Monday, January 28, 2013

Military Monday -- Everett S. Carpenter

My January 20, 2013 post focused on the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 that killed millions of people world-wide just when the horrors of World War I were finally coming to a close.  My maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter, survived the first wave of the 1918 flu in the spring of 1918. In my January 20th post, I provided a copy of the postcard he sent to his mother informing her he had been in the hospital with a fever of 103 degrees as a result of "the grippe."

Everett's WWI service continued a long line of Carpenter military service going back as far as Col. Thomas Carpenter who served in the Revolutionary War and continuing with Joseph Carpenter in the War of 1812 and Everett's grandfather, Samuel Carpenter, in the Civil War.

Everett Shearman Carpenter circa 1918-1919
Everett tried to enlist in the Army soon after the United States entered WWI, but he twice failed the physical exam.  Finally, on his third attempt, he was accepted into the Ordnance Department on January 1, 1918 and reported to Watervliet Arsenal near Albany, New York on February 6, 1918.  He later was transferred to Camp Merritt in New Jersey and embarked for France on May 26, 1918.

Camp Merritt 1919


Everett arrived at Bordeaux and obtained training at the Ordnance Armament School in St. Jean-des-Monts where he graduated with an A rating.  Everett saw various service in France during the last months of WWI and into 1919.  He was promoted to Sergeant during this time.  On July 1, 1919 he was ordered to Paris where he was given duty as a courier to Washington, DC.  He arrived back in the U.S. on July 13th and took an overnight train from New York to Washington where he delivered the reports he had carried across the Atlantic.  On July 17, 1919, Everett was honorably discharged at Camp Meigs in Washington and arrived back home in Lonsdale (Cumberland), Rhode Island on July 18, 1919.

Panoramic view of Camp Meigs, Washington, DC
 July 20, 1918 three days after Everett Carpenter's discharge there
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For more information on Camp Merritt see http://www.bergencountyhistory.org/Pages/campmerritt.html


Camp Meigs photo by H.M Brown of Washington, DC from the records of the War Department General and Special Staffs (165-PP-37-11) http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/panoramic_photography/part_3.html
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

”Immortality Lies in Being Remembered by Family and Friends” re: John Andrew Tew


If a poll were taken asking people why they pursue genealogy as a hobby, a variety of reasons would surely be tallied -- and many respondents would no doubt reply with multiple reasons for their  genealogy pastime.  Among the expressed reasons we would assuredly see: finding or confirming actual ancestors; assembling a family history for children and other descendents to preserve the past (including family artifacts); exploring the truth about family stories or traditions; finding and confirming evidence necessary to join patriotic or hereditary societies; and finding and confirming relationships to famous/notable persons.  There would probably also be motivations that would not be explicitly revealed and admitted to the pollsters -- such as (uncomfortable truth be told) the need to satisfy an acquisitive and competitive bent that finds expression in collecting more dead ancestors than anyone else.  [Is there a Guinness world record yet for Most Extensive Collection of Ancestors??

I maintain that for a great many of us, another motivation for pursuing genealogy is the act of uncovering and bringing to life our ancestors and relatives by the simple act of insuring they are remembered after they are gone.  In the spirit of the name of this Blog, we seek to identify and then venerate and revere our ancestors, and, by so doing, we in some small measure bring them to life.

A few years ago I reached that age where a good dose of self-bestowed wisdom and a few tablespoons of arrogance coalesced to the point that I began quoting myself to family and friends.  And the favorite self-quote that I foisted on family members in particular was…

“Immortality lies in being remembered by your family and friends.” J. D. Tew

The usual method of conveying this pithy quote is a broadcast e-mail to family with a short message such as . . .

Raise a glass tonight in memory of _______.  It was [50, 60, 75, 100] years ago today that [he, she, they] was/were [born, graduated, married, died, etc.].
  
And usually photographs of the person at various stages of life are embedded below the message followed by my self-quote.

Whatever one's personal religious beliefs about the prospects of superterrestrial immortality, I have come to believe that simply discovering and remembering one's deceased ancestors and relatives brings them a measure of rebirth just in the very pause of recognition and recollection.  It is not unlike Clarence in It's A Wonderful Life pausing to realize at the jingle of a bell that an angel has just earned her wings.  The simple act of reminding family that an ancestor lived gives them pause to consider the departed ancestor -- even if no family member alive today ever met or knew the ancestor. The very act of considering the ancestor’s existence and wondering about him or her and what her or his life was like, vibrates some long dispersed atoms of their existence -- and in that moment, a bit of immortality is gained.  This is especially so when a thoughtful pause includes even momentary contemplation of the fact that we living descendents are mosaics of DNA to which the departed ancestor is a contributor.

