John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 704

In the last two issues of Beyond Germanna, Carol Ann Burdine has discussed the Burdyne-Burdine family where there were six children of Richard and Catherine (Tanner) Burdine in Culpeper County (now Madison), Virginia.  Five of these children moved in the southerly direction after the Revolutionary War, while one widowed daughter and her family moved to Kentucky.  (Many members of the Burdine family are working on a family genealogy, which Carol Ann Burdine is compiling.  Any information that readers may have would be appreciated.)

One story is told in the article which illustrates how fragile life was.  Samuel Burdine, one of the six children, had a son Abraham, who had a daughter, Mary, who married Henson Hunt, and lived in Pickens County, South Carolina.  In the late summer and early fall of 1851, the Hunts drained the water from their mill pond which contaminated the water supply for the house well.  Organisms in the mill water infected the supply for the Hunt's house and the supply for the servants living on the farm.

Before the tragedy was over, at least nineteen people had died.  Five guests who were staying with them were included, plus the Hunt's own family and servants.  All of these deaths were in the months of September, October, and November.

This was just one hundred and fifty years ago.  Great improvements have been made, thanks to the combined efforts of the civil engineers and doctors.  (The improved conditions wrought by the civil engineers have been said to the single biggest factor in reducing death.)  It took the efforts of many professions to recognize the causes.  Are we safe today?  That question would take us too far afield from the theme of these notes, but one cannot but note what history has told us.  Perhaps we should not feel too confident about conditions today.