Yesterday I was looking for someone in the Missouri State Archives online, the death records, and I wasn’t able to find her by name. So I pulled up the whole year for the county, still couldn’t find her, but in scanning for deaths in the month of January, I found this:

Look at those dates, they’re all within days of each other. January 10… 11… 13… 14… Look at the certificate numbers, they were four consecutive people to die in the county. And look at the names, all people by the last name of LaSater. Of course, that got my curiosity flowing and so I took a look at each of their causes of death, though I knew I already knew the answer. Every one of them said the same thing:

Yes, everyone of them died of influenza with pneumonia contributing. It took me all of five seconds to notice, too, that Grace, Lilian, and Violet were all daughters of John Mark. Grace was 12 years old, Violet 2 years, and Lilian 1 year old. John was 33 years old and married to a woman named Sylvia (Miller).

The person I’m looking for died that January 23rd, she would be my great-grandmother’s sister, and she also died from the flu. As of yet, though, I have not found her death certificate.

So, Sylvia, I took a look in the 1920 census for LaSater and found her remarried to a man named William Knight. I only found her because she still had children living with her with the last name of LaSater, four to be exact: three sons and a daughter, ages 15, 11, 10, and 7.

But wow - put yourself in her shoes. In less than a weeks’ time, you lose your three daughters and your husband to the flu. Sure, you’ve got four other kids, but you’ve lost four precious people in just that short of a time. I wonder if any of the others “just barely” made it or if they even got sick.

Now… Your day doesn’t look so bad anymore, does it?

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