THE FLU EPIDEMIC OF 1918

In the year 1918, many of our family members fell victims to the worldwide influenza pandemic, what our folks referred to as the Spanish flu. Today we know that it was caused by a particularly dangerous virus strain given the name Influenza A - subtype HiNi. Since it remains a practice to this day to entitle a pandemic for nations or regions of the world out-of-favor, the 1918 plague was called Spanish. (Twenty years earlier America had found a war against the Spanish empire.) Somewhere between 50 and a 100 million people died worldwide.
The flu was first recorded at Fort Riley, an Army base in Kansas. Its spread was exacerbated by the movement of thousands of military recruits in the US and to Europe. People were terrified, since the disease seemed to chiefly strike down young adults. Bill Fecht who had been sent to the Army Air Corps "Spruce Battalion" in Westport, Washington wrote in later years about it.
"About this time a bad flu epidemic spread through the camps and we lost a lot of men. I had it along with pneumonia and miraculously got over it. But, was very weak for a long time. Harry Candy (husband of Anne Fecht) was to be called (drafted) so he decided to move his things - stock etc. back to Missouri. On the way his car took fire and burned everything, someplace in Montana. Harry was so overcome with heat and smoke, he only lived a couple of days after getting back there. Rose Marie (Rosemary), their only child, and Ann were there in Missouri, when Harry got back. They had gone through before he did."
(Note: Many in the family believed that Harry Candy was coming down with the flu just before leaving for Missouri.)
"When I left to return to camp everyone was improving and were a great deal better. They had a special nurse to come to the house (William C. Fecht farm in Mexico, Missouri) and care for the sick. It had been several years that I had been away from home at that time." (William, Anne, Florence and John (Jack) had all gone to Montana from Mexico, Missouri to establish homesteads.)
(Bill Fecht told his son Gerald (author of this article) that the only treatment given to the soldiers in Aberdeen, Washington was aspirin and polices made of rags soaked in kerosene (then called coal oil). The international patent rights for aspirin belonged to a Bavarian (Bayer) German Company was seized by an American corporation when WWI broke out. The Americans kept the name Bayer Aspirin. Who knows it the kerosine fumes didn't themselves add to the losses of our soldiers.)
"Jack (John David Fecht) took sick going back to Missouri. He was in military police duty at Camp Johnson, Jacksonville, Florida. He was mustered into the service at Des Moines, Iowa. I was sent to Vancouver Barracks across the river from Portland, Oregon. 10,000 of my outfit were to sail on the 28th of November. The Armistice was signed on the 11th so I missed it by 17 days. We were headed for Siberia. A good many of us were attending night school and were pretty well prepared to go over."
Note: Many of the young Americans who were to be sent to invade the newly formed Soviet Union, refused to go, so many in fact that the US government called off its attack on Russia.
Mildred Crites Fecht spoke often of the great flu of 1918. She told of popular songs about the event. One referred to two orphan children being asked by a train conductor where their mother was. It was called "Mother's In The Baggage Car Ahead." An earlier song from 1901 regained popularity. It was called "Hello Central Give Me Heaven, Cause My Mother's There." (Central was the telephone operator.) Mildred said that the winter of the flu-year was so severe and so many men were sick that coffins remained unburied until the spring and some stacked up in railroad depots.

On 3 January 2008, the following article appeared in the Los Angeles Times
Deadly secrets of 1918 flu found

Researchers have discovered what made the 1918 flu pandemic so deadly -- a group of three genes that lets the virus invade the lungs and cause pneumonia.

Scientists painstakingly substituted single genes from the 1918 virus into modern flu viruses and found that a complex of three genes helped to make the virus live and reproduce deep in the lungs, according to a study published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The three genes -- called PA, PB1, and PB2 -- along with a 1918 version of the nucleoprotein gene made modern seasonal flu kill ferrets in much the same way as the 1918 flu killed 50 million people worldwide, the researchers found

PHOTOS FROM MILDRED FECHT'S COLLECTION

William Thomas Fecht and Mildred Fecht
Photo taken in Everett, Washington c. 1947 by Mildren's sister Mary Richards (click on image to enlarge)

(click on image to enlarge)
Susan and Earl Wojcieszak - Wedding - May 29, 1965

These photos were among the collection of Mildred Fecht

BILL FECHT'S WWI CAMP IN HOQUIAM WASHINGTON

I am nearly finished scanning the photographs in my father, Bill Fecht's collection. These men were Bill's pals and tent mates. I have sent a copy of this picture to the Museum in Aberdeen, Washington.

