The Ford Family

Born	March 10, 1893 Rockford
Died	February 3, 1917 Rockford
Father	Wenceslaus Wenzel Schrom
Mother	Thekla Schrom
Siblings	Henry Schrom Minnie Weldon Bertha Schrom Albert James Schrom Tillie Marie Schrom George Gottlieb Schrom Frank Joseph Schrom Edward Schrom Arthur Otto Schrom Fred John Schrom

Bio
When the very last Schrom child was born on March 10, 1893, Teddy's father was 40 and his mom was 39. His parents had traveled across the ocean to a new country and had to learn a new language. They already had 7 boys and 3 girls. Teddy's parents had lived a lifetime!

His mother only lives 7 more years, and had been sick with TB since Teddy was 5. As with most large families, it is likely that older sisters Tillie and Bertha did most of Teddy's child rearing. It is sad for any 7 year old boy to lose his mom, but 2 years later, Teddy's sister Tillie dies too. Perhaps she died of the TB her mother had. My guess is that it is TB again, just 2 years later, that claims the last Schrom woman in Teddy's young life, big sister Bertha.

The Schrom men manage on, and some brothers get married and move on. By 1908, all that remain at home with Teddy are his dad, his twin brothers Ed and Fred, and his brother Arthur. Teddy excels in sports and plays football, baseball, and basketball in high school. He is a freshman in 1908 and graduates in 1913 at the age of 20. (Perhaps he stayed longer to play sports). Sadly, his father dies the very same year.

Ted gets a job and continues living with his brothers for a year. We know this family of young men have very little money, so perhaps it is a sports scholarship that takes Teddy to the University of Wisconsin in 1915! He letters in football and basketball as a freshman and plays on the freshman baseball team. He even joins the Engineering Club and seems to be well on his way in life despite a very hard upbringing.

Of course you know a happy ending is not to be found here. After a great first year, all we know is that Teddy goes out sick for the later part of his sophomore football season. He seemed "the picture of health and vitality" to those who knew him in the Engineering Club. Yet on February 3, 1917 Theodore James Schrom dies. He was only 23. Until I can find a death certificate or obituary, I am of the belief that the "panic of 1918" - the flu pandemic that took so many young lives across the globe, started earlier than we knew.