The Barber & Miss Sealy - Part 2: The 1918 Pandemic

Frank Farnham Scott (1894-1961)

Gertrude Selma Sealy (1892-1986) 

maternal grandparents

 

In April 1918, seven months before the World War I armistice was signed, there was an outbreak of what would come to be known as the Spanish flu. The name is a misnomer because it did not, in fact, originate in Spain. This flu was an H1N1 virus that many believe originated on an army base in Kansas. When the U.S. began sending troops to the Western Front which stretched 440 miles from the North Sea to the Swiss border, the virus went with them. 

By late August, a second wave hit, this time spreading down the east coast of the U.S., as well as throughout Europe as U.S. troops moved through towns and villages. From there the virus spread to Russia, Asia, India, China, and Japan. A third wave hit Australia in January 1919, and the U.S. again in June 1919. Incredibly, more American soldiers were lost to the Spanish flu during 1918 than were lost in battle during the war in the same year. (CDC Archive) By the time the pandemic was under control in early 1920, nearly 33% of the world’s population – about 500 million people – had been infected, and at least 50 million people had died, 675,000 of them in the United States. (Cleveland Clinic)

In 1918, there were no vaccines, antibiotics, or other remedies to fight the virus. Governments worldwide invoked mandates and issued recommendations for reducing infection rates, including social distancing, wearing masks, banning large gatherings, closing schools, restaurants, bars, barber shops, and other businesses where close contact would be made. Church services were suspended for a time. The Red Cross and other organizations churned out thousands and thousands of masks. In New York, street sweepers turned gravediggers helped with the overwhelming number of bodies of those who had succumbed to the flu.

Spitting was quite common prior to the 1918 pandemic, but quickly became a target of virus prevention measures.

 

A sign that reads, “Spit Spreads Death,” is prominently displayed on a 1918 Philadelphia streetcar. (Science History Institute)

People reacted to the mandates and recommendations much as they have in 2020 – many people complied, while others resisted or ignored the guidelines, only to end up infecting others or becoming ill themselves, thus perpetuating the pandemic.     

The subjects of these 1918 photographs are remarkably similar to the images we are seeing in the news today.

 

A barber in Cincinnati, Ohio wears a mask while shaving a customer in 1918. (CDC Historical Image Gallery)

In October 1918, a St. Louis, MO American Red Cross chapter supplemented regular ambulance services by recruiting volunteer drivers and auto-mobiles during the pandemic. Notice that one person is not wearing a mask.

The Red Cross provided about 40 nurses to care for around 3,000 patients who would not have had access to private nursing care without them. (CDC Gallery)

 

A nurse checks an influenza victim's pulse in 1918 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress)

– THE PANDEMIC IN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY –

The spring and summer of 1918 were fairly quiet in the small city of Dunkirk. Then, in early October, there was a rapid increase in the number of influenza cases. The small community found itself dealing with an alarming number of deaths, a decreasing number of nurses to care for patients in their homes or in the small, overcrowded hospital, and no way of effectively treating the illness since its cause was not understood.

Precautions were taken – theaters, dance halls, ice cream parlors, schools, churches and other establishments closed; masks were in high demand. In Jamestown, located in the southern portion of the county, the Red Cross made masks, donating them to all the drug stores in the city where they were readily available and free.

The article, Our Last Major Pandemic: Dunkirk and its bout with the 1918 flu, published in the Dunkirk, New York Observer, provides some insight into the effects of, and response to, the 1918 flu pandemic in Chautauqua County.

  

It's interesting that despite the high numbers of infections and deaths during the pandemic, I have never heard any stories about family members or friends who became ill or died from the virus during that time, nor have I found death certificates that indicated influenza or related conditions, such as pneumonia, as a cause of death. However, that doesn't mean my grandparents didn’t know of families that were affected by the flu.

 

Historian and author, Alfred W. Crosby, asserts that the millions of Americans who were affected by the pandemic were often so traumatized by their experiences, sometimes losing multiple family members and friends to the illness or becoming sickened by it themselves, that they simply did not want to bring it up. This could very well account for the lack of any family stories related to the pandemic. (History.com)

  

Undoubtedly, my grandfather’s livelihood was affected by the restrictions placed on barber shops due to the pandemic. I haven't found a record of Grandma working at that time. Since there were no government assistance programs in place, this would have been a difficult financial time for my grandparents.   

