52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 11
Prompt – Luck
In the past week our lives have been
turned upside down by COVID-19. Originally called Coronavirus or
Novel Coronavirus. The WHO organization chose to rename it so that it
is not associated with one type of animal or area of the world. For example the
1918 Spanish Flu, Bird Flu, or the Hong Kong flu. So they named it
as follows: "CO" stands for "corona", "VI"
for "virus" and "D" for "disease",
while "19" was for the year, as the outbreak was first
identified on December 31.”
I have never experienced the things
that have occurred over the past week. Never has life felt so full of
fluidity. I am numb to the term “Breaking News”. Change is the
only certain thing. I know that I am not alone in this feeling.
Many years ago I picked up a book
called Flu The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and
the Search for the Virus That Caused It. By Gina Kolatata. It
was copyrighted in 1999. At that time not much was written about the
Spanish Flu that killed nearly 50 million people world wide. Some say
it might have had something to do with the war ending because so many
recruits had been struck by the flu while in their training camps.
The book was a well written history of the Spanish Flu. At the time
of writing they had not identified the Virus, however it has since
been identified as H1N1 virus.
I began looking through my family tree
to see if anyone died during The Spanish Flu which was officially
from January 1, 1918 until December, 1920. I found several members that died during this time. However there is no certain way to determine if this pandemic flu was a cause
of their death.
David Peters, my great grandfather was
born April of 1835 in Russia. He died in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on
April 14, 1919. He was 83 years old. However according to his death
record he died of arteriosclerosis and Myocarditis. These
were the type of long term health issues plus an elderly age that make people
susceptible to the flu. He may have gotten the flu too and it was not noted on his death record.
My paternal great grandmother (my father's mother's mother) as above
died March 3, 1918. I do not know the cause of her death however the
timing makes me suspicious that it may have been the flu. She died at
the age of 69.
Helena's brother, my 2nd
great-uncle also died within the time period of The Spanish Flu.
These are all supposition which I
haven't proved yet.
My grandmother Mary McLaughlin's had a younger brother that was either forgotten or never mentioned. I found out about him through the file folder that was sent to me by my Aunt Phyllis after her husband died and she decided to send Mary McLaughlin important papers to me to have.
I was surprised to see it was a cemetery location for a baby and written at the bottom was "My Brother Williham". This was a new name to me.
He was born
on October 25, 1917 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He died March 2, 1918 in
Winnipeg. He died at home which was 613 Talbot Avenue, Winnipeg. He
was 4 months and 7 days old. His medical record states that he died
of “Lobar pneumonia” and contributing factor was
“indigestion”. I find this an odd secondary cause but then that is what it says.
According to this record the doctor attended to
him between February 15th 1918 to March 1, 1918 whereby he
died at 5 A.M. March 2nd. Wilhelm Krikau had only had the pneumonia for 5 days. I believe that Wilhelm died of The Spanish
Flu which was deadly and rampant at this time throughout the world. It was a
pandemic.
Wilhelm was buried March 22, 1918 at
Brookside Cemetery in Section 74; Lot 167.
So what does this blog have to do with
luck. Well nothing and everything. I hope that luck is on our side
as we traverse the universe of this 2019 pandemic.
Wendy
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