This is from my family's diary. It is about my Grandfather John Daniel Barrett. He died on February 3,1973 from Black Lung after losing one of his lungs to surgery years earlier.
This was authored by a dear Aunt.
"...His father, Edward Barrett, was an Irish immigrant coal miner. Edward was the father of eleven children, John was the fourth child born on November 30, 1900...His childhood was lost to him when he entered the dark, damp inners of that mountain (of coal) at the age of nine...But, John was not alone, there were many other young boys joining him (at work)...
...the next time we visit his life he is 17 years of age, still entering the mine day in and day out with his father Edward, at his side.
Then came the day his father told John he would be going to work alone. "I'm not feeling well today, John, you'll be going to work without me....He was unable to think of a day his father hadn't left home with him on their way to work. But today was going to be a day to remember for so many reasons.
(The day was October 19, 1918, in northeast Pennsylvania.)
...finishing the day with the sound of work ending whistle, only to arrive home to the most devastating news of his young life. As he got closer to his home, he was very aware of the somber glances and soft whispering of his neighbors. He attributed this sad atmosphere to the fact that so many of his friends and neighbors were effected by the loss of life due to the flu epidemic.
But John would realize upon entering his family home that there was more to it today. His sister, Mae, who was nineteen at this time, would meet him at the door to tell him of the untimely death and burial of his father. Edward Barrett was 46 years old. Also, John was told his mother's condition had worsened throughout the day.
...In fact, graves were dug in advance of someone's death, in an effort to head off the epidemic.
Later that evening, Mae and John were summoned to their mother's bed, Mariah Lynott Barrett, age 41, had a very urgent message for her third and fourth born. She would entrust them with the raising of their seven younger siblings. Since the elder two brothers were in the armed forces or married, the burden of rearing the younger seven children would fall on their young shoulders. Mariah Lynott Barrett would die that night and be buried in one of the readied graves.
He for the second time seventeen-year-old John Barrett entered the mine without his father to support his siblings...Francis nearly 16, Bessie age 14, Margaret age 12, Vincent age 10, Anna age 8, Tilly age 4 and Clare age 2.
The tragedy did not end with his parents, some of the children were ill with the flu as well. Some of the children died of long term complications of the flu. Tilly died in 1919, Claire in 1921, Francis died in 1923....
...The remaining siblings grew in age, grace and most importantly good health. Anna would marry but later died in childbirth at the age of 30. Bessie became a nurse and worked in the profession until she retired. She married once at an older age but would lose her husband Joe. John would eventually marry Gladys Lucille Dougher at the age of 25. He eventually would enter training to become a pipefitter and the years of entering a coal mine ended. Eventually, he ended his home in Pennsylvania and took five of his own children to Michigan....
Needless to say, there is more to my Grandfather's diary than these paragraphs, but, these viruses are horrible entities in the world that destroy lives, reassign others and causes history to bend to it's will.
COVID-19 is a deadly serious problem in the USA. Going forward we must be careful in returning to a vibrant economy. It is not worth it to simply "get back to normal." It won't happen that way and the scared lives and deaths will be a very sad legacy to the USA.
