Spanish Flu. My great uncle's first hand account
My Great Uncle Lewis- the younger brother of my Grandpa George, was born in 1902 and was in high school when the pandemic hit. Uncle Lewis lead a remarkable life. He died at age 86, but wrote his autobiography at at 80. His book is, IMO, a national treasure. As a man who saw so much history unfold during in his lifetime, he felt the flu was a significant event and gave it mention. George and Eddie were his older brothers. George was my grandfather:
24
-
That was a pandemic. Interesting read there. Glad you shared the tidbit. 0 -
Very interesting , Mark. My grandfather was born in 1896, died in 1966. He told about a local guy who joined the army in 1918 and was stricken with the flu. His fiance was notified that he was failing fast, so she and his mother went to visit. He died the day after they visited and a few days after that, both the fiance and the guy's mother died. He said coffins were used up so they rolled bodies in blankets and buried them that way. There were no public funerals or weddings. I never asked him how long it lasted but I guess it was over fairly quickly, such as a few months, perhaps. 0 -
I find it interesting that forum member sxsnuf gave this thread a disagree. Does he think that my great uncle was lying when he wrote this or that I fabricated it? I have my uncle's book sitting in my bookcase. 6 -
Mark, thanks for sharing this; it does help put things into perspective!
Also, since Like and Disagree are next to each other, I think it sets up a situation where you could potentially mouse over and click the wrong one by mistake unless you waited to see the little pop up box for that choice. I think you can undo a wrong choice, but I've never tried it.0 -
Thanks for sharing Mark. An interesting read, and seems to parallel the times we are in now.
(Yes, you can correct and edit a wrong choice, simply by clicking on your correct/preferred choice.) How do you see who the poster is if they post a like, LOL or disagree? I've looked in my replied to heads ups, and have yet to see that.
[Administrators have "magic powers" so that Nunn and I can see things on the boards which the members cannot, including who just gave you a "like". Mark C.]
3 -
I thank you Mark for sharing part of your Great uncles story. I sure wish many of the now gone folks I've known would have written their accounts of actual history that they experienced. Trying to remember stories told way back when during those special occasions can get a bit mixed up.
Being a history buff, the first things I always look for when doing any kind of research is to find first hand accounts.
Many years ago I had a client that did business with me for a long period of time. We became good friends. To know him you would have thought he was just an old farmer that never left the county that he was born in. About a year before he passed away from a stroke, he gave me a gift that I will always treasure. It was a book he wrote and published about his life on the farm. There sure was a lot more to this mans life than even I could have imagined!
He titled it: "Born Lucky"
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18660242/elmer-a_-pavlis0 -
I often wish my Dad had written a book about his military career and experinces prior to experiencing multiple strokes incapacitating him, and his subsequent passing.
32 year, Army Airborne. (CSM.) WWII, Korea, Vietnam. There is so much that I do not know about my Dad's Service that it pains me. I had several he served with over the years share with me stories I never knew about my Dad, it was very humbling, and made me very proud.
He never shared much about his Combat, as is true about those that have seen the Elephant.