BILL FECHT and BERNARD SULLIVAN

Dr. Dan Sullivan sent this photo today of Bill Fecht and his nephew Bernard Sullivan. Dan identifies Bernard's uniform as being that of the Civil Air Patrol.
Bill Fecht served in the US Army Air Corps in World War I. He was very proud of his experience and encouraged his own sons to follow his example. Jim, his eldest son served in the Marine Corps, Bob, his middle boy was in the US Army in Korea and Jerry served 8 years in the Naval Reserves. Bill Fecht would have been very proud of Bernard for wearing this uniform and service to his country.

MYSTERY PEOPLE

L to R: William T. (Bill) Fecht, Florence Sullivan, Elizabeth Brietenfeldt, and two unidentified people.
The date of the photograph is unknown.

FARM HOUSE OF WILLIAM C. FECHT

Farm House built by William Charles Fecht and his wife Elizabeth Ann on the outskirts of Mexico, Missouri. He replaced an earlier house at this location. Will Fecht was well known as a progressive farmer. This house was one of the first structures in Missouri to be lighted by gas.

HOMESTEADING IN MONTANA

Bill Fecht and Dan Sullivan clowning around in Montana. Saturday was the day set aside to go into town to buy supplies, such as flour, tools and seed. Both Dan and Bill "proved" homesteads in Montana.
Harry Candy drives a mule team in Montana.
Harry Candy was the first husband of Ann Fecht, the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Ann (Walsh) and William Charles Fecht. In 1918, Ann returned to Mexico, Missouri with her baby Rosemary. Harry packed a railroad car with the little family's possessions and left his unsuccessful homestead for good. On the way to Missouri, the railroad car caught fire. Harry was drenched with water while fighting the fire. He hadn't been feeling well when he left Montana. Chilled and exposed to influenza, he fainted when he left the train in Mexico, Missouri. People stepped over him, thinking that he was likely drunk.
By the time Harry was rescued, exposure and fever took his life.
These photographs we shared with this blog by Dr. Dan Sullivan.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

For some reason this snapshot of my Dad's brothers and sister made me very lonesome. I guess, it is the informality of the image and how very much they were, as they are in my memory. It probably didn't help that the public television station in the background was playing sentimental Irish music.
L to R:
Francis (Frank), Lawrence (Uncle Buckie), William (Bill) and Julia (Fecht) Hogan.
Being "Irish" was an important part of being members of the family of Elizabeth Ann (Walsh) and William Charles Fecht. Although these folks were half Alsatian and half Irish, it was the Irish part that seemed to matter. This was no doubt reinforced by the Catholic priests at Saint Brendan Church in Mexico, Missouri, who were Irish. When I was a little boy, I thought God spoke Latin with an Irish accent.
On March 17th, there was a huge corned beef and cabbage dinner at the Saint Brendan church hall. Boiled potatoes, greasy corned beef, over-boiled cabbage (actually my mother Mildred over-boiled nearly everything.) Uncle Lawrence (Buckie) always prepared an elaborate practical joke. My dad smuggled in Irish whisky (not Bushmills, but real Irish whisky Jamesons.) Aunt Effie would bring parsnips and horseradish. Aunt Lena baked Irish soda bread. AND, most important! We got the day off from school, and the Lent abstinence from meat was suspended. Two days later, on the feast of Saint Joseph we had another school holiday. On the day between, the nuns took us to a nearby part to run around. They were smart enough to know that they wouldn't accomplish anything on March 18th.
My dad, Bill Fecht and my sister Genevieve would do Irish jigs after dinner. Aunt Meg (Margaret Fecht) and Uncle Gene Sullivan would dance the shoddish on Patty's night.
My wife Janne and I had big St. Patrick's Day parties for a long time, but since it comes right in the middle of tax season (Janne is a CPA) we look for a saint's day in late April to celebrate.

PHIL SHIRE'S INSIDE JOKE

L to R: Francis (FranK) Fecht, Lawrence Fecht, William T. (Bill) Fecht, William Charles Fecht, Jimmie (boy), John D. (Jack) Fecht, John C. Fecht, Hugh Hogan (Julia Fecht Hogan's husband), and Phil Shire (Ann Fecht Shire's husband).

Phil Shire had a wry and much loved sense of humor. Here Phil mocks Uncle John C. Fecht's stance.

LEONA CRITES COMES TO VISIT

Family of Bill and Mildred Fecht.
top row L to R
Bill Fecht, Hugh Hogan Jimmie Fecht (little boy) and Leona Belle Weaver Crites (seated on porch railing)
Mildred Fecht, Julia Hogan and Dorothy Fecht
It was quite an adjustment for Leona Crites to get used to the Fecht family. Though she had been born into a Lutheran Christian family, she became a member of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkers) and generally uncomfortable around Catholic adults. Her grandchildren however mellowed her and she grew more accepting of the different form of Christianity that her daughter had chosen. She never accepted the racial prejudices expressed by her daughter's Missouri inlaws.

