Typhoid Fever Was Thought to Be God’s Will

In the years when typhoid fever was common in Cleveland County, people did not understand sanitation or how disease spread. Wells and privies were often placed so close together that they drained into each other. Dead animals were sometimes left to decay nearby, and flies moved freely from filth to food. One description of the time summed up this thinking: “My privy and well drain into each other, after the custom of the Christian. Fevers and fluxes are wasting my house. I wonder why God has afflicted me.” Illness was believed to be sent by God, not caused by contaminated water, poor sanitation, or insects.

Source: Mamie Jones