(NSLD) North Suburban Library District has digitized the Park Post Journal Newspaper of Loves Park and Machesney (North) Park, Illinois

25May2023

by Vicki Ruthe Hahn

I grew up in Loves Park and North Park (before it was incorporated and renamed Machesney Park). I worked at the North Suburban District Library as a teen Page (shelver).

I remember selling the newspaper at Lenz Pharmacy, and a months long strike in about 1970-71 when the only local newspaper available was a weekly advertisement newspaper that temporarily increased their publication times and news coverage to fill the gap. People waited in line to buy it, and learned the value of local newspaper coverage. This is one reason for one gap in the Post Journal issues. The Park Post Journal covered the whole region – including some articles on Roscoe and Rockton. Illinois.)

Nicole Johnson, Adult Services Department Head of North Suburban Library District states,

“Thanks also for putting the link to the digitized Post Journal issues on your blog. This was a multi-year project and we spent A LOT of money to have these digitized from the microfilm, so we want them used!”

Getting printed items – books, maps, photographs, newspapers, digitized is expensive. I got a (LSTA) Library Services and Technology Act grant of $5,000 in 2014 that covered the expense of getting 28 early Beloit, Wisconsin historical books (City Directories, etc.) digitized. Read my BLOG Posting announcing “Beloit History Lives at Beloit Public Library” on that University of Wisconsin collection here: https://wordpress.com/post/statelinegenealogyclub.wordpress.com/135

The link to the Beloit History digitized books is: https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/ABeloitLocHist

The link to the University of Wisconsin statewide digitized items is: https://search.library.wisc.edu/search/digital

The expense and long digitizing process is why only about 25% of printed historic items have been digitized and are on-line. The rest of the about 75% items are still only available on-site at libraries, genealogy centers, attics, government offices, etc.

You can now search digitized past issues of the Post Journal newspapers covering the Loves Park and Machesney Park communities. The on-line collection includes editions of the Monday Morning Mail, 1964-1997. Years 1997-2021 will be added to the collection in 2023 or 2024.

You can “search by title” for “Loves Park Post”, “The Loves Park Post Machesney Park Pilot”, and “Monday Morning Mail” OR search by the County on the map at Illinois University Library’s “Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection” on-line site –

Click on the link here: https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/

This will allow you to search digitized newspapers from other Illinois communities as well.

These links will also be on my BLOG “Genealogy Links and Helps” tabs alphabetically by topic Under “States – Illinois; Wisconsin”, and “Newspapers”.

Technologically Tired; A Genealogist Searching for Solutions – Part 3 – File Name Organization and Linking to Legacy Family Tree

A continuation of my BLOG Posting “Technologically Tired; A Genealogist Searching for Solutions – Part 2; Exploring Genealogy Filing Organization Systems – Paper, Digital, and Photographs”; 29Jan2022, Revised 22Aug2022

See also my BLOG Posting “Technologically Tired; A Genealogist Searching for Solutions – Part 1 – How I converted my Great Grandmother’s Hand-Written Diary with OCR into Editable Text Using the vFlat Scan App and Google Drive“; 17Jan2022, Revised 22Aug2022

Technologically Tired; A Genealogist Searching for Solutions – Part 3 – File Name Organization and Linking to Legacy Family Tree

23Sep2022, updated 13Oct2022

By Vicki Ruthe Hahn

It has been a long time coming for me to decide how to organize my genealogy file names. Months! Years! I have researched a lot of different methods, some of which I have shared here on my BLOG (see Postings above .) I have listened to programs, podcasts; taught genealogy organizing, and read many articles and postings (and the comments) on Facebook Groups, IE

“How Do I Get My Genealogy Stuff Organized? Family History for Beginners, and Detective Techniques for Experienced Genealogists, Part 3 “https://wordpress.com/page/statelinegenealogyclub.wordpress.com/169728“

Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over – “https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogydoover”

Technology for Genealogy – “https://www.facebook.com/groups/techgen“

The Organized Genealogist – https://www.facebook.com/groups/organizedgenealogist

Legacy (Family Tree) User Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/LegacyUserGroup

Gretchen’s Genealogy Organizing Plans(reference workflow and organizing methods for both paper and computer files) https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=gretchen%27s%20genealogy%20organizing%20plans

This process has continued since I Posted “Technologically Tired; A Genealogist Searching for Solutions – Part 2; Exploring Genealogy Filing Organization Systems – Paper, Digital, and Photographs“; 29Jan2022, Revised 22Aug2022 . My additional motivation in this phase has been setting up a consistent file organization that links well on my PC Microsoft Windows 10 computer to my Legacy Family Tree software.

Your documents and media (pictures) files are located on your computer (each in their own locations) and are only linked to that Legacy software. It is critical to keep the links active by keeping a consistent file name. The link is broken if you rename your file. Then you have to mend it.

The complete basic Legacy Family Tree Standard Edition software is available for free, and can be downloaded onto your (PC, not available for MAC) computer here: “https://legacyfamilytree.com/ “ (The software can be used on your different computers/laptops – one at a time.) You can pay for more features with a one-time purchase of the Deluxe Edition. Legacy software is not an on-line database and it is private – only on your computer, controlled by you.

One of my most frustrating stumbling blocks was that everyone has their own way of organizing, and I had to research most of them before I could decide what to use. I wanted a ready answer. I have been experimenting with the different types of file naming organizations. Hint- start small with just one person’s files or one family. Use that labeling to see if it works for you.

I wanted to be consistent and have a long term solution so that I could find any information easily. I also wanted to make it so that anyone looking at my files (after I’m gone) could understand clearly what was there – especially people who don’t “do” genealogy!

The best organization method is one that makes sense to you and how you think. As the moderators on the Facebook Legacy User Group say – are you a “lumper” or a “splitter”? Do you like general categories or detailed ones? (See more organization suggestions in the links on my Posting “Technologically Tired; A Genealogist Searching for Solutions – Part 2; Exploring Genealogy Filing Organization Systems – Paper, Digital, and Photographs“; 29Jan2022, Revised 22Aug2022.

Most of the systems are based on surnames, document type, location or date. So alphabetical or numerical. Color coding can be used in conjunction with some of those. There are systems that combine more than one organization system, or you can create your own combination. Where would you look for file information on a person that you have researched?

Here are some of the different file labeling organizations that I experimented with:

Location:

Some organize their whole naming system by location first – no thanks. I will use this only for Census, City Directories, and Maps (because of the multiple surnames). I use a “Location” Sub-folder. The file names list the location name in reverse order, then the Record, then the date, then the name IE “USA, Pennsylvania, Montour, Danville_1890 US Census_ZARTMAN, Joseph”. Where/What/When/Who

Date first:

IE “1910 abt_RUTHE, Theodore_MOORE, Effie (RUTHE)_RUTHE, Sarah May_Ruthe old farm house, Foster Point, Eldorado, McDonough, IL”. I liked the rest of that filing structure, but I decided that Surname first would be a better way for me to search for my files. The date can be pulled up by a keyword search.

Multiple nested sub-files:

I tried using the multiple named sub-folders (folders by Surname, then more sub-files by document/event type) approach. This made the file storage path/name sequence too long for Legacy or my computer. Every file name digit and space counts. I also found the layered searching for where to put a new file irksome and confusing. I decided to forget most of the sub-folders and just put the complete information into each file name. Then the overall length of the final file sequence is shorter. The information of each file is not dependent on the naming on another hierarchical file.

