Nathan Felson

(1910 — 1913)

Compiled by Judith Felson Duchan, January 24, 2015

Born in 1910 in Newport, Kentucky, the sixth child of Solomon and Esther Felson. He died three years later. His death was a side effect of diphtheria caused by flood in Newport. A tracheotomy done to help his breathing problem was perhaps mishandled by his physician, resulting in his untimely death.

Biography

Nathan, the sixth child of Solomon and Esther Felson, was born in Newport, Kentucky on October 17, 1910. The family lived in a house at 331 E. 6th Street, and Solomon worked as a tailor a few blocks away, probably in a sweat shop where he was paid by the piece.

“Most [tailor shops] were sweat shops and paid workers as piece goods were done—1 cent for button holes, 2 cents a pocket, and 3 cents a lapel. Shops had pot-belly stoves in winter and only the favorites got to sit next to the stoves” (from Bauer, D. 1988, Floods to Floodwalls in Newport KY, 1884-1951. masters thesis, Xavier University).

In 1913, when Nathan was three years old, Newport and the Felsons experienced an historic flood. The family lived in the middle of the flood zone, three blocks from the conjoining of the Ohio River and the Licking River. The flood began in January 1913 and continued through April of that year. During this time Nathan contracted diphtheria, an upper respiratory infection. This disease tends to occur in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions such as those associated with floods. The vaccine for diphtheria was developed in 1920 and has been practically eradicated it in the US.

Nathan’s diphtheria must have worsened in April 1913. He was hospitalized in Cincinnati, probably at a contagion ward (see article below) and under the care of a Dr. Samuel Iglauer, a specialist in laryngeal diphtheria. He was given a tracheotomy by Dr. Iglauer. The family lore (conveyed by children of Walter, Chippy, and Ben) is that the tracheotomy was successful but later, when the tube was reinserted, it was not replaced properly.

There are at least two family versions of the reinsertion problem (1) that the tube was put back wrong (Mark Felson’s story 4/22/ 25) and (2) an infection resulted from the reinsertion of the tube and that Nathan died from the infection (Amy Travis’s version 4/22/25).

Mark Felson remembers a story from his father that Solomon, Nathan’s father was so angry that he went to the hospital and wanted to attack the Doc physically. He had to be restrained. I think he was a nonviolent man, other than this incident (Mark Felson, April 22, 2025).

In an article in a medical journal (Lancet-Clinic), Iglauer describes the intubation procedure he used for laryngeal diphtheria. This is the link to the article (go to the bottom of the first page and look under society proceedings and below that “primary laryngeal diphtheria”).

In the article, Iglauer describes a case study of a child, like Nathan, who needed intubation and what he did to save her. The case, dated November 29, 1912, was five months prior to Nathan’s death.

Esther Felson was pregnant with Ben during this time. Ben was born on October 14,1913, six months after Nathan’s death. Twenty or so years later, when Ben was in medical school he had Dr. Iglauer for a teacher. Richie recalls: My dad had that same doctor as a professor in medical school years later. When the doctor was taking the roll he looked up when he came to my dad’s name. My dad thought he looked up because he realized the family connection. Nothing was ever said.

Eddie Felson, taking a criminal lawyer’s stance when considering the cause of Nathan’s death, warns that we shouldn’t assume Iglauer’s guilt until we have evidence for it. Eddie:

It could have been one or more of 100 ‘s of factors in Nathan’s death. My father certainly did not have personal knowledge of Dr. Iglauer’s treatment strategy. So before rumors of the Dr.’s malpractice go viral lets keep our baseless “theories” to ourselves until actual evidence arrives.

Iglauer remained in good stead among the Felson’s. In an army letter, Ros reports Sam Iglauer’s death to Walter as “another swell guy gone.” And Mark Felson recalls: I remember Dad speaking well of Iglauer as a prof and a Dr., despite the tragedy. He did not speak well of all his professors in Med. school.

A friend of Steve Felson, David Joseph, is the grandson of Iglauer. Indeed, David Joseph’s full name is David Iglauer Joseph. Steve asked David about Sam Iglauer and he responded:

Samuel Iglauer was my grandfather, a terrific ENT doc who, among other things, lanced my ear drums when I got otitis media. He also invented and got a patent for a baseball helmet but never marketed it. Too bad, or I might be able to have some big foundation that would promote Cincinnati chili world wide.