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<center> LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN
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LENAWEE REFLECTIONS
by Dr. Charles Lindquist
<center>?Spanish Flu Claimed Lives of 80 Lenaweeans in 1918,?
January 7, 1989
</center> Once we are past New Year?s there is no escaping the fact that it is January, and it?s cold out there. Meanwhile, we are all enduring the colds and flu which go along with being cooped inside so much. As I was hacking my way through a mild case of the sniffles, I got to thinking about just how bad these colds and flu can get. That led me to look up the flu epidemic of 1918.
If ever a time deserved to be called ?the best and worst of times,? it would be the Fall of 1918. On the international front the mighty armies of the United States, the British Empire and the French Empire were finally breaking through the German lines on the Western Front. Hugh German armies were being hurled back into their own country after four dreadful years of bloodshed, and the Teutonic Empire seemed destined to collapse at last. At home the people of the United States were going through a congressional campaign which culminated with a local fellow, Earl Michener, winning his race to become U.S. Representative from the Second Congressional District. It had been a long time since someone from Lenawee had won that spot. To make the Fall even nicer, an Adrianite, Sam Raymond, brother-in-law of Henry Ford, announced that Mr. Ford would be building a big tractor plant in Adrian come the Spring of 1919.
All this was wonderful news, but, meanwhile, reports began to circulate about a fearful new strain of flu coming over from Europe. It was called ?the Spanish Flu,? and by early October it had smashed into Michigan. Up in Camp Custer at Battle Creek 5,794 soldiers had it, and already 120 of them had died. One of them was from Lenawee. He was a soldier from Deerfield, Carl Prelipp. In almost no time Deerfield had taken the most extraordinary measures to protect the community. On Oct. 1 it was announced that all homes would be fumigated if there had been any cases of measles, whooping cough or pneumonia since Oct. 1. All schools would be fumigated, too, and there would be no open caskets at funerals where flu was reported as the cause of death. Also, anyone who had visited an army camp would be quarantined for 47 hours.
By this time a second Army boy from Lenawee, George Carlton of Holloway, had died and a few cases of the flu in Lenawee itself had been reported. Dr. Hendershot of Tecumseh knew of 20 there, and Dr. McKenzie, the health officer in Adrian, knew of 11 in Adrian.
Elsewhere in Michigan, the flu was showing up everywhere, and so Gov. Sleeper issued some emergency requests. He wanted all churches and theatres to close down until the State Board of Health said the epidemic was over. If the public would not go along with his request, he would turn it into an order. Never before had anyone attempted to close down all the churches, but such was the fear of the flu in 1918 that there was instant and total compliance.
In Lenawee the flu seemed to begin in Tecumseh, move to Adrian, then to Hudson, and finally to the rest of the county. In Tecumseh the critical day was Oct. 12. Not only were there 60 cases, but five of them were teachers. The schools shut down instantly. Five days later Tecumseh had 200 cases, and four days after that it had 350 that had been reported. The city felt desperate. People were starting to die, and whole families were so sick that they could not take care of themselves. It was natural, too, that there were not many people who could or would volunteer to enter these houses to help these pitiful people who were sick and dying. By Oct. 5 authorities in Tecumseh were asking for volunteers who would at least prepare some food for these families and take the food to their doorstep.
Meanwhile, over in Adrian the public health authorities battled the threat of contagion with ever-tougher regulations. As of Oct. 21 Mayor James Baker ordered that employees in bakeries, restaurants, hotels, confectionaries, as well as barbers and dentists, would have to wear masks. All funerals would be private and limited to the family, and all houses would be quarantined where flu was reported. On Oct. 26 he ruled that milkmen would no longer be allowed to fill milk bottles. If people wanted milk, they would have to use their own containers. Adrian had at least 500 cases of flu by this time, and volunteer nurses were refusing to enter quarantined homes to help the afflicted.
By Oct. 21 ten people in Lenawee had died of the flu. One might think that it would be the elderly and the children who would be most vulnerable, but such was not the case. In this first group of deaths, for instance, Mrs. Sanford Summers of Adrian was 35, and she left behind her husband and a 10 month old baby. Santo Cascarelli of Tecumseh was 17, and he had already become something of a businessman in the family business. Frank Howard of Adrian left behind his widow and two children. A month later it is still those you might think strongest who were dying. An example would be Mrs. E. F. Manske, wife of Pastor Manske of St. John?s Lutheran Church in Adrian. She was 37. One wonders if these people had been nursing others, neglected their own health, and then fallen prey to the disease.
