Drawing parallels: COVID-19 and smallpox
This coronavirus COVID-19 and the “isolate at home” and “social distancing” rules got me thinking about an episode in my grandfather’s journal from 1912.
Tyler “Ginty” Williams lived in Kellogg with his wife, Jennie (my grandmother), and four children — Earl, Myrt, Nell and Ruby (my Mom). Ginty worked as a miner at the Bunker Hill Mine and he kept a personal journal between 1909 and 1917.
His journal was a casual thing where he made short entries every few days, commenting on the weather and the comings and goings of friends and neighbors. Then, on Jan. 31, 1912, there was an entry written by the daughter, Nell, who would have been about 11 at the time.
Entry Jan. 31, 1912. There is smallpox in town now. There are pretty near 20 cases now and the doctor says if it turns cold there will be 500 cases. Papa is sick but I don’t think he has the smallpox. Everyman in the mine has to be vaccinated or quit his job.
Feb. 3, 1912: Papa has the smallpox and they took him to the hospital today.
Feb. 7: Papa is getting along pretty good with the smallpox but he has about 50 spots on his face. He can’t come home from the Pesthouse until about the first of March. (The “Pesthouse” was a post-critical medical dormitory where mine workers were cared for by nursing staff who had immunity to smallpox.)
Several entries follow in which Papa is reported to be doing fine.
Feb. 17: It was Earl’s birthday yesterday. We had weenies and Earl got five. Ruby is sick.
Feb. 19: Moma is sick. She has a headache and can’t stand up five minutes.
Then there are several daily entries about how everybody is doing.
Feb. 23. Daddy came home from the Pesthouse today. Ruby is broke out with the smallpox and Mama is breaking out too. So Daddy will have to stay home and take care of them too. Nellie has a fever and will probably break out in a few days.
Feb. 28. (Ginty writing now). We are still locked in. Mama and Ruby have a very light case of smallpox. Ruby has only one on her face and Mama has six or seven. Nellie is broken out but they are beginning to fill. She will have a good mess of them.
March 1. No more smallpox so far. Ruby and Jennie are drying up fast and Nellie is in full bloom. Nellie has more on her face than Ruby and Mama had over their whole body. The old man (Ginty always referred to himself and grandma in the third person) is going off to work tomorrow. He has been off five weeks.
March 16: (Nell writing again). We’re in quarantine again. Earl and Myrt have smallpox and Earl is acting like a fool. Papa is rooming at Colman’s and boarding at the St. Francis Café.
April 10. (Ginty writing again). Nellie has been keeping this book for some time and I do see very much about the smallpox. We were quarantined almost continuously from the 26th of January to the first of April.
It is hard to think about what it was like in that house quarantined for nine weeks with everyone getting sick in turn. It is important to remember that in the days of smallpox and other killer diseases, to be “quarantined” was by court order and was lifted only by the county Health Department, so no one ever left the house.
Mom remembers that her mom would leave an envelope on the porch with a grocery list and money and a friend would buy the groceries and leave them on the front porch. Of course, smallpox was a killer so was taken very seriously. Also, the pox marks on the face could leave scars and be quite disfiguring; consequently, their concern about how they were healing.
People of my generation remember seeing people who had been quite disfigured by smallpox. I’m struck by the casualness of the account. Back then folks were less psychologically reflective and expressive. Also, death from disease was more commonplace and less “newsworthy.” Still, the contrast with the present day is striking.
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Richard Cripe is a Coeur d’Alene resident.