I have been looking into meta-file software to save some of the details on photographs, so that I would not have to add all the information into the file name. I have not found a Metadata app that works easily, and it is one more layer/app to go through/maintain. The built-in Microsoft Photo editing metadata is incomplete and does not always carry along with the picture in some sharing instances. I believe it may not carry over to a new computer??

Surname:

This will be my main way of file name organizing. An example (from a newspaper) is “C>This computer>Pictures”>”JOHNSON, Louisa C (ADAMS)_1852-05-20, Thu_Obit_The N.J. Standard_pg 2 col 5_Middletown-Point, Monmouth, New Jersey”. Who/When/What/Where

I capitalize surnames to distinguish them as I have too many “Adams”, “Michael”, “Ruthe”, Bennett” families, etc.. Then comma, space First Name (Middle initial or DOB-DOD if needed for people with the same name). I label women with their Family (maiden) name. I add any married names in order, in parentheses that are in effect at the time of the occurrence/event – i.e. (ADAMS) in above.

I use the underscore symbol _ between file parts to make it arrange in computer order.

Next I put in the year of occurrence (date of a newspaper article/document) dash – month (2 digits), dash – day (two digits) so that it arranges by year under a person’s name. I add the day of newspaper publication as a three letter abbreviation so the actual date of an event reported can be calculated.

Next I name a one word event. IE “Engagement”, “Wedding” (for ceremony), “Marriage” (for license), “Obit”, “Birth”, etc.

Then the name of the newspaper/publication, then the page number (and column number) so anyone can find the article/resource again. Next I write out the location name, including the County. “Hey Google, what is the county for Middleton-Point, New Jersey”? You would add information for a book/website – the publisher/location/copyright year/URL.

Color-Coding:

I use Mary Hill’s Color-Coding System. Her method and other systems are here on Cyndi’s List.” https://www.cyndislist.com/organizing/color-coding/“. This is the organization system that I teach. Mary Hill also uses a combination of organization files by Surname, and by Location. I modify the surname colors that she uses.

I may (decided not to) create four Master folders under my great-grandparents surnames. Or I might create 8 folders – one for each of the eight surnames. I would put/find all of those distant shirt-tail relatives and married surnames I don’t know well in these 4 or 8 master files: IE MasterFile 1 – “RUTHE/MOORE” > with sub-file names “RUTHE” family , or “MOORE” family, or “WILSON” family, or “HARRINGTON” family, etc. Master File 2 “JEWISON/LEIGHY”. Master File 3 – “BENNETT/SHULTZ”. Master file 4 “ZARTMAN/WOLFE” This would group those relatives into the family branches that give them meaning.

The files under each folder would get the color coding that I have assigned to the four grandparents (with 8 tints for each great-grandparent surname). I will have to learned how to ‘color” the files on my computer!

I just downloaded FolderMarker.com app to prioritize and color code genealogy family files on my computer. I can now add an assigned color to the the file rather than add another layer of four Master folders to show which (Grandparents Surnames) ancestral line that family is in. My assigned family colors are based on Mary E. V. Hill’s Color-Coding System (Legacy) for genealogy. My paper files follow the same color-coding. This is already helping me keep immediately keep track visually of where my families belong.

Be sure and add the free version “https://foldermarker.com/en/install-complete/?PrgVer=4.7.0.0&PrgEd=Free” , not the Trial version, unless you want to pay for more colors.

MRIN – Master Register Identification Number:

The software that you use will assign a RIN (individual’s record Identification number) and a MRIN (married record Identification number) to each person/marriage in your collection as you add the person. This is an organizing method that I decided not to use. The ID numbers can get reassigned by the Software, are not in chronological (age) order, and you need a list to translate the # coded people into names.

Applying My File Organization to Legacy:

Now to apply this to my Legacy Family Tree software program on my computer. First there are some options that you have to choose in the software program.

I have all of of my media on my Windows 10 HP computer in “C>This computer>Pictures”, both photographs and photographed documents. Some documents are duplicated as PDFs in “C>This computer>Genealogy, Family>Sub-folders” with my Word documents. The photographs that I take for my day-by-day are stored in “Google Photos”. When I take photographs or scans of documents, etc on genealogy searches, I copy them into “Pictures”.

I decided to refer the Legacy media link option to my “C>This computer>Pictures”, with a backup to Dropbox, instead of another duplication into the Legacy preferred “C>my computer>User>Vicki>Legacy>Media”. It cuts down on the file name digit length. Since I save my media into my “Pictures”, it made more sense for me to not add another place to have Legacy look to.

Final Considerations:

I have to decide if women will stay in their father’s file (with only marriage/divorce information in their husband’s surname folder), or if they will have all events go to their husband’s file after marriage. Something else to consider – what if the people intermix their (Master file) names by marrying?!! No filing system is without problems.

I don’t want a file system that is so abbreviated or coded that someone else cannot figure out what it is. The trick is to make sure that the total file name is 255 or less, including the file path name. I may need to modify with abbreviations to make sure the file name length will work – IE 2 letter State abbreviation, etc.

Hurrah! I’m about ready to implement all of this into my Legacy after a long time experimenting. It may be the organization method that will work for me always. It suits the way that I think. It may help you too!

Hints – Be sure and use the same organizing method on both your computer files and on your paper files. Write down a summary of your organization method for you and others to refer to. Be consistent. Update your Master method document if you decide to modify your file name organization.

Let’s tame that unruly beast of information that we keep discovering for our exponentially ever-expanding list of relatives back in time, and forward too!

Other Travelers Part 10 – Tracing the 1918 Flu Epidemic

(Originally posted)  02Apr2018

(Part of an On-going Series – “Other Travelers”)

by Vicki Ruthe Hahn – SGS Stateline Genealogy Sorter

(Re-issued 05Mar2020 : I have seen worldwide fatality rates of 3 – 5% for the 1918 Spanish Influenza (mostly young adults).  This may help us get perspective on the current Covid-19 Corona virus with what I hear so far are Worldwide death rates of 2 -3% (mostly elderly people).   The rate may actually be lower as many cases were not reported in China at the beginning.  “The death rate from seasonal flu is typically around 0.1% in the U.S.”  – Read an additional article from Lifescience.com about Covid-19 compared to flu here.)

Have you gotten the flu this season?

Not the 24 hour stomach flu (which is bad enough), but the upper respiratory Influenza A or B?  Flu has hit this year especially hard, killing several children. But it is nothing close to the amount of deaths in the Pandemic of 1918.

Perhaps your ancestors were affected by that epidemic – one hundred years ago this year?  Whole families were wiped out.

 

Let’s get some insight:

From Standford Children’s Health:

“What are the different types of influenza?

Influenza viruses are divided into three types designated as A, B, and C:

• Influenza types A and B are responsible for epidemics of respiratory illness that occur almost every winter and often lead to increased rates of hospitalization and death. Public health efforts to control the impact of influenza focus on types A and B. One of the reasons the flu remains a problem is because the viruses actually change their structure regularly. This means that people are exposed to new types of the virus each year.
• Influenza type C usually causes either a very mild respiratory illness or no symptoms at all. It does not cause epidemics and does not have the severe public health impact that influenza types A and B do….