THE MEN OF THE FAMILY

This photograph was taken in 1941 in a town called Chillicothe, Missouri. The village is about half way between Corning, Iowa and Mexico, Missouri, and the site of a family gathering.
Left to Right
John D. (Jack) Fecht, William T. (Bill) Fecht, Bernard Sullivan, James L. (Jimmie) Fecht, Hugh Hogan, Lawrence (Buck) Fecht and Dan Sullivan.
I believe this event took place while Jimmie was still in high school or had just graduated from St. Brendan High School, and prior to the outbreak of World War II. Both Jim and his cousin Bernard Sullivan would serve in the armer forces.

BILL FECHT AND FETTERHOFF BOYS

In 1945, Bill Fecht kept a "milk cow" in a pasture off of West Street in Mexico, Missouri. His two grandsons, Billy and Tommy lived on that street, and Bill often visited with them when he "went a-milking." William G. and Thomas W. Fetterhoff are the great great grandsons of Margaret (Bost) and Jacob Fecht.
Youngest child is Thomas.

UNEXPECTED TREASURE!

Here's a photograph just sent to this blog by Dr. Dan Sullivan of Mildred and Bill Fecht with their oldest child Dorothy.
My purpose at the onset of this project was to get Jim Fecht's photo albums out to our cyber familly, and to make a cd of the photos as I downsize the bulky (and, falling apart) albums.
This photo of my parents changes things for, since I've never seen this photograph before. Unexpected rewards - thanks Dan.

WILLIAM THOMAS FECHT

William Thomas Fecht between 1917 and 1919
Bill's World War I Horse "Pal".

A Cook Car and a Bunk Car
Cooks were essential to Grass Valley Camp in 1918. They worked in one car and slept in the other.


These cooks attached to the Army Air Corps at Aberdeen, Washington in 1918, grew old and died. Only one World War I American soldier now survives. Bill Fecht's note on back of this picture says, "Camp Cook Defends His Cooking." Pictures such as these show that those who lived generations ago had the same need to make light of their work as their descendants.


Bill Fecht wisely made good friends among the camp's cooks.

Bill Fecht's Army Buddies -
This photograph was included in this collection because the building in the background was the command center. This structure would have likely survived possibly to this day. It would have been in Aderdeen or Hoquiam, Washington.


Bill Fecht at a Cable House. There was little effort made by camp directors for safety measures. Men lost limbs and on occasion their lives in such places.

Bill Fecht's friends at Steam Donkey Shed.

WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY - WYATT ANDREW STAFFENHAGEN

Wyatt Andrew Staffenhagen was born on February 22nd, 2008. He is the son of Melissa and Thomas Staffenhagen. He was born at home in Lake Stevens, Washington. Wyatt was 19 inches in length and weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces.

Wyatt Staffenhagen is the great, great, great, great grandson of Margaret (Bost) and Jacob Fecht. He is the descendent of William Charles Fecht, William Thomas Fecht and Mary Genevieve and Owen Rebbe.

WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY ADAM THOMPSON Jr.

Our new kinsman Adam Matthias Thompson Jr. was born on Sunday, February 3, 2008. His parents are Krystal and Adam M. Thompson Sr. Our Adam is being held by his maternal grandmother Kathleen Cass.
Adam is the great, great, great, great grand son of Margaret (Bost) and Jacob Fecht. He is a descendent of the families of Willaim Charles Fecht and William Thomas Fecht.

Please note that maiden names are not used without permission for identity privacy purposes.

KARMYN NIMAN

Karmyn Christine Niman - age 6 in 2008
Karmyn is the great, great, great, great grand daughter of Margaret (Bost) and Jacob Fecht. She descends from the families of William Charles Fecht and William Thomas Fecht.
According to Karmyn's grand mother Kathleen, she is "smart, pretty important, curious, loved absolutely and absolutely loving."

LOGGING PHOTOS 1918

(top) U.S. Army Air Corps soldiers - 1918 near Aberdeen, Washington. The fellow in the slouched hat to the far left is Wiliam Fecht.
(bottom) "Skid Road" incline lined with smaller logs, used when watered down to pull heavy logs to mill transportation. Often these makeshift roads led to water. The skid road area in Seattle, Washington about this time became notorious for its flop houses, cheap bars etc., hence the term's inclusion as Skid Row in modern slang. This photo was taken in 1918 near Aberdeen, Washington.