Roseau County Historical Society and Museum -

The Roseau County Museum will be open during January, February, and March, Monday through Friday from 9 am to 4 pm. We will be closed Saturdays, Sundays, the Martin Luther King holiday and President’s Day. Stop in and check out the exhibits, including the Bill and Maggi Adams lobby exhibit.

More than fifty percent of the deaths during World War I are attributed to the influenza epidemic of 1918. Fall flu casualties in the United States were believed to be the result of infected soldiers bringing the virus back to the states when returning home.

That fall the “Great War” was nearing an end. The United States had entered the war in the spring of 1917 sending their soldiers into the trenches to help establish peace in Europe. Many of these young men were destined to die on the U. S. soil not on the European battle field. Young men in their prime arrived at their military camps in the spring and fall of 1918 and died of the influenza about a month later. Young men like 22 ½ year old Anton B. Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew F. Johnson of Fox, Emil Novotny, Arthur Sjodin, August Edward Roadfeldt, and Adelard Guibault were among the first flu victims to arrive back home in Roseau County.

Soldier James S. Novotny, who was on furlough for his brother Emil’s funeral, was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. He stated to the Badger Herald Rustler “that there were twenty thousand cases of influenza among seventy thousand men and there had been fifteen hundred deaths in camp.” (BHR 10/23/1918) According to records there were approximately 50,000 soldiers at the Naval Training Base. 2,600 soldier became infected at the Chicago Naval Training station within one week of the first case. (Alfred Crosby, Epidemic and Peace, 1918, 1976)

Adelard Guibault’s father Joseph reported “hundreds of bodies of soldiers piled up in caskets in New York, ready for shipment, all victims of the influenza.” (WP, 10/7/1918) No military base in the United States was spared the epidemic.

Military influenza victims were treated as war causalities when returned home. Their caskets were met by the home guard and escorted to their church. A funeral was held with a military burial. In October, a state ban was announced on all funerals for persons who die of the influenza or pneumonia. The Roseau Times-Region announced on October twenty-fifth, that an order had been given that military funerals were forbidden.

Dr. George A. Soper of the U. S. Surgeon General’s staff reported that, “Approximately one out of every five soldiers in the United States suffered from the influenza pandemic, about one in six developed pneumonia and two out of five of those died. It is possible a relative of yours may have been one of the soldiers.” It was believed that the military had been hit three different times. (R T-R 12/13/1918)

The flu epidemic was spread to the general public two ways. Troops moved across the county via train, they were seated three to seat, and slept two in a single berth in order to keep Army costs down. This mass troop movement spread the flu when soldiers got off the trains at depots across the states. A furlough was hazardous to the public when soldiers went out on the town or exposed their home region.

Realizing the effect this movement was having the War Department scaled down the travel to one person per seat and suspended almost all draft calls and training the end of October. This immediately lessened the spread of the disease in the military.

In addition to the military’s spreading of the epidemic, those who had civilian employment within the military also spread the flu when they went home to their families. The general population epidemic was further spread when a family member would travel to care for family members in other areas who had contracted the flu.

Records of a soldier death are not available through county records but obituaries are available in the County newspapers. If you want additional information the County museum has copies of newspaper articles and obituaries related to the 1918 Flu Epidemic.

Next week we will find out how the epidemic affected the general population in Roseau County.

RCHS Footnotes

2003 memorial gifts in memory of Anne Melby, John Hetteen, Ambrose Lundgren, Ethel Bjerk, Naomi Waag, John Billberg, Marvin Didrikson, Carol Hetteen, Violet Johnson, Ralph Karlsen, and Clarence Erickson have been deposited into the Roseau County Historical Society Endowment Fund for future special projects. We would like to extend our sympathy to the families and friends of these individuals and thank them for their donation. Gifts such as these are a special way to support county heritage.

Newspaper Articles