by Elizabeth French-Gibson | Mar 8, 2017 | Archives, Investigating Huron County History, Uncategorized
The list of women from Huron County who served as nursing sisters in the First World War is now up to 50 names! This list includes women who served with the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC), American Army Medical Corps, Red Cross, and Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. As more records become available online, we are finding out more about what their lives were like before, during, and after the war.
It can be difficult to find out what happened to a nurse after the war ended for many different reasons. Many women married and changed their name, some moved across the country or the United States, and a lot of records still aren’t available due to privacy legislation. Due to limited resources, it can be very difficult track people down and verify their identity.
One such woman is Mary Agatha Bell, who was born, according to her Attestation Papers, on November 5, 1879 in St. Augustine but lived in Blyth, Ontario. Mary enlisted on April 3, 1917 in London, Ontario, left Canada on May 20, 1917, and arrived in England on May 30, 1917. While overseas, Mary mainly served with the 7th Canadian General Hospital in France. She also did temporary duties with the 6th and 8th Canadian General Hospitals. After the war ended, Mary sailed back to Canada in July 1919 on the S.S. Olympic.
U.S., Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. – Ancestry.ca
It was difficult to track down what happened to Mary Agatha Bell after the war. On October 11, 1925, a birth registration* was issued to a Mary Bridget Bell born on November 5, 1874 in St. Augustine, Ontario. Records show that this Mary Bridget Bell moved to the state of New York on October 22, 1925. A border crossing document from August 1945 states that Mary’s address was 11 Hows Avenue, New Rochelle, New York, where she worked as a registered nurse. The document also states that she is missing the fourth toe on her left foot.
New York, Naturalization Records – Ancestry.ca
This last piece of information was critical in definitively proving that Mary Agatha Bell (born in 1879) is the same person as Mary Bridget Bell (born 1874). According to her service file, Mary starting experiencing problems with her left foot in France, 1918. Notes in her file refer to her problem as a “contracted toe”. The 4th toe on her left foot was eventually amputated when she returned to Toronto in 1919 at St. Andrews Hospital.
It appears that Mary lied about her birth year on her Attestation Paper. This was not uncommon among women enlisting as nursing sisters in WWI. Mary would have been a much more appealing candidate at age 38 than her real age of 43. Why she decided to change her middle name from Agatha to Bridget still remains a mystery…
*Birth registrations were often issued to adults who didn’t have birth certificates
by Elizabeth French-Gibson | Nov 28, 2016 | Archives, Investigating Huron County History, Project progress
Late last autumn, the Huron County Museum was fortunate enough to receive funding from the Federal Government to produce, among other things, two films about Huron County during the First World War.
Maud Stirling was originally from Bayfield.
One film was about Huron County on the Home Front (watch here!) and the other was supposed to be about Maud Stirling, a nurse from Bayfield who was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class. While doing background research for the films, I thought it would be interesting to see how many other women from Huron County enlisted as nursing sisters during the war, thinking I would only find a dozen or so more names. As of November 2016, 48 women with ties to Huron County have been identified as WWI nurses, with several other names on the “maybe” list. More research still needs to be done!
The list of names so far:
| Mary Agatha Bell
|
Ellie Elizabeth Love
|
| Mary Agnes Best
|
Marjorie Kelly
|
| Mary Ann Buchanan
|
Clara Evelyn Malloy
|
| Martha Verity Carling
|
Mary Mason
|
| Olive Maud Coad
|
Jean McGilvray
|
| Muriel Gwendoline Colborne
|
Beatrice McNair
|
| Lillian Mabel Cudmore
|
Mary Wilson Miller
|
| Alma Naomi Dancey
|
Anna Edith Forest Neelin
|
| Gertrude Donaldson (Petty)
|
Bertha Broadfoot Robb
|
| Mary Edna Dow
|
Barbara Argo Ross
|
| Lillian Beatrice Dowdell
|
Katherine Scott
|
| Elizabeth Dulmage
|
Ella Dora Sherritt
|
| Annie Isabel Elliott
|
Jeanette Simpson
|
| Frances M. Evans
|
Emmaline Smillie
|
| Annie Mae Ferguson
|
Annie Evelyn Spafford
|
| Clara Ferguson
|
Annie Maud Stirling
|
| Jean Molyneaux Ferguson
|
Helen Caton Strang
|
| Margaret Main Fortune
|
Vera Edith Sotheran
|
| Anna Ethel Gardiner
|
Mabel Tom
|
| Florence Graham
|
Cora Washington (married name Buchanan)
|
| Irene May Handford
|
Annie Whitely (Hennings)
|
| Bessie Maud Hanna
|
Ann Webster Wilson
|
| Ruth Johnson Hays
|
Harriet Edith Wilson
|
| Clara Hood
|
Jessie Wilson
|
Florence Graham was originally from Goderich, She was a nurse in the United States Army. She was killed in a car accident in France on May 27, 1919.
I learned that many women enlisted not just with the Canadian Army Medical Corps but also with the American or British Army. Here are just some of the resources I’ve used to help track down the nursing sisters and their stories:
Library and Archives Canada: for digitized personnel records, including Attestation Papers and service files
Great Canadian War Project: for an alphabetical list and nursing sister awards
The UK National Archives: for British Army nurses’ service records (caution – the records aren’t free)
Ancestry.ca: a number of different resources are useful on this site, including Imperial War Gratuities, 1919-1921 and New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919. You need a subscription to access Ancestry or you can visit your local Huron County Library branch for free access!
