of 1918-1919

How it effected Chautauqua County

The Spanish Influenza, a terrible disease that span the entire globe, killed more people than the Great War today known as WW I. It has also been named the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history.

More people died of influenza in a single year than did in the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347-1351.

675,000 American died of influenza during the pandemic. Of the US soldiers that died in Europe in WW I half of them fell to the influenza virus not the enemy. An estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza.

It was known as the Spanish Flu or La Grippe. There was also a song about it that young children would sing:

I had a little bird

Its name was Enza

I opened the window

And in-flu-enza.

For the project and program for the CCHGS, Judy Tolbert and Freida Wells searched the following to come up with the best compilation of deaths in the county as we could.

Death records

Funeral records

Cemetery records

Newspapers

We know that this is not an accurate account as many could not be gotten due to entire families coming down with it. Also some funeral or death records did not come out and say influenza, many said Lobar pneumonia, so they could have been considered influenza at the time. We both also had family that were here that died from the influenza.

Health bulletins were placed in the all the newspapers by County Health Officer Dr. William L. McNaughton.

The epidemic got so bad here, the following were canceled, funerals, church services, schools, outdoor functions, weddings, and other public gatherings. The entire county was under quarantine.

The first to die that we could find recorded was in the Sedan paper, John Wesley Pilcher died Oct 4, 1918.

The towns we could find in the newspapers were Cedar Vale, (The County Liner) Elgin, (The Journal) and Sedan, (Sedan Times- Star) Some Peru obituaries were listed in the Sedan paper.

In January of 1919, there were 5 residents of Chautauqua County died in one week.

Judy had family that died in this epidemic. Royal ‘Preston’ Dillee and his wife Josephine and one of their sons Richard. They all died within one week of each other. They are buried in the El Cado cemetery near Peru. Royal was the son of George Washington and Mary Ann (Scott) Dillee. He was born November 4, 1886 and died November 11, 1918, Richard died November 16, 1918 and Josephine died November 18, 1918.

Freida’s great-grandmother Sarah Ann Myers, wife of Simpson Myers died from this disease at the home of her daughter, Rosetta ( Copple) Duffey in Elgin, Ks.. She was the only one in my family to have died of this disease. She was born in Osage Co MO. November 12, 1844 to Edward J. and Isabelle Fincher Jobe. She came to then Howard county in 1873 with her first husband John Alexander Copple from Linn Co., Kansas. She lived here the rest of her life.

At this time I would like to list the surnames of those that died that we found and the page number in the book where they can be found...