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Oct. 1.-A case of "milk sickness." declared to be exceedingly rare by the state board of health, has been discovered at Ritchie, in Will county.

    Dr. E. S. Baker, an inspector for the board, has just completed a thorough examination and analysis of the case with the hope of being able to offer to scienco and the medical world some definite facts as to the origin of the disease, which is understood oniy in an obscure manner.

    Inspector Baker found the Wurrtz family of five members suffering from the disease. Four of them recovered, but the mother died. A microscopic examination of the viscera of the decedent is to be made in the hope that the cause of the poison may be traced.

    A cow and caif that pastured in a seven- acre lot were -both found to be afflicted. The calf died, but it was only through the use of the milk and subsequent illness of the family that the disease was discovered. Inspector Baker fed the milk to a cat several chickens and they died with!n a few hours.

  19. 1905 - Four Die of Milk Sickness

    Article from Oct 31, 1905 The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1905, Milk sickness

    1905 - Four Die of Milk Sickness The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Tuesday, October 31, 1905, Page 2.

    FOUR DIE OF MILK SICKNESS.

    Bloomington, Ill., Oet. 31.- Oscar LindIncer, aged 12, is dead at Mason City from milk sickness. the fourth member of the family from the same cause within a few weeks of cach other. The disease is epidemic at Armington. Tazewell county, and at Ritchey, Will county.

  20. 1912 - Illinois "Farm of Death" - Nine Tenants Have Died on It After Mysterious Ailment - Bad Milk

    Article from Jul 17, 1912 The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1912, Milk sickness

    1912 - Illinois "Farm of Death" - Nine Tenants Have Died on It After Mysterious Ailment - Bad Milk The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wednesday, July 17, 1912, Page 7.

    ILLINOIS HAS A "FARM OF DEATH" Nine Tennants Have Died on It After Mysterious Ailment. BAD MILK POSSIBLE

    Carlyle, Ill., July 14-Death from slow poisoning has been the fate of nine of the twelve persons who have lived on the "hoodoo" or "death farm" in Meridian township ten miles north east of Carlyle. How this poison taken into the human system, or from whence it comes, is a mystery which science has thus far failed to solve, though some doctors attribute it to milk sickness. The peculiar disease with which the tenants of the place become afflicted has baffled physicians for years.

    ...

    The farm first attracted attention about twenty five vears ago, when the entire family of five persons living there died of mysterious ailments.

  21. 1913 - Milk Sickness Kills Two. Old-Time Disease Develops on Illinois Family

    Article from Aug 21, 1913 The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1913, Milk sickness
    1913 - Milk Sickness Kills Two. Old-Time Disease Develops on Illinois Family The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thursday, August 21, 1913, Page 7

  22. 1922 - White Snakeroot Found in Randolph County - climbing milkweed

    Article from Aug 21, 1922 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1922, White snakeroot, Milk sickness

    1922 - White Snakeroot Found in Randolph County - climbing milkweed The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Monday, August 21, 1922, Page 3.

    WHITE SNAKEROOT FOUND IN RANDOLPH COUNTY

    During a weed survey of Randolph county, conducted by A. A. Hansen, of the Purdue University agricultural extension department, a poisonous plant known as white snakeroot was located on a farm at Losantville.

    The white snakeroot is the cause of a fatal disease known as trembles among sheep and cattle. The poison is carried in cows milk, causing a disease among humans known as milk sickness. The plant has already caused the loss of five sheep on this farm. Eradication measures are now under way, and the plant will soon be cleaned out of the pastures. White snakeroot grows typically in woodland pastures and is rarely, found in the open.

    Another interesting development of the survey was the discovery of climbing milkweed on a farm near Winchester. Climbing milkweed is a vine that climbs on corn, frequently to such an extent that the corn is overwhelmed. Since the seeds may be carried long distances by the wind in a similar manner to ordinary milkweeds, the climbing milkweed is a very dangerous plant. As far as could be learned, patches occur in Randolph county, and measures were taken for destroying these patches before the seeds have a chance to ripen and scatter over the neighborhood. The plant is now in full flower, although a few young pods have already formed.

  23. 1923 - Discusses Poisonous Plants of Indiana - Purdue Agriculturists Talks to Veterinarians

    Article from Nov 28, 1923 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Milk sickness, Purdue

    1923 - Discusses Poisonous Plants of Indiana - Purdue Agriculturists Talks to Veterinarians The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wednesday, November 28, 1923, Page 5.

    DISCUSSES POISONOUS PLANTS OF INDIANA.

    Purdue Agriculturist Talks to Veterinarians at Meeting Here

    "White snakeroot and" water hemlock are the most dangerous poison plants in Indiana," declared Albert A. Hansen, of the Purdue University agricultural extension department, in an n address last night at the annual banquet of the Northeastern Indiana Veterinary Medical association at the Blackstone restaurant. He discussed the poisonous plants of Indiana, emphasizing the species that are apt to be dangerous in the northeastern part of Indiana.

    "While snakeroot is common in woodland pastures in practically every county in Indiana." sald the speaker. "The poison is fatal to sheep, cattle and horses, causing a disease known as tremble, so called on account of the characteristic trembling symptoms of poisoned sheep and cattle, although horses do not snakeroot tremble when suffering from snakeroot poisoning. The worst feature of the plant, however, is due to the poison entering milk, causing a human disease known as milk sickness. Although milk the sickness was more prevalent during early days of Indiana agriculture when there were more pastures than now, the disease still exists in Indiana. White snakeroot can usually be eradicated without an undue amount of work by hand pulling during September or October when the bright white flowers are out."

    The speaker also stated that water hemlock is common in wet places in all parts of the state. The sweet tasting, fleshy roots are the most dangerous part, particularly in the spring when they are exposed by thawing, and during periods of drought when the hogs are apt to root after food. A single root may contain sufficient poison to kill several animals. In addition, the young shoots are also dangerous. A number of other poisonous species were discussed, including wild cherry, buckeye, Kentucky coffee tree, oak poisoning, poisonous mushrooms, poison ivy, cocklebur, Jimson weed, sneezeweed and pokeroot.

    Milk Sickness, pioneer doctor Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs, and Aunt Shawnee medicine woman.

  1. June 20, 1966, Discoverer of the Cause of Milk Sickness, William D. Snively Jr., MD; Louanna Furbee, JAMA Network.

    Abstract

    The season was fall, the year about 1834. The savagery of the southern Illinois backwoods seemed reflected in the wildly beautiful autumnal foliage. Anna Pierce Hobbs, pioneer doctor in the rugged hills of southeastern Illinois, strode into the dense forest covering Hobbs' Ridge.

    It was a lovely day to carry on her determined hunt for the unknown killer herb that, she was certain, had been decimating both the human and livestock populations of the pioneer settlement of Rock Creek. Anna had no inkling that, on this day, she would meet the Shawnee medicine woman, "Aunt Shawnee," who would reveal to her the guilty plant. She little thought that she was about to take the last in a series of logical steps that were to lead, inevitably, to her discovery of the cause of milk sickness. Anna's work, reaching its culmination on this day, should have wiped out the vicious scourge.

  2. Dr. Anna and the Fight for the Milksick, Laurel Bailey Anna-Jonesboro Community High School, Anna, ILLINOIS HISTORY / APRIL 1996, Illiinois Periodicals Onlin (IPO), Northern Illinois University Libraries funded by the Illinois State Library on Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
  3. How an 1800s Midwife Solved a Poisonous Mystery For decades before Doctor Anna’s discovery, “milk sickness” terrorized the Midwest, killing thousands of Americans on the frontier, Will McCarthy, Freelance writer, July/August 2023, Smithsonian Magazine
  4. This specimen pictured was collected in 1998 in southwestern Indiana, about 90 miles north of the Little Pigeon Creek community where Abraham Lincoln’s family lived.