Digitized Newspapers: Huron County’s newspaper have be one of the most useful resources for tracking down names of nursing sisters
There are many more women and stories to discover and I am looking forward to continuing on with this intriguing research project. Stay tuned for some of my discoveries!
by Elizabeth French-Gibson | Mar 23, 2015 | Archives, Collection highlights
By Emily Beliveau, Digital Project Assistant
Cover image from the pamphlet ‘Sweets,’ from the Huron County Museum Collection, Object Id: 2005.0001.011. Original size: 18 cm x 11.4 cm.
We recently rediscovered this “Sweets” pamphlet while researching cookbooks and recipes for our upcoming exhibit Delicious. At first glance, it appears to be nothing more than a small newsprint booklet of candy recipes. Looking closer, its true purpose becomes clear: it’s a promotional vehicle for Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, a herbal remedy marketed to cure all manner of womanly ailments.
Lydia E. Pinkham (1819-1883) became a successful businesswoman by commercializing a home remedy to treat a variety of female health complaints, such as irregular menstruation, symptoms of menopause, nervous disorders, and childlessness. She started making her concoction in her kitchen in Lynn, Massachusetts, and eventually expanded the business into an international manufacturing enterprise with production centres in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Pages 8 and 9 of ‘Sweets’ pamphlet, featuring recipes for Crystallized Fruit, Fruit Cream, Cocoa Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge and testimonials regarding the use of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound and Blood Pills for treating suppressed menstuation.
Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound came in tablet or liquid form and contained black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), life root (Senecia aureus), unicorn root (Aletris farinosa), pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa), and fenugreek seed (Trigonella foenum-graecum). It’s effectiveness has never been medically proven. The liquid form contained 18% alcohol.
Pinkham’s remedies were aggressively marketed, making the Vegetable Compound the most popular among a multitude of other patent medicines. It’s direct woman-to-woman consumer marketing combined with published testimonials from users, led to its phenomenal success. In 1925, its most profitable year, sales of Vegetable Compound grossed $3.8 million.
By the time Pinkham died in 1883, she was a household name and one of the most recognizable women in America due to the ubiquity of her image in newspaper ads and on product packaging. After her death, her family ran the business until 1968, when it was sold to Cooper Laboratories of Connecticut. Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound is still sold today as a herbal remedy.
Ad for Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound from the St. John Daily Evening News, 17 April 1883.
Further reading and additional resources:
Biography and more Pinkham Pamphlets from Harvard University Library
Blog post about Lydia E. Pinkham from the Museum of Heath Care
Background information about patent medicine from the Smithsonian
by Elizabeth French-Gibson | Jan 26, 2015 | Archives, Exhibits
By Jenna Leifso, Archivist
A Winsch back type postcard imprint
When was the last time you received a postcard in the mail? As more people switch to electronic forms of communication, it can be nice to receive something in the mail that isn’t a bill. Postcards became a popular mode of communication in the 1890s. In Canada, the period from 1901 to 1913 is often referred to as The Golden Age of Postcards. Right now we have a selection of some of our favourites from the collection on display at the Museum.
Perhaps you have some postcards in your collection that you want to find out more about. Here are some of the resources we used in our exhibit.
Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City is an informative site that includes a very detailed history of the evolution of postcards and also a very comprehensive guide to postcard publishers from all over the world.
Picture Postcards from the Great War 1914-1918 explores the propaganda behind the cards. Can you image sending a postcard back home about trench lice?
Did you know that prior to the First World War, most postcards were printed in Germany? The Postcard Album has more information about German printed postcards, including the popular “John Winsch”.
For information related to Canadian postcards try the Toronto Postcard Club’s website. Their annual show is being held next month on February 22nd.
by Elizabeth French-Gibson | Dec 23, 2014 | Artefacts
By Emily Beliveau, Digital Project Assistant
A 1910 Christmas ad for Bissell Toy Sweepers that appeared in Hardware Merchandising (Oct-Dec 1910, p. 943). Source: Internet Archive.
Need a last-minute gift idea for Christmas? How about a carpet sweeper? According to this 1910 advertisement, they are a great gift for both children and adults:
The Little Folk drop all other gifts to welcome Santa Claus and his Bissel Toy Sweeper. The lady of the house will appreciate even more than the children a gift of a genuine Bissel Sweeper. She knows there is none better and that it means a great saving of hard work for the coming ten years. We offer a large line to select from, varying in price from $2.50 to $5.00
Carpet sweepers were the forerunner to vacuum cleaners, but remained popular even after vacuums became widely available. They consist of a small box at the end of a handle with rollers and brushes inside to sweep up dirt and crumbs. Although vacuum cleaners have more cleaning power, sweepers remain popular for light-duty cleaning because they can be used quietly and without electricity.
Bissell ‘Standard’ carpet sweeper on display in the General Store exhibit in the History Hall, Huron County Museum. Object ID: M950.1255.001.
We have several carpet sweepers in the museum collection, one of which is on display in the General Store exhibit. Our display sweeper is a Bissell ‘Standard’ model from around 1919, some 40 years after sweepers were first invented. Melvill R. Bissell first patented the design in 1876, and the basic technology has remained the same since then.
So if you don’t know what to buy for that special someone, consider how dirty their floor is and whether they could benefit from the timeless utility of a carpet sweeper. Santa approves!
Christmas ad for Bissell carpet sweepers that appeared in the Christian Herald in 1913. (November 26, 1913, p. 1106). Source: Internet Archive.
If in doubt what to buy for Mother, Wife, Sister or Friend, remember that a BISSELL’S “Cyco” BALL BEARING Carpet Sweeper never fails to please and will be a daily reminder of the giver for ten years or more. It is handsome in design and finish, eliminnates the drudgery and confines of the dust, making it a most practical and appropriate gift. She needs a second sweeper to keep upstairs. Price $2.75 to $5.75. At dealers everywhere. Write for booklet showing our most popular styles. Bissel Carpet Sweeper Co. Grand Rapids Mich. “We Sweep The World”
