The 1918 Influenza in Kawartha Lakes
September 27, 1918 - October 19, 1918
On page seven of the September 27 edition of the Lindsay Post articles included both “Record Attendance on Closing Day of Central Exhibition” and “Spanish Influenza Hits Lindsay, Description of its Symptoms”.
Listed symptoms included “sudden onset with chills, severe headache, pains the in back and elsewhere, general malaise, flushed face, some soreness of the throat, and fever of from 101 deg to 104 deg. F with a rather slow pulse. Usually crisis has occurred after two or three days, with rapid and complete recovery. In many cases there has been a harsh cough with a scanty sputum; occasionally more severe bronchitis and even bronchopneumonia have developed but among the young and healthy there seem to have been no serious consequences, and no definite statements are made as to the death rate, which in any event thus far has been very low.”
This latter statement may have proven most deadly in this area since the majority of local victims were under the age of 30. In fact, what made the 1918 influenza strain different from the regular flu was its choice of victims: the young and healthy. (Canadian Encyclopedia)
Three weeks after the Post reported the flu had hit Lindsay, the local Medical Health Officer, Dr. McAlpine told the Post, “there was not a case of Spanish Influenza in Lindsay. The ordinary is grippe, which was quite common in the eighties and nineties, is prevalent.” (Lindsay Post, October 19, 1918) However, the MHO requested the closing of all schools and theatres—closures that lasted into November.
As can be seen from the list of deaths below, Dr. McAlpine’s statement was hopeful at best. Deaths due to pneumonia and/or influenza had been recorded during the four weeks prior to this statement.
Influenza Prevention
Appearing in the same column of the newspaper were instructions from a local druggist about how to prevent influenza, in which it’s interesting to see the similarities and differences given the advancement of modern medicine:
“Get a nasal atomizer from your druggist and an ounce or two of tincture of iodine. Mix two teaspoonsful of this and one teaspoonful of salt in a quart of warm water. Spray nose and throat with this night and morning.
Keep warm Keep out of crowds. Keep the bowels open. Eat and sleep well. Breathe fresh air.
To stop it— Go to bed immediately. Get a doctor as soon as you can. keep quiet. Keep warm. Keep the bowels open. Shut the doors. Open the windows. Notify the Board of Health.”
(Lindsay Post, Friday October 19, 1918.)
October 25, 1918
October 25th, the Post printed a telegram from the Provincial Health Officer to the Mayor of Lindsay, asking about the local influenza situation. The Mayor R. Kylie’s replies are posted here alongside the questions for easier reading:
How many cases of Spanish Influenza have you?
Between four hundred and five hundred.
Are they increasing in number?
No, but very severe.
Have you sufficient professional assistance of doctors and nurses?
Yes.
If not, what further assistance do you require?
No further assistance at present.
State fully, are you arranging to establish a branch of the newly organized Ontario Emergency Volunteer Health Auxiliary. Volunteer classes here have been most successful. Strongly recommend you to follow suit.
Not arranging to establish a branch of Emergency Volunteers.
If you require lecturer to help qualify your applicants we will provide one. Lectures already given to volunteer classes are printed in full in to-day’s Toronto papers. Recommend you to have considerable number of copies to instruct your volunteers.
Do not require lecturer at present.
Lindsay Post, October 25, 1918
Local Nurses Help Out
Cities like Toronto and Oshawa seemed to have been hit harder than Lindsay and area. Local nurses volunteered to help in Oshawa. The volunteers from the Voluntary Aid Detachment included Aileen Hughes, youngest daughter of Sir Sam Hughes.
Reports of the end of the epidemic
By November 9th, the Post was reporting the flu epidemic “knocked out”. The ban on churches, schools and theatres was lifted. The Post went on to admonish “exaggerated reports” of the number of cases and “seriousness of the epidemic and the number of deaths” because of the effect this had on businesses.
“Business men who suffered monetary losses during the epidemic naturally expect busy conditions, now that is has been stamped out, and those who were stampeded from visiting town as a result of the local situation, which, as stated above, was greatly magnified, are invited to come early and often, as the town is wide open and outside of the danger zone.”
However, the danger was not over. An outbreak happened at the end of November at the St. Joseph’s Academy, claiming the life of Sister St. Leonard and several students.
Two weeks later, the PHO warned of the impending second wave of infection.
October 25, 1918
Death Records
The total number of deaths due to the 1918 influenza is not known—not for Canada, Ontario, or Kawartha Lakes. Deaths in Ontario for the month of October were estimated at 3000, but it was also thought to be only half the true total. At the time, there was no requirement to report numbers of influenza and pneumonia cases to the Provincial Board of Health. Since laboratory testing of the virus did not exist, death records may not accurately report causes of death (“old age” is a common cause of death in this time period, but could be related to the influenza virus.)
