Regarding your comment -"I have "missing children" dating from a marriage of 1909 who disappear after 1919...." Were they known to be alive after 1919 or do they disappear by 1919? There is a specific distinction here because I have found several instances here in the US, where most of all of a family disappears in late 1918 or early 1919. If alive late in 1919 or 1920 then the following is not relevant, but if they disappear in the early part of the year or in 1918 then it may be an idea / area to look into. During that specific timeframe lots of folks died in the Spanish Flu Epidemic and just drop off the face of the earth, and the official "records" are often sparse. Mass graves in some communities were the norm. In one case I've been able to confirm and the other is strong suspicion that the folks involved died in this Great Flu Epidemic of 1918/19. In the USA several hundred thousand people died [to say nothing of the thousands of soldiers in the European theater or at American military bases.] At the height of the epidemic burials were not all recorded, nor did the deaths get official "sanction" or death records. People just wanted to get the bodies buried quickly and the residences and hospitals decontaminated. Most but not all children who did get this flu did survive but young to middle aged adults seemed to be the most likely to die, leaving many orphans or one parent half orphans. [The surviving children seem to often live with relatives but I'm sure all orphanages of the time had an influx of patrons as well. ] This is the epidemic that was seldom spoken about in that generation's lifetime. Only since the 1990's have historians and scientists [with advent of Bird Flu] written about and discussed the magnitude and impact of this calamity. While reported in the papers at the time and the cause of quarantines, evacuations and huge public health efforts, once the crisis passed the whole American society seems to have suffered a massive amnesia about this epidemic event and seldom spoke of or referred to it or the folks who died as a result of it. Also young men who completed and survived their military enlistments did not always go home but stayed in more salubrious locations FL, CA, or expatriates in Europe, etc. My grandfather had three female cousins [all from PA] move to CA after the war because their husbands liked what they saw while there in the military during the war. [I've never understood why guys from PA were sent to CA bases when they were to go to Europe, but they did.] Hope the info is useful in your search. <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

I read with a great deal of interest your narrative on the flu epidemic of 1918. My grandmother talked about it throughout her whole life. As a child this epidemic was more immediate to me than Dec 7 1941. ( I was born in 1945) She was newly married in 1918 and had a baby born at the end of the year. She was so afraid that it would take her or her baby. Her husband left for France before the baby was born. His descriptions of the war were more about the flu epidemic killing "the boys who were dropping like flies" in England and in France. He said the number of men who were killed in battle were miniscule compared to those who were felled by the flu. He described the troop ships both going and coming as nothing but make-shift hospital wards to handle those with the flu. He got home just as his mother-in-law and his sister-in-law were taken by the flu. My grandmother's sister was in her early 20s which fits the profile you mention in your narrative. She left behind a young daughter. The father of this child never fully recovered emotionally from the loss of his wife and the loss of other family members. He was unable to raise the child and she was taken in turns by various family members and apparently had a sad childhood. At various times, she assumed the last name of the family who she was living with. My grandmother's mother (my great grandma) died when she was 57 years old and never got to see most of her grandchildren. All of this occurred in a very small town in Idaho, but my grandfather's description of the train ride from New York to Idaho is full of flu epidemic victims and the observation of mass burials along the way. Whenever I cannot find someone in the 1920 census but found them in 1910, my immediate thought is the flu and then I work to prove or disprove that assumption. My grandmother's family has multiple references to the flu in various memoirs and other narratives. Since I have started doing family history, I have found that my husband's family from Maine was equally touched by the flu. My husband's great uncle's wife died of the flu in Maine and left a baby. Her husband also couldn't raise the baby and she was raised by an aunt and took the last name of the aunt's husband. This information came from my husband's uncle who remembered vividly the everyday burials in his small town in Maine. There are 18 people in my data base who died of the fly in 1918 and 1919. They were in their 20's or over 50. I would recommend that you try to contact living descendants of some of the family members who did live through this time frame. I am sure that there is something in the family records--letters, diaries, recollections--that mentions the flu's impact on the family. If you had asked me as a child about this subject, I could have recited my grandmother's stories without referring to any notes. I would also recommend that you look for the child who might have assumed the last name of the family who took him/her in. I doubt there would have been any official adoption. Leslie ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 3:47 AM Subject: [NYORANGE] Hint regarding mystery of Folks who disappeared in 1918 - 1919 > Regarding your comment -"I have "missing children" dating from a marriage > of > 1909 who disappear after 1919...." > Were they known to be alive after 1919 or do they disappear by 1919? There > is a specific distinction here because I have found several instances here > in > the US, where most of all of a family disappears in late 1918 or early > 1919. > If alive late in 1919 or 1920 then the following is not relevant, but if > they > disappear in the early part of the year or in 1918 then it may be an idea > / > area to look into. > During that specific timeframe lots of folks died in the Spanish Flu > Epidemic and just drop off the face of the earth, and the official > "records" are > often sparse. Mass graves in some communities were the norm. In one case > I've > been able to confirm and the other is strong suspicion that the folks > involved > died in this Great Flu Epidemic of 1918/19. In the USA several hundred > thousand people died [to say nothing of the thousands of soldiers in the > European > theater or at American military bases.] At the height of the epidemic > burials > were not all recorded, nor did the deaths get official "sanction" or > death > records. People just wanted to get the bodies buried quickly and the > residences > and hospitals decontaminated. Most but not all children who did get this > flu > did survive but young to middle aged adults seemed to be the most likely > to > die, leaving many orphans or one parent half orphans. [The surviving > children > seem to often live with relatives but I'm sure all orphanages of the time > had an influx of patrons as well. ] This is the epidemic that was seldom > spoken > about in that generation's lifetime. Only since the 1990's have > historians > and scientists [with advent of Bird Flu] written about and discussed the > magnitude and impact of this calamity. While reported in the papers at > the time > and the cause of quarantines, evacuations and huge public health efforts, > once > the crisis passed the whole American society seems to have suffered a > massive amnesia about this epidemic event and seldom spoke of or referred > to it or > the folks who died as a result of it. > > Also young men who completed and survived their military enlistments did > not > always go home but stayed in more salubrious locations FL, CA, or > expatriates in Europe, etc. My grandfather had three female cousins [all > from PA] move > to CA after the war because their husbands liked what they saw while > there in > the military during the war. [I've never understood why guys from PA were > sent to CA bases when they were to go to Europe, but they did.] > > Hope the info is useful in your search. > > <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free > email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at > http://www.aol.com. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >