I don’t think they were less affected. I think people understood with life came death in a way that we do not. Throughout the last 120 years, we have made death an unacceptable outcome and our use of universal precautions, technology and medication will often prolong life but death is inevitable.

As far as losing pregnancies and children go, the more you have, the more likelihood that you experienced some kind of loss. Losing a pregnancy early on was not the experience it is now. Many people didn’t even know they were pregnant until 8 weeks or later, and some didn’t know until later than that. Losing a pregnancy at six weeks was often noted as a late period accompanied with a heavier bleeding time. Now, we know just after conception and can see via ultra sound. It makes for long pregnancies and earlier, more notable numbers for first trimester loss.

We are often ill-equipped to deal with pregnancy and infant and many times do not have the same social support of our ancestors. For example, people keep their pregnancy a secret and then upon loss have no one to share their feelings with. Or, they don’t know anyone else who has experienced miscarriage or stillbirth and, because death is unacceptable, struggle with how to handle it. Again, 120 years ago, people had more children and experienced more loss simply due to numbers combined with other reasons.

Births and deaths often happened at home. Weddings and funerals were held in living rooms. Life events were family events. And they were celebrated and mourned together.

There are two guarantees for us. Birth and death. Yet, how many people have attended either on a regular basis, let alone once. Society has simply become uncomfortable with the unknown of death.