The Danse Macabre: The Abraham Teter Family and their Journey to Illinois

In 1797, my 6th great grandfather Abraham Teter, his wife Mary and their children, and Abraham's mother Rebecca, left Hardy County, Virginia (now West Virginia) and made their way down the Ohio River. They, along with about 150 of their friends and neighbors, arrived at Fort Massac in southern Illinois. Sights were set on a  town called New Design, about 140 difficult, uninhabited miles to the north. It no longer exists under that name, but was located   about where the town of Waterloo is today. It has been difficult to find records from that time, but several books and county histories mention New Design and the great illness that took over half of those 150 travelers. 

Hans Holbein, 1549 (public domain)

We hear a lot about the great plagues in Europe and Asia, but people in America experienced outbreaks of diseases, too. Small pox, cholera, yellow fever, and influenza were ever-present dangers.

Humankind has (probably) always battled infectious diseases. Scientific research has provided us with tools to help us survive most of them today - vaccines, antibiotics/antivirals, handwashing - but in the past, people just died.

We are all the descendants of the survivors.

Life is fragile, and you never know when skeletons will take you to the dance of death. The only thing we do know, is that death comes for us all.