So let me recall for family (and introduce to the rest of you), my paternal great-grandfather, John Andrew Tew, who died too young 110 years ago today.



Photos of John Andrew Tew (1853 - 1903)

John Andrew Tew was the eldest son and third child born to Adam Tew and his wife Susan A. (Walker) Tew.   He was one of Adam and Susan’s six children -- three girls and three boys.

Like his father and his younger brother, Elisha, John was skilled with his hands.  He had blacksmithing abilities that he shared with his father and brother, but he also became a skilled taxidermist and cabinetmaker.  Prior to his untimely and tragic death, John worked as a foreman at the Nicholson File Company in Central Falls and then in Providence, Rhode Island.

Taxidermy and display cabinet by John Andrew Tew

Sled made by John Andrew Tew over 110 years ago

In 1882, John married Margaret (“Maggie”) Conner.  They had five children:  Edna born in 1885; Charlie born in 1886; Henry born in 1888; Arnold born in 1896; and John born in 1901.  Only two of John and Maggie’s children lived beyond age two – Edna and Arnold.  [Sadly, Maggie lost her husband on January 27, 1903 and then her youngest child, John H. Tew, died less than eleven months later on December 2, 1903.]

The following is a transcription of the January 27, 1903 newspaper account of the death of John Andrew Tew . . .

While walking along the main tracks of the Consolidated Railroad, near the Brayton Avenue crossing in this city, on his way to work, John Tew of Central Falls was struck by a train and fatally injured, a minute or two after 6:30 o'clock this morning.  The injured man was immediately taken to the Union Station and an ambulance from the Rhode Island Hospital was summoned, but Tew died within a few minutes before the arrival of the ambulance.

The victim of the accident was 49 years of age and lived at 143 Summer Street, Central Falls.  He was employed as a machinist at the Nicholson File Company's establishment and came in from Central Falls every morning on an early train.  He was walking down the tracks to his place of employment, according to his usual custom, and had reached a point opposite the Brayton avenue signal tower, when train 4005, leaving Union Station for Hope at 6:30 0’clock came along.  On the adjoining track train 4006, from Hope and due at Union Station at 6:32, was coming along at a fair rate of speed, in charge of Conductor George Groves and Engineer Robert Beal.  In stepping from the outward-bound track to get out of the way of the first train, Mr. Tew stepped directly in front of the train from Hope, and before he had time to realize his position was struck and thrown violently to one side.

When he was picked up he was in a badly battered condition, and it was seen that his injuries were extremely dangerous, if not fatal.  The back of his skull was crushed in, and there was a bad bruise on one side, and both legs were broken, the latter injuries evidently having been inflicted by the engine.  The wound in the skull was probably caused by his contact with the ground after being thrown by the engine.

The accident was witnessed by James Mills of 617 Hartford avenue and James McLoughlin of 60 Ralph street, who were also on their way to work.  After the death of the injured man the body was removed to the undertaking rooms of Boyce Brothers, and, later in the morning, was taken in charge by Undertaker Henry F. Phillips of Central Falls, who removed it to the victim's late home in Central Falls.

Mr. Tew had been employed by the Nicholson File Company for the past 20 years.  Up to a year ago last fall he was a foreman at the company's works at Central Falls, and since that factory had been closed he had been working in this city.  By his employers he was looked upon as an excellent workman and a valued employee of the concern.  He was born in Rice City, in the town of Coventry, and his father, Adam Tew, a blacksmith, and one brother, Elisha Tew, are now living at Greene Station in the same town.  Mr. Tew was a man of excellent character and was highly thought of by his neighbors, and all who came in contact with him.  He had a genial disposition and was greatly attached to his home and family. He leaves a widow and three children, the oldest a daughter of 17 years, and the other two boys of 6 and 2 years of age respectively.





Photos of the watch John Andrew Tew had in his pocket
when hit by the train (damage from the collision). 

