In 1735, a diphtheria epidemic swept through Connecticut and the rest of New England. It started in Princeton, N.J., and raged up the coast for several years, killing children throughout New England, including Connecticut. In one family it killed all eight children, swelling their throats until they suffocated. Except for a monograph written in 1939 that was based on the memoir of a Puritan minister, the epidemic would probably not be remembered. For an additional 200 years, parents lived in fear of diphtheria and other epidemics. Now we have a vaccine, but the bacteria are not gone and we should not stop vaccinating. Haiti is currently threatened with a disastrous epidemic. Type “Sean Penn and diphtheria” into your search engine and you will see what I mean. Diphtheria was one of the first infectious diseases to have a scientific remedy, and the way that happened is an interesting story. Until 1857, when Louis Pasteur revealed that bacteria or other microorganisms were responsible for fermentation and putrefaction, no one thought that bacteria could cause disease. In 1865, the English surgeon Joseph Lister, applying Pasteur’s ideas, showed that bacteria were responsible for wound infection and that antiseptic surgical techniques could keep patients from dying of infection, which many did in those days. The scientific and medical world was skeptical of the new germ theory of disease because they could not conceive that something as small as a bacterium, which could barely be seen under the microscopes of the day, could kill a human. Fortunately, Lister was quietly persuasive (it helped that he was Queen Victoria’s physician). Pasteur, who was not a physician, was downright combative. The germ theory slowly won adherents and by the 1880s, Robert Koch and his students had discovered the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, cholera and other diseases. The bacterium that causes diphtheria was cultured from the throats of its victims in 1884 and made to grow in a test tube with a soup of nutrients. It is called Corynebacterium diphtheriae.This microbe releases a toxin that poisons the tissues of the patient, often with fatal results. Although the bacteria usually stay in the throat, where they produce a fearsome coating, the toxin travels in the circulation and affects the heart and other organs. The critical observation was that guinea pigs that survived the disease had something in their blood that would protect them from reinfection. If the serum of an immune guinea pig was inoculated into another guinea pig, it too became immune to diphtheria infection. These blood factors turned out to be antibodies. But how were physicians to find enough serum to treat the tens of thousands of children who die every year from diphtheria? Emile Roux, protégé of Pasteur and one of the creators of anthrax and rabies vaccines, realized that small amounts of diphtheria toxin injected into a horse would not kill it, and with boosters of toxin, the horse became an antibody factory. Roux recovered the antibody by bleeding, without harming the horse, which if well cared for, can spare a couple of liters of blood. In 1894, he conducted a trial in the Paris hospitals and showed that if administered early enough, half of the children who were expected to die were saved by the serum. He announced the results at a conference in Budapest and there was such excitement that the participants rushed to cable offices to alert the people back home to buy horses and inject them with the toxin. The effect on the public imagination is shown in a cartoon from the time. The face is that of Emile Roux. The antitoxin from horses is still essential and there is a critical shortage in Haiti. Diphtheria remained a fearsome disease — ambulances delivered gasping children and terrified parents to dedicated wards in hospitals where nurses and doctors tried to keep the children breathing. The author’s father, now a cogent 99, remembers having diphtheria and getting the injection in 1923. He was sick enough to miss a year of school but was probably saved by Roux’s serum. An effective vaccine was developed in the 1930s from inactivated toxin, and the disease disappeared from the United States and Europe. Vaccines have put diphtheria and other diseases in abeyance, but if we stop vaccinating they will come back, as diphtheria has in Haiti. Now that we have the means of prevention, why are these solutions not universally applied? It is a question to which we will return. Richard Kessin, Ph.D, is professor of pathology and cell biology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He lives in Norfolk and can be contacted at rhk2@columbia.edu.
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One systemic consequence of slavery is the loss and obscuring of the histories of those who were enslaved. Records were often not kept about where Africans had been stolen from or who they were related to. Families were torn apart, leaving nothing but the faintest traces of the past. The delineation point, where genealogists can no longer trace histories back, is refered to this as the “document wall.”
Today, 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and more than 160 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, there is a growing effort to restore some of the history stripped from enslaved people and their descendants. Among the leaders of these efforts is Mills, president of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a nonprofit organization that works to identify previously anonymous Black Americans from history and connect them with their living relatives.
The work began with Mills’ sister, who started digging into their family’s past in the 1990’s and introduced him to this emerging world of genealogy. Through that process, the Mills family discovered their great-great-grandfather, Ned Mills, who had been enslaved in Texas. His last name came from his final enslaver and remains the family surname. Through their research, they found that the document wall directly affected their ancestor, who learned of his liberation on June 19, 1865, now commemorated as Juneteenth.
“For the first time,” Mills writes on his website, “American slavery wasn’t something that had happened to anonymous people in a history book. It had happened to my family.”
The discovery gave Mills a familial pride he had been missing for years. That pride fueled his desire to help others find their own history. In 2023, Mills received his certificate in genealogical research from Boston University. He has used his expertise to help descendants of enslaved people uncover histories they never dreamed of learning.
To do this, he uses a process called “reverse genealogy,” identifying a person from the past and working forward to discover their descendants. Along the way, Mills has found some remarkable people who fought for freedom on American soil, some of whom were never freed.
Pay Bill for Robin Starr’s service in the Continental Army.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
At the Cornwall Historical Society event, Mills will present the stories of four Connecticut families: Job Lathrop of Norwich, the son of Pirmus Armes, about whom Mills has published a book; Prince Mortimer of Middletown, also the subject of a book by Mills;, the three sons of London Wallace of Simsbury; and Robert “Robin” Starr of Danbury, who later lived in Cornwall and Sharon.
A few years ago, Cornwall Consolidated School social studies teacher Will Vincent reached out to Mills for research guidance on a local history project his students were undertaking. Together, they learned about Naomi Freeman of Cornwall. After purchasing an acre of land on Great Hollow Road in 1828, Naomi Freeman became the first Black female landowner in Cornwall.
The students petitioned the town to rename a road after the historic Cornwall resident In April 2025, Great Hollow Road was officially renamed Naomi Freeman Historic Road. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes joined Mills and the Cornwall Consildated School students for a presentation of their research.
Since then, Mills has guided the students in their quest to learn more about Starr’s story. Starr was a Revolutionary War soldier who joined the Continental Army to earn enough money to buy his own freedom, receiving the Badge of Merit in the process. The stories of his descendents’ services are equally worthy of their own books.
In recognition of Mills and the students’ work, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway proclaimed Feb. 8 as Robin Starr Day.
Preregistration is required for the event at the Cornwall Historical Society. To learn more about Mills’ work, visit
alexbreanne.org.
John Mills speaking at Quinnipiac University.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.
Dogs have been at the center of Saetta’s life since childhood. She remembers going to the library to research different breeds and trying to convince her parents the family needed a dog. She had her heart set on an Irish Wolfhound, but she was more than happy when her mom brought home a West Highland terrier.
After college, she adopted Charlie as a puppy from a rescue on Long Island. He was a hound-shepherd-Rottweiler mix who suffered from intense seizures. Some veterinarians recommended euthanasia, but Saetta wasn’t ready to give up on him.
When Charlie would have an episode, she would sit with him, nose to nose, talking him through it. She learned to look for the moment he began to come around — when he could smell her again and his tail started to wag.
“You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor,” Saetta said. “I like to think that all the dogs that come through are going to have that person that they connect with just the same.”
Through a network of women working to rescue animals in Texas, she learned about the desperate situations facing many dogs.
With limited space, some public pounds euthanize even healthy animals to make room. Limited access to veterinary care leaves sick dogs or unvaccinated puppies especially vulnerable.
Saetta saw that reality firsthand with a puppy named Gus, a Labrador mix she fostered who has since been adopted. Gus and his sisters had been dumped beside a road, where they were living under an abandoned car. People would leave food for them, but no one would take them to the pound.
“Even the people who rescue animals down there were like, ‘sadly, the best place for them to be is on the side of the road,’” she said. “That’s safer. Someone might actually help them that way.”
Saetta knows that there are far more dogs than any one person can save, but she also knows that helping one dog means one fewer on the street.
Stephanie Saetta,with her rescue dog George and Blue (left), a shepherd mix awaiting his forever home.Madi Long
Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary operates entirely through foster homes, a model that Saetta believes is best for the dogs and the humans hoping to adopt them.
Rather than moving directly from a difficult environment into a permanent home, the dogs have a chance to settle into a quieter setting. They can learn what it’s like to live with a family, sleep somewhere comfortable and receive affection without fighting for attention. Fostering also allows the rescue to really get to know each dog.
“As fosters, we’re honest,” said Saetta. We’ll tell you everything that’s been bad, everything that’s been good. What their temperament is and how they’ve responded to all the things they’ve experienced.”
A successful adoption is not just about finding a dog a home; it’s about finding the right home where the dog and family can thrive together.
Saetta is looking for more people willing to open their homes to foster dogs. She understands that the thought of growing attached and eventually saying goodbye can feel daunting. But she sees that goodbye a little differently.
Fostering means being part of a dog’s journey, even if only for a short time. It gives dogs a safe place to rest, the chance to trust again and the love they have gone without for much of their lives. And when the time comes for them to leave, it is not really a loss. It is the reward of knowing they are moving on to a forever home.
Blue, Saetta’s current foster, is hoping to find his perfect home.
Blue, a 7 year-old Shepard mix, is waiting for his forever home. Madi Long
Now around 7 years old, Blue spent most of his life wandering the streets of Texas. People sometimes left food out for him, but his mangy, dirty coat kept them from stopping to pet him. Today, he has a chance to experience something different.
Blue is still waiting for his forever home. Saetta believes he would do best as the only dog in a household or alongside another senior dog. He will need someone willing to continue working with him on his training and understand that a dog with his history needs patience.
But what he gives in return is a whole lot of love.
“He’s so enthusiastic, he’s so excited for life, he’s so friendly, and he’s got such a good heart, and he loves to cuddle,” Saetta said. “He’s a good, good, good dog.”
For more information on adopting Blue or how to foster, visit ccbsanctuary.org.
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