The 1918 Kawartha Lakes (Victoria County) death records indicate influenza deaths may have been recorded only as pneumonia (or other causes), thereby reducing the overall “seriousness” of the epidemic. 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
(Ancestry.com. Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.)
Ancestry.com/the-killer-flu-how-did-the-1918-pandemic-affect-your-family/
Sept. 19 - George Anderson - age 61 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct 1 - Margarette Fell - age 65 - pneumonia - Somerville Lot 13 Conc.1
Oct. 12 - Edward O’Neill - age 24 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 16 - Mary E. Clark - age 28 - broncho pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 17 - William John Scott - age 30 - influenza & pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 18 - Michael O’Neill - age 1 year - broncho pneumonia - Lindsay (son of Edward O’Neill d. Oct. 12)
Oct. 18 - Victoria Prout - age 53 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 19 - Basil Thomas Kingsley - age 27 - influenza - Lindsay
Oct. 19 - Clarence Pridham Bate - age 24 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 21 - Frederick William Routley - age 20 - pleurisy pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 23 - Mary Hall - age 50 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 24 - Georgina Henderson - age 39 - pneumonia - Bobcaygeon
Oct. 25 - Elizabeth Moody - age 24 - pneumonia - Bobcaygeon
Oct. 26 - Ada Alfreda Philips - age 34 - influenza - Coboconk
Oct. 27 - Mary Costello - age 58 - influenza & pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 27 - Rizpah Mabel Pratt - age 23 - pneumonia following influenza (nurse in training) - Lindsay
Oct. 28 - William John Copeland - age 20 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 28 - Florence May Arthur - age 19 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 29 - Louis Burke - age 22 - influenza - Lindsay
Oct. 29 - George Clark - age 30 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 30 - Suey Lan Lee - age 8 months - influenza - Lindsay
Oct. 30 - Clarence Sholer - age 21 months - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 30 - Arthur Fryer - age 17 years - pneumonia - Lindsay
Oct. 30 - Mary English - age 68 - pneumonia - Omemee
Oct. 31 - Fredrick William Herbert Forster - age 53 - influenza - Coboconk
Oct. 31 - Mary Groves - age 26 - pneumonia - Burnt River
Nov. 1 - Adeline Lamb - age 40 - influenza - Verulam
Nov. 2 - Arthur Bateman Graham - age 34 - pneumonia - Lindsay
Nov. 2 - Clarence Dean McKague - age 16 - pneumonia & influenza - Mariposa Lot 10 Conc. 13
Nov. 3 - William John Arnberg - age 29 - pneumonia - Bobcaygeon
Nov. 4 - Wilbert Switzer - age 14 - la grippe - Verulam
Nov. 6 - Lancelot Bruce Kelly - age 2 - pneumonia - Verulam
Nov. 9 - James Nesbitt - age 20 - pneumonia & influenza - Fenelon
Nov. 9 - Margaretta Hilda Cook - age 14 - influenza - Fenelon Falls
Nov. 11 - William Wesley Arscott - age 31 - pneumonia - Fenelon Falls
Nov. 14 - Cyrenus Flaherty - age 27 - influenza - Emily
Nov. 17 - Bertha Alma Lee - age 34 - influenza - Mariposa lot 15 Conc. 11
Nov. 23 - Viola Pearl Mark - age 6 - influenza - Valentia, Mariposa
Nov. 28 - Hazel Connor - age 20 - influenza & pneumonia - school teacher - Little Britain
Nov. 30 - Irene Gannon - age 13 - pneumonia - Lindsay (student at St. Joseph’s Academy)
Dec. 1 - Kathleen O’Reilly - age 18 - influenza & pneumonia - Lindsay
Dec. 1 - Bridget Enright (Sister St. Leonard) - age 40 - influenza (Sisters of St. Joseph)
Dec. 4 - Irene Elizabeth Lytle (Little) - age 16 - influenza & pneumonia - Lindsay (student at St. Joseph’s Academy)
Dec. 5 - Mary McDougal - age 16 - influenza & pneumonia - Lindsay
Dec. 10 - Aileen Murphy - age 19 - influenza - Ops
Dec. 14 - Rose Mary McGuire - age 44 - influenza & pneumonia - Ops
Dec. 18 - Margaretta Groves - age 19 - influenza - Verulam
Dec. 19 - Mary Isobel McEachern - age 19 - influenza - Eldon
Dec. 23 - Fanning Geach - age 36 - pleuro pneumonia - Lindsay
Dec. 26 - Charlie Cecil Cole - age 8 months - influenza - Lindsay
Dec. 28 - Virtal Gordon Porter - age 19 - pneumonia – Lindsay
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.
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 York
February 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