In the time you read this, a bell jingled, some atoms vibrated, and John Andrew Tew was remembered . . .  so his immortality is renewed today.  Raise a glass to John Andrew tonight! *


My lineage from Adam Tew and Susan (Walker) Tew . . .

Generation 1:                Adam Tew m. Susan A. Walker
Generation 2:                John Andrew Tew m. Margaret Conner
Generation 3:                Arnold George Tew m. Huldah A. Hasselbaum
                                     (my grandparents)
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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*  The “Smiley Face” used here and elsewhere on this Blog is a file by “Pumbaa” drawn with a text editor 1 April 2006.  It is reduced in size for use here.  The file is from Wikimedia Commons and is released into the public domain by the owner, I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. . . I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Smiley.svg

Saturday, January 26, 2013

A Liebster Award for The Prism

Leslie Ann, of Ancestors Live Here, has very kindly presented me with the "Liebster Award."  Now that the weekend is here, I am able to send Leslie a sincere "Thank You!" and respond to the questions she has posed to me.  My evolving thoughts on awards such as the Liebster follow my responses to Leslie.

Leslie Ann's eleven questions to me and her four other awardees . . . 

  1. What is the most unique occupation you have run across in researching your family history?  I HAVE HONESTLY NOT RUN ACROSS A TRULY "UNIQUE" OCCUPATION AMONGST MY ANCESTORS OR RELATIVES AS YET, BUT I DID DISCOVER THAT MY GREAT GRANDFATHER WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED CABINETMAKER AND TAXIDERMIST.  [SEE MY POST AT THE PRISM TOMORROW.] 
  2. If you could follow one ancestor's footsteps, who would it be and where would you go to see where they lived and worked?  I THINK I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MUCH MORE ABOUT JOSEPH CARPENTER AND HIS WIFE NANCY.  THEY ARE MY 3X GREAT GRANDPARENTS AND THEY WERE MARRIED FOR 67 YEARS BEFORE DYING WITHIN MONTHS OF ONE ANOTHER.  JOSEPH WAS A VETERAN OF THE WAR OF 1812.  HE AND NANCY HAD 14 CHILDREN.  THEY WERE BORN IN REHOBOTH, MASSACHUSETTS AND LIVED IN PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND AND ATTLEBORO, MASSACHUSETTS.  I WOULD LOVE TO BE ABLE TO KNOW WHAT THEIR LIFE WAS LIKE DURING ALL THOSE YEARS THEY HAD TOGETHER WITH SUCH A LARGE FAMILY.  [FOR ONE IMPORTANT EVENT IN THEIR LIVES THAT I DO KNOW ABOUT, SEE MY POSTS AT THE PRISM FOR JANUARY 14, 2013. http://filiopietismprism.blogspot.com/2013/01/echoes-from-door-rebellion-1842.html and http://filiopietismprism.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-is-dorrite-1842-aplincarpenter.html ] 
  3. Which institution or facility do you want to go to over any other to rifle through their archives?  HANDS DOWN IT HAS TO BE NEHGS IN BOSTON.  WHILE I HAVE BELONGED TO NEHGS FOR A FEW YEARS NOW AND HAD AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN AMERICAN ANCESTORS, [SEE THE PRISM, JANUARY 14, 2013] I HAVE YET TO ACTUALLY VISIT.  MAYBE 2013 WILL BE THE YEAR!  :-)
  4. Do you subscribe to any genealogy magazines, and if so are they helpful?  OTHER THAN THE MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS I RECEIVE AS A RESULT OF MEMBERSHIP IN THE ORGANIZATIONS I LIST IN THE "ABOUT ME" POST AT THE PRISM, I HAVE A SUBSCRIPTION TO FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE THAT WAS A GIFT FROM ONE OF MY SONS AND HIS WIFE.  I HAVE FOUND THE MAGAZINE INTERESTING AND HELPFUL WITH RESPECT TO BROADER GENEALOGY HOBBY ISSUES AND SOURCES. 
  5. Do you blog as you go, or schedule ahead?  I HAVE SO FAR TRIED TO SCHEDULE AHEAD, IF BY THAT YOU MEAN DO I WRITE POSTS AHEAD OF TIME AND THEN POST FROM THE STOCK OF COMPLETED PIECES I HAVE PREPARED.  I AM NOT SURE IF I WILL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE THIS PRACTICE CONSISTENTLY, BUT FOR NOW I MAINTAIN A WRITTEN LIST OF BLOG POST IDEAS AND I ADD TO THE LIST AS I THINK OF SUBJECTS AND HIGHLIGHT THE ONES I HAVE COMPLETED.
  6. What's your favorite historical time period?  THIS IS A VERY HARD QUESTION.  I AM A HISTORY BUFF OF SORTS AND ALMOST ALL PERIODS COVERED BY MY KNOWN ANCESTORS (BACK NOW TO THE LATE 1500s) INTEREST ME.  IT IS HARD TO PICK A FAVORITE, BUT ONE BURNING QUESTION FOR ME IS WHY DID MY ANCESTOR, RICHARD TEW, AND HIS PREGNANT WIFE, MARY (CLARKE) TEW, DECIDE TO HAZARD A LONG, DANGEROUS VOYAGE FROM MAIDFORD, ENGLAND TO AMERICA IN 1640 WHEN THEY APPARENTLY OWNED NO PROPERTY HERE AND KNEW NO ONE THAT I AM AWARE OF.  I SUSPECT IT HAD A LOT TO DO WITH THE RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL TURMOIL IN ENGLAND AT THE TIME AND I WOULD LOVE TO BE ABLE TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THEIR TIMES AND MOTIVATIONS.  
  7. What kind of books do you like to read? MOSTLY HISTORY, HISTORY AND HISTORY; BUT THEN I GET SATIATED AND WILL TURN TO AUTHORS LIKE DEMILLE, RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON AND SOME CLASSICS.  
  8. Any black sheep in your family tree?  DOES THE POSSIBILITY OF A REAL PIRATE COUNT??  :-)  SEE MY RE-POST OF A GUEST BLOG I DID FOR HEATHER WILKINSON ROJO'S NUTFIELD GENEALOGY AT THE PRISM ON JANUARY 2, 2013. 
  9. Are you lucky enough to have any genealogy libraries in your neck of the woods? YES I AM VERY LUCKY TO HAVE THE THOMAS BALCH LIBRARY IN LEESBURG, VIRGINIA -- LESS THAN TEN MILES FROM MY HOME.  [I FEEL LIKE I AM BEING SHAMELESSLY SELF-PROMOTING, BUT SEE MY BLOG POST AT THE PRISM FOR JANUARY 12, 2013. http://filiopietismprism.blogspot.com/2013/01/do-you-want-to-know-secret.html]
  10. Have you been cemetery hopping?  YES I HAVE VISITED CEMETERIES IN RHODE ISLAND WHERE MANY OF MY ANCESTORS AND RELATIVES ON BOTH MY MOTHER'S AND FATHER'S SIDES OF THE FAMILY ARE BURIED.
  11. Do you dream about genealogy?  NOT THAT I RECALL SO FAR, BUT WHEN I DO IT MIGHT BECOME THE SUBJECT OF A POST ON THE PRISM.  :-)

