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The Pox and the Covenant

By Tony Williams - "Mather, Franklin, and the Epidemic That Changed America's Destiny". Interesting story of the small pox epidemic of 1721 which hit Boston, MA. I envisioned that the story would be about Benjamin Franklin introducing early techniques to vaccinate against this dread disease. Instead the "hero" of the story was Cotton Mather, who risked his standing in the community to support efforts to try to prevent more deaths from small pox. The book also covers the Puritan religion and their beliefs as practiced in the first 100 years of the colony in MA. Is it a little dry at times but as a microbiologist, I found it interesting to learn at a religious name that was also working as a scientist in the American Colonies.

German Church Records of Western PA

Today I received the Index of Baptisms for Westmoreland County, PA 1772-1820. Several ancestors records are listed in the index. I found a link to a record that I need to establish my 2nd ancestor for DAR! I'm so glad the Lutherans in both Western PA and in Sweden kept great records.

Cold hearted oncologists

I'm considering skipping the quarterly appointment with the oncologist. I don't think I can stand the frustration of sitting in a room with someone who doesn't seem to give a hoot about what I'm going through with cancer. They don't do any magical tests at these appointments. They only way they found the cancer was with a mammogram. Let me just go to my family doctor; she is kind and listens!