1936 Plague

From: Carolyn Potts
Subject: 1936 plague

Floydie came out in chicken"pops" while we were recrossing the Atlantic. Dr. Lewis Flynn and Uncle E met the boat wherever and swore that we were going directly home, at which point I guess we debarked and boarded a B&O train to Mitchell, where GranPop was seriously ill. We spent the next year, or most of it, in Mitchell, and then we all, including Bego and GranPop, went back to W'ton. I remember being quaratined at Market Street for whooping cough, but I thought only Floydie had it. Did you? Then, when Floydie was boarding at the Ursuline she caught the measles. A few years later, when we were in Stamford, I caught the measles and was miserably ill because "I was too busy to be sick " and refused to break out. Eventually I did, and then you caught them, then David, who was about two then, just when we were moving back to Wilmington, got a really bad case. Poor little bugger even had them on the soles of his feet. You can understand that Mommy was not a happy housewife.

From: Ennalls

Wow! What a thrilling life! And what year was it? Floydie was two so it must have been '36. The measles...I was in 9th, you were in 7th grades, what ever year that was.


I'm WONDERING WHETHER YOU YOUNGSTERS MAY BE TAKING UNNECESSARY RISKS WITH THESE ILLNESSES. People AND CHILDREN INCLUDED, SOMETIMES DIED FROM THESE PLAGUES WHEN I WAS A TOT. That's WHY QUARANTINES WERE ESTABLISHED.

Since THE DISEASES ARE NOW CONTROLLED, YOU HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING ABOUT DEATHS AND SOMETIMES DISFIGURATIONS THAT OCCURRED IN THE OLD DAYS. you MAY RECALL FROM READINGS THAT THOUSANDS DIED IN 1917 FROM A SEVERE FLU.

Well, I know nothing of antibodies. All my life I have gotten the flu and been quite ill every year. I don't know why the ants didn't help me. I've now been taking shots every year and have not had a recurrence of flu since I began the shots.