"Liebster" in German means "dearest."  I suggest you check Leslie Ann's blog for the nice links she provides about the history of the Liebster Award and issues surrounding such blog "awards."  I am new to genealogy blogging and have only had a presence here since December 31, 2012.  I am only just now expanding the "library" of genealogy blogs I know about and read.  Recently when The Prism was nominated for the "Blog of the Year 2012" award I followed the rules closely and passed on my nominations with a bit of hesitance NOT because I questioned the deserving nature of the blogs I mentioned, but because I felt as though I was perpetuating a new form of chain letter.  I did get sincere thanks and appreciation from those I nominated, but there were also explanations about these type "awards" that raised issues about their chain letter nature and politely explained why some of the nominees did not pass on the nominations and rules.  While I sincerely appreciate Leslie Ann's presentation of a Liebster to The Prism, I am persuaded by the concerns about the chain letter nature of such awards and will not be passing on the "award," rules or any newly formulated questions from me.  I will use this post, however, to answer Leslie's questions as a means of sincerely thanking her and perhaps informing present and future readers a bit more about me and The Prism

Many thanks Leslie Ann!! 


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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday Fotos (No. 1, January 25, 2013)


Like Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings, I am constitutionally incapable of being wordless – so "Wordless Wednesday" as a prompt and vehicle to post photographs does not quite work for me.  As an alternative, I have decided to try to institute here at The Prism what I will call “Friday Fotos.”  It sometimes seems that Fridays are reserved for crisis mode at my office and posting on Fridays can therefore be difficult -- so Fridays seem perfect for simply selecting a photograph from my archive and posting it with a brief explanation.

