POTTER United Families

In the Doelenstraat he helped three people during the great illness.
There were already two deaths in the house. The three others were
also dead the next morning. The father stayed in a house for more
than an hour, where the illness was raging. In the guest house 'In the
Armed Swan', two officials confiscated possessions and fulfilled their
duties.
Other persons were sick of the “Spanish smallpox”. Roeland stayed
with them. There was no cure for those people who had contracted
that disease through no fault of their own. In the Kloksteeg a family
was assisted at night; also in the Giststeeg and also in the Poppesteeg.
A woman of eighty years in the Begijnesteeg, who had not confessed
for 60 years, was helped at night by Roeland. Another old man was
helped to fulfill his ecclesiastical obligations. They had asked for a
priest at the Begijnhof, but they refused to come. It was too risky.
Roeland was in Zoetermeer with Joost Scheepmaker, and kept a
church there during the risky time. An attorney had come to live in
the region and had not noticed that the disease was there. The priest
stood by him unconcernedly when he became ill. The man died a day
or two after that. A daughter of that prosecutor became ill three days
later. The priest helped the whole family; they all had the plague; he
was there for two or three hours, with danger for his own life.
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