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.

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, originally from Goderich, she was a nurse in the United States Army.

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!