Virtual Exhibit:
The 1918 Influenza in Kawartha Lakes, part 2
After the revelry of the Armistice, the reopening of schools in November, and the reunions of families over Christmas, the 1918 influenza resurged through Kawartha Lakes in early 1919.
Alberta men in masks, 1918 (Source)
January - February 1919
Outbreak occurred in Omemee to such extent that on January 8th the public board of health closed schools again, reduced church service to Sunday morning only and decreased business hours. In Cambray the outbreak required the complete closure of churches and schools for five weeks. In the January 24th edition, The Post reported the Provincial Officer of Health as stating the flu was likely to linger, as it was only just spreading to rural areas that had escaped the “earlier ravages of the malady.”
On February 3rd, local brickyard magnate, S.J. Fox, received word that all three of his brother’s sons were dead from the flu. The boys, aged 16, 14 and 12, were the sons of Charles Fox. The family had recently moved from Coburg to Mechanicsville, New York. At the time of reporting, both Charles’ wife and daughter were still ill with the flu.
Delia Maude Dayton
Delia Maude Dayton (23 June 1887 - 14 July 1970), daughter of Charles Dayton and Mary Grace Hooper, was born and raised in Little Britain (in the former Mariposa township in Kawartha Lakes). She trained as a nurse at the Clifton Springs Sanitarium, graduating in 1914.
In 1916 she enlisted and served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps in World War I as a nursing sister. She was posted right away to the Ramsgate General Canadian Special Hospital in June 1916, then six months later transferred to France to work at the No. 3 General Hospital in Le Treport.
(Photo of Maude Dayton with her mother, c. 1920)
Maude’s health journey
In October 1917 she contracted an infection in her left sinus following a tooth extraction and was sent back to England. She was returned to Canada in December as unfit for general service and reassigned to service on the home front.
A year later, in October 1918 at the height of the pandemic, Maude was diagnosed with influenza and was hospitalized at Cobourg. Although she was only 31 years of age, she never fully recovered her health and was recommended for discharge as being medically unfit. She was struck off strength in January 1919 and fully discharged by March 1920.
She continues her work
By June 1919, Maude had returned to Clifton Springs, NY, continuing her work as a registered nurse at the Clifton Springs Sanitarium, but she came to find the work monotonous and very hard, and by early 1920, she was working at Cornell University.
In the years following the war, Maude continued to receive correspondence from her friend, Dr. Charles Fellows Kimball, of Army Medical Corps, whom she had met while in France.
In February 1920, when living in Ithaca and working at the Cornell College Infirmary, she received this letter from Kimball that mentions influenza continuing to plague his region, where he was stationed at Fort McPherson, Georgia, Atlanta.
Letter postmarked 16 February, Atlanta, GA
Miss D. Maude Dayton, R.N.
Cornell College Infirmary
Ithaca, New YorkFebruary 5th, 1920
My dear Miss Dayton:
A letter from you the other day. I have not been in the mood for letters for several days; I am specially so right now. I believe my old friend the “flu” is buzzing close to me as I have a general feeling of lassitude and malease. Went to a dance last evening and shall wind up with one tonight. They are still enjoyable.
Due to the increase of “flu” in this region the girls previously ordered to other hospitals have been retained here for the present. I am not sure whether the arrangement pleases me or not. I had already made some plans contingent on this girl’s departure and which it is not now convenient to carry forward. I gain something and lose some thing as is always the case.
I am much pleased to learn that you find things more congenial at Ithaca; I believe you needed the more lively life after your long siege at Clifton. From your descriptions I felt that work was monotonous and very hard there with little outside to break the grind of things.
Nurses are very difficult to find now that the “flu” and bronco-pneumonia has started again. We have quite a good many cases of “flu” but nearly all mild ones thus far. Very few cases of bronco as yet. The entire command is taking preventatives serums and we have considerable faith in that which is prepared here. It was found rather good last year both in military and civil trials. I do not know wherein it varies from the standard formulas but the man who originated it is a deep student and a very careful worker. I expect to start my course tomorrow the prospect is interesting as it makes life really comfortable for a day or so. The first “shot” is equally distributed between both arms and is rather irritating I am told. As I am on a desk job and write with a pure muscular movement, you can believe me when I say I dread a sore arm more than the disease--but orders is orders!
Little by little the war-injured are being discharged to the care of the War Risk Service. We still have about a thousand patients and the admissions keep pace with the discharges. The admissions are minor compared to the cases who are being discharged but they require quite a lot of attention.
Nothing much to say anyway. No news worth writing and so I will sing my little song -- au revoir!
Death Records
What follows is a listing of all deaths in Kawartha Lakes with causes noted as either influenza or pneumonia for the entire year of 1919. There is a noticeable surge of deaths in January and then a steady decline. From these numbers of deaths, we can extrapolate a greater number of cases of influenza.
Here, we’ve gathered deaths where causes or factors leading to death were reported as pneumonia or influenza, listed in the following order:
Date of death - Name - Age - Cause - Place of Death
(Source: Ancestry.com. Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1948 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.)
1919
January 1 - Pearson, Charles, age 36, influenza - Lindsay
January 1 - Smith, William John, age 26, influenza - Eldon township
January 2 - Kennedy, Beryl Adrena M., age 15, pneumonia - Lindsay
January 6 - Grant, Evelyn Pearl, age 3, influenza - Lornville
January 7 - Hutton, James Francis, age 42, influenza - Lindsay
January 8 - Clayton, Hannah Jane, age 31, influenza - Woodville
January 8 - Dack, John, age 25, pneumonia - Carden township
January 9 - Hickson, Gilbert, age 51, influenza - Lindsay
January 9 - Thornbury, George Douglas, age 9 months - Eldon township
January 11 - Auston, James Burrell, physician, age 39, pneumonia following accidental fall - Coboconk
January 11 - Howard, Ethel, age 12, influenza - Lindsay
January 11 - Pogue, Archibald William, age 24, pneumonia - Ops township
January 12 - Sobell, Christina, age 61, influenza - Bury’s Green
January 13 - Richardson, Julia Ann, age 33, influenza - Lindsay
January 14 - Byers, Sarah Emmaline, age 25, influenza - Omemee
January 15 - McCallum, Millie Ellenor, age 29, Spanish influenza - Emily
January 21 - Hart, Robert, age 64, pneumonia - Ops township
January 23 - Coad, Maria Catherine Doreen, age 9 months, broncho pneumonia - Oakwood
February 3 - Dowles, Mary Ann, age 75, pneumonia - Ops township
March 1 - Humphries, James, age 70, pneumonia - Bobcaygeon
March 2 - Hart, Ethel Annie, age 29, broncho pneumonia - Dalton
March 6 - Twohey, John, age 71, influenza - Ops township
April 3 - Fowler, Chester Herbert Real, age 1, brocho pneumonia - Lindsay
April 6 - Powell, Ralph Victor, age 47 days, pneumonia - Coboconk
April 9 - Strong, Eva, age 68, pneumonia - Fenelon Falls
April 15 - Strong, Joseph, age 58, pneumonia - Fenelon Falls
April 26 - Magill, Kenneth Ross, age 26 days, pneumonia - Janetville
May 16 - Fittall, John E., age 80, influenza - Cambray
May 24 - Handley, Gordon Edward, age 2, pneumonia - Burnt River
September 21 - McQuade, Jennie, age 38, pneumonia - Emily
October 21 - Faulkner, William John, age 54, pneumonia - Emily
November 7 - Richardson, Eliza Maud, age 5 months, pneumonia - Bobcaygeon
November 11 - Fountain, Daniel Hilliard, age 8 months, pneumonia - Lindsay