1. A person infected with an influenza virus develops antibodies against that virus.
2. The virus changes.
3. The “older” antibodies no longer recognizes the “newer” virus when the next flu season comes around.
4. The person becomes infected again.

The older antibodies can, however, give some protection against getting the flu again. Currently, three different influenza viruses circulate worldwide: two type A viruses and one type B virus. Vaccines given each year to protect against the flu contain the influenza virus strain from each type that is expected to cause the flu that year.

What causes influenza?

An influenza virus is generally passed from person to person through the air. .. with infected person who sneezes or coughs. The virus can also live for a short time on objects …can get the flu virus by touching something that has been handled by someone infected with the virus and then touching his or her own mouth, nose, or eyes.

People are generally the most contagious with the flu 24 hours before they start having symptoms  (emphasis mine) and during the time they have the most symptoms. That’s why it is hard to prevent the spread of the flu, especially among children, because they do not always know they are sick while they are still spreading the disease. The risk of infecting others usually stops around the seventh day of the infection.”

Most entertainments, churches, social clubs, libraries, movie houses, etc. were eventually shut down.  But they tried wearing masks for awhile!

Milkmen(?) braving the Flu to deliver milk to stores, and to people’s homes

The Flu Epidemic rapidly made many children orphans, dependent on the care of others.

Many families died of neglect or starvation, remaining isolated in their homes, afraid to come out for supplies or medical attention.  Some neighbors were afraid to enter the homes of those who were sick.  So many medical doctors were in the War, ill, or overwhelmed.  anyone with medical training was asked to help, and some communities recruited  volunteers to care for the sick.

 

 

 

From Standford University, by Molly Billings, June, 1997 modified RDS February, 2005:

“The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI) … It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe” the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster…

In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world’s population was infected. The flu was most deadly for people ages 20 to 40. This pattern of morbidity was unusual for influenza which is usually a killer of the elderly and young children. It infected 28% of all Americans (Tice).

An estimated 675,000 Americans died of influenza during the pandemic, ten times as many as in the world war. Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy (Deseret News). An estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza (Crosby). 1918 would go down as unforgettable year of suffering and death and yet of peace…

The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years.   (Emphasis mine.)…

In 1918 children would skip rope to the rhyme (Crawford):

 

History is reflected in children’s games, and in songs.

(“Ring-around-the Rosie” is NOT from the time of the Black Plaque!)

The mandatory gauze masks were not always very effective.  There is the story of 4 women who wore masks while playing cards one evening.  By the next morning three of them were dead from Influenza.

 

In an effort to boost the War effort, President Woodrow Wilson (and others) initially tried to ignore the pandemic, and suppress news about it.  How depressing that so many of those who survived the war, ended up dying of influenza.  Whole shiploads of military men were affected, some never making it to serve in the War.

The cause of most of the deaths in this pandemic was the secondary pneumonia.  There were no antibiotics.  Influenza frequently has secondary infections – strep throat, ear infections, Pink Eye, etc.  But this time it was more than that. (see explanation below.)

Be alert if you see several people in your ancestor’s family die suddenly, and within a few days of each other, especially if between September 1918 and about June 1919.  A death certificate may not mention flu/influenza, but pneumonia, etc. as cause of death.  Or there might not have been a police officer/medical person/undertaker/county recorder available to make any registration. (see explanation below.)  Some members of the family may have been buried in a mass grave with no records.

From History.com

“The Flu Strikes Far and Wide

The first wave of the 1918 pandemic occurred in the spring and was generally mild. The sick …experienced … typical flu symptoms….

However, a second, highly contagious wave of influenza appeared with a vengeance in the fall of that same year. Victims died within hours or days of developing symptoms, their skin turning blue and their lungs filling with fluid that caused them to suffocate….

Despite the fact that the 1918 flu wasn’t isolated to one place, it became known around the world as the Spanish flu, as Spain was hit hard by the disease and was not subject to the wartime news blackouts that affected other European countries. (Even Spain’s king, Alfonso XIII, reportedly contracted the flu.)

One unusual aspect of the 1918 flu was that it struck down many previously healthy, young people—a group normally resistant to this type of infectious illness—including a number of World War I servicemen…. Forty percent of the U.S. Navy was hit with the flu, while 36 percent of the Army became ill, and troops moving around the world in crowded ships and trains helped to spread the killer virus.

Although the death toll attributed to the Spanish flu is often estimated at 20 million to 50 million victims worldwide, other estimates run as high as 100 million victims. The exact numbers are impossible to know due to a lack of medical record-keeping in many places.

…Even President Woodrow Wilson reportedly contracted the flu in early 1919 while negotiating the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I.

Fighting the Spanish Flu

When the 1918 flu hit, doctors and scientists were unsure what caused it or how to treat it. Unlike today, there were no effective vaccines or antivirals, drugs that treat the flu. (The first licensed flu vaccine appeared in America in the 1940s….)

Complicating matters was the fact that World War I had left parts of America with a shortage of physicians and other health workers. And of the available medical personnel in the U.S., many came down with the flu themselves.

Additionally, hospitals in some areas were so overloaded with flu patients that schools, private homes and other buildings had to be converted into makeshift hospitals, some of which were staffed by medical students.

Officials in some communities imposed quarantines, ordered citizens to wear masks and shut down public places, including schools, churches and theaters. People were advised to avoid shaking hands and to stay indoors, libraries put a halt on lending books and regulations were passed banning spitting… the Sanitary Code.”

The Flu Takes Heavy Toll on Society

The flu took a heavy human toll, wiping out entire families and leaving countless widows and orphans in its wake. Funeral parlors were overwhelmed and bodies piled up. Many people had to dig graves for their own family members.

The flu was also detrimental to the economy. In the United States, businesses were forced to shut down because so many employees were sick. Basic services such as mail delivery and garbage collection were hindered due to flu-stricken workers.

In some places there weren’t enough farm workers to harvest crops. Even state and local health departments closed for business, hampering efforts to chronicle the spread of the 1918 flu and provide the public with answers about it.

Spanish Flu Pandemic Ends

By the summer of 1919, the flu pandemic came to an end, as those that were infected either died or developed immunity.

Almost 90 years later, in 2008, researchers announced they’d discovered what made the 1918 flu so deadly: A group of three genes enabled the virus to weaken a victim’s bronchial tubes and lungs and clear the way for bacterial pneumonia.

Since 1918, there have been several other influenza pandemics, although none as deadly.”

The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic was world wide:

 

The ultimate “other Travelers” in this story are the viruses and bacteria that exploded throughout the world for those 15 months 1918 – 1919.

PBS has a very good “American Experience” documentary of the topic

Aired January 2, 2018

Influenza 1918

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/influenza/

The American military in World War I and the influenza pandemic were closely connected. Influenza spread in The crowded conditions of military camps in the United States and in the trenches of the Western Front in Europe. The virus traveled with military personnel from camp to camp and across the Atlantic military transit ships.  September – November 1918, influenza and pneumonia sickened many in the military at the height of the American military involvement in the war.  This affected the war.

US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

The U.S. Military and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919

Public Health Rep. 2010; 125(Suppl 3): 82–91.

Carol R. Byerly, PhD^a

INFLUENZA IN THE CAMPS

(read the entire article by clicking the links above.)

“…the virus traveled west and south, arriving at Camp Grant, Illinois, on Saturday, September 21, 1918, with 70 hospital admissions. “So sudden and appalling was the visitation that it required the greatest energy and cooperation of every officer, every man, and every nurse to meet the emergency,” wrote one observer.⁴ (p. 749) Hospital admissions rose to 194, then 370, then 492, to a high of 788 admissions on September 29. Hospital officials summoned all officers on leave, converted barracks to hospital wards, and by “extreme effort” expanded the hospital capacity from “10 occupied beds to a capacity of 4,102 beds in six days.”⁴ (p.751)

Influenza still overwhelmed every department. The hospital laboratory resorted to local civilian facilities to perform specimen tests. Camp ophthalmologists saw patients with conjunctivitis, an influenza complication, and ear, nose, and throat specialists saw those with other dangerous secondary infections. As individuals became seriously ill, camp officials sent out “danger” or “death” telegrams to families and loved ones, but soon they received so many return calls, telegrams, and visitors, they had to set up a separate hospital tent as an information bureau. Medical personnel were not immune. Eleven of the 81 medical officers fell ill, and three civilian and three Army nurses died. The epidemic even caused the Medical Department to drop its prohibition on black nurses so that Camp Grant called African American nurses to care for patients. The women had to wait, however, until separate, segregated accommodations could be constructed.”

 

National Archives: World War I Centennial

As the largest repository of American World War I records, the National Archives invites you to browse the wealth of records and information documenting the U.S. experience in this conflict, including photographs, documents, audiovisual recordings, educational resources, articles, blog posts, lectures, and events.

Veteran’s Service Records:

https://www.archives.gov/veterans

 

 

 

New, Temporary Resources Now Available in BadgerLink

11May2020

Vicki’s note – Resources available to Wisconsin residents, especially through your Library home page.  just posted on Beloit Public Library Facebook page:

 

• Badger Bulletin
• New, Temporary Resources Now Available in BadgerLink

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Thanks to past and present vendors, we now have 4 new, temporary resources in BadgerLink, provided to Wisconsin residents during the COVID-19 pandemic when access to more licensed, quality information is of the greatest importance.

Access NewspaperARCHIVE

Newspaper Archive is pleased to offer access to their 300 million page newspaper collection to all Wisconsin residents through May 15, 2020.

EBSCO Ebooks Academic Collection

EBSCO is pleased to offer access to eBooks Academic Collection to all Wisconsin residents through June 28, 2020.

Academic Search Ultimate

EBSCO is pleased to offer access to Academic Search Ultimate to all Wisconsin residents through June 28, 2020.

Business Source Ultimate

EBSCO is pleased to offer access to Business Source Ultimate to all Wisconsin residents through June 28, 2020.

Vendor

• Access NewspaperARCHIVE
• EBSCO

Sign up to receive BadgerLink news in your inbox!

 

Other Travelers Part 10 – Tracing the 1918 Flu Epidemic

(Originally posted)  02Apr2018

(Part of an On-going Series – “Other Travelers”)

by Vicki Ruthe Hahn – SGS Stateline Genealogy Sorter

(Re-issued 05Mar2020 : I have seen worldwide fatality rates of 3 – 5% for the 1918 Spanish Influenza (mostly young adults).  This may help us get perspective on the current Covid-19 Corona virus with what I hear so far are Worldwide death rates of 2 -3% (mostly elderly people).   The rate may actually be lower as many cases were not reported in China at the beginning.  “The death rate from seasonal flu is typically around 0.1% in the U.S.”  – Read an additional article from Lifescience.com about Covid-19 compared to flu here.)

Have you gotten the flu this season?

Not the 24 hour stomach flu (which is bad enough), but the upper respiratory Influenza A or B?  Flu has hit this year especially hard, killing several children. But it is nothing close to the amount of deaths in the Pandemic of 1918.

Perhaps your ancestors were affected by that epidemic – one hundred years ago this year?  Whole families were wiped out.

 

Let’s get some insight:

From Standford Children’s Health:

“What are the different types of influenza?

Influenza viruses are divided into three types designated as A, B, and C:

• Influenza types A and B are responsible for epidemics of respiratory illness that occur almost every winter and often lead to increased rates of hospitalization and death. Public health efforts to control the impact of influenza focus on types A and B. One of the reasons the flu remains a problem is because the viruses actually change their structure regularly. This means that people are exposed to new types of the virus each year.
• Influenza type C usually causes either a very mild respiratory illness or no symptoms at all. It does not cause epidemics and does not have the severe public health impact that influenza types A and B do….

1. A person infected with an influenza virus develops antibodies against that virus.
2. The virus changes.
3. The “older” antibodies no longer recognizes the “newer” virus when the next flu season comes around.
4. The person becomes infected again.

The older antibodies can, however, give some protection against getting the flu again. Currently, three different influenza viruses circulate worldwide: two type A viruses and one type B virus. Vaccines given each year to protect against the flu contain the influenza virus strain from each type that is expected to cause the flu that year.

What causes influenza?

An influenza virus is generally passed from person to person through the air. .. with infected person who sneezes or coughs. The virus can also live for a short time on objects …can get the flu virus by touching something that has been handled by someone infected with the virus and then touching his or her own mouth, nose, or eyes.

People are generally the most contagious with the flu 24 hours before they start having symptoms  (emphasis mine) and during the time they have the most symptoms. That’s why it is hard to prevent the spread of the flu, especially among children, because they do not always know they are sick while they are still spreading the disease. The risk of infecting others usually stops around the seventh day of the infection.”

Most entertainments, churches, social clubs, libraries, movie houses, etc. were eventually shut down.  But they tried wearing masks for awhile!

Milkmen(?) braving the Flu to deliver milk to stores, and to people’s homes

The Flu Epidemic rapidly made many children orphans, dependent on the care of others.

Many families died of neglect or starvation, remaining isolated in their homes, afraid to come out for supplies or medical attention.  Some neighbors were afraid to enter the homes of those who were sick.  So many medical doctors were in the War, ill, or overwhelmed.  anyone with medical training was asked to help, and some communities recruited  volunteers to care for the sick.

 

 

 

From Standford University, by Molly Billings, June, 1997 modified RDS February, 2005:

“The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI) … It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe” the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster…

In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world’s population was infected. The flu was most deadly for people ages 20 to 40. This pattern of morbidity was unusual for influenza which is usually a killer of the elderly and young children. It infected 28% of all Americans (Tice).

An estimated 675,000 Americans died of influenza during the pandemic, ten times as many as in the world war. Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy (Deseret News). An estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza (Crosby). 1918 would go down as unforgettable year of suffering and death and yet of peace…

The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years.   (Emphasis mine.)…

In 1918 children would skip rope to the rhyme (Crawford):

 

History is reflected in children’s games, and in songs.

(“Ring-around-the Rosie” is NOT from the time of the Black Plaque!)

The mandatory gauze masks were not always very effective.  There is the story of 4 women who wore masks while playing cards one evening.  By the next morning three of them were dead from Influenza.

 

In an effort to boost the War effort, President Woodrow Wilson (and others) initially tried to ignore the pandemic, and suppress news about it.  How depressing that so many of those who survived the war, ended up dying of influenza.  Whole shiploads of military men were affected, some never making it to serve in the War.