    Poisons of the Carnegie: White Snakeroot. Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

    Image: This specimen pictured was collected in 1998 in southwestern Indiana, about 90 miles north of the Little Pigeon Creek community where Abraham Lincoln’s family lived. Herbarioum Carnegie Museum, (CM), NO. 491065, Pittsburgh, PA.

  5. Milk Sickness and the Mystery of Dr. Anna, It took a while to figure out the cause of milk sickness. One woman often gets credit for solving the mystery, but does that story hold up?, August 9, 2023 • 43 mins podcast. on iHeart.com. See video below:

  6. Milk Sickness and the Mystery of Dr. Anna | STUFF YOU MISSED IN HISTORY CLASS Aug 9, 2023 Stuff You Missed in History Class on YouTube
    It took a while to figure out the cause of milk sickness. One woman often gets credit for solving the mystery, but does that story hold up?
    Original Air Date: August 9, 2023

  7. Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby and Milk sickness on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

White Snakeroot

  1. The curse of Milk Sickness, part 1 of 2 on February 18, 2019 and The curse of Milk Sickness, part 2 of 2 on February 19, 2019 both posted by Dave Tabler in Epidemics & Pandemics / Folk medicine at Appachian History.net.
  2. An October 4, 2014 post on Indiana Native Plant Society (INPS) on Facebook discussed seeing evidence that deer also eat white snakeroot.
  3. September 2, 2022 lengthy post by IN Nature on Facebook.
  4. Plant Chats with Val- White Snakeroot is the video at the National Park Service shown below.
  5. Discoverer of the Cause of Milk Sickness William D. Snively Jr., MD; Louanna Furbee, June 20, 1966, on the JAMA Network.
  6. VIII.90 - Milk Sickness (Tremetol Poisoning) from Part VIII - Major Human Diseases Past and Present published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008 by Thomas Cone Jr., Edited by Kenneth F. Kiple.
  7. Toxicity of white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) and chemical extracts of white snakeroot in goats at National Library of Medicine NIH.gov.
  8. White snakeroot: a toxic plant to horses at University of Minnesota Extension.
  9. Ageratina altissima, Missouri Botanical Garden. Native Americans reportedly used a decoction of the roots as a remedy for snakebite, hence the common name. Settlers who drank milk from cows that fed on this plant often developed the disease called milk sickness. This plant is synonymous with Eupatorium rugosum.
  10. Ageratina altissima (L.) R.M. King & H. Rob., white snakeroot, plant profile, USDA United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service
  11. White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) Picture of the Week November 30, 2020 by Marcelo Zimmer, Weed Science Program Specialist, Plant & Pest Diagnostic Lab, Purdue University.
  12. White Snakeroot Ageratina altissima, Eupatorium rugosum, Fills the forest with delicate white blooms in late summer. IndianaNativePlants.org.

  13. White Snakeroot - Plant Chats With Val posted Nov 12, 2020 by Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site on YouTube
    Ageratina altissima White Snakeroot, Ageratina altissima, is a poisonous herb that can grow over 4 feet tall and is native to the eastern and central United States. “Ageratina” is derived from Greek and means “un-aging”, as the flowers stay in bloom for a very long time, well into the fall. In the 19th century, many people became sick after drinking milk. It was eventually discovered that the “milk sickness” was caused by drinking milk from cows who had eaten White Snakeroot, which contains the toxin tremetol. Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby made the connection between white snakeroot and milk sickness, but her warnings were ignored. The dangers of White Snakeroot were already known to local Native American tribes, and Dr. Bixby reportedly gained this knowledge from them. One of the most well-known cases of death from milk sickness was that of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. She was caring for nearby neighbors who were suffering from milk sickness when she became ill herself. She died when she was only 35 years old. Abraham Lincoln was 9 years old at the time. “Death in a one-room log cabin was a grim experience for the survivors. Nancy's body was prepared for burial in the very room in which the family lived. Thomas and nine-year old Abraham whipsawed logs into planks, and with wooden pegs they fastened the boards together into a coffin. After the body was properly prepared and dressed by the neighbor women, it was placed into the casket. Nancy was then taken to her final resting-place on the hill just south of the family's farm.” – Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park

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