Cemeteries are places that genealogists visit frequently, both for research and for paying homage to our ancestors who are interred there. Over the years I have visited literally hundreds of cemeteries, memorial gardens, mausoleums, and monuments. If you ever get the chance to visit Key West, Florida, you must visit the Key West Cemetary. No, I didn't misspell that word; that's the way it's spelled on the arched wrought-iron gate at the entrance to one of the most interesting cemeteries in the world. It is the burying ground for some extremely interesting—and eccentric—personalities. Among them is the crypt in which B. P. Roberts is interred and on which is a stone tablet inscribed with the telling epitaph, “I told you I was sick.” Learn more about this fascinating cemetery at: http://keywest.com/cemetery.html.

One of the challenges of tracing our family history is in placing family members into geographical, historical, and social context. This means poring over and comparing contemporary and historical maps. It entails reading and studying histories at all levels—local, state, national, and international—in order to understand the events, both mundane and momentous, that influenced our ancestors' lives. We also have to consider the personal events in the lives of our ancestors and their contemporaries that contributed to the larger picture.

Diseases and physical ailments were potentially catastrophic in other eras. Before the introduction of antibiotics, the “wonder drugs,” and vaccines that have eradicated many diseases from our lives, our forebears suffered and succumbed to a wide variety of illnesses. Many of these would be treatable today. My Great-grandfather Rainey B. Morgan died at age 41 of an infection resulting from a boil. My Great-grandmother Holder died at age 66 of pneumonia. And one of her sons, a great-uncle, Luther Moffet Holder, succumbed at age 32 to the dreaded tuberculosis, or TB. He suffered with TB for more than four years and was placed in a sanatorium, before being relocated to New Mexico for the benefit of a drier climate. Typhoid fever, measles, chicken pox, mumps, cancer, tuberculosis, influenza, heart disease, kidney failure, dysentery, bone fractures, pneumonia, and so many other illnesses for which we have treatments and cures today terminated the lives of our ancestors far too soon.

In order to learn more about the medical conditions and treatments of bygone eras, and to understand their social impact, we have to read the available literature that exists. I love to read about historical periods and the conditions of the times. This week I want to share information about two books that shed light on two of the most prevalent and devastating diseases of the last two hundred years: tuberculosis and influenza...

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