Welcome back to our 3-Part Blog charting tuberculosis (TB) in the extended Washington Family. If you are new to this series, Part I examined how the disease works, charted its history and explained standard courses of treatments in the 1700s. Part II looked at victims from George’s generation, including his brothers Lawrence and Samuel and … Continue reading Bane of the Washingtons: Deaths in the Next Generation and Amongst the Enslaved
Health
Bane of the Washingtons Part II: The Deaths of Lawrence, Fielding, and Samuel
Welcome back to our 3-Part Blog charting tuberculosis in the extended Washington Family. If you are new to this series, Part I examined how the disease works, charted its history, and explained standard courses of treatments in the 1700s. You can find the blog here, and we encourage a review of the “Treatment” section. In … Continue reading Bane of the Washingtons Part II: The Deaths of Lawrence, Fielding, and Samuel
Winter Ailments (and how to endure them in the eighteenth century)
As spring approaches in the Middle Atlantic and Northeastern states, we welcome the chance to spend more time outdoors in the fresh air instead of cooped up in our houses – getting sick. Ailments such as colds and flu are contractible anytime, but we usually associate them with the wintertime as that’s when they seem … Continue reading Winter Ailments (and how to endure them in the eighteenth century)
Washington, Smallpox, and the Fight for Independence
Living in Colonial America, disease and illness were defining challenges and perpetual threats of human existence. At the time, there was no concept of infection or germ-theory, no vaccines, no really effective treatments for infectious disease and few public health measures that could reliably curb epidemics.[1] For colonial Americans, it was not a matter of … Continue reading Washington, Smallpox, and the Fight for Independence
Lives & Legacies 