Follow Friday ~ The 1918 Flu Epidemic

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918.  At the time, we were experiencing a terrible flu outbreak in 2009.  Here are again in 2013, experiencing another flu outbreak, and somewhere families are being affected.   Death, and its aftermath can change your family history in unimaginable ways.  In 2009 I blogged about a young father dying, causing his children to be farmed out to family members, and my grandfather (the brother-in-law, yet only a teenager) had to quit school at 8^th grade and go be “the man of the family” to his sisters household.  The death of his brother-in-law changed his life forever.

US. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 41731-A

Did the 1918 Flu affect your family? Perhaps you had some young person die in 1918 and didn’t realize that it was due to this epidemic? What was the aftermath.  This disaster killed mostly young people, many of them young parents.

Some recent, and some not so recent, genealogy blog posts about the 1918 influenza epidemic:

Pam Carter “Influenza 1918”
http://mymaineancestry.blogspot.com/2013/01/influenza-1918.html   

Jim Craig “Influenza Part II: Their Only Son: Wesley Gillette Dempster” http://undereverystone.blogspot.com/2012/02/influenza-part-ii-their-only-son.html

Elroy Davis "Sickness Saturday - Influenza 1918"
http://greenmountaingenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/02/sickness-saturday-influenza-1918.html

Gail Grunst “Honoring Ancestors who Died too Young: Hugo Kaiser” http://gailgrunstgenealogy.wordpress.com/tag/influenza-1919/

Naomi “Serial Mother- The Story of Eva, Ch. 1” http://seattlemexicanfoodblog.typepad.com/vvblog/2012/09/serial-mother-the-story-of-eva-ch-1.html

Ryan Owen “1918: Spanish Influenza Invades Massachusetts”  

http://forgottennewengland.com/2011/12/17/1918-spanish-influenza-invades-massachusetts/

Maurine Pool “Death in the Family: 1918 Spanish Flu” 

http://torresfamilyhistorynm.blogspot.com/2012/10/death-in-family-1918-spanish-flu.html

Barbara Poole “Frances and the Flu”
http://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/2013/01/frances-and-flu.html

John Tew “The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918” http://filiopietismprism.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-great-influenza-pandemic-of-1918.html

Miriam Robbins "Jennie James Valk"
http://ancestories1.blogspot.com/2008/03/jennie-james-valk_20.html

Bill West "Floyd E. West, Sr. at Camp Devens, Sept. 1918"
http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/2008/01/floyd-e-west-sr-at-fort-devens-sept1918.html

Carol Bowen Stevens "1918 Flu Epidemic, Quarantine Rules"
http://www.reflectionsfromthefence.com/2010/02/1918-flu-epidemic-quarantine-rules.html

Cynthia Shenette wrote a three part series about the epidemic at her blog "Heritage Zen" You can catch the first post at this link, and click on parts 2 and 3:
 http://heritagezen.blogspot.com/2011/01/flu-1918-part-1-of-3-amanuensis-monday.html

This one is from Roxanne Saucier's genealogy column in the Bangor Daily News "Millinocket Mother one of  Maine's 5,000 influenza casualties in 1918" http://bangordailynews.com/2013/01/19/living/millinocket-mother-one-of-maines-5000-influenza-casualties-in-1918/

And last, but not least, my own blog post from 2009 about how a 1918 influenza death affected the history of my family tree in a very sad way…

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/10/spanish-flu-of-1918-and-family-history.html

If I missed a genealogy blog post about the 1918 “Spanish Flu” or any other interesting genealogy blog post about influenza, please leave a link in the comments below.

Update 4 March 2013
A great blog post from the MIT Alumni blog "Slice of MIT" about how the Institute handled the 1918 flu epidemic, and subsequent other flu pandemics: http://alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit/2013/03/04/fighting-flu-at-mit-history/

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Published under a Creative Commons License

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Follow Friday ~ The 1918 Flu Epidemic", Nutfield Genealogy, posted 1 February 2013 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/02/follow-friday-1918-flu-epidemic.html: accessed [access date]). 

Veterans of WW1, Derry, New Hampshire

Derry's MacGregor Park, War memorials

Last year for Veteran's Day and Memorial Day I transcribed all the names on the Londonderry war memorials to post here at Nutfield Genealogy.  It was a wonderful project, because several times a month I receive email or comments from folks searching their grandfather's name or for an ancestor.  It is with my greatest honor that I post these names to make them available to search engines such as Google or Yahoo for descendants to find them.  I'll post the links to those posts at the bottom.

