Tushingham Memories: The Dawson family and the plague
The plague was a constant threat to Cheshire in the seventeenth century and the Malpas parish records contain the story of how one Tushingham family was decimated in the summer of 1625.
The head of the family, Raufe Dawson, had unwittingly brought the plague back to Tushingham, apparently through infected fleas in his cloth bag.
The plague spread rapidly and caused the deaths of ten members of the Dawson household within a month. This only left Raufe and one nephew John, both of whom eventually succumbed to the disease.
As Raufe was larger in stature than his younger kinsman, he dug his own grave and asked John to spread straw in it so that he could lay down to die, thus avoiding the need for John to move his body. However, this selfless act did not spare John as he died shortly afterwards, along with the curate who recorded the story.
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