For some of the families the enormity of this epidemic must have been almost unbearable. That certainly must have been true of the George Goetz family of Blissfield. On Oct. 30 it was announced that a young man in the family, Elmer, had died of the flu. A day later his brother, William, lay dead, and a double funeral was announced. Then two days later Mildred Wepler of Riga, William?s fianc?e, died. She had been going to the Goetz house to nurse the sick, and now she was gone as well. Mildred and William had planned to marry in the first week of November. To complete this tragedy Mary Goetz, the 15 year-old sister of William and Elmer, died on Nov. 3.
Meanwhile, over in Rome Township Mrs. John Woodford had gone to the home of her son, Earl, when she heard that he and her seven-year-old grandson, Johnny, were ill with the flu. Her ministrations were not effective. Earl died on Oct. 27, and her little grandson followed on Nov. 1. She died, too, the day before Johnny.
Day after day through October and well into November the papers carried obituaries for victims of the flu. Between Oct. 20 and Nov. 21 some 80 people in Lenawee died of the flu, and, usually, pneumonia brought on by the flu. Across America it is believed that far more people died of the flu in the Fall and Winter of`1918 than ever died in World War I.
By mid-November it was clear, though, that the epidemic had almost run its course in Lenawee. Thousands of people contracted the disease, and some 80 had died, but it was almost over. Gov. Sleeper lifted his ?closing orders? on Nov. 7, and the county and state began to slip into peacetime. The war and the flu were over!
Years later when Dr. William Colbath of Fairfield was contemplating retirement around 1960, he was asked if there was anything in his career that specially struck his mind. He said that there had never been anything like the flu epidemic of 1918. It had been a simply dreadful experience.
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Internet web sites about the 1918 Flu Epidemic:
The American Experience - Influenza 1918
Online Newshour - 1918 Influenza Epidemic
1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic
There are many other web sites about the 1918 flu epidemic. If you are interested in more information, do a search with your web browser on "1918 Spanish flu."
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The above newspaper article is one of many by Dr. Lindquist that were collected into the book, "Lenawee Reflections." This book is available at the Lenawee Museum.
Lenawee Reflections
Sept. 1998 - August 1989
By Dr. Charles Lindquist
Lenawee County Historical Society
Adrian, Mi
1992
</center> - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : -
LENAWEE REFLECTIONS
by Dr. Charles Lindquist
<center>?Spanish Flu Claimed Lives of 80 Lenaweeans in 1918,?
January 7, 1989
</center> Once we are past New Year?s there is no escaping the fact that it is January, and it?s cold out there. Meanwhile, we are all enduring the colds and flu which go along with being cooped inside so much. As I was hacking my way through a mild case of the sniffles, I got to thinking about just how bad these colds and flu can get. That led me to look up the flu epidemic of 1918.
If ever a time deserved to be called ?the best and worst of times,? it would be the Fall of 1918. On the international front the mighty armies of the United States, the British Empire and the French Empire were finally breaking through the German lines on the Western Front. Hugh German armies were being hurled back into their own country after four dreadful years of bloodshed, and the Teutonic Empire seemed destined to collapse at last. At home the people of the United States were going through a congressional campaign which culminated with a local fellow, Earl Michener, winning his race to become U.S. Representative from the Second Congressional District. It had been a long time since someone from Lenawee had won that spot. To make the Fall even nicer, an Adrianite, Sam Raymond, brother-in-law of Henry Ford, announced that Mr. Ford would be building a big tractor plant in Adrian come the Spring of 1919.
All this was wonderful news, but, meanwhile, reports began to circulate about a fearful new strain of flu coming over from Europe. It was called ?the Spanish Flu,? and by early October it had smashed into Michigan. Up in Camp Custer at Battle Creek 5,794 soldiers had it, and already 120 of them had died. One of them was from Lenawee. He was a soldier from Deerfield, Carl Prelipp. In almost no time Deerfield had taken the most extraordinary measures to protect the community. On Oct. 1 it was announced that all homes would be fumigated if there had been any cases of measles, whooping cough or pneumonia since Oct. 1. All schools would be fumigated, too, and there would be no open caskets at funerals where flu was reported as the cause of death. Also, anyone who had visited an army camp would be quarantined for 47 hours.
By this time a second Army boy from Lenawee, George Carlton of Holloway, had died and a few cases of the flu in Lenawee itself had been reported. Dr. Hendershot of Tecumseh knew of 20 there, and Dr. McKenzie, the health officer in Adrian, knew of 11 in Adrian.
