[thatsnotnice]

The five leading causes of death in the US were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza

My grandfather was born in 1897. Sometime in the late 1910’s or early 1920’s they had some sort of influenza outbreak that killed 17 of the 22 people that lived on their little spread. He said those that lived would look around the dinner table at each other and silently wonder who was going to be next.

[Fiddlstix]

My grandfather was born in 1897. Sometime in the late 1910’s or early 1920’s they had some sort of influenza outbreak that killed 17 of the 22 people that lived on their little spread. He said those that lived would look around the dinner table at each other and silently wonder who was going to be next.

The year was 1919
It was the year of the great influenza Pandemic, as it was called back then.

[RLK]

Sometime in the late 1910’s or early 1920’s they had some sort of influenza outbreak that killed 17 of the 22 people that lived on their little spread.

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That was the famous 1918 flu epidemic that killed hundreds of thousands or millions.

[baseballmom]

Thanks for the interesting post.

The influenza outbreak of 1917-1918 was the Spanish Flu - first reported at Ft. Riley Kansas. Boston, Philadelphia, & San Francisco were really hit hard. Total deaths were about 600,000. It spread so much, as we were shipping our guys overseas for WWI. Our local PBS did a show on this last year, about Philadelphia. 13,000 people died in this city alone. It was called the worst disaster to ever strike the United States.

Indeed, what a difference 100 years makes.