“Batty Brock and the ‘Flu Pandemic 1918 - 1919”

by Katie Hanzeli

I’m sure you’ve heard more than you want of pandemic news.  That said, see my previous blog.  Did anyone note the timing of my missing marriage record?  Actually, I may not have given it, a huge oversight on my part!  Miscellaneous records pinpoint the date to somewhere between September 1918 and August 1919.

What happened during that time?  You guessed it - the Spanish ‘Flu Pandemic, which was caused by the H1N1 influenza virus, which also caused problems in 2009.  They called it  the “grippe” in 1918 and the “Swine ‘Flu” in 2009.  We are encouraged to not just gather dates and hard facts about events in our ancestors’ lives.  We should be understanding the times and places in which they lived.  For me and my marriage record, that means understanding the impact of the Spanish ‘Flu Pandemic on the citizens of Boston, which is where it appears the marriage took place.

Here are some of the basic facts as applied to Boston, Massachusetts.  The Spanish Flu was transmitted by returning service men, coming home from serving in World War I.  It’s no surprise, then, that Boston had its first identified cases, and indeed the first in the nation, in the form of two Navy servicemen who reported to the sick bay at Boston’s Commencement Pier on 27 August 1918 from the Receiving Ship docked there.  One week later, there were 100 more cases among the sailors.  By September the virus had spread to the civilian population.  On 3 September, the first civilian was admitted to Boston City Hospital.  On 17 September, there were about 200 cases there.  

Boston’s Commencement Pier 

There was a spike in cases after 11 November 1918.  Why?  People came out and congregated to celebrate the armistice and spread the disease.  There was another spike for the same reason after Christmas.  President Woodrow Wilson got it early in 1919 while negotiating the Versailles Peace Treaty.

       

 At the worst, 150 people and sometimes more were dying per day on multiple days in Boston, from either the ‘flu itself or the pneumonia that often accompanied it.  Boston City Hospital treated about 2,300 cases with about 675 of them dying.  That is about a 30% death rate in the hospital itself.  Nine nurses, two doctors and four staff were among the dead.  The overall rate of illness was estimated to be 30 to 40% of the US population and 2 - 3% died.  For comparison, today in the U. S. the Corona virus or Covid 19, or whatever you want to call it, has killed about 1.3% and that number is about 2.5% worldwide.  By the end of 1918, 4,794 people in Boston had died.  In 1919, the death rate was 710 per 100,000 residents.  It was nearly the worst hit city in the country due to the rapid spread of the disease from the large military presence there.  Only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh had higher numbers.
        

Treatment problems were compounded as many of the medical personnel were away serving the troops in the war.  Hospitals were overwhelmed.  To compensate, nursing students were called in and the civilian population helped each other.  Teachers, released from their classrooms on 25 September, were recruited to help.  Schools were turned into hospitals.  Tents hospitals were set up.
        

Governor Samuel McCall banned public gatherings.  Theaters and other places of amusement were closed.  Church services, including funerals, were banned.  When funerals did occur, they were limited to 15 minutes (the shortest one I ever attended was 8 minutes.)  Gauze masks were distributed and some towns issued certificates to allow passengers to ride the trains.  Fines were levied to those who refused to obey the ordinances.  In spite of the agitation against the restrictions, most people abided by them as they were all ready in the mode of sacrificing for the needs of their country during the War.  The number of cases rose and deaths again increased when the bans were lifted.
        

Young students, supposedly, were protected, even though Gloucester, an hour north of Boston, closed their schools as did others.  “Neither Dr. William H. Devine, medical director of schools, nor Dr. W. C. Woodward, City Health Commissioner, is in favor of closing schools.  They say that by remaining at their studies pupils are less likely to become affected, especially since teachers, school physicians and nurses are doing everything in their power to head off the epidemic.”  As of 18 September 1918, there were no deaths reported among school children, although the absentee rate was high, and the Boston Globe reported that there were 50 cases.  However, officials changed their minds and the Boston schools were closed and converted to hospitals on 25 September and Mayor Andrew J. Peters appointed a special Emergency Committee to advise the health commissioner and perform other duties related to the outbreak.
       

The advice given to combat the virus included spending thirty minutes a day in the sun as that “means death to the germs.”  In addition to avoiding crowds, people were encouraged to get lots of exercise.  If only our Seattle weather would allow more outdoor time!
        

