Wednesday, May 6, 2020

KOSSUTH COUNTY AND THE SPANISH FLU EPIDEMIC OF 1918 - PART 5 (FINAL CHAPTER)


“THE FLU”
By Sgt. Whitley, U.S.A.

When your back is broke and your eyes are blurred,
And your shin bones knock and your tongue is furred,
And your tonsils squeak and your hair gets dry
And you’re doggone sure you’re going to die,
And you’re skeered you won’t and afraid you will,
Just drag to bed and have your chill,
And pray the Lord to see you through,
For you’ve got the Flu, Boy, you’ve got the Flu.

When your toes curl up and your belt goes flat,
And you’re twice as mean as a Thomas cat,
And life is a long and dismal curse,
And your food all tastes like a hard boiled hearse,
And your lattice aches and your head’s a buzz
And nothing is as it ever was.
Here are my sad regrets to you—
You’ve got the Flu, Boy, you’ve got the Flu.

What is it like, this Spanish Flu?
Ask me, Brother, for I’ve been thru.
It is but Misery out of Despair,
It pulls your teeth and curls your hair,
It thins your blood and breaks your bones,
And fills your craw with moans and groans.
And sometimes, maybe, you get well.
Some call it Flu—I call it HELL.

The poem above appeared in the January 1, 1919 issue of the Upper Des Moines – Republican.  During the previous two-week period, most of the staff had suffered through their own personal bout with the dreaded disease.  After days spent in bed, all were back at work but still feeling the lingering effects of the flu.  They all agreed that the poem described their experiences very well.

Citizens were hopeful that the new year would bring an end to the illness and death that had plagued the area for over three months.  In an effort to bring some good news to their readers, area newspapers were filled with uplifting stories of men returning from service and of area nurses who had volunteered their services to care for those who were wounded or ill while in service to our nation.  Basketball games between the Bulldogs of Algona High School and their rivals from other communities had resumed at Bryant.  After having been closed for nearly three months, the Whittemore schools had reopened on December 30th.  Flu and pneumonia still had a grip on the area, but it was decided that school might as well be open since so many children were running around the community anyway. 

NOT ALL GOOD NEWS

The Titonka Topic told the story of the Simon Wubben family.  All members of the household had contracted the disease at once except for a four-year-old boy.  Too small to pump water, he had carried water from the stock tank to the house for use by the family and carried in all the wood used to heat the house.  He managed to do the chores by himself for a week before a neighbor happened to stop by and discovered the situation.  She found the family in dire straits, having no care or food other than what the four-year-old provided.  Several of the family members had developed pneumonia and were in critical condition.  Dr. Peters was called, but there was no hope for Simon and his nephew, Freddie Wubben, who died within 24 hours of each other.

No funerals or services were held because the rest of the family were so ill.  With no family member well enough to provide care, a Mr. Hadler was hired to assist at the Wubben home.  He told the Topic that he had been on duty there for 72 hours without sleep as he took care of his patients night and day.  Despite his best efforts, Simon’s son, also named Freddie, would lose the fight two weeks later.  He died at the age of 6.

INFLUENZA LEAVES MANY ORPHANS

Adults aged 20-40 seemed to be the most vulnerable to this strain of influenza. This resulted in the passing of so many married couples, leaving their children as orphans.  Minnie Smith of Swea City died December 27th leaving two little boys, Ervin and Wayne, to be cared for by their father, Harry Smith.  He too was ill and would pass on January 6th.  Robert and Elizabeth McQuade of the Bancroft area died within a day of each other.  They had three small children, the youngest only two weeks old.  Earl and Florence Donelson died at the Sexton hotel where they were staying until they could take possession of the farm they were renting south of Algona.  Their daughters were age 6, 4 and 1.


KOSSUTH COUNTY AND THE SPANISH FLU EPIDEMIC OF 1918 - PART 5 - kossuthistorybuff.blogspot.com
Earl and Florence Donelson family

ANOTHER TRAGEDY

The beginning of February brought a tragedy related to the lingering infirmity left behind by influenza.  Peter Brethearst was a farmer near Blairsburg.  Left weak and depressed after a battle with the illness, his two brothers, one of whom lived near Sexton, decided to take him to a sanitarium in Des Moines.  While the brothers were in the train station at Sexton buying tickets for their journey, Peter eluded them. He started to run along the Milwaukee tracks headed east.  As an incoming train approached, he threw himself in front of the engine.  His death was immediate.  Coroner W. E. Laird investigated, found that an inquest was unnecessary, and the body was shipped to Illinois for burial.  He left a widow and a 10-year-old son.

