Many of the stories I have focused on recently have dealt with death or complications. While many did die, the average death rate worldwide was <3%, meaning that most survived. This is one such story, as told in the life history of Cleo Anderson, my great-aunt.
“During the winter of 1918 there was a terrible flu epidemic that swept the entire country and many people died from it. I was five months old when I got the flu and was very ill. Mama told me that for three days I lay in a stupor but through faith and administration I was spared.
My father had the flu that same winter and was very ill with it.”
I am very glad that both Cleo and her father (my great-grandfather) survived, since my grandfather was not born until a few years later.
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Welcome to Bridging the Past. We help genealogists connect to their colonial New England ancestors by sharing with them information about the lives of their ancestors. What did they eat? What did they wear? What was a typical day like? Did my ancestor fight in a war? What was life like for that ancestor, and for the loved ones he left at home? Why did they move? Was it part of a larger movement? By answering these questions, and many more, you can bring your ancestors to life and feel closer to them.
We design lectures to answer these questions and give genealogists the tools and resources to personally connect with their ancestors by fleshing out the lives of their ancestors so they are more than names, dates and places on a piece of paper.
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The 1918 flu pandemic was one of the earliest, and perhaps the most traumatic experiences to date, in the life of Mrs. Williams, age 91, of Selma. That’s because her father, a jeweler, contracted the disease and became very ill. Even though she was a very young child, her father’s serious illness remains an indelible memory.
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Thanks for sharing. I’d love to include this story as a blog post if you have a picture and name I can use.
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