Easter in Algoma: 100 Years Ago and the Spanish Flu

Easter Sunday 2020 was certainly one for the history books. Easter 1918 and 1919 were too. It wasn’t called self-distancing in those years, but schools were closed as religious services, meetings and public gatherings were cancelled. The global pandemic called the Spanish flu infected one-quarter to one-third of the world’s population. Of the 500 million infected, about 50,000,000 died. Nearly 675,000 died in the U.S. The CDC says the Spanish flu, an H1N1 virus, was first identified in the military during World War l and it was because of the war that it spread.

History.com tells us the first wave of flu, occurring in the spring of 1918, was fairly mild, but by fall there was another wave so deadly that victims often died within hours or days of contracting the disease that turned skin blue and filled lungs to the point of suffocation. There were no vaccines in those days and since it was a novel (new) virus, as Covid 19 is, nobody had immunity.

War was ranging in Europe in 1917, and even though U.S. men were beginning to enlist and looking toward the draft, Easter was fairly normal in Algoma, and in all of Kewaunee County, except, perhaps for the Julius Meyer family. Easter Sunday 1917 was a day the family didn’t forget. For them it was a near tragedy. Playing along the river near the Bohman fish shanty, young Robert Meyers came close to drowning when he fell into the water between the dock and the fishtug. Fortunately, the water wasn’t deep and playmate Eugene Kimball kept his wits about him as he pulled Robert from the water.

Schools gave youngsters a bit of Easter vacation during which time new slate blackboards were installed at Lincoln Joint District No #3 – LaFayette School. It was said the new boards added much to the school’s interior appearance.

When the Record came out on April 12, the blackboards were newsworthy. So were the journeys and visits of family and friends, college students taking a break from their studies, teachers leaving to spend East with their families and more.

The Herald on April 5 had tips for making Easter special for the children. Such ideas included the normal egg hunts plus fancy dress dancing parties, Punch and Judy shows and all kinds of games. Fluck’s City Drug Store was advertising the latest in Easter cards and booklets. A week later, the Herald reported on the large Luxemburg delegation attending the dance given by W.S. Decker at the Casco Park Hall on the evening after Easter. Algoma Symphony Orchestra furnished the music.

Lent was closing out and dance hall proprietors throughout Kewaunee County were advertising the coming dances. J.E. Gettelmann announced an Easter dance at his popular Bruemmerville spot on April 9^th. Algoma’s opera house was to be the scene of an Easter ball the same night when there would also be one at Casco. Entringer and Hucek at Bottkolville (now called Euren) scheduled a dance for the 9^th but the men found it necessary to postpone until April 16^th.

Easter 1918 saw huge changes. By spring, hundreds of Wisconsin men were serving in the military and everyone knew of those who died from the Spanish flu, whether in the military or at home. There were deaths: men died in training camp and in France. People died at home. There were those in Algoma who died and were buried before many found out. Congregating at a funeral would spread disease.

While local residents and men in the military were dying, the county had another shock when

Anamae Kochmich died on January 19, 1818. The young Carlton resident died at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, of pneumonia caused by the Spanish flu. The 1915 Kewaunee high school honor graduate went on to Oshkosh Normal School and began teaching. When the call for nurses came, Anamae left teaching to train with the Reserve Corps of Nurses. Of the seven county women who volunteered for nurses training, Anamae was the only one chosen. Anamae left home on December 5, 1918 and died about 6 weeks later. When her funeral was held on January 26, followed by internment at Forest Hill Cemetery, a military escort served as an honor guard.

When the Record Herald told readership about the epidemic in October 1918, it said the populace should guard against droplet infections. It warned readers that if precautions were not taken, the epidemic would be so widespread that it would be the American flu. Deaths came primarily from complications.

The Wisconsin Health Department said the flu was very contagious and explained how pneumonia was caused by the disease. The Department told about germs being carried in air in the form of dust from dried mucus, coughing or sneezing or from the careless who spit on the floor or sidewalk. The Department further said that one with very mild symptoms might very well give a severe attack to others.

Life did go on though.

The Red Cross dance planned for Easter Monday 1918 was postponed to April 12^th and then cancelled entirely. The ladies working for the Red Cross had gotten so busy that the dance became too much. Still, a large crowd of Algoma citizens enjoyed the Easter Monday dance at Entringer and Hucek’s the day after Easter.

Other things began changing, mostly because of the war. Bakers were notified that as of April 1, rye flour could not be used as a substitute for wheat and were then told that by the 14^th bread had to be made up of 25% substitutes. Bakers were allowed to use four pounds of potatoes as an equal to 1 pound of other substitutes. Using sugar on bread and rolls was forbidden but it could be used on crackers and other pastry. There were the meatless days and meatless meals that were suddenly suddenly they were suspended. Spring of 1918 brought an unusual run of hogs on the market, limited storage facilities , a shortage of railroad cars and a shortage of overseas transportation. In 2020, milk was being dumped, tomatoes thrown out and potatoes being plowed under. There is nowhere to go with oil. Until May 1, 1918, at least, the government was encouraging citizens to eat more potatoes, meat and milk  because of oversupply. Breadstuffs, however, were conserved. After April 1^st, housewives could neither purchase nor consume more than 1 ½ pounds of flour per person per week or 6 pounds per month. Hotels and restaurants were to completely abolish the use of wheat products until the next harvest to insure adequate supplies to the allies.

There was the Spanish flu, the food shortages and horrors of war, but there were bright spots. When Alaska Red Cross Branch sponsored a dance at Borlee’s Hall in Rostok on April 27^th, attendees were assured a good time.

Somehow Algoma coped and came through it. By Easter on April 20, 1919, things were settling down. The war was over but the Spanish flu was still there, however not spreading as it had a year earlier. On April 21, the Ladies Rosary Society at St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception church gave their annual Easter luncheon at the Columbus Club rooms. The luncheon was scheduled to begin at 5 and continue till all were served. Price was set at 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for children.

When Record Herald editor Harry Heidmann editorialized at Easter 1919, he said the changes in old thoughts and customs would not be immediate, but a signed peace treaty meant that there were steps toward a world governed by right and justice. Heidmann said, “And its completion seems like Easter, symbolic of hope and joy.” Heidmann went on to write about the promise of Easter. He wrote about Easter being a great joy after Lent’s sadness and the Resurrection being emblematic of life and hope. He went on to say that we celebrate a return of spring and that too is like the fulfillment of hope. The peace treaty was to be completed by Easter and after years of destruction, suffering, terror and chaos, there was hope of a sense of mutual obligation and helpfulness among nations.

Heidmann could have been talking about the Spanish flu, he could have been talking about Covid 19.

Sources: Algoma Herald, Algoma Record, Algoma Record Herald; History.com; The photo of Anamae Kochmich comes from An Honor Roll, Harry Heidmann and Lester Heidmann. The clippings come from Algoma Record Herald.