As I commence today what I hope will be a regular “Friday Fotos” series, a quick word about my views on posting photographs is in order.

I have seen much discussion in blogs and other places on the subject of the courtesy, etiquette and even legal boundaries regarding posting of photographs – particularly the use of posted photographs via re-posting elsewhere.  Since I view posting and re-posting of photographs as an important means of passing photographs on to other generations and distant family members, I also see it as an important way of preserving the images.  I possess many photographs that are approaching 100 or more years old.  I certainly did not take the photographs and the studios and photographers who did create them are long gone -- and in many cases unknown.  I fail to see how anyone possessing an original family photograph that he or she did not take, has some exclusive right to the image in the photograph.  Are not great, great grandchildren just as entitled to the image of one of their ancestors as the person who was lucky enough to have inherited the actual photo?  I think so!

For me, so long as the image is not being used to make money in any way, the sharing and re-posting of an old family photograph is an important way of dispersing and preserving the images of ancestors.   And that then leaves the matter of courtesy and etiquette.  I think the BEST way to thank the person who made an otherwise unknown or long lost image of an ancestor available is to credit him or her as the source whenever the image is used or re-posted.  For example, in 2010 I had a copy made of the photograph I have from my maternal grandmother, Ruth Eaton Cooke, who was Salutatorian of the North Attleboro [Massachusetts] High School Class of 1915.  The senior class took a trip to Washington, DC in the spring of 1915 and had a photograph of members of the class taken in front of Mt. Vernon.  My grandmother at some point identified those in the photograph by writing their names on the back of the original photograph.  I contacted the new North Attleboro High School and donated a copy to the school’s alumni association.  The only thing I requested was that my late grandmother be credited as the source of the photograph and the identification of those pictured.  You can see the link to the photograph and the credit here (the fourth bullet under “Association News”).  http://www.nahsalumni.org/Newsletters/e-news-Nov07.cfm

Here are the first Friday Fotos . . .


Anton Hasselbaum (1857 - 1916)
Anton Hasselbaum is the father of my maternal grandmother, Huldah Antonia (Hasselbaum) Tew.  My great grandfather was born in 1857 in Germany and died on Valentine’s Day 1916 in Providence, Rhode Island.  He was a well-known and successful  wholesale dealer and bottler of “Strictly Pure Hop and Malt and Export Lagers.  ALE, PORTER, MALT EXTRACT, Etc.”  His business was located at 260 Dexter Street in Providence.

Anton Hasslebaum's business card (1914)
A. Hasselbaum Co. advertisement from the
1908 Providence, Rhode Island Business Directory

My lineage from Anton Hasselbaum . . .

Generation 1:    Anton Hasselbaum m. Maria Johanna Richter
Generation 2:    Huldah Antonia Hasselbaum m. Arnold George Tew
                         (my grandparents)
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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Monday, January 21, 2013

Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, Winchester, VA


As I mentioned in my January 5th post about “The ABC,” I have found what I consider to be a wonderful resource for anyone with family artifacts that need repair, restoration or special protection. Eventually most of us come into possession of old family books, bibles, or documents that we want to preserve for future family members to enjoy; sadly though, many times the articles are in bad condition and in need of repair or perhaps almost complete restoration.  My copy of The ABC is a good example of a family genealogical artifact that was just too rare and valuable to let it deteriorate any further.  Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding was the group of artisans that came to the rescue and performed the beautiful restoration and resurrection pictured in the January 5th post and again below.     

Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding is a small bookbindery located in the Shenandoah Valley just outside of Winchester, Virginia.  The bindery has been serving the bookbinding and restoration needs of a national community for over 20 years now.  It is nestled in a sylvan setting that provides a nice drive down a winding country road in order to approach it.  The drive is so nice that my mother-in-law has been my companion on several visits to the bindery and she had a classic book of nursery rhymes from her youth restored by Cat Tail Run. 

Cat Tail Run nestled in the woods near Winchester, VA
The Bookbinder and owner is Jill Deiss.  She holds degrees in Chemistry and Library Science (with a specialty in the study of archives and rare book collections).  She studied bookbinding and restoration in Northampton, Massachusetts, and then at Cornell and in the Smithsonian Conservation Laboratories.  [And, take it from someone who commutes daily 50 miles each way to work, Jill has one of the greatest commutes of all time!  Her bindery is connected to her home in the woods by a very short pedestrian bridge that runs over her flower garden.  Her commute is probably less than 15 seconds!]  

You can get more of the particulars about Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding at their website http://www.cattailrun.com/index.htm  You can read about the other members of the talented staff and see some of the challenging and historic projects on which they have worked.

Cat Tail Run is not merely a bookbindery and book restoration business. I have had at least five projects done by Jill and her staff.  Only two of the five projects have involved books -- the most ambitious being the restoration of my ABC and the other being the conversion of my paperback copy of E. Jean Scott’s genealogy, A Few of the Tews of Newport, Rhode Island, to a hardback binding.  Two of the other projects involved crease damage repairs to important documents (my 2X great grandfather’s discharge paper from the Union Army and a 1760 deed to land in Coventry, Rhode Island).  The fifth project was a beautiful clamshell protective box made by specialist Dee Evetts to house and protect my ABC.

The ABC restored

The ABC restored
The ABC in its clamshell box (half open)
The ABC in its clamshell box (fully open)
The Tew genealogy after conversion to hard binding
and The ABC's protective clamshell box
Samuel Carpenter's discharge paper from the Union Army
Repaired 1760 land deed
I have been very happy with each and every project I have brought to Jill and her very talented staff.  I highly recommend Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding if and when you are looking to have any bookbinding done, repair and restoration of heirloom books/documents accomplished, or protective boxes made to preserve your family artifacts.   And if you are ever looking for an excuse to visit the Shenandoah Valley, Skyline Drive or even Washington, DC, dropping off your project at Cat Tail Run so you can see the bindery in the woods and chat with the staff is the perfect excuse!

UPDATE (June 28, 2013) -- For more information about Cat Tail Run -- and to see an interior photo -- check out this new article about Cat Tail Run that ran in the Washington Post on June 27, 2013. 

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918


With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting influenza activity during the week of January 6 -12, 2013 as “elevated” in all ten Health and Human Services (HHS) Regions across the U.S.  -- and with the CDC also stating that the proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza is “above the epidemic threshold” -- it might be instructive to briefly compare the current epidemic to the 1918 so-called “Spanish Flu” * that some authorities have referred to as “the deadliest plague in history.”  If in your genealogy research you have come across ancestor and relative deaths in 1918 that are not known to be combat-related, or explicitly explained as due to other causes, the Great Influenza of 1918 could well be the cause.

 At the halfway point of the current flu season there have been a total of 29 pediatric deaths reported nationwide since September 30, 2012.  This nearly matches the total of 34 pediatric deaths for the entire flu season in 2011 – 2012.  The total of all deaths during a given flu season (adult and pediatric) is usually not tallied until the end of the season, but deaths in the U.S. from influenza-related causes have ranged from 3,000 to 49,000 during the last quarter-century.

Patients ill with the flu at Camp Funston, Kansas 1918.
Nothing in the annals of influenza or other diseases and plagues can compare to what the U.S. and the world experienced in 1918.  In the U.S., the flu arrived in Kansas in January 1918 and spread through late spring in a “first wave” that caused severe sickness and deaths in a typical pattern and particularly among the elderly and the infirm – younger, healthy people usually recovered.  But in the “second wave” starting in August 1918, the flu returned in a mutated, lethal form that now attacked and killed the young and the healthy with a vengeance.   Estimates are that deaths worldwide in the first twenty-five weeks of the pandemic reached as many as 25 million.  Older estimates offered total deaths at the end of the pandemic at 40 – 50 million people, but more modern calculations say that as many as 50 – 100 million people were killed by the 1918 influenza!  Epidemiologists now believe that there were 675,000 flu deaths in the U.S. in 1918 -- and that was out of a U.S. population of 105 million.  The dust jacket of the 2004 book The Great Influenza by John M. Barry captures the horror and the numbers succinctly:

In the winter of 1918, the coldest the American Midwest had ever endured, history’s most lethal influenza virus was born.  Over the next year it flourished, killing as many as 100 million people.  It killed more people in twenty-four weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more people in a year than the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed in a century.  There were many echoes of the Middle Ages in 1918: victims turned blue-black and priests in some of the world’s most modern cities drove horse-drawn carts down the streets, calling upon people to bring out their dead.

