<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">My mom grew up in the Cottage Grove area .....and she told of the time she had scarlet fever. The house was quarantined with big signs on the doors and the windows. No one could come in, and supplies were left on the porch by certain people designated to do that. Her hair had to be cut off really short, and she said she had been really sick, and that several children in the area had died from it. <BR>
As a pediatric intensive care nurse now, I look at these types of situations and am so grateful that we live now. A little course of pennicillin would have taken care of the strep throat that was undoubtedly the precursor to the Scarlet Fever and there would never have been any side effects. I sometimes think we take for granted so many things now.<BR>
My ggrandfather, my mom's mom's dad, brought his family from Illinois to Lane County for a better life in 1908. Shortly after settling his land near Cottage Grove his children came down with measles, and he too caught them. He completely lost his eyesight, leaving his wife and 6 kids to help finish settling and farming the land he had so dreamed of owning. <BR>
Their lives were very hard in comparison to ours, but they had resourcefulness and courage that I think are born of hardship, and are virtues that cannot be taught. I often wonder what my great grandchildren will think of me when they research. Will they think I was strong and lived a "hard life", or will they think of all the things they wish I could have taught them, if only I had learned them from my parents! It gives us all something to think about.<BR>
Joy Tomseth Franklin<BR>
researching Elliott, Whitsett, Tomseth, Baxter, Harlow, Pettigrew</FONT></HTML>