The earliest story I've found about an ancestor is from 1580. A French ancestor's wife was very ill. He feared she would die. There was a German army advancing, and some kind of plague was rampant. He was trying to find people who would be witnesses to her will, but everyone was afraid of getting ill. He finally found two who would sign. She survived. Women in France actually had independent property rights, necessitating a will. #genealogy
"Throughout the period from late 1586 to early 1588, the locals were constantly under the threat of plague that had somehow been endemic. Strongly excited by imagination they attributed to plague more than one death caused by diseases that were not contagious. Not only rural residents but also those of Montbeliard were under the influence of exaggerated fears. We see a curious example at the time of the invasion of the Guises (Germans). A. woman from Exincourt, who had fled to Montbeliard...
"... to escape persecution, ravages and insults of the wicked tyrannical troops from that country, fell ill suddenly January 26, 1588, her condition worsened so she hurried to make provisions. Her husband ran into the street at ten o'clock at night in search of witnesses. Despite his entreaties, he struggles to meet the prescribed number. There was a farmer from Bart and also a miller of the city who consented to serve as witnesses but many passers refused because they believed the testator...
"...was suffering from a contagious disease (1)."
Testamony of Jeanne Vaulthier, wife of Huguenin Parrot of Exincourt, 26 January 1588, Register of causal testimonies, National Archives, in Montbeliard, 1678, fol. 133 V.
#genealogy
@poemblaze I found out one of my side of family has been in the USA almost since the beginning
@Rupiefied2020 Very cool. My earliest known Immigrant ancestor arrived in 1621. Really helps to relate with US history, knowing I had ancestors here.
@poemblaze makes me appreciate history and wanting to know the good and bad if we don't know the bad we just repeat the same mistakes
@poemblaze My husband is a descendent of Grietje Reyniers, the first whore in New York (then New Amsterdam, of course).
My MIL wasn't terribly pleased when I dug that up, but I think it's hilarious.
@Myana Sounds like a royal title: First Whore of New Amsterdam.
@poemblaze Or a feminist collective. @Myana
@poemblaze I looked it up and i think it was the bubonic plague that was going around! 👀 It does not sound like a pleasant thing to get either: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21590-bubonic-plague
@poemblaze And when i say "doesn't sound like a pleasant thing to get" i mean that as a "besides the whole part about DYING from it" sorta thing... 😬
@ChillySnowgirl I thought it might have been that, but I was relying on Google Translate of a passage in a French history book. Also, I need to go back and double check the year. It may be 1588.
@ChillySnowgirl She fell ill Jan 26, 1588.
@poemblaze i'm trying to reply with something but i'm not able to post it, grrrr
@ChillySnowgirl It will eventually happen
@poemblaze And i STILL cannot post my full reply 😭
Here's the link. It's in light purple =/ https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/bubonic-plague-first-pandemic#:~:text=The%20first%20wave%2C%20called%20the,virulent%20strain%20of%20the%20disease.
@ChillySnowgirl Thanks. That corroborates this story. It seems she didn't have the plague, but people thought she did.
@poemblaze No that article says there were 3 "waves" of it!
"The first wave, called the Black Death in Europe, was from 1347 to 1351. The second wave in the 1500s saw the emergence of a new virulent strain of the disease. The last pandemic at the end of the 1800s spread across Asia and at last gave scientific medicine the opportunity to identify the cause of the disease and its means of transmission."
@ChillySnowgirl You are right about that, but the archive story says people were panicked, fearing she had plague. Apparently she didn't. People knew what the symptoms were. She had something else at the time when plague was prevalent.
This ancestor was married twice and I descend from his second wife. This was his first wife.