The cause of most of the deaths in this pandemic was the secondary pneumonia.  There were no antibiotics.  Influenza frequently has secondary infections – strep throat, ear infections, Pink Eye, etc.  But this time it was more than that. (see explanation below.)

Be alert if you see several people in your ancestor’s family die suddenly, and within a few days of each other, especially if between September 1918 and about June 1919.  A death certificate may not mention flu/influenza, but pneumonia, etc. as cause of death.  Or there might not have been a police officer/medical person/undertaker/county recorder available to make any registration. (see explanation below.)  Some members of the family may have been buried in a mass grave with no records.

From History.com

“The Flu Strikes Far and Wide

The first wave of the 1918 pandemic occurred in the spring and was generally mild. The sick …experienced … typical flu symptoms….

However, a second, highly contagious wave of influenza appeared with a vengeance in the fall of that same year. Victims died within hours or days of developing symptoms, their skin turning blue and their lungs filling with fluid that caused them to suffocate….

Despite the fact that the 1918 flu wasn’t isolated to one place, it became known around the world as the Spanish flu, as Spain was hit hard by the disease and was not subject to the wartime news blackouts that affected other European countries. (Even Spain’s king, Alfonso XIII, reportedly contracted the flu.)

One unusual aspect of the 1918 flu was that it struck down many previously healthy, young people—a group normally resistant to this type of infectious illness—including a number of World War I servicemen…. Forty percent of the U.S. Navy was hit with the flu, while 36 percent of the Army became ill, and troops moving around the world in crowded ships and trains helped to spread the killer virus.

Although the death toll attributed to the Spanish flu is often estimated at 20 million to 50 million victims worldwide, other estimates run as high as 100 million victims. The exact numbers are impossible to know due to a lack of medical record-keeping in many places.

…Even President Woodrow Wilson reportedly contracted the flu in early 1919 while negotiating the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I.

Fighting the Spanish Flu

When the 1918 flu hit, doctors and scientists were unsure what caused it or how to treat it. Unlike today, there were no effective vaccines or antivirals, drugs that treat the flu. (The first licensed flu vaccine appeared in America in the 1940s….)

Complicating matters was the fact that World War I had left parts of America with a shortage of physicians and other health workers. And of the available medical personnel in the U.S., many came down with the flu themselves.

Additionally, hospitals in some areas were so overloaded with flu patients that schools, private homes and other buildings had to be converted into makeshift hospitals, some of which were staffed by medical students.

Officials in some communities imposed quarantines, ordered citizens to wear masks and shut down public places, including schools, churches and theaters. People were advised to avoid shaking hands and to stay indoors, libraries put a halt on lending books and regulations were passed banning spitting… the Sanitary Code.”

The Flu Takes Heavy Toll on Society

The flu took a heavy human toll, wiping out entire families and leaving countless widows and orphans in its wake. Funeral parlors were overwhelmed and bodies piled up. Many people had to dig graves for their own family members.

The flu was also detrimental to the economy. In the United States, businesses were forced to shut down because so many employees were sick. Basic services such as mail delivery and garbage collection were hindered due to flu-stricken workers.

In some places there weren’t enough farm workers to harvest crops. Even state and local health departments closed for business, hampering efforts to chronicle the spread of the 1918 flu and provide the public with answers about it.

Spanish Flu Pandemic Ends

By the summer of 1919, the flu pandemic came to an end, as those that were infected either died or developed immunity.

Almost 90 years later, in 2008, researchers announced they’d discovered what made the 1918 flu so deadly: A group of three genes enabled the virus to weaken a victim’s bronchial tubes and lungs and clear the way for bacterial pneumonia.

Since 1918, there have been several other influenza pandemics, although none as deadly.”

The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic was world wide:

 

The ultimate “other Travelers” in this story are the viruses and bacteria that exploded throughout the world for those 15 months 1918 – 1919.

PBS has a very good “American Experience” documentary of the topic

Aired January 2, 2018

Influenza 1918

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/influenza/

The American military in World War I and the influenza pandemic were closely connected. Influenza spread in The crowded conditions of military camps in the United States and in the trenches of the Western Front in Europe. The virus traveled with military personnel from camp to camp and across the Atlantic military transit ships.  September – November 1918, influenza and pneumonia sickened many in the military at the height of the American military involvement in the war.  This affected the war.

US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

The U.S. Military and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919

Public Health Rep. 2010; 125(Suppl 3): 82–91.

Carol R. Byerly, PhD^a

INFLUENZA IN THE CAMPS

(read the entire article by clicking the links above.)

“…the virus traveled west and south, arriving at Camp Grant, Illinois, on Saturday, September 21, 1918, with 70 hospital admissions. “So sudden and appalling was the visitation that it required the greatest energy and cooperation of every officer, every man, and every nurse to meet the emergency,” wrote one observer.⁴ (p. 749) Hospital admissions rose to 194, then 370, then 492, to a high of 788 admissions on September 29. Hospital officials summoned all officers on leave, converted barracks to hospital wards, and by “extreme effort” expanded the hospital capacity from “10 occupied beds to a capacity of 4,102 beds in six days.”⁴ (p.751)

Influenza still overwhelmed every department. The hospital laboratory resorted to local civilian facilities to perform specimen tests. Camp ophthalmologists saw patients with conjunctivitis, an influenza complication, and ear, nose, and throat specialists saw those with other dangerous secondary infections. As individuals became seriously ill, camp officials sent out “danger” or “death” telegrams to families and loved ones, but soon they received so many return calls, telegrams, and visitors, they had to set up a separate hospital tent as an information bureau. Medical personnel were not immune. Eleven of the 81 medical officers fell ill, and three civilian and three Army nurses died. The epidemic even caused the Medical Department to drop its prohibition on black nurses so that Camp Grant called African American nurses to care for patients. The women had to wait, however, until separate, segregated accommodations could be constructed.”

 

National Archives: World War I Centennial

As the largest repository of American World War I records, the National Archives invites you to browse the wealth of records and information documenting the U.S. experience in this conflict, including photographs, documents, audiovisual recordings, educational resources, articles, blog posts, lectures, and events.

Veteran’s Service Records:

https://www.archives.gov/veterans

 

 

 

Sergeant – My New “Genealogy” Word of the Day

12Feb2020

by Vicki Ruthe Hahn

Spelling is important in genealogy.  I joke that if you can spell “genealogy” and “cemetery”, you are a genealogist!

—————-

My (Veteran) sister Wendy passed away recently after over 2 decades of increasingly poor health due to a long term illness.

I have been assisted by the Veterans Administration local Armory staff.  Wendy had emphasized her (stateside) Vietnam Era United States Army Service as SP5 E6 (which was her pay scale).  As I was preparing her obituary, I found out from the V.A. that her actual status was SSG – Staff Sergeant rank. Wendy may have mentioned that long ago, but did not lately.

“Sergeant” is a hard word to spell, as it does not look how most of us pronounce it – “sar-gent”.  Wendy’s life was a good example of the meaning of the word “sergeant” (see definition at the end of this Posting.):

The funeral home website allowed an on-line obituary about twice as long as the newspaper obituary.

Newspaper death notices (very brief) and obituaries (longer, more detailed and usually include visitation/memorial/funeral/burial information).  Death notices used to be free, but now cost.  Hint – Some families do not place a death notice or obituary for their deceased relative for all kinds of privacy reasons and/or cost, etc.  (I know why now!)

