[null and void]

found one set from 1918 where a family lost 5 children in 6 days, ranging in age from 3 to 10.

1918? Influenza.

[restornu]

For all you joe folks

[Sundog]

It is what I told my daughter.

Probably both the parents were critically ill too.

Explained 'flu was short for influenza.

[sweetliberty]

"1918? Influenza."

I don't remember the year (Mid-1800's, I think) but back in the 80's I went with some friends to the graveyard by the church on St. Simon's Island in Georgia. Walking through and reading the gravestones was heartbreaking. There had been a typhoid epidemic that woped out entire families in short time spans. Much of the area must have succombed. It really got to me. I left in tears and had to wait in the car for the others. Perhaps life was more precious then because folks lived with the daily awareness that every moment was by the grace of God, and every breath could be their last. We have come to take so much for granted that many of us fail to value what we have.