Josephine (Alaria) Riva died on February 2, 1919 after having bronchi pneumonia for six days and influenza for three. Statistically, she was a victim of the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918-1919. But on the human side our 33 year old ancestor left behind a husband and three children, the youngest of which was eight year old Peter. It's estimated that between 20 to 40 million people died of the flu in those two years nation wide and 32 thousand just in the state of Illinois.
Her Death Certificate reveals a few interesting details like the fact that her father's family name is spelled the same way as it was on the 1900 U.S. Federal Census---"Olario"---and that she was buried at the Granville Cemetery in Granville, Illinois. This latter fact is interesting because her oldest son, John, had her marble grave marker in his garage for many years. The family couldn't afford to buy one when she died so decades later Josie's three kids had one made. The stone made at least two trips down to Illinois from Michigan but the cemetery location couldn't be found. From my understanding, it was finally left at a cemetery adjunct to a catholic church but the cemetery keeper didn't have any record of her being there. "But," he said, "They'd find a place for the marker."
Click to enlarge
Town listed on the Death Certificate:* Standard where Josephine Riva lived Putnam County
* Granville where she was buried
Putnam County
* Spring Valley where she died
Bureau County
This whole area of Illinois was involved heavily in coal mining. Spring Valley alone was over 6,000 people at the turn of the century and it was one huge mining camp. Saint Margaret's Hospital, where Josephine died, was built by seven French sisters to service those miners. J.Riva © 2008
Click to enlarge map above and below.
The pins on the bottom map shows where all the Granville cemeteries are located today.
Granville, IL coal yards and trains on their way to Chicago, circa ? .
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