Epidemics of 100 Years Ago

Past Epidemics in Longmeadow at the Doane Orphanage

The town of Longmeadow has dealt with epidemics before the COVID-19 pandemic changed our daily lives. We now have the advantage of modern medicine and science that helps us to understand diseases, and how to avoid and treat them. A hundred years ago, the doctors taking care of the children and employees at the Doane orphanage didn't have that advantage. The Doane orphanage was created by George and Lucy (Cook) Doane in 1902 at the corner of Longmeadow Street and Forest Glen Road. The orphanage closed in 1930, and the house no longer stands.

Doane Orphanage Paesiello Emerson Collection- Longmeadow Historical Society Archives

Sign from Longmeadow Historical Society collection

Over the years, the orphanage was affected by several pandemics. In 1908, diphtheria caused the house to be put into quarantine. A notice in the newspaper noted that "a thorough examination is being given to find, if possible, the source of the disease." Diphtheria is caused by bacteria, and was once a major cause of illness and death among children, especially the youngest. The fatality case rates for those five years old and under was a terrifying 20%. It is usually spread between people by direct contact or through the air, or by contaminated objects. A vaccine was developed in the 1920's, but not commonly used until the 1930's.

In August of 1913, a typhoid fever epidemic was reported at the Doane orphanage. Typhoid fever is also caused by a bacteria--a type of Salmonella, and is spread by eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Before the advent of antibiotics, typhoid fever had a fatality rate of 10-20%. Dr. Lyman A. Jones of North Adams made an investigation into the outbreak. Knowing the facts about transmission, Dr. Jones checked the water supply and milk supply and declared that were both eliminated as sources of the infection.

Springfield Daily News, Saturday, August 23, 1913

Later in August, the Springfield Union reported that two new cases of typhoid fever associated with the Doane house were found, bringing the total number of cases to 22. Dr. Jones reported on his progress with the investigation, stating that "of the 28 children recently in the orphanage, 22 have typhoid." By September, Dr. Jones made his final report to the state board of health. He systematically explained how he ruled out water, milk and food as sources, concluding that "it seems justifiable to conclude that the infection was introduced through some recently admitted child, or through some child returned from a visit, through some chance visitor or through some employee who was a carrier." While he did not identify a specific source of the infection, he made several recommendations:

Springfield Union, September 25, 1913

The first typhoid fever vaccine available in the U.S. was developed by Army physician Frederick Russell in 1909.

1914 found a new infection at the orphanage--scarlet fever. Also caused by a bacteria, group A streptococcus, it is usually spread by people coughing or sneezing. No vaccine is available, but the infection is usually treatable with antibiotics. Before antibiotics were available, long term complications from scarlet fever could include kidney disease, rheumatic heart disease, and arthritis. (The author's father had scarlet fever as a child and failed his physical exam to be a navy pilot in WWII because of valvular heart disease). At the time of this outbreak in Longmeadow, scarlet fever was a leading cause of death in children. In March of 1914, there were 13 cases of scarlet fever reported among the 32 children at the orphanage. There was much concern, as the children had attended crowded church services shortly before being diagnosed. Strict quarantine was the only available response.

Evening News, San Jose, California, March 26, 1914

Epidemics have been a part of life forever, but thankfully, we have found medicines and technologies to help us prevent and treat these diseases that were so dangerous to our ancestors.

Sources:

1. Genealogybank

2.The Doane Orphanage, May 2009 Town Crier article by Linda Abrams

3. Longmeadow Historical Society collections

Contributed by Betsy McKee, LHS Board Member

Originally published April 22, 2021

Buzz Buzz Buzz

Beehive Skeg (image by Rosser 1954)

"If there’s a buzzing noise, somebody’s making a buzzing noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing noise that I know of is because you’re a bee. And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is to make honey. And the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it." Winnie the Pooh

Like many of us, I have baked many loaves of bread over the past year, finding the tasks needed to create bread easy to integrate into the rhythms of my life worked from home. Many of my favorite bread recipes call for the complex goodness of honey, an ingredient that I can easily find on the shelf at Big Y or Armata's. But honey has not always been easy for people (or bears) to obtain. Winnie the Pooh, “a bear of little brain”, loved honey and knew that he had to follow bees in order to find honey. Likewise, early humans loved honey but could only obtain it by gathering hives that they found in the wild.

Honey Bee

While European colonists found a wide variety of bees and other insects in North America, they did not find honey bees and so they had to import them. Honey bees were first brought from England to the Virginia colony as early as 1622 and they were first brought to Massachusetts between 1630 and 1633. As in in Europe, honey and wax were greatly valued by the colonists.

By 1720, honey bees must have been in the wild in western Massachusetts. The Rev. Stephen Williams of Longmeadow wrote in his diary on Oct. 13, 1720, “this day I went into woods again after bees – but got none. I fear I am too eager after such things.”

Early beekeepers kept hives in containers such as straw skeps (pictured at the top of the article), pottery vessels, wooden boxes, or log gums. None of these structures allowed longtime maintenance of a hive and also significant production of honey. But, in 1852, L.L. Langstroth of Pennsylvania patented a hive with movable frames. Adaptations of this model, which are still used today, allow the beekeeper to manage the hive without destroying it. The beekeeper can remove a part of the hive (a frame), harvest the honey and wax from the frame, then reincorporate the frame the hive. This is a sustainable method of maintaining the bee colony while also procuring valuable bee products.

