April, 1917- Mary Hannah Had the Flu
She was to be married in a week and unless her condition improved in short order, the wedding would not happen.
Northampton, Massachusetts
Nineteen year old Mary Hannah Clark huddled in a blanket in front of the kitchen stove, wishing she could crawl inside of it. She could not get warm. She complained to her mother that her bones hurt and her arms felt like chicken skin. Food did not appeal to her and it was all she could do, to force down a little soup. She blamed her condition on work. She was employed at one of the houses at nearby Smith College and she was absolutely certain that is where she had contracted “this thing.”
Some of the girls in the house had been bedridden for over a week with the malady and word had filtered down to a neighbor that one of them had died. Her mother was worried, but Mary Hannah was not in any mood to listen to her admonitions to eat something and to get back into bed. “I’m not going to die.” “I’ve got too much to do,” she told her.
Beyond her physical discomfort, Mary Hannah was worried. She was to be married in a week and unless her condition improved in short order, the wedding would not happen. As it was, she could barely stand on her feet for more than a few minutes. It was rotten luck, she thought. However, what Mary Hannah did not know how lucky she was to be alive. Mary Hannah had the Flu. The diagnosis would come by way of the local doctor, who examined her later that day.
1917 saw four flu related deaths in Northampton. Fortunately, Mary Hannah survived her bout with the disease.
However, the following year, a more virulent strain of the disease known as the Spanish Flu, broke out across the United States. It was the worse pandemic in the history of the United States. More than 500,000 Americans died from the disease.
The first symptoms of the Spanish Flu were seen on 27 August of 1918, aboard a ship on Commonwealth Pier in Boston. By August 30, at least 60 sailors were severely ill. It was the beginning of a long nightmare.
Once infected, the virus waged an unmitigated vicious assault on the bodies of its victims.
The victims of the 1918 Spanish flu suffered greatly. Within hours of feeling the first symptoms of extreme fatigue, fever, and headache, victims would start turning blue. Sometimes the blue color became so pronounced that it was difficult to determine a patient's original skin color. The patients would cough with such force that some even tore their abdominal muscles. Foamy blood exited from their mouths and noses. A few bled from their ears. Some vomited; others became incontinent. [1]
Unlike preceding Influenza pandemics, which killed the very young, the elderly and the infirm, this strain attacked healthy, young adults. Many victims became ill one day and died the next.
Northampton like other towns and cities ordered a shutdown of schools, public events and entertainment venues. Sporting events were cancelled. Fortunately, as the months wore on, the number of reported cases declined. In November, the Northampton Board of health voted to lift the ban.[2] However, the disease persisted into the following year. In the end, Spanish Flu took the lives of 97 people in the city. [3]
Mary Hannah never spoke of the Spanish Flu pandemic nor did she mention that her grandfather had passed in 1915, as a result of the disease. She seldom spoke of unhappy times. Like many of us, she chose to remember the beautiful moments of her life. Indeed, Mary Hannah’s story had a happy ending.
On 17 April 1917, a gaunt Mary Hannah was married at Blessed Sacrament Church in Northampton. The Hampshire Gazette reported the event.
Miss Mary H. Clark, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James M. Clark of Riverside Drive and Wilbur E. Cleary also of Riverside Drive, were married Tuesday morning at 9 o’clock in the Blessed Sacrament church, by Reverend T.P. Lucey, the nuptial high mass being celebrated. The party entered the church to the strains of the Mendelssohn Wedding march and during the ceremony Miss Barbara Carter sang, “O Promise Me” and “O Salutaris.” The couple was attended by Miss Helen Clark, a sister of the bride and Walter Cleary of Milford, N.H. a cousin of the groom. The ushers were Leo Clark, a brother of the bride and Walter Dobler. The bride was charming in a Copenhagen blue suit with black hat and a corsage bouquet of bridal roses and Gardenias. Her attendant wore a darker blue suit with black hat and pink Sweet Peas. A wedding breakfast was served at the home of the bride’s parents, after which Mr. and Mrs. Cleary left on a trip to Boston and New Hampshire. The groom’s gift to the best man was a set of Gold cuff links. The ushers received stick pins. The bride’s gift to her bridesmaid was a ring set with Sapphire. The young couple were the recipients of many gifts, including a sum of money from the college girls at the house where Mrs. Cleary was formerly employed.[4]
[1] Rosenberg, Jennifer, ABOUT.COM: Twentieth Century History , “1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic,” [undated and unsourced text], About.com (http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/p/spanishflu.htm : accessed 20 Jan 2012).
[2] [Unidentified author], “Vote to Lift Influenza Ban,” The Springfield Daily Republican, 8 Nov 1918, p. 13, col. 4, digital image, Genealogybank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 22 Jan 2012), Historical Newspaper Archives.
[3] [Unidentified author], Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: “1918 Pandemic, Amherst, Hadley, Northampton and South Hadley,” [undated], Amherst College (http://www3.amherst.edu/~aliljestrand/1918pandemic.html : accessed 20 Jan 2012).
[4] Edward Murch, transcriber and compiler, “Clark-Cleary,” Hampshire Gazette, 19 April 1917, n.p., n.col.