Elsewhere in Michigan, the flu was showing up everywhere, and so Gov. Sleeper issued some emergency requests. He wanted all churches and theatres to close down until the State Board of Health said the epidemic was over. If the public would not go along with his request, he would turn it into an order. Never before had anyone attempted to close down all the churches, but such was the fear of the flu in 1918 that there was instant and total compliance.
In Lenawee the flu seemed to begin in Tecumseh, move to Adrian, then to Hudson, and finally to the rest of the county. In Tecumseh the critical day was Oct. 12. Not only were there 60 cases, but five of them were teachers. The schools shut down instantly. Five days later Tecumseh had 200 cases, and four days after that it had 350 that had been reported. The city felt desperate. People were starting to die, and whole families were so sick that they could not take care of themselves. It was natural, too, that there were not many people who could or would volunteer to enter these houses to help these pitiful people who were sick and dying. By Oct. 5 authorities in Tecumseh were asking for volunteers who would at least prepare some food for these families and take the food to their doorstep.
Meanwhile, over in Adrian the public health authorities battled the threat of contagion with ever-tougher regulations. As of Oct. 21 Mayor James Baker ordered that employees in bakeries, restaurants, hotels, confectionaries, as well as barbers and dentists, would have to wear masks. All funerals would be private and limited to the family, and all houses would be quarantined where flu was reported. On Oct. 26 he ruled that milkmen would no longer be allowed to fill milk bottles. If people wanted milk, they would have to use their own containers. Adrian had at least 500 cases of flu by this time, and volunteer nurses were refusing to enter quarantined homes to help the afflicted.
By Oct. 21 ten people in Lenawee had died of the flu. One might think that it would be the elderly and the children who would be most vulnerable, but such was not the case. In this first group of deaths, for instance, Mrs. Sanford Summers of Adrian was 35, and she left behind her husband and a 10 month old baby. Santo Cascarelli of Tecumseh was 17, and he had already become something of a businessman in the family business. Frank Howard of Adrian left behind his widow and two children. A month later it is still those you might think strongest who were dying. An example would be Mrs. E. F. Manske, wife of Pastor Manske of St. John?s Lutheran Church in Adrian. She was 37. One wonders if these people had been nursing others, neglected their own health, and then fallen prey to the disease.
For some of the families the enormity of this epidemic must have been almost unbearable. That certainly must have been true of the George Goetz family of Blissfield. On Oct. 30 it was announced that a young man in the family, Elmer, had died of the flu. A day later his brother, William, lay dead, and a double funeral was announced. Then two days later Mildred Wepler of Riga, William?s fianc?e, died. She had been going to the Goetz house to nurse the sick, and now she was gone as well. Mildred and William had planned to marry in the first week of November. To complete this tragedy Mary Goetz, the 15 year-old sister of William and Elmer, died on Nov. 3.
Meanwhile, over in Rome Township Mrs. John Woodford had gone to the home of her son, Earl, when she heard that he and her seven-year-old grandson, Johnny, were ill with the flu. Her ministrations were not effective. Earl died on Oct. 27, and her little grandson followed on Nov. 1. She died, too, the day before Johnny.
Day after day through October and well into November the papers carried obituaries for victims of the flu. Between Oct. 20 and Nov. 21 some 80 people in Lenawee died of the flu, and, usually, pneumonia brought on by the flu. Across America it is believed that far more people died of the flu in the Fall and Winter of`1918 than ever died in World War I.
By mid-November it was clear, though, that the epidemic had almost run its course in Lenawee. Thousands of people contracted the disease, and some 80 had died, but it was almost over. Gov. Sleeper lifted his ?closing orders? on Nov. 7, and the county and state began to slip into peacetime. The war and the flu were over!
Years later when Dr. William Colbath of Fairfield was contemplating retirement around 1960, he was asked if there was anything in his career that specially struck his mind. He said that there had never been anything like the flu epidemic of 1918. It had been a simply dreadful experience.
<center>- : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : -</center>
Internet web sites about the 1918 Flu Epidemic:
The American Experience - Influenza 1918
Online Newshour - 1918 Influenza Epidemic
1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic
There are many other web sites about the 1918 flu epidemic. If you are interested in more information, do a search with your web browser on "1918 Spanish flu."
<center>- : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : - : -</center>
The above newspaper article is one of many by Dr. Lindquist that were collected into the book, "Lenawee Reflections." This book is available at the Lenawee Museum.
Lenawee Reflections
Sept. 1998 - August 1989
By Dr. Charles Lindquist
Lenawee County Historical Society
Adrian, Mi
1992