Langstroth Hive

Commercial production of honey began in 1864 and the government began tracking honey and beeswax as an agricultural commodity in 1870. The 1870 Non-Population Census form for Longmeadow is incomplete, but we know that at least three Longmeadow men produced honey in 1870. In 1880, eight Longmeadow men produced honey. Honey would have been harvested in July and in October.

In addition to the personal financial rewards of selling honey and wax, beekeepers provided an invaluable service to a largely agrarian community. Working within a three mile radius from the hive, bees busily pollinated farmers' crops as they gathered the pollen needed to make their honey and their home.

Today, it is estimated that almost 2/3 of the crops that we eat are pollinated by bees. While we no longer have any farms in town, Longmeadow today has around a dozen beekeepers. These bees pollinate our gardens, trees, and woodlands, keeping our plants healthy and Longmeadow verdant and lovely - at the same time that they are producing delicious honey!

Sources

1. Ronald Manseau, beekeeper/ Longmeadow, MA 2. History of Beekeeping in the United States 3. The Evolution of Beekeeping 4. The Bees- The Disney Wiki 5. Stephen Williams Diaries 6. 1870 US Census, 1880 US Census

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, LHS Board Member

Originally published April 15, 2021

The Whispering Stick

Many of our readers will remember seeing a singular object in the Storrs House Museum called the "Whispering Stick." The story that was told was that this six foot long hollow tube of wood was used by young courting couples to whisper sweet nothings under the watchful eyes of a chaperone. Over the years, research on the veracity of this legend has been stymied --every mention found seemed to refer back to the stick in Longmeadow!

Longmeadow's "Whispering Stick"

hollow top of stick,

missing a ferrule?

tapered bottom of stick

In the 1884 book "Proceedings at the Centennial Celebration of the Incorporation of the Town of Longmeadow, October 17th, 1883" edited by the Professor Richard Salter Storrs, describes the objects saved from the burning Williams parsonage house in 1846; "Among other more bulky articles in lower rooms, and hence more easily rescued, were the old oak writing table and the inkstand of Dr. Williams now in the church pastors' room, two very old bureaus and buffet pieces of furniture whose painted ornamentation includes the arabesque initials of Abigail Davenport, and extremely old and odd pistol which unbroken tradition refers to the former ownership of John Williams of Deerfield, and, most curious of all, a long, slender wooden tube, about six feet in length and an inch in diameter, octagonal at one end and round at the other and fitted at either end for ear and mouth pieces, now, however missing, which has for generations been known as the 'Courting Stick.' Whether it was really used for that purpose, as tradition has it, by young people sitting in the usual place for young people, upon opposite sides of the old-fashioned fireplace, to carry on their whispered love-making unheard by their elders more honorably located in front of the blaze, or whether it was simply used, as experiment now easily demonstrates it might have been, as a very effective ear tube for good old Dr. Williams, it is in either case a curiously unique relic of the olden time."

It is interesting that Salter Storrs (as he was known) questioned whether the device was actually an early form of hearing aid. He was a teacher of the deaf in Hartford, CT, along with his sister Sarah, who was deaf from a childhood illness. From an article from Hearing Health & Technology Matters, "Regulation of Hearing Aids in the United States, Part 1" by Holly Hosford-Dunn, PhD, speaking tubes "were another early means of channeling and conveying sound to the ear. These devices, often hand-made on the spot, offered the additional feature of enabling private communication in and across public places, which makes them somewhat analogous to modern-day telephones. Indeed, the first speaking tubes were created in Puritan times to allow courtship communication in public.

Hearing aid swan trumpet belonging to Sarah Storrs

In an article in the "Journal of American Folklore" in 1893, author Alice Morse Earle discusses 'Old-Time Marriage Customs in New England.' She writes "A more formal method of courtship is suggested by what is termed a 'courting -stick;' one is preserved in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. It is a hollow tube eight feet in length, through which lovers, in the presence of an assembled family, could whisper tender nothings to each other."

Another author, Mrs. Burton Kingsland, wrote the very useful tome in 1904 titled "The Book of Good Manners: Etiquette for all Occasions" published by Doubleday, Page and Company. In her chapter on engagements, she says: " Engaged couples might be interested to learn that young persons in their condition [engaged] in early colonial times were reduced to the necessity of using a 'courting-stick,' which was a hollow tube, eight feet long, through which lovers, in the presence of the assembled family, could whisper tender messages, unheard by the rest,--the telephone's earliest development. One is still preserved at Long Meadow, Massachusetts."

In fact, Mrs. Kingsland might have become aware of Longmeadow's courting stick by seeing photographer Clifton Johnson's image of the courting stick being used by a couple on the front porch of the Storrs House. Johnson, who was born in the village of Hockanum in Hadley, MA, was an artist, writer, folklorist and photographer, having bought his first camera in 1898. He later owned the Johnson Book Store in Springfield, MA, which was run by his younger brother Henry.

Photo of whispering stick by Clifton Johnson, circa 1910-1920

The courting stick at the Storrs House Museum is about 68" long, is hollow, octagonal and tapered. It appears that some kind of ferrule or fitting would have gone on each end. So, is this stick really a courting stick? Picture it--1846, the famous Williams parsonage is slowly burning around you, you are scrambling to save precious relics from the Reverend Stephen Williams' home, and you grab ten volumes of his daily diaries, two heavy pieces of case furniture, the precious pistol supposedly used in the infamous 1704 raid on Deