Newspaper Find: Quarantine and Vaccination… Sound Familiar?

Searching my ancestors in Newpapers.com last week, I had found quite a few new articles, that either I had missed years ago or are newly added. One of these articles I found to be quite interesting, due to the pandemic we are going through right now. This article had to do with the Smallpox Epidemic.

I was surprised to find an article mentioning my great great grandfather and his family during the Smallpox Epidemic in 1901, and I also thought of how very fitting it was for a time such as what we are going through right now. The 2 words that stood out to me right away, were the words quarantine and vaccination.

It mentioned a family from the area who first had contracted Smallpox a couple of weeks earlier, and how some of their other children, whose vaccines “didn’t take”, had also come down with it, but were doing fine. It then went on to mention my great great grandfather and his family. It mentioned their family because my great grandfather’s sister, Lillie, who had lived near that family’s home, had contracted it from one of the girls in that family.
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The surprising part of the article was a subject that is of much controversy right now. It had stated that my great great grandfather’s family had been under quarantine from the start, but they had declined to get vaccinated!

There were about ten to a dozen families that were originally under quarantine but had been released, except the 2 families mentioned, because there was no longer a threat from their first exposure. The above mentioned family, along with my great great grandfather’s family were “under guard” and once again quarantined.

I found this find to be a very interesting article about my ancestors, especially with everything going on right now. 😊

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