A relative kept a log of the dates of birth and death of her friends and family. When documenting these events we found that were many entries for those who passed away in their early years around 1918 to 1920. So we decided that it was probably due to the big horrible flu epidemic of that era. This web-site implies that 5 of every 100 Americans died in October of 1918 from the pandemic: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/maps/index.html Was Chicago affected this much? ( A sidebar is that Alaska's Iditarod Race was created in memory of the heroics from this horrible bird caused influenza. A good site to visit for the current threat is http://www.pandemicflu.gov/planguide/checklist.html )

I don't recall reading statistics, but my grandmother died in October 1918, my gr uncle lost his wife and two small daughters between September and December. This in addition to another 15-20 in my family tree alone. Judie Mason Chicago Dave Witthans <[email protected]> wrote: A relative kept a log of the dates of birth and death of her friends and family. When documenting these events we found that were many entries for those who passed away in their early years around 1918 to 1920. So we decided that it was probably due to the big horrible flu epidemic of that era. This web-site implies that 5 of every 100 Americans died in October of 1918 from the pandemic: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/maps/index.html Was Chicago affected this much? ( A sidebar is that Alaska's Iditarod Race was created in memory of the heroics from this horrible bird caused influenza. A good site to visit for the current threat is http://www.pandemicflu.gov/planguide/checklist.html ) ==== IL-COOK-CHICAGO Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe: Send a message to [email protected] that contains (in the body of the message) the command unsubscribe ============================== Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx