Phillipe Heydinger Birth Record in French
Bet you didn't know that John Adam and Catherine Brun Heydinger had a sixth child, a son, born in 1845. Of Philippe we know absolutely nothing, except his name. He lived one year, for we have his death certificate from 1847.
What caused Philippe's early demise? Early death was the norm for the time. Indeed, any family of size from that time - and well up into the twetieth century - lost at least one child.
When she bore Philippe at age 44/45, Catherine would have been right on the far edge of her childbearing years. Her first was John Heydinger born in 1827, just short of Catherine’s 26th birthday. Her last recorded living child was Maria, born in 1837 when Catherine would have been age 35. Maria survived childhood and came to America with the family, marrying Frank Wechter and bearing him eight children. (Ironic that she died at age 46, leaving sons, three and barely seven year old, both of whom became priests (studying at the Pontifical College Josephinum, a seminary for poor orphans.)
But the fact remains that for some reason Philippe was not strong enough to survive. We don't know whether his birth was premature or whether he suffered from some weakening childhood or birth malady. For whatever reason, he just did not survive.
A more interesting line of questioning would be what effect Philippe's death had on the decision of the rest of the family to emigrate. The family emigrated in the fall of 1850, exactly three years after Philippe's death, arriving in America in January of 1851. One does not decide upon such a move over night, as one might plan a weekend excursion or family trip. Emigration requires detailed planning, disposition of property, collection of travel necessities, and procurement of surivival items needed at one's final destination. Others in this situation take years to plan before disembarkation.
Bottom line: planning for emigration could have begun as early as the fall of 1847 or early 1848 and culminated in the actual leaving in 1850. But other factors could have acted in concert with Philippe's death to spur leaving. The year 1848 politically and economically was the most explosive year in European modern history, comparable only to the US in the summer of 1968, of recent memory. Constant turmoil - revolutions - in all countries in 1848 made it easy to consider leaving. This alone, totally independent of the death of a child, could have initiated thoughs of leaving the homeland, a very serious step.