THE SPANISH INFLUENZA

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza.
I opened the window,
And in-flu-enza.


Rope Skipping Rhyme from 1918

It started with a few soldiers getting sick at Camp Funston, Kansas in early March 1918. These soldiers died after a short and violent illness. They were the first of an estimated 50,000,000 to perish worldwide; 550,000 Americans and about 17,000,000 in India.* Unfortunately, among the last to contract and die from the disease were Dudley Howard Bell on November 12, 1918 and his sister-in-law Merle Alberta Malvern Bell, the wife of Charley Bell, about the same time.

In the fall of 1918, Dudley Bell was lean, fit and in his prime. He and his wife Elizabeth had proved-up and perfected their homestead rights to a half section near Brockway, Montana. Three children – Kenneth, Gerald and Lucille – had blessed their home and marriage and a fourth – Doris – was expected in January or February 1919. Two days before his death, Dudley loaded up a horse drawn wagon with sugar beets and set off to deliver them to the rail depot in Terry, Montana. Elizabeth and the children had some mild flu symptoms, and stayed behind.

The fateful journey changed everything. By the time Elizabeth delivered Doris on January 30, 1919, she was physically and emotionally exhausted. In another time and place, she might have quickly remarried to a similarly situated widower. However, she had been ex-communicated from the Catholic Church because of her marriage to the Lutheran Dudley Bell. His family, with the exception of his older brother Charley, was far away in Missouri. She became dependent on her mother Anna and her stepfather John Grote.

The homestead was sold. Elizabeth and the four children moved into the large Grote house near the railroad depot in Glendive, Dawson, Montana. As noted on the 1920 census, the house had a great many occupants, especially during the winter months. The younger Guelff children had not yet left the nest. Those who had and were working farms nearby came into town after the harvest and stayed until time for the spring planting. Occasionally, a tenant working for the railroad also lived there. One such tenant was Jim Cashman, who eventually married Katherine, one of the twins.

Elizabeth probably suffered a nervous breakdown, though the official reason given for her extended stay at Galen, a Montana state hospital facility, was treatment of tuberculosis.

The worry and wear was etched into her face, which can be seen in a photo taken in the summer of 1920 or 1921. By the time she turned 29, her hair had turned completely white.

Somehow, the children were insulated from most of the trauma of losing their father. Though relations were often strained between Elizabeth and her mother, the grandchildren remember a doting and nurturing grandmother and step-grandfather.

Eventually, Elizabeth and the children moved to another house owned by Grandma Grote. To make ends meet, Elizabeth took in laundry. The children, as soon as they were able, earned money to contribute to the household.







* For a concise account of the pandemic, its causes and its devastating effects go to http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/index.html.