The Derry town war memorials are located at MacGregor Park, next to the library.  There you will find monuments with names for all the wars, including the current conflicts in Iraq and Afganistan.  Each is beautiful in its own way, and reflects the history of each different era.  The Civil War monument is located in front of First Parish Church in East Derry, and it also has a list of names.  Today I'll start with the World War 1 veterans names. 

Here you will find lots of names common to Derry and New Hampshire, such as MacGregor, Taylor, Gallien and Madden.  In this memorial we also see some of the first immigrant names such as French Canadien, Irish and even some eastern European names since the shoe factories and other industries were busy in Derry at this time period in history.  I also noted there are plenty of late Victorian first names, such as Albert, Homer, Arthur and Eugene.   You will also find that there are several members of the Shepard family listed, including Alan B. Shepard, father of the famous astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr.   As an interesting not, the only woman on this list is among the deceased, Annie Frasier Norton.   She died of the 1918 Spanish Flu, like so many other service members.  Her story can be found at FindAGrave.com at this link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8056032 

World War 1 Honor Roll

World War I Derry

Abbott, Howard C

Abbott, James H

Adam, Adrien F.

Aiken, Irvin M

Allen, Arthur

Bailey, Forrest C

Bailey, Gailon W.

Bartlett, Edward E

Bartlett, George C.

Bartlett, Howard

Bartlett, Richard C.

Bean, George G.

Beaulieu, Frank J.

Bell, George A.

Bell, Henry G.

Benard, Arthur J.

Benson, Grant G.

Bergeron, Almanzor O.

Bergeron, Armand E.

Bergeron Arthur E.

Bergeron, Emile

Bergeron, Oscar E.

Bergeron, Wilfred J.

Berry, Ernest E.

Bienvenue, Philip J.

Bloomfield, Clifton N.

Bodney, Charles W.

Bogle, William M.

Boisvert, Ernest J.

Bond, Irving L.

Bond, William E.

Bonefani, Romeo V.

Booky, James

Boudreau, Albert

Bournival, Hector

Bover, Ernest H.

Boyce, William W.

Boyle, Clifton A.

Bradford, Willis H.

Huson, Verne A.

Burrell, Hervey L.

Butman, Augustus F.

Caldwell, Wallis B.

Campbell, Howard W.

Cassidy, Lawrence J.

Cassidy, Vincent H.

Chadwick, Howard W.

Chamberlen, Ernest E. A.

Charest, J. C. B.

Chase, Arthur W.,

Chase, Ernest

Chase, Fred E.

Chase, Henry P.

Choulias, William K.

Christensen, Charles H.

Clark, Frank A.

Cloutier, William A.

Cloutier, Amedee A.

Coffin, Burr L.

Coolidge, William C.

Corbett, William J.

Corliss, George D.

Cote, Adelard E.

Cote, Charles P.

Courcy, Albert E.

Courcy, John G.

Courtemarche, Nelson E.

Culley, Wilfred, L.

Curtis, Harold J.

Davies, William H.

Davis, Louis A.

Davis, Harold T.

Davis, James M

Davis, Ralph W.

Demarais, George M

Deneynow, Artem

Dion, Albert

Donian, John

Donvan, Raymond

Dorr, Scott L.

Dubeau, Joseph D.

Dumais, Alphonse

Durette, Adelard J.

Edwards, Joseph R.

Emerson, Henry H.

Emerson, Winslow L.

Farmer, Warren A.

Faubert, Henry D.

Feinauer, Harvey E.

Filiau, Charles L.

Fling, Clifton C.

Foisey, Wilfred

Fortier, Charles H.

Fortier, Robert J.

Gagnon, Fred H.

Gagnon, Henry

Gagnon, John B.

Gallant, John D.

Gaudreau, John V.

Gaudreau, Thomas L.

George, Nathaniel J.

Germain, Henry E.

Gibb, Addison R.

Gilcreast, Ralph H.

Godreau, Joseph M.

Goldsmith, Harold M.

Gosselin, Louis O.

Grant, Arthur J.

Green, Harry

Hall, Orrin W.

Hall, Ralph E.

Hamel, Leo J.

Haslam, Greville

Haslam, John E. C.

Hastings, Henry C.

Hatjmichon, John

Hearn, Lloyd H.

Hotsington, Walter A.

Holder, Edwin S.

Hood, Gilbert H. Jr

Horne, Robert S.

Hunt, Arthur J.

Johns, Charles C.

Johns, Edward E.

Johnson, George I.

Katsakiores, Nicholas

Katsekas, Thomas

Karibian, Krikor

Kimball, Fred E.

Kimball, Howard E.

Laberge, Joseph

Lambert, George H.

