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During the 17th century, most colonial Marylanders lived in difficult conditions on small family farms. Death rates from disease were high and heavy labor was a fact of life. Malaria, typhoid, and dysentery weakened or killed immigrants, and pregnancy put women's health at risk. Indeed, bouts of illness were so common following an immigrant's arrival that the early 

months on American soil were known as the "seasoning period." During the seasoning period, immigrants not only had to recover from a long and grueling voyage, but they were exposed to diseases they had not encountered previously, which they had to overcome if they were to survive.