KOSSUTH COUNTY AND THE SPANISH FLU EPIDEMIC OF 1918 - PART 5 - kossuthistorybuff.blogspot.com
From the Upper Des Moines Republican
February 5, 1919

LIFE GOES ON

The epidemic began to slow in February which brought a decline in the number of deaths.  More activities began to resume.  For just 27¢ plus 3¢ war tax, customers of the Algona Opera House could take in the real life story of Private Peat in the feature “Two Years in Hell, And Back With a Smile” or see the motion pictures “He Comes Up Smiling” featuring Douglas Fairbanks and “The Make Believe Wife” with Billie Burke. 

Farm and livestock auctions continued with regularity.  Sleighing parties were enjoyed and even dances resumed by mid-month.  There were some setbacks along the way though.  Two days into a jury trial a juror became ill with the flu.  When they tried to reconvene, there were four more jurors sick.  The jurors were then dismissed.  Other cases set to be tried in Kossuth County court had to be continued due to the prevalence of influenza among members of the entire jury pool.

KOSSUTH COUNTY AND THE SPANISH FLU EPIDEMIC OF 1918 - PART 5 - kossuthistorybuff.blogspot.com
Upper Des Moines Republican
March 5, 1919

The month of March brought one more outbreak to the Swea City area where at least seven residents died from the disease within a one-week period.  But as the first day of spring came to Kossuth County, the substantial amount of deaths related to the epidemic abruptly ended.  Although sporadic cases of the illness would continue to linger throughout the summer and an occasional death from influenza would occur, the prolonged scourge was finally over.

SUMMING UP

So many people played roles in getting our county through this misery.  Doctors, family members, Red Cross volunteers, neighbors—everyone did their part in caring for each other.  Mrs. E.J. Rawson alone nursed nearly 70 flu patients in the Algona area. 

Almost 150 citizens of Kossuth County died during the epidemic.  While no exact count of the number of those infected with the illness could be found, I would estimate that many hundreds if not several thousand people in the county contracted influenza based on the large number of the sick mentioned in each edition of the area newspapers.  The lack of any genuinely effective treatment for pneumonia and other breathing difficulties that often followed the flu was reflected in the high mortality rate.

In April, a baby daughter was born to Mrs. T. E. Gebhart of Whittemore.  The baby’s father, Tom, had been one of the first victims to pass away during the epidemic back on November 6, 1918.  It seems rather poetic that this new life would enter the world just as this plague was coming to a close.  I like to imagine that this sweet baby girl brought a huge measure of happiness and joy back to her mother’s world after so much sadness. 


Kossuth County Deaths from Influenza/Pneumonia January 1919

Name
Location of Death

Age

D/O/D

Record*
Floyd E. Huckeby (Hogenberry)
Wesley Twp.
19Y 2M 15D
01/03/1919
KCDR
Fred Henry Wubben
Portland Twp.
15Y 11M 5D
01/02/1919
KCDR
Simon (Siemen) Wubben
Portland Twp.
33Y 9M 10D
01/03/1919
KCDR
Harry Clause Smith
Swea City
28Y 5M 28D
01/06/1919
KCDR
Ernest A. Leeck
Titonka
21Y 5M 10D
01/07/1919
KCDR
Gwendoline Myrth Simpson
Algona
7Y 10M 8D
01/09/1919
KCDR
William (Wilhelm) Mayland
German Twp.
33Y 6M 2D
01/10/1919
KCDR
Elizabeth Andrews
Sexton
2Y
01/12/1919
Obit/NA
Rosa Catherine Fouarage (Fourge)
Riverdale Twp.
27Y 10M 29D
01/12/1919
KCDR
Jennie Birsker Jansen
Germania
46Y 16D
01/12/1919
KCDR
Christian Miller
Wesley Twp.
33Y 5M17D
01/13/1919
KCDR
Fred Mayland
German Twp.
61Y 2M 10D
01/15/1919
KCDR
Earl Donelson
Sexton
27Y 7M 20D
01/15/1919
KCDR
Flora (Florence) Donelson
Sexton
29Y 10M 15D
01/16/1919
KCDR
Robert John McQuade
Bancroft
24Y 26D
01/16/1919
KCDR
Anna Abbas Bishop
Germania
19Y 10M 8D
01/17/1919
KCDR
Elizabeth McQuade
Greenwood
31Y 11M 3D
01/17/1919
KCDR
Frederick Simon Wubben
Portland
6Y 4M 20D
01/18/1919
KCDR
Helen Ida Hoeck
Swea City
17Y 9M 20D
01/21/1919
KCDR
Mary Menke
Bancroft
40Y
01/22/1919
KCDR
Cecilia Kayser
Riverdale Twp.
27Y 2M 4D
01/23/1919
KCDR
Elizabeth Manning
German Twp.
34Y 6M 1D
01/23/1919
KCDR
George Arthur Miller
Wesley Twp.
6Y 5M 4D
01/23/1919
KCDR
Ray Stanton
Sexton
31Y 8M 14D
01/25/1919
KCDR
Anna Stanton
Sexton
61Y 3M 20D
01/26/1919
KCDR
Harry Pasley
(Sexton)
17Y 8M 7D
01/27/1919
KCDR
Payson Henry Pickett
LuVerne
25Y 9M 28D
01/29/1919
KCDR
Blanche Josephine Hass (Harr)
Swea City
1Y 4M 12D
01/30/1919
KCDR
Joseph L. Householder
Burt Twp.
39Y 2M 6D
01/30/1919
KCDR
John Asher Reynolds
Seneca Twp.
17Y 9M 5D
01/31/1919
KCDR
*KCDR=Kossuth County Death Records  -  Obit/NA=Obituary/News Article
( ) show corrections to the original record