– LIFE AFTER THE PANDEMIC –

By early 1920, the pandemic ceased to be a threat and the country began a decade of increasing prosperity. At this time, Grandpa had about three years’ experience as a barber, all of it in Herman Hansen’s shop located in the Hotel Samuels in Jamestown. Interestingly, the 1920 Federal Census lists Herman not as a barber, but as a stocks and bonds broker with an office in the Hotel Samuels. (Ancestry.com) Later he was employed by the IRS. But sometime in 1920 or 1921, Herman made a complete career change and sold his shop to two of his employees, my grandfather and another barber, Stanley Parkhurst.

I’m not sure how Grandpa and Stanley met, but they certainly would have become acquainted while working for Herman. Another possibility is that they originally met in Gerry during the summer of 1915 when my grandparents met since Stanley was born and raised in Gerry, just as my grandmother was. Stanley was about five years older than Grandpa and already employed as a barber in 1915, so it’s also possible he could have encouraged Grandpa to pursue a career as a barber.

The 1922 and 1924 Jamestown City Directories have Grandpa and Stanley listed as proprietors of the Samuels Hotel Barber Shop & Manicuring Parlor.

 

1922 Jamestown City Directory listing. (Ancestry.com)

1924 Jamestown City Directory listing. (Ancestry.com)

Between 1922, when Grandpa and Stanley formed their partnership, and 1926, there were two significant changes to my grandparents’ life together. The first was the birth of my mother and their first child, Shirley June Scott, on January 12, 1923. Then, for reasons I haven’t been able to determine, my grandfather and Stanley dissolved their partnership between 1924 and mid-1925, before the New York State census was taken. 

 

Grandpa’s barber shop in the Hotel Samuels, 23 W 3^rd Street (corner of 3^rd and Cherry Streets) in Jamestown, NY c. 1922. Customers entered the shop, which was on the lower level, through the Cherry Street entrance on the side of the hotel. Grandpa is the last man standing on the left. Could one of the barbers be Stanley Parkhurst, Grandpa’s business partner?

The entrance to my grandfather's barber shop was on the side where the car is parked.

The 1925 New York State census listings show Grandpa working as a barber on his own account (“oa” in the last column). Stanley is listed as a barber shop manager elsewhere in the census.

1925 New York State Census (Ancestry.com)

The 1926 city directory makes it clear that Grandpa and Stanley became competitors. Grandpa was the sole proprietor of the Hotel Samuels Barber Shop & Manicuring Parlor; Stanley owned the Hotel Jamestown Barber Shop & Manicuring Parlor in the brand-new Hotel Jamestown built in 1924 – located diagonally across the intersection from the Hotel Samuels. 

1926 Jamestown City Directory listing. (Ancestry.com) 

 Grandpa's ad in the business listings of the 1926 Jamestown City Directory. Stanley did not have an ad in the directory. (Ancestry.com)

 

My uncle, Gerald Franklin Scott, was born on January 26, 1927, completing the Frank and Gertrude Scott family. Sometime in 1927, Grandpa became a wholesale merchant of barber supplies in addition to running his barber shop business. (Ancestry.com) I can only speculate as to why he decided to do this. It could be that it was a good business opportunity, or it’s possible my grandparents wanted supplemental income now that they had two children. The final major event in my grandparents’ lives during the period that began with the birth of my mother in January 1923, occurred in November 1927, when Grandpa’s mother, Margaret Kilburn Scott, died unexpectedly at the age of 59.

By June 1928, my grandparents had been married twelve years. In that time, they endured the hardships of a world war, survived a pandemic, and lost my great-grandmother. On the positive side, they had two healthy children, my grandfather became a business owner, and significantly, they were able to purchase a home at a time when most people were renting. Yet, in a little over a year, the prosperity of the 1920s would reverse course, leaving my grandparents to face some of the most difficult challenges of their life together. 

 

NEXT: The Barber & Miss Sealy Part 3: The 1920s - A Decade of Prohibition 

 

 

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– DIG A LITTLE DEEPER –

This link to a summary of the pandemic in Buffalo, accompanied by a timeline and images, includes links to the same information for forty-nine other U.S. cities. It’s interesting reading. https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-buffalo.html#

 

 

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- Barber shop photo from The Shirley Scott Collection held by Jodell Bradish. 

- Postcard of the Samuels Hotel from my collection.

 

 

 

Bradish-Scott Family History – July 2021