Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

They say it takes a village to rear a child. My 2nd great grandfather, John Alexander Dean, was sure in need of one when Mollie Boyce, his wife (and my 2nd great grandmother), died at the young age of 36 in 1906, leaving behind 5 children to raise. Mollie, John, Chester, and baby Benjamin Dean, Big Wheeling Creek, West Virginia, circa 1900. The Deans lived up on a hill from Big Wheeling Creek in West Virginia. John was a blacksmith by trade who also took care of his own farm and raced horses on the side. Mollie was the homekeeper. In addition to raising 4 strapping young boys and 1 beautiful girl, the Deans had also given birth to a set of twins, 1 boy and 1 girl, Arthur and Mary. Unfortunately, the twins took sick in infancy. The ailment they suffered from differs across sources from thrush to tuberculosis to measles, but whatever afflicted them turned fatal. Sadly, part of the reason may have been lack of medical attention, as they were not the only ones in dire straits. Mollie, too,...

Alta and Harry Foltz, my paternal grandparents, had far too little time with me. In fact, Alta only met me while I was still in the womb. She died just a couple months before I was born. Harry had a couple years with me before he passed, but I don't have any memories of him -- just photos of the two of us. Harry Foltz and granddaughter Kira D. Foltz, Gardena, California, 1987. But both of them shared another loss of time spent with a loved one -- a far closer connection. They each lost their father when they were 13 years of age. Alta and Harry Foltz New Year's Day at the Millhouse's, Hawthorne, California, 1984. Harry's dad, George LeeRoy Foltz, died in November of 1923. I don't even believe I have a photo of father and son together. Myrtle and George LeeRoy Foltz wedding portrait, Vliets, Kansas, 1902. On one postcard addressed to Harry's mom, George LeeRoy did sign it as "Pappa," so perhaps that is what his kids knew him by growing up. Otherwise, he...

In a previous blog post on my Great Grandaunt Mary , I wrote about her quilting hobby and how I coincidentally found a photo of her sewing a pattern that wound up in the hands of a cousin whom I had just met online (all due to this blog!). Quilt made by Mary (Dixon) Stalnaker Hogg and gifted to Nancy Hogg.  Photo supplied by Nancy Hogg, 2022. Mary wasn't the only quilter in the family though. Her mother, Lizzie (Rockwell) Dixon, and grandmother, Elizabeth (Pitcock) Rockwell, had also been avid quilters. In 2009, our family attended a small reunion outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma at my Great Aunt Frances (Dean) Wise's home to celebrate her 90th birthday and her sister Thelma's 81st. It was the perfect opportunity to raid Frances' closet, figuratively speaking! She gave us the low down on several family heirlooms and photos hung about her bedroom, including the many handmade quilts she had stored in a box, as well as two garments she produced herself. Both she and Thelma are n...