History Repeats Itself

Yesterday I was on Facebook looking at the Volga German page.  One of the members had posted an interesting story about his grandfather, who was a victim of the 1918 Pandemic. As I looked at the comments I realized how many of us with that ancestry had similar experiences in our family history.  Some of the followers told about losing both grandparents.

This is a picture of my grandmother, Katharina Elisabeth Klamm Burghardt, born in Warenburg, Russia. The family was living in the Denver area at the time of her death in October of 1918. Her death was a result of the pandemic. It was during the second wave, between September and November of that year.  It proved to be highly fatal in the United States, with  195,000 deaths in October alone. My father was only two years old, and she left behind her husband and ten children.  As I've followed my family's story through the years, it is apparent how much that changed the world for them and their descendants.  That's just one family out of the millions of deaths.

The pandemic we are now experiencing has made me desire collecting the stories of my family.  I'd be happy to post any stories you'd like to share as well.  If you'd like to submit, please, send them to me.