Charles Beverly Brock RAYMOND, and his wife, Marie Marguerite RICHARDS, were in the middle of all of this, both living at the time just off of Copley Square in Boston’s Back Bay area.  Brock’s older brother, William Samuel Winslow RAYMOND, could not perform his duties as an Episcopalian minister because the churches were closed all around the country.  He was the new pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church in Hannibal, Missouri, when it finally reopened.  It’s unknown if any of them got sick, but no one in my family died.  And we do know that we can’t find Brock and Marguerite’s marriage record.  Being that their marriage evidently took place during this pandemic, it seems that it was never filed.
       

 In the research I did for this article, I didn’t see any notes that the government had shut down, but it would seem likely that at least some parts of it did, if for no other reason than the employees were all sick and not at their jobs.  It is the only explanation I can come up with for the lack of a record.  If we compare those days with the current crisis, critical activities continued, and the filing of a marriage record was not critical and if it was, it was certainly less important then than it is now.
        

The hunt goes on.  Another Trinity Church on Copley Square seems to have been the place where Brock attended Church, according to his obituary.  When this current crisis is over, I’m hightailing it back to Boston to knock on their door.  I can ask someone to do it for me, but they can’t go out right now either, and besides, churches are closed, too.  So I will wait and hopefully, my next blog on Brock and Marguerite will have a document to share!
       

Stay healthy, everyone!

Katie Hanzeli

Sources:
WBUR CommonHealth, by Jack Lepiarz:  “How Boston Reacted to the 1918 Flu

Pandemic"https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wbur.org%2Fcommonhealth%2F2020%2F03%2F11%2Fboston-1918-flu-pandemic-coronavirus&data=02%7C01%7C%7C3977ccb9c5b041a0116608d7d112dc1d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637207751277655559&sdata=%2BeXFHKJfkIp5R6QouTolhYBMEBJXq2sBDOIvPWb5Wv0%3D&reserved=0, published 11 March 2020
“Notes From the Archives:  #onthisday in 1918, the Spanish Flu arrived in Boston, https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.boston.gove%2Fnews%2Fnotes-archives-onthisday-1918-spanish-flu-arrived-boston&data=02%7C01%7C%7C3977ccb9c5b041a0116608d7d112dc1d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637207751277655559&sdata=g3c71OrSrQwOotClux1w42GXQJuqMKXu3cMQ8Xw8AcE%3D&reserved=0, published 27 August 2019

“Vigorous Action to Stamp Out Grippe:  18 Deaths From Disease in Boston Yesterday:  City Hospital Closed to Visitors for Indefinite Period”, Boston Globe, 18 September 1918, page 3

“The 1918 Influenza Outbreak:  When Boston Was Patient Zero,” by Edgar B. Herwick III, WGBH News, August 29, 2014, https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wgbh.org%2Fnews%2Fpost%2F1918-influenza-outbreak-when-boston-was-patient-zero&data=02%7C01%7C%7C3977ccb9c5b041a0116608d7d112dc1d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637207751277665564&sdata=BdHlHce0xLvNtbQXk653A4kJC6sUKVDy%2FWdvRQwloC8%3D&reserved=0

“The Influenza Pandemic of 1918”, by Molly Billings, June 1997, modified RDS February, 2005, https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fvirus.stanford.edu%2Fuda%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C3977ccb9c5b041a0116608d7d112dc1d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637207751277665564&sdata=au2gOKRFe4L8kWgKrQ1M%2FfokyXmc2IwGyDhuVXuLrao%3D&reserved=0

“The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919:  A Digital Encyclopedia, Boston, Massachusetts,” University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.influenzaarchive.org%2Fcities%2Fcity-boston.html%23&data=02%7C01%7C%7C3977ccb9c5b041a0116608d7d112dc1d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637207751277665564&sdata=A%2BpIHaBF%2BzlI%2B67RQ%2FrRkGtjmh9BpRn5GiyL05uCpRc%3D&reserved=0

https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lexico.com%2Fen%2Fdefinition%2Fgrippe&data=02%7C01%7C%7C3977ccb9c5b041a0116608d7d112dc1d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637207751277665564&sdata=RCTZ9Qi6KYrUS4IJBcwA0Emgwe824hVv6QBnBUTmRpg%3D&reserved=0, powered by Oxford,