Actually the peak year of that flu epidemic is usually cited as 1918.
See:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001460.html
A google search on "epidemics" will answer such questions quickly.
Myron E. Williams
(Lewis Allen of Orange County, Newton Stewart, was an ancestor.)
Bkmom89(a)aol.com wrote:
Bill,
My guess is the flu. My family lived in the area and many people died from
the flu about that time, although I think that the date usually connected to it
is 1917. My understanding is that when soldiers came home from World War I
many more people were stricken.
As I said in the first sentence, this is my GUESS based on knowing many
families in the are who lost members during that time.
(I was born and raised at Newton Stewart, a village south of French Lick and
West Baden, which is no longer there because of the Corps of Engineers Patoka
Lake project.)
Marlene Riley