Laporte, Archie

Laporte, George W.

Lavoie, Romauld, A.

Laws, Edwin S.

Ledoux, Emile A.

Lehrum, Neel N.

Lewis, James

Lewis, William A.

Low, Frank A.

Low, Wesley D.

Lupien, Edward D.

Lynch, Arhtur M.

Madden, James E.

Madden, William J.

Mandigo, Roy W.

Mangene, Augustus S.

Manning, Michael J.

Manning, Timothy E.

Martel, John F.

Martin, Ephraim

Martin, James S.

Martin, Joseph L.

Martin, Oliver

Martin, Walter R.

Mayott, Henry

McCann, Harry F.

McCoy, Ralph K.

McDonald, James

McGregor, Frank C.

McLellan, Roderick D.

Merrill, Harry

Merrill, Joseph W.

Miltimore, James I.

Miltimore, John E.

Miltimore, Ralph I.

Minkler, Edward

Mitchell, Chester E.

Mooney, Robert N.

Moore, Robert S.

Moran, Thomas J.

Morin, Henry

Morin, Henry P.

Morin, Placide J.

Morse, Louis W.

Moynihan, Frank J.

Murphy, Edward J.

Nadeau, Emile J.

Nadeau, Joseph G.

Nowk, John

O’Connor, George B.

O’Hara, James F.

O’Hara, William C.

O’Neil, Harold W.

Ordway, James S.

Oxley, James A.

Page, Leroy C.

Palmer, John M.

Paquet, Edward J.

Paquette, Louis A.

Parker, Charlie H.

Parker, Kenneth S.

Parrish, John

Patnaude, Wilfred J.

Pelky, Joseph

Pluff, Elvin A.

Picard, Albert J.

Picard, Arthur J.

Pieroni, Leopold O.

Pieroni, Oreste

Pingree, Eugene D.

Pinham, Warren C.

Poehlman, Albert F.

Poirier, Fred J.

Pollander, Arthur

Pollander, Henry

Proctor, Earl H.

Provencher, Eugene J.

Quimby, Otis M.

Ramsdell, Earle H.

Rancourt, Sylvia

Redman, George A.

Reynolds, Ira A., Jr.

Rice, Emil L.

Rice, Harold M.

Richard, George

Richardson, Earle R.

Robbins, William A.

Roberts, Alvin B.

Robillard, Stanley G.

Rolland, Harry H.

Rousseau, Antonio

Roy, Edmund N.

Ryan, Clyde C.

Sargent, James A.

Scott, Arthur G.

Scott, Edward B.

Scott, Harold W.

Scott, John

Sefton, Henry R.

Shackett, Frank

Shepard, Alan B.

Shepard, Fredrick J. ,Jr.

Shepard, Henry B.

Sing, Charles E.

Smith, Arthur K.

Smith, George W.

Spaulding, Henry A.

Sprague, Oscar S.

Stanley, Frank C.

Stamules, Michael

Stearns, Harry L.

Stimpson, Richard B

Stone, George H.

St. Saveur, Homer E.

St. Saveur, Dolphus J.

Stuard, Joseph R.

Sutton, Albert E.

Sweezey, Howard R.

Taresewich, Kazimer

Taylor, Archie J.

Taylor, Clarence A.

Taylor, Edgar C.

Taylor, John J.

Taylor, Joseph

Taylor, Walter N.

Tewksbury, Carl H.

Tewksbury, John E.

Tewksbury, William S.

Tewksbury, Waldo C.

Tewksbury, Wallace C.

Tewksbury, Wilbur

Therrien, Eugene J.

Todd, Clarence A.

Todd, Munroe H.

Trombley, Alfred F.

Trudel, Arhtur E.

Tupper, Fred R.

Tupper, Harold C.

Tyler, Frederick F.

Vadeboncoeur, Charles J.

Wackter, Samuel

Wark, Harry W.

Webb, Hugh E.

Whitcomb, Harry E.

Whittamore, Wilbur A.

(names out of order added to the bottom of the plaque)

Mears, Herbert G

Murphy, Andrew J.

Rowe, Walter S.

Gallien, George

Carter, Edward C.

Lavoie, Oscar

Williams, Harry N.

Wyman, Gale B.

Zabriskie, Allan J.

DIED IN SERVICE

Norton, Annie Frasier

Bitgood, Charles E.

Chase, Lester W.

Clark, Arthur J.

Clark, Joseph E.

Fisher, Ervin R.

Godreau, Ernest

Hall, Charles W.

Hartford, Edgar C.

Hollingshead, Charles

Huson, Frederick R.

Hunt, Milford H.

