Lawrence Gillelan

Why did this husband die just 2 days apart from his wife when they were in the prime of life? They succumbed to the Spanish flu, a pandemic that killed millions in the U.S. and across Europe during 1918 and 1919. The Gillelans left behind three

daughters: Elizabeth, age 9; Ruth, 7; and Margaret, 3.

Lawrence came down with the flu in mid-January 1919. It quickly turned into pneumonia and he

lingered about two weeks. Ella appeared to escape the virus, but when it hit her she was gone within 24 hours. The Spanish flu was unusual because it killed not only the young and old, but also struck very hard at people between the ages of 20 and 40 with strong immune systems like the Gillelans possessed.

This charming family photo must have been taken just a year or two before Ella and Lawrence died.

Carroll County businesses were affected by the epidemic. Sixty-five percent of the workforce at the

cement plant in Union Bridge was out sick in the fall of 1918. Three-quarters of the employees at a cigar-making plant in Manchester were ill. In October, at the height of the flu, schools were closed to prevent the spread of the disease; church services were curtailed; and movie theatres were shuttered. The front page of the Democratic Advocate on 11 October 1918, carried nearly 30 short obituaries. Carroll County had no hospital, so most people died at home.

By November 1918 the number of new cases began to subside and schools re-opened,

but the virus continued its rampage through the winter months of 1919, the time when

it hit the Gillelans. Their three young girls were fortunate that Ella’s parents, George

and Ella Albaugh, stepped in to raise them.