Kossuth County Deaths from Influenza/Pneumonia February 1919

Name
Location of Death

Age

D/O/D

Record*
Miriam Ethel Braun
LuVerne
5Y 6M 28D
2/2/1919
KCDR
Nellie Edna Haskell
LuVerne
38Y 1M 1D
2/2/1919
KCDR
Edward Francis Mina (Mino)
Swea City
42Y 6M 5D
(32Y)
2/3/1919
KCDR
Jno. Russell Williams
Garfield Twp.
8M 11D
2/5/1919
KCDR
Isadore Estella Schuller
Seneca Twp.
3Y 6M 11D
2/5/1919
KCDR
Andrew John Jungberg (Jongberg)
Swea City
68Y 8M 5D
2/5/1919
KCDR
E. C. Sutton
Algona
41Y 10M 18D
2/6/1919
KCDR
Earl Jules Malmanger
Springfield Twp.
1Y 4M 9D
2/10/1919
KCDR
Wm. J. D. Johnston
Lone Rock
23Y 24D
2/19/1919
KCDR
Irene M. Mapes
Sexton
1M 21D
2/23/1919
KCDR
William Vaurik
Algona
2Y 2M 1D
2/25/1919
KCDR
Minnie Sayers
Swea City
51Y 3M 21D
2/27/1919
KCDR
*KCDR=Kossuth County Death Records  -  Obit/NA=Obituary/News Article
( ) show corrections to the original record


Kossuth County Deaths from Influenza/Pneumonia March 1919

Name
Location of Death

Age

D/O/D

Record*
Sniffen Lee Kelly
Grant Twp.
30Y 16D
3/01/1919
KCDR
Johannes Jociln Kracht
Algona
43Y 4M 24D
3/01/1919
KCDR
Marvel Thompson
Swea Twp.
1D
3/01/1919
KCDR
Priscilla Thompson
Swea Twp.
29Y 3M
3/01/1919
KCDR
Geo Vaurik
Algona
4Y 10M 4D
3/01/1919
KCDR
George Henry Erickson
Swea Twp.
31Y 9M 8D
3/02/1919
KCDR
John Martin Deim, Jr.
Swea Twp.
30Y 9M
3/03/1919
KCDR
Virgil Marcellus Pehrson
Harrison Twp.
2Y 8M 26D
3/03/1919
KCDR
Lillian Bray
Swea Twp.
31Y 5M 17D
3/04/1919
KCDR
Ben Risius
German Twp.
11Y 11D
3/05/1919
KCDR
Charles Frederick Sperbeck
Harrison Twp.
1Y 19D
3/06/1919
KCDR
John H. Bray
Swea Twp.
28Y 10M 27D
3/07/1919
KCDR
Florence Paulson
Seneca Twp.
42Y 11M
3/08/1919
KCDR
Cunegunde Scholtes
Ramsey Twp.
29Y 4M 4D
3/14/1919
KCDR
Verle Potter
Algona
7M 9D
3/16/1919
KCDR
Charles T. Gibbs
Burt
88Y 10M 19D
3/19/1919
KCDR
Margirret Davis
Harrison Twp.
35Y 9M 19D
3/21/1919
KCDR
*KCDR=Kossuth County Death Records  -  Obit/NA=Obituary/News Article
( ) show corrections to the original record

Until next time,

Kossuth County History Buff


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