Everyone is familiar with what is known as the “Spanish Flu,” an influenza pandemic that wreaked havoc around the world from 1918 to 1920. Today, the science of that killer disease is well known and it is unlikely that the world would see another global tragedy of those proportions…Unless we’re struck by a new, unknown, untreatable virus in the future!
As a genealogist and family researcher, I’m often asked historical questions regarding events that may have affected my own family. Well, “my own family” includes at least 3 Mayflower passengers and their descendants, dozens of Great Migration colonists, at least one 20th centruy Canadian immigrant and that’s just my maternal side. On my paternal side, my 5th great grandfather was Jonathan Robertson whose arrival from Colerain, County Londonderry, Ireland around 1740 has been difficult to prove and the “facts” have remained elusive. I definitley have proof that at least one of his sons was Hezekiah Robertson/Robinson/Robison who was a veteran of the War of 1812. Notice the gravestone where his name is spelled “ROBRSON”!!
My point is that there’s a very long list of historical events, both good and bad that have affected my family. I have ancestors who fought in King Phillip’s War in 1675; French and Indian War; at least a dozen if not more Revolutionary War Patriots , War of 1812, Civil War, WW I and WW II, Korea and Vietnam. My Patriot ancestors from the Revolutionary War were my tickets to membership in the Massachusetts Sons of the American Revolution. As to the Civil War, I have to disclose that I’m the product of a mixed marriage: My maternal side is solidly Union while my paternal side, Confederate. One of my great aunts, Sarah Robison Coker (1919-2009), corrected me when I mentioned the Civil War: “You’re talking about the War of Northern Aggression, aren’t you?”
So what about the Spanish Flu? Here’s my story: My father’s mother was Mary Virginia Dunn. She married a CPA named Cecil Lee Robison. Footnote here – One of Cecil’s sons worked in a lab at Duke University in the 1960s. Dr. Michael Robison wrote scientific articles about his research in DNA. I like to say I have DNA in my DNA! 
Back to Mary Virginia. Mary’s father was Henry Wright Dunn. Her mother was Cecilia Gilma Robertson. Cecilia’s “Robertson” clan may very well be a collateral ancestor of mine given the vagaires of spelling in the 18th and 19th centuries but I have yet to find the connections. At any rate, Henry was a very succsessful business man. He was a Ford and a Buick dealer, he owned the largest hardware store anywhere in Conecuh County, Alabama and was a large owner of properties in and around the Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama area.
When the issue of the Flu began to turn into a global story, Henry decided to hire a nurse to stay with the family and assist in keeping every one healthy. Arrangements were made and Henry set out to take a long drive to pick up the nurse who would be working in the Dunn household along with a fair staff of domestics.
The road out of Evergreen was on the other side of town, across the railroad tracks (literally!) and up a long hill. It seemed like the right thing to do and, indeed, it was. The problem happened as Henry was about to crest the hill. The car stalled and presumably, Henry did everything he could to get the car started again. I’m quite sure that in 1918, youd have to get out the crank and literally, crank it up to get it running. Well, none of that was possible so Henry took a ride backwards down the hill where he should have been able to bring the car to a halt to investigae the cause of the stall.
Unfortunately for Henry, and his family, the L&N train was chugging its way through town and that’s what stopped Henry, not his brakes. 
Sadly, the car (a brand new Ford!) was crushed along with its lone occupant, my great grandfather, Henry Wright Dunn. It wasn’t the disease directly but because of the disease, Henry died trying to do right for his family.
Henry lingered for a couple of days before succumbing to his massive injuries. He’s buried in the Evergreen Cemetery with the following inscription on his grave marker: “DEATH LOVES A SHINING STAR.”
Mary Virginia divorced Cecil Lee. My father Henry was literally put in the Navy with paperwork that stating he was older than he was. His enlistment date is 17 January 1942, a few weeks after Pearl Harbor. Mary moved north to Massachusetts to work as a private duty nurse. Everyone else stayed south in Alabama. Upon his discharge in 1945, my father came to Massachusetts and this is where he stayed. Mary died in 1971 and is buried in the Island Pond Cemtery in Ludlow, Mass. Henry died in 2003, weeks after my mother, Beatrice Agatha (Dickson) Robison died. They are both buried in the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam, Mass.
Since I was always told, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you,” 99% of what I know of any of my ancestors comes from my own research and interviews I conducted as I found relatives in New England, Alabama, Tenness, California, Arizona and many other areas. To say it hasn’t been easy is an undersatement. Whatever they didn’t want me to know, I believe I’ve found most of my own story. Including the untimely demise of my great grandfather, Henry Wright Dunn (1873-1918).
