The Spanish Flu killed my grandmother Gladys Whitt-Puryear (pictured
above). She was born 1895 in Travis County, Texas. She married my
Grandfather Harvey Puryear ca 1913 in Austin, Texas. Both were
descendants of early pioneer families in Travis County. Their first child Lois
(pictured below) was born in 1915. My mother, Alta Mae, was the second
child of their marriage. She was born October 18, 1918, in Harrisburg,
Texas. Why the family was there remains a mystery. On October 9, 1918,
Mayor Dan Moody closed the schools and quarantined the town of Houston
for 17 days because of the Spanish Flu. The population at the time was
about 200,000. President Woodrow Wilson was infected, and 675,000
Americans died. The death toll in Texas was 2,100. Of those, two were
family; Gladys died October 29, eleven days after the birth of Alta Mae.
Three-year-old Lois died about the same time; their death certificates say
they died of the Spanish Flu.
My mother went to her grave in 1996 thinking her mother died giving birth
to her. I assume my Grandmother Gladys is buried in Harris County with
her three-year-old child Lois. Most likely in mass burial sites. My widowed
Great Grandmother Rosa Puryear took Alta Mae to raise her. A century
later history repeats itself; that is why history and family stories are so
important!