In early April 1918, my maternal grandfather, Everett S. Carpenter, was posted at Watervliet Arsenal about 8 miles north of Albany, New York.  On April 1, 1918, he wrote home to his mother in Lonsdale (Cumberland), Rhode Island to inform her that he had been hospitalized.  He explained that he was the 56th of a total of 360 men to give in to what was then being euphemistically called ‘the grippe.”  He had experienced a fever of 103 degrees for at least two days.  The postcard, which I now possess, is shown below.  It is eerie proof that my grandfather had just survived the first wave of the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic!  




*  The 1918 influenza pandemic became known as the “Spanish Flu” because Spain was neutral during WWI.  In the warring countries, the war censors monitored the press and newspaper reports so that negative news that might affect morale or inform the enemy about manpower weakness was banned from publication.  In Spain, the press was free to report on the advance of the disease and reporting increased when King Alphonse XIII became very ill from the flu.  The disease that had previously been often referred to as “the grippe” when it was rarely mentioned in warring Europe or the U.S., soon became known as the “Spanish Flu” or the “Spanish Influenza.”  There is no evidence that the deadly 1918 influenza originated in Spain.
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For additional reading on the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918:


John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (New York, New York: Viking, The Penguin Group, 2004).

Gina Kolata, Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It (New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999).

The image of Camp Funston, Kansas 1918 can be found here.  The image is in the public domain in the U.S. because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923.   
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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Friday, January 18, 2013

Gobsmacked!


It is insufficient to say that I was merely "surprised" by the email I
received from Heather Wilkinson Rojo (author and owner of Nutfield Genealogy).  I was "gobsmacked" in the most positive sense of the word ["utterly astonished; astounded"].  In fact, it has taken me a week to absorb Heather’s news and to compose this “thank you” and response.

Heather very kindly wrote to tell me she had nominated The Prism and several other blogs for a “Blog of the Year 2012” award. http://www.nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/01/surprise-ive-been-honored.html  Her Nutfield Genealogy was recently nominated and the rules require a sort of "pay it forward" by having nominees pass on their own nominations.  More information about the award and the rules are found here http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award

The basic rules are . . .

1.         Select the blogs you think deserve the Blog of the Year 2012 Award
2.         Write a blog post and tell us about the blogs you have chosen – no minimum or maximum number of blogs required- and present them with the award
3.         Include a link back to the award page http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/
4.         Include these rules in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)
5.         Let the blogs you nominate know that you have given them the Blog of the Year award and share the ‘rules’ with them.
6.         You can now join the Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award Facebook Group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience.
7.         As a winner of the award, add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar… and start collecting stars…

Heather's outstanding genealogy blog is absolutely deserving of Blog of the Year nomination and recognition.  Her kind nomination of my nascent blog as one of several new blogs she likes is appreciated in the extreme, but I also have to point out that technically The Prism only posted a single entry in the past calendar year given that it was born on December 31, 2012.  

While I am truly gobsmacked by Heather's nomination, I found myself wondering if The Prism should even qualify for a 2012 nomination.  I am still learning the art of genealogy blogging and the features of Blogger.  I can only aspire to the consistency and quality of a blog such as Nutfield Genealogy.  I am also still exploring and feasting on the smorgasbord of blogs offered by the genealogy community -- and so I feel somewhat constrained by the Blog of the Year rule to name other blogs that I believe should be nominated.  But gobsmacked and inexperienced as I am, I nonetheless do not want to break the nomination chain or appear to be in any way ungrateful – so I am taking Heather's wonderful nomination as a vote of confidence in the POTENTIAL that The Prism has for the future rather than being based on the extremely limited posting I did in 2012.  On that basis, I am happy to accept and display the Blog of the Year badge in the hope The Prism justifies in 2013 the confidence expressed by the present nomination.



I hereby proceed to comply with the nomination rules by passing on my nominations . . .  

1.         Nutfield Genealogy (for a 2nd Gold Star) by Heather Wilkinson Rojo at http://www.nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com

2.         Genea-Musings by Randy Seaver at http://www.geneamusings.com

3.         Leaves for Trees by Heather Kuhn Roelker at http://leavesfortrees.blogspot.com

4.         One Rhode Island Family by Diane MacLean Boumenot at http://onerhodeislandfamily.com

5.         GeneaBloggers by Thomas MacEntee at http://geneabloggers.com