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

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.

We hear a lot about the great plagues in Europe and Asia. People in America also experienced outbreaks of diseases like small pox, but also cholera, yellow fever, and influenza.

In 1797, Abraham Teter, my 6th great grandfather, his wife 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, arrived at Fort Massac. 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. 

Life is fragile, and you never know when skeletons will take you to the dance of death.

Hans Holbein, 1549 (public domain)

Death comes for us all.