The Plague: How Did One Village Survive? | Riddle Of The Plague Survivors | Timeline

My Father was 5 years old and remembered the Spanish flu. He remembered the dogs in the small community were all howling as they were left alone and not being fed. He remembered that it was the young strong adults that were being hauled off dead in the wagons. His father and mother and his younger sister had the flu and survived, he never contracted it. He Lived to be 100, died just 6 weeks short of a 101 in 2014.

Imagine your family living in the same village for 400+ years in this day and age. Amazing

Just a thought: I lived in Europe for several years, and always found it amazing while I was there that so many people could simply walk to a nearby graveyard and point out ancesters going back as much as 700 years. Of course we all have ancestors, but the trek to and then across America during the settlement years almost invaribly means many Americans are somewhat cut off from much of their history and distant ancestry, or at least without significant travel. This is an interestiing and engaging story. Thanks!

My great-grandma lost her first born, a baby boy, to the Spanish flu. One of the boys in town came home from WWI, and they had a “Dinner on the grounds” after church to celebrate his safe return (seems to have been some kind of a super sized potluck, it was winter so they were all packed into the fellowship building). He was coughing a lot, but with coal fired trains, it wasn’t unusual to have a cough after several days of sooty air. Ten days later, he was dead, and every family at the potluck had at least one person that was sick. Two weeks later, they were out of coffins. A month later, every family in that small town had lost at least one person. Children from big farm families found themselves orphaned. There were people who lost all of their children. It gutted the town, and it never grew again; young people who survived moved away to get away from the horrible memories of the “dying time.” And my great-grandma lost her first born son to the Spanish Flu, and her last surviving child to Covid-19. What a horrible bookend in our family.

The plague historian professor Justin Champion featured in this documentary and many others passed away June 2020 after a long illness. Thank you for all of your wonderful knowledge sir RIP.

What I find amazing about the darkest days in history, such as the time of the black plague, is that all of us alive today are the result of history's survivors.

My grandmother born in 1898 survived the Spanish flu due to the diligence of her family that nursed her around the clock. Her fever was so high her hair fell out and her skin peeled like chips. They gave her water, baking soda water, water mixed with different herbs. They kept her clean and washed. Made her situp on pillows. I remember going to family reunions and when who had been sick in their family this particular one always was talked about. The family wore homemade masks and drank baking soda water everyday. When Grandma turned 30 her hair turned white and she had an enlarged heart but lived to be almost 95. The rest of her family did not get the flu as bad. That was amazing in itself but they lived on a farm.

Amazing. We are all survivors of survivors of survivors. That alone should give us inner strength.

My great grand mother survived the Spanish flu. Even the doctor was sure she was going to die. She lived to be 89 years old and died in 1971.

Poor Elizabeth, not only did she lose her husband and 6 of her children, she also had to bury them by herself.

Fascinating....I'm a Blackwell....heard this story about the Blackwell family who survived the Plague when I was a child. No illness or infection in my lifetime...even after working in hospitals for 40+ years...wonder if I have the same genes and if I am a legit descendant.

My dad's mom lost a brother and sister in three days' time from the 1918 flu. They were farmers in North Dakota and not exposed to many people. My other grandmother grew up in a big city, and no one in the family became ill.

Had my DNA tested. I have one copy of the Delta 32 mutation (CCR5-Delta 32 heterozygous). Also have blood type O RH negative. I rarely get sick . . . . So fascinating . . . . Feel so grateful.🧎

I find it fascinating and exciting to be able to read 300, 400, 500 year old and even older written documents, and getting good information from them.

As I recall, many of the more remote villages in Europe had no survivors and no one really knew who died of plague and who just died. Sometimes, there was no one in the nearest villages alive who even knew the names of these places. And since the plague took the literate and illiterate alike, it is impossible to know who and how many by written word. Sometimes I can't imagine how horrific it might have been for the last survivor of one of those villages. Even animals died, whether from plague or neglect; in fact, when survivors from other places found that pigs survived and wandering loose, they killed the pigs and left them where they died. They feared, knowing pigs will eat anything to live, to take them back with them.

I have a genetic mutation C(282)Y, known as the Celtic Curse, leading to Iron Overload or Hemochromatosis. A link to the Vikings and also, according to the book I have on it, were also not effected by the Plague. My ancestors come from the highlands of North Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿. Coincidentally, my grandmother died from the Spanish Flu, yet no one in my Scottish family did. I’ve never even had the flu nor the vaccine.

Anyone watching this during the Covid pandemic thinking “WELL AT LEAST IT’S NOT PLAGUE”

What amazes me is how meticulously people recorded things, even back then. Perhaps everyone should learn the value of keeping records from this.

I can't imagine the relief that last man felt. To have nonchoice but to live with such a horrific threat and to finally know the very nature of who you are is not going to kill you is unimaginable

I read in an old book years ago that a doctor had to watch over a king during the black plague and the doctor boiled yeast,garlic and onions and then strained it and used it as a polance,placed it on the king's chest and kept fires lit around the king.the king lived but I forgot if the doctor did too.I bought that old book from an estate sale and the house contents had been locked up over 40 yrs.