MARCH 23, 2020 While novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is certainly the talk of the town right now, a hundred years ago, my 2nd great uncle, Benjamin Newton Dean, met an untimely fate by the hands of a related disease, influenza. Benjamin Dean sitting on the front steps of “the old Hogg place” on Wheeling Creek in West Virginia. It’s unclear whether Benjamin succumbed to the famous 1918 “Spanish” Influenza Pandemic, or whether his strain was a mutated version, as his death did not take place until August 1920. But what is clear is the seriousness of these viruses and the importance of taking every precaution to prevent their spread. Benjamin Dean was only 20 years old. That’s right. He wasn’t an adolescent, and he certainly wasn’t elderly by any respect. He was 20 years old! He was born May 30th, 1900 in Sand Hill, Marshall County, West Virginia to John Alexander Dean, Jr. and Mollie (Boyce) Dean. He was short with a medium build, dark hair, and blue eyes. In September of 1918, at th...