I found that death notices and obituaries published in the last few years by newspapers are available free on-line on Legacy.com 

– but that the funeral home obituary is not available at Legacy.com.

The V.A.  also informed me that the free military headstone (“niche” plaque) inscription that will be provided will reflect her enlisted (9 years – 3 times Service terms – 31 Jan 1969, 14 March 1972, and 13 March 1978.  Her 2 U.S. Army Reserve enlistment dates will not be inscribed, although she got her Honorable Separation from the US Army 26 April 1985.  (Hint – sometimes what you see inscribed on a headstone, or in an obituary,  is not the complete or correct information about your ancestor).

Wendy joined the WAC Women’s Army Corps. The WAC remained a separate unit of the U.S. Army until 1978, when male and female forces were integrated.

The Armed Services (as any bureaucracy) have many precise definitions that are unique to their institutions.  I.E. “Active Service” means serving while physically being in an armed conflict where the shooting is happening.  While my sister was alive, it was not fun figuring out how to get her partial disability (only available for injuries/events during service), and what the Army meant by “pension”, “Aid and Attendance”, etc.

Each detail of your military ancestor’s service, including the military eras, determines assistance coverage while they (were) alive, and what they are entitled to once they pass away.   And EVERYTHING needs an official numbered  form to be filled out, and then more forms to make sure that you want what you asked for, IF you get approved for it!  Very frustrating.  I feel bad for veterans, and what they have to go through to get help.

For instance, my stateside peacetime Army veteran father-in-law was not entitled to a U.S. Army headstone or burial reimbursement, because he was not in a Veterans nursing home,  or because he did get a disability or pension from the Army.

There are changes through the years.  So look here to help track what military paperwork/headstone clues are telling you about your military veteran ancestor: https://www.va.gov/     and here  https://www.va.gov/burials-memorials/memorial-items/headstones-markers-medallions/

As I look at the above link, My veteran father-in-law may qualify for a medallion to be put on his headstone.  For genealogy sleuthing,  it is important to know that descendants have not always done all of the military  paperwork/effort possible to obtain the maximum benefits.  It is very hard work!

Go to your local V. A. Armory, or VFW or American Legion Posts for assistance.  I had many long call-waitings with the Army, and was told once, “I can’t tell you which form to use, or how to fill it out.  You have to talk to …” (The above to get your answers!)

You can also find a lot at the NARA National Archives and Records Administration  – https://www.archives.gov/veterans

Genealogist’s go-to database for military records is Fold3.com  .  But it was difficult even for the Genealogy Conference expert  I saw once who was presenting how to use it.    We can more easily find several of the military records in Ancestry.com.

“Sergeant comes from the Old French sergent and originally from the Latin verb servire meaning “to serve,” as in “to serve and protect,”…”

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/sergeant

The Spanish verb “servir” also means “serve, help, do, serve up, wait, attend”  (Google Translate)

” Staff sergeant – Wikipedia

Staff sergeant (SSG) is E-6 rank in the U.S. Army, just above sergeant and below sergeant first class, and is a non-commissioned officer. Staff sergeants are generally placed in charge of squads, but can also act as platoon sergeants in the absence of a sergeant first class.”

2020 Stateline Genealogy Club, LLC Programs by Vicki Ruthe Hahn

12Dec2019

Fresh off the Press – On this day of the dozens, (12/12)

(Ongoing – refer to the tab at the top of the Blog to see the 2020 Programs)

2020 Programs – Stateline Genealogy Club LLC, Vicki Ruthe Hahn

@ (BPL) Beloit Public Library

605 Eclipse BLVD, Beloit WI 53511:

All welcome. Free resources & support for learning/researching family history.

Tuesday March 10; 6:30 pm, “Contemporary Fashion through the Decades – How to Identify Our Ancestors’ Timelines by What They Wore, When” presented by Vicki Ruthe Hahn. 

 Friday March 13; 10 a.m. – noon (in Library Computer Classroom – laptops available)  “Get the Scoop on Your Ancestors – How to Use BPL’s LibraryEditionWorldNewspapers.com” presented by Vicki Ruthe Hahn

 Friday April 10; 10 a.m. – noon “Which DNA Test? How to Use the Results in Your Genealogy Research”, Two Webinars

Friday May 8; 10 a.m. – noon “Organizing, Scanning & Preserving Print & Digital Photographs”, several Webinars

June? – Road Trip to Newberry Library, Chicago. Sign up, carpooling with shared gas costs, Meet at BPL. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. plus travel time.

Friday September 11; 10 a.m. – noon   “Commemorating Mayflower Landing 400th Anniversary & Advanced Searching on AmericanAncestors.com”, Two (NEHGS) New England Historical Genealogical Society webinars

Friday October 9; 10 a.m. – noon “Finding Your German Ancestors with Maps & Gazetteers with A Little about Great Britain also” presented by John Wasserstrass

Tuesday October 13; 6:30 pm – “Haunted Stateline Historic Houses – How to Find Their History, the People Who Lived in Them, & Those Who May Still Be There!” presented by Vicki Ruthe Hahn – genealogist, and Sherry Blakeley – fiction author with paranormal experiences & psychic abilities (reflected in her cozy mystery books.)  Her books will be there to buy & signing.

 Friday, November 13; 10 a.m. – noon “Regional Soldiers Getting Ready for WW1 & WW2 at Military Training Camp Grant, Rockford Illinois” by Vicki Ruthe Hahn

BLOG – Contact Information, Links & Helps: “statelinegenealogyclub.wordpress.com”  

 2020 Stateline Genealogy Club LLC Programs

Presented by Vicki Ruthe Hahn

At Other Stateline Locations:

Saturday March 7; 1:30 p.m. – (WBCGS) Winnebago Boone County Genealogical Society, at Spring Creek United Church of Christ  4500 Spring Creek Road, Rockford, Illinois  61114

“Contemporary Fashion through the Decades – How to Identify Our Ancestors’ Timelines by What They Wore, When”  Bring photographs, pictures, or historic articles of clothing to learn how to identify the year.

More to be added!

Other Travelers Part 7 -Remembering My Pearl Harbor Veteran Hero – Uncle (Pete) Robert V. Bennett

 (Part of the Series – “Other Travelers”)

by Vicki Ruthe Hahn – SGS Stateline Genealogy Sorter

December 7, 2016 on the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor

 

My Mom’s three brothers served in World War 2; one was at Pearl Harbor. This is a much longer Posting than usual, because it so important.  I have worked most of today on writing it.  I do not want to create hate messages here, and only want to understand what my Uncle went through on that day. Here is the story of all three of my WW2 Veteran Hero Uncles:

Robert Vernon Bennett

1919–2005

Birth 18 NOV 1919 • Manorville, Armstrong, Pennsylvania

Death 11 APR 2005 • Tacoma, Pierce, Washington

 

 

Note that Uncle Pete had been serving in the U.S. Navy for eight 1/2 months before Pearl Harbor happened.   He was there that day 75 years ago.

You can see (on the right) my Uncle Pete with his cute dimples, warm smile, and attentive shining eyes.  He was a very loving person, my favorite uncle (as well as my other favorite uncle, Uncle Karl :), and a very handsome, involved, and intelligent man throughout his life.  He lived too many miles away, (from my childhood home near Rockford, Illinois),  in Tacoma, Washington, but I always loved being with him when he and his family visited his nearby hometown family home in Polo, Illinois.

You can see that he was a fun-loving person.  Uncle Robert explained that he got his nickname “Pete” while a boy playing on the farm.  He had declared that he was “Pump-handle Pete, the handy-man”, and the name stuck.

—-

His brother, my Uncle Allen, also joined the Navy.  I never knew him,  He died on a ship off the East Coast of the U.S. during WW2.  It was said to have sunk due to a hurricane, but my Mom always says that there was suspicion that it was due to a German submarine torpedo.

My Mom is still angry that her favorite brother Allen went to war, when, “He didn’t have to.  He was married and had three children.”  He would have been exempt.

Chester Allen Bennett Sr

1916–1944

Birth ABT 1916 • Illinois, United States

Death 13 SEP 1944 • At Sea near Battery Park, New York City, New York, USA on the U.S.S. Warrington in a violent Atlantic storm in September 1944.

Note the star in my Grandparent’s Polo, Illinois house window that signified that there was a son in military service, (Uncle Pete)?   I’m not sure if Allen and Irene’s baby girl was born yet, or if she was in Grandma’s house.  That, and their clothes, dated the photograph.

The story  of the sinking of Uncle Allen’s ship is recounted by Commander Dawes, who was the commanding officer just before she sunk, & some of the survivors in this book.  My Mom read “The Dragon’s Breath, Hurricane at Sea”  after I bought it for her. The ship sailed in the South Seas, etc. The author had a very good grasp of what was wrong with the ship. My Mom read that there had been problems with the hatches not fastening correctly due to lack of navy preventative maintenance. This warship was pretty messed up before the hurricane. It may be the incident that made the navy change its preventative maintenance procedures later.

Mom says that the book eventually goes to Allen’s three children.

https://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Breath-Hurricane-Sea/dp/155750153X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pl_foot_top?ie=UTF8

Uncle Allen probably felt the call of duty, and also wanted to help his country.  One of his two brothers had already joined the military, and the other was planning to.  Uncle Allen reported to duty for the U.S. Navy in May 6, 1944.  He died on-ship September 13, 1944.

—-

My cigar-chomping, motorcycling Uncle Karl had joined the Army from the farm where he was a farmhand:

Karl Ralph Bennett

1913–1995

Birth 10 NOV 1913 • Bloomsburg, Columbia, Pennsylvania, USA

Death 5 MAY 1995 • at home – 1519 S Burchard AVE, Freeport, Stephenson, Illinois, USA

 

Uncle Karl, my favorite uncle (as well as my other favorite uncle, Uncle Pete :), had a fun, teasing love for me and my siblings.  He never had any children of his own, so he and Aunt Grace spoiled us with lots of attention when we visited them in nearby Freeport, Illinois. 

—-

 Sunday, December 7, 1941

Pearl Harbor map of the location of the United States battleships in “Battleship Row”.  The ships next to each other were connected by three set of ropes across the feet of water separating them. Some of the sailors from sinking ships tried to escape by climbing those ropes to the other ships.

Note that my Uncle Pete’s battleship USS Tennessee (“Moderately Damaged”) is located parallel to the USS West Virginia (“Sunk”), next to the USS Arizona (“Sunk”), and near the USS Oklahoma (“Sunk”).   Uncle Pete does not mention this in his article below, but he and my Mom have told me that when he and his crew members came up to the deck at 2 p.m. after the bombing attacks, they tried to “jump” from their USS Tennessee battleship to the nearby sinking ships to try and save some of the other sailors.  He and his buddies actually landed on the Arizona.  He picked up a quarter from the desk.  It was hot to the touch, as he put it into his pocket.  Uncle Pete’s commanding officers ordered them to come back and stay on their own ship so that they would not also die. 

(Information that I clarified by visiting my Mom and Sister on the holidays.)

Recently, I watched the PBS specials on the USS Arizona, and the USS Oklahoma.  I now have a much better understanding of the horrors of Pearl Harbor, what my Uncle Pete went through, and why U.S. President Roosevelt declared war the next day.

The battleships were lined up in a row, because Pearl Harbor is shallow, and the Navy thought that they were safe from attack by Japan (or Germany?)  The Japanese then engineered torpedoes that had temporary  wood boxes built around the torpedo propellers so that the boxes broke off upon impact in the water.  Then the torpedoes evened out horizontally to hit the ships, instead of embedding straight  down into the shallow harbor bed. 

Japan also made mini submarines so that five of them could attack from the Harbor water.  U.S. Navy miss-communications, and other advance warning mistakes compounded the damage.  The Japanese pilots did not expect to survive, and were surprised at the ease of the attack. 

The specials mentioned that the U.S. sailors could see into the eyes of the low-flying Japanese pilots and gunners as they strafed the battleship decks and those sailors from sinking ships who braved jumped into the water covered with burning oil. Very few survived on the USS Arizona, as they were trapped below deck under the flipped thick hulls.  Other sailors tried to rescue them by cutting hulls with torches, but it sucked all the air out of the water-filled cavities and suffocated those trapped.

Electric saws were then used to cut through some spots that freed a few sailors, but there was the threat of causing more explosions, so they stopped.  This is the saddest thing that I learned – many of the trapped sailors died up to 2 weeks later (of exposure, lack of water, food, and air) December 20 or 21; after the last knock from under the deck was heard.  

Those who survived Pearl Harbor had to live in the whole area under blackout restrictions – with the only light being that of the USS Arizona as it burned for two days.

—-

Uncle Pete told me that he was not able to speak about his horrible experiences in Pearl Harbor, until he was in his seventies.  He decided that he needed to speak at schools so that children would understand what World War 2 was like.  He got a lot of support as a member of the Washington Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.  (Be sure and read the associated article at the end of this Posting.)

Pete also told me that he could never buy any car or device made in Japan, but he was understanding about others wanting to.  I have just recently read  the sentiment from a WW2 veteran that “The Japanese people have changed, and are good people now.” 

I was able to “rescue” and digitize this 2000 “Recalling Pearl Harbor” article from the Tacoma Washington News Tribune, which Uncle Pete gave to my Mom.  I have transcribed the words below, as I could not find the article on-line.   Note – some of the links are gone, as the dying veterans leave no-one to maintain the websites:

∞

“Tacoma Washington News Tribune, “Recalling Pearl harbor” 2000

Pearl Harbor veteran Robert Bennett will participate in memorial services today in Bremerton and Keyport.  Shown in the inset with his crewmates in 1941, he’s at lower right.

(Insert) On the Internet, Pearl Harbor stories: the Washington chapter of the Pearl harbor Survivors Association has posted a handful of stories on its Web site at mytown.koz.com/community/phsa.

59 Years Ago: Survivors association teaches new generation about war with Web site, in-school program, by David Wikert, The News Tribune.

Robert Bennett  fought the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor for hours before he even saw it.

A sailor aboard the USS Tennessee, Bennett spent most of the attack below deck, loading ammunition for American guns that blistered paint off their barrels in their ceaseless firing.

Bennett heard the explosions.  He felt his own ship sway under the force of bombs that sank the nearby USS Arizona.

When he finally emerged from below, it was to the sight of great billowing black clouds that signaled the doom of more than 2,300 and one of the worst military defeats in U.S.history.

“There were 3 or 4 million gallons of oil on the water, burning.” Bennett recalled.  “It was an awful sight.”

Bennett and other survivors of Pearl Harbor  have been telling such stories for 59 years, and with god reason.

The Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor drew America into World War II. It was a defining moment for the country and for thousands of U.S. servicemen and civilians who lived through it.

Now Washington survivors of the battle are collecting their stories for publication on the Internet.  It’s part of their ongoing effort to remind younger generations of the sacrifices made by their grandparents and great-grandparents during World War II.

The Washington chapter of the Pearl harbor Survivors Association has posted a handful of stories on its Web site (mytown.koz.com/community/phsa) and plans to post more.

State chairman Bob Graves of Bellevue said the survivors association has more than 500 members in Washington and nearly 9,000 members nationwide.

But the average age of Pearl Harbor survivors is about 80, and Graves said hundreds die each year.

“We’re getting old,” said Graves, who is on the young side at 76.  “I just had a bout with cancer of the bladder, but I’m still alive.”

     Please see Veterans, back page

All the more reason, Graves believes, for survivors to tell their stories while they can.

In addition to the Web site, Pearl Harbor survivors speak to civic clubs and visit area schools.  Graves said that the children are fascinated and ask great questions.

The stories they hear are much like Bennett’s tales of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary circumstances.

A 22 year-old gunner’s mate from Polo, Ill., Bennett was asleep aboard the battleship USS Tennessee when the attack began at 7:55 a.m.  More than 150 Japanese aircraft had surprised U.S. forces.

Bennett heard the call to battle stations but didn’t believe it.

“I said general quarters on a Sunday morning in port?  Then I hears our 5-inch guns fire.”

He spent the next several hours transporting ammunition to those guns.  He remembered one of them fired 375 rounds.

“The gun fired so much it burned the paint completely off the barrel,” he said.

The Tennnessee was moored near the USS Arizona, and Bennett felt his own ship sway as the Arizona exploded.

The Tennessee took two hits, suffering relatively minor damage.  But it was surrounded by oil fires, and when the Arizona’s magazines exploded, the Tennessee was showered by flaming debris.  Crews extinguished several fires.

Bennett made it onto deck about 2 p.m.  The sight was grim.  Fires burned out of control.  Nineteen U.S. ships were sunk or severely damaged.

At nearby Hickam and Wheeler airfields, 80 navy aircraft and 97 Army planes were destroyed.  And more than 2,300 sailors, Marines and soldiers lost their lives.

Today the survivors of Pearl Harbor tell their tales and speak to children and march in parades.  They’re pleased by the attention.  But Bennett resists the “hero” moniker that is often bestowed on them.

“We’re not heroes,” he insisted.  “We were there.  We done our duty at the time.  That’s what we figure.”

Reach staff writer David Wickert at 253-274-7341 or david.wickert@mail.trib-net.com. “

∞

What the U.S.S. Arizona, (anchored near my Uncle Pete’s ship –  U.S.S. Tennessee), looked like sinking.  (Photos from Pearl Harbor Survivors Association):

 

∞

 

Pearl Harbor survivors mark 73rd anniversary in Spokane

MONDAY, DEC. 8, 2014

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/dec/08/pearl-harbor-survivors-mark-73rd-anniversary-in/

∞

PEARL HARBOR SURVIVORS ASSOCIATION

http://www.pearlharborsurvivorsonline.org/

∞

Note – My Uncle died at 85 in 2005, so he may have been one of  those mentioned by the author in the article below, but I think he was in a different Washington chapter.

∞

The Brand 9-11

(Vicki’s note – photographs are downloaded from Bing on-line “free to share and use”.  I wrote the poem. Such a sad day then and a sad anniversary now.  

Last night, 18 years ago, 2,977 people were spending their last night with people they loved.  Victims from over 90 countries died in those attacks, not just Americans.

Many others have died since, and more will die with long-developing cancers, etc.

“Seventeen years out from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, nearly 10,000 first responders and others who were in the World Trade Center area have been diagnosed with cancer. More than 2,000 deaths have been attributed to 9/11 illnesses.

It will get worse. By the end of 2018, many expect that more people will have died from their toxic exposure from 9/11 than were killed on that terrible Tuesday. “  2018 Lohud article

“The World Trade Center Health Program (WTC HP) was established as a result of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. The World Trade Center Health Program offers services at no cost to World Trade Center workers, responders and survivors to help with medical and mental health conditions related to certified WTC-related health conditions. This includes anyone receiving workers’ compensation, anyone receiving line-of-duty benefits, and anyone else who was not at work but who was injured or made ill.”  http://www.wcb.ny.gov/WTC/wtc-assistance.jsp

The Brand 9-11

By Vicki Ruthe Cogswell (Hahn) 2012

The Brand on his arm;

The Brand on the land.

A plane-plowed crop,

A pierced arrow; two!

A round smashed;

Where were you?

11 11, 175 175, 77 77, 93 93 –

 

The pilot he knew.

Too old to join up,

He marked his body…

They marked our country,

Our psyche, our lives.

 

The eagle in hand,

The flag we fly –

Symbols of all

Whose lives went dry,

That day with

Tears, and sweat, and fear.

 

The fire, the smoke, the shock;

Can’t we turn back the clock?

Firefighters marching fast

To help those whom we cannot.

Too late – their lives all passed.

 

The towers melt, crush down

Our heroes and our kin.

All Americans that day.

Smashed, fired, smoke-drowned-

Those that jumped; or trapped away.

 

The ones that left,

That got out in time;

Those that were held back

From being on time –

All bereft, all choking brine

Of salt – tears, sweat.

 

The air thick – grey, black, brown.

Filled with solid dust of –

Asbestos, pulverized rust,

DNA, computers, glass,

Paper, plastic, photos,

Purses, concrete, heels……………

Confusion, pain, gasoline,

Steel; DEATH

Rolling from the wounded

To swallow us all.

 

To sear us with a Brand

We will never forget.

To mark us from a hand…

Of reason, gone wrong!

 

But the heroes, all true,

The best of me and you,

The few –

Some now hurting,

Short of breath,

Came to help,

Now about dead,

No way out,

Except to …….

STOP IT!

 

 

 

 

MCIGS McHenry County Illinois Genealogical Society 2019 Summer Conference

10 March 2019

Vicki’s note – my favorite stateline conference to attend. Great world-class speakers, nearby, inexpensive.  Speakers – Lisa Louise Cooke, Jay Fonkert, CG,

Michael Lacopo, DVM, and Diahan Southard.

I have gone the last few years and will be there this year:

 

MCIGS 2019 Summer Conference

Saturday, July 13, 2019
​8:00 am-3:30 pm
McHenry County College
8900 U.S. 14, Crystal Lake, IL 60012Download a brochure

Registration

​Early registration: (February 15, 2019 – June 15, 2019)

• Members $50.00
• Non-members $50.00*

​       * Due to an error in our marketing materials, all early registrants will receive the price of $50.00.

Late Registration: (Postmarked after June 16, 2019)

• Everyone: $75.00

(Lunch not guaranteed for registrations received after 6/30/19)

$20 Fee will be charged for cancellations prior to 6/16/2019.
No Refunds after 6/16/2019.

We encourage you to register online for the event.  Alternatively, you may download a registration form and send in your payment.