0 -
I knew a man from my home county who was one of those sent to Cincinnati (National Guard??). His job was to load the bodies people put at the curb in front of their houses when a family member died. A truly horrible event. 0 -
Excellent account from a very scary time that the subject flu brought with it. The burning sulfur in the saucers struck me a very interesting, too, in that my Grandma Bostick would at a certain time each day go through a ritual that involved breathing the smoke fumes of apparently a sulfur mix. The product came in a glass container that had a tin lid and label on it. the color of the powder was a light green. She would spoon out about a tablespoon of it into the tin lid, and strike a kitchen match to light it whil sitting at the kitchen table. it would burn slowly and as the smoke would rise, she would use one hand to direct it toward her face and take deep breaths until the concoction had burned out. She was born in 1895 and lived through the flu era that your great Uncle did. I just wish that they would have talked more about those times, but the work days were long and story telling, although a favorite past time, went by all too quickly, especially when my visits to them were short, 0 -
I added a link to my post about my old friend Elmer. On another note, I find it quite rare to see anyone here using the like\disagree\lol features. 3 -
The interesting (or terrifying) aspect of the Corona Virus is that 102 years after the Spanish Flu, we can't do anything more to protect ourselves today than what my great uncle did in 1918: wear a mask, don't go to public meetings and avoid public places. 0 -
Awesome! Thanks for the post! 0 -
The son and I have discussed this very thing a few times lately...the one good thing is that people around the world are notified of such terrors almost instantly, which gives a heads up to everyone including world leaders and the scientific and medical communities. In the 1917-1919 era such communities were much slower to act as compared to nowadays, but back then it was easy for most all citizens to keep one's distance from another, as most people lived in the rural areas and did little more than congregate at church gatherings.mark christian said:The interesting (or terrifying) aspect of the Corona Virus is that 102 years after the Spanish Flu, we can't do anything more to protect ourselves today than what my great uncle did in 1918: wear a mask, don't go to public meetings and avoid public places.0 -
the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 claimed 20 to 50 million lives worldwide 0 -
I have posted here before that my grandfather died in the 1918/19 flu pandemic. He died March 22, 1919 at the age of 41. I am his namesake and I have postcards he wrote my grandmother and his writing looks very much like mine. He was my grandmothers third husband of five. My grandmother was 14 when she married her first husband and went with him on the Oklahoma land rush. He died 5 years after they made a claim and she returned to Perry, Ks and married my grandfathers brother. He died in a train wreck at the age of 42. my grandfather married her then. She had 11 children by her first three husbands, married twice more and died at 91. She outlived five husbands and had a boy friend when she died.
I have taken flu shots every year since they were offered and intend to live through this if I can. I don't want to meet my grandfather in the hereafter and tell him I also died in a pandemic 101 years after him.0 -
At least we know for a fact the Chinese are responsible for this Pandemic mess. The Spanish flu is misnamed, due to war time press restrictions only the press in Spain was able to publish much about it. Hence, the name Spanish Flu. 0 -
My grandmother worked at a factory in downtown Greenville SC.She said she could see the rail yard from her work window during the Spanish flu pandemic.There were 2 Army bases nearby.She told of watching coffins of soldiers that had died of the flu being loaded on rail cars to be sent home. 0 -
My Dad told me about this when he was very young. Two of my aunts died from this as infants. They were buried in the same grave on the old family farm with their cousin who died about the same time. Terrible time. 0 -
I lost my paternal great grandfather to the flu in 1917. I will forever have the feeling that the flu he caught was an early strain of the Spanish flu that went around the globe in 1918 and 1919. 0 -
Despite my uncle's frightening narrative, I am unaware of anyone in the Christian family who died of the Spanish Flu. My Grandpa George was in the Navy and when his ship (the name of which I cannot remember) docked in San Diego he and hundreds of other sailors suffering from the flu were carried ashore and moved in to a makeshift hospital. Grandpa languished for many days. The Navy doctors had expected him to die, but one morning he sat up in bed and declared that he had no intention of dying. He mustered out of the Navy (or whatever it was called) collected his back pay, and then took a bus to Los Angeles where he found work and eventually married my grandmother. 0 -
Thanks for sharing that, Mark. A great first hand slice of history. 0 -
My great grandmother was 91 when she passed away. When I was a toddler I gave her what would be her new name for the rest of her life....."Bigmama." (She was tiny) I wish I had gotten more stories out of her, but she was a quiet, very bitter type lady and wasn't much for going on about things. My grandmother was laughing at something one day and started telling about how they used to tie kids to trees so they could get chores done....if you were old enough or smart enough to untie yourself you were given a chore to do. One of the things I remember them telling me about was when smallpox went through the town. They were coming around and getting anyone that was ill in any way and taking them away. They hid my "Bigmama" in the barn when she was little because she was sick.....I never understood if she had smallpox or not. I heard about making lye soap (I have the huge cast iron pot they used by my back door.) Every time I think about how they lived back then I'm amazed at how far everything has progressed.
Very cool story Mark!!!0 -
Hey Mark - I do all my surfing on the phone so those buttons are very close and you may hit one while swiping up as well. I wouldn’t think it was intentional.
Thanks for sharing that, helps keep this in perspective.
0 -
thanks Mark
and to the rest of you for the stories .
Mark that is truly a great book to have as well as a family keepsake
0 -
Interesting family stories. 0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
25 comments