Rice, Russell B.

Richards, Carl H.

Roberts, Maurice

Also, on the back of this monument  (always check the back!):

THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY
THE GRATEFUL CITIZENS OF DERRY

VERNE A. HUSON
HERBERT G. MEARS
WALTER S. ROWE
OSCAR LAVOIE
EDWARD D. CARTER

[were these names added later after the bronze plaque on front was cast?]

The Londonderry War Memorials Project (contains a link to all the memorials on Londonderry's Common)

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/11/world-war-i-veterans-from-londonderry.html

The Londonderry 99 (served in the American Revolution)

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/05/londonderry-99-memorial-day.html

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

The Spanish Flu of 1918 and Family History

US. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 41731-A

The Spanish Flu of 1918

Years ago I heard the story of a family member who died during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. It was interesting to me at the time, but even more interesting now with the Bird Flu epidemic.  It is well worth revisiting and re-investigating the story.

Between 1918 and 1919, an estimated 21.5 million people died of the “Spanish Flu” worldwide. However, the exact numbers are unknown. It is thought that about 675,000 Americans died, more than the total number of Americans who died in World War I. The dead were mostly young people, since survivors of an 1890 flu pandemic seemed to have immunity. This is surprisingly similar to what seems to be happening today, with people under 25 having a higher mortality rate than those who survived another flu epidemic in the 1970’s.

Frozen tissue samples show that the 1918 Spanish Flu was a variant on the influenza A virus, subtype H1N1. Sound familiar? However, remember that this was before penicillin could cure the ensuing pneumonia infections, and this 1918 strain had some nasty hemorrhagic side effects.

I was also surprised to read that the first American cases of the 1918 outbreak were in Boston. Several sailors came down with it on August 27th, followed by 8 more on the 28th, and 58 cases on the 29th. Two weeks later over 2,000 military men had the flu, because the sick soldiers were taken to the Chelsea Old Soldiers Home. By September the flu had reached Fort Devens. By January 16, 1919 about 45,000 people had died from the Spanish Flu in Massachusetts alone.

I now live in New Hampshire. It is interesting to note that since it was a rural state, New Hampshire had the least deaths in New England. The city of Manchester had set up some rather severe quarantines and restrictions on closing all soda fountains, and requiring restaurants to boil dishes. These strict regulations may have saved some lives.

In our family tree the flu victim was Waldo Emerson Cooper. He had married my great Aunt Lenora “Lena” Carrie Allen in 1912. On his World War I draft registration card, dated June 5, 1917, Waldo listed that he was a leather worker and bookkeeper, employed by James R. Cooper, his father, in Westborough, Massachusetts. He also listed a wife and two children as dependents, residing at 11 Beach Street. That fall, during the influenza outbreak, he died.

Aunt Lena was left widowed at age 24, with three babies. My grandfather, her brother, stepped in to become the man of the family, and left high school at age 14. He filled in for Waldo’s job at the family tannery, and Lena worked evenings playing the piano at silent movie theaters. To ease her burden, the smallest boy was adopted by the Cooper family, and possibly the other children was adopted, too.

Later, Aunt Lena remarried and lived a new life in Connecticut. Her first children remained in Westborough, but she adopted a new son. However, this story is not just about her first husband dying of the influenza. The death set up a chain of events in the family that could never be reversed. My grandfather never returned to school, and led a life of hard labor, including 40 years as a glazier at a large factory in Beverly. One of the little orphaned boys went to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, and the family rarely heard from his afterwards. Aunt Lena’s children were raised by her relatives. Even though she was able to set up a new life in Connecticut with her new husband and child, I’m sure that the memories of her first marriage were hard ones. And this is the just the story of one death due to the pandemic that took over a half million Americans.
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Family Group Information:

Joseph Elmer Allen and Carrie Maud Batchelder, resided in Essex, Massachusetts, had five children, including their oldest child….

Leonore Carrie Allen, born 20 March 1894, Boston, Massachusetts, died January 1973 in Stamford, Connecticut; married first on 29 December 1912 in Essex, Massachusetts to Waldo Emerson Cooper, born 21 March 1890 in Somerville, Massachusetts, died 1918 during the influenza pandemic. He was the son of James R. Cooper and Ada Steves Oram; married second to Thomas J. McCormack.

Three children with Waldo Emerson Cooper

1. Charles
2. Waldo, born about 1913
3. Carolyn, born about 1915

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Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic

http://1918pandemicflu.gov/

America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918, by Crosby, Alfred. (Cambridge University Press). Available online for a limited preview on Google Books

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Copyright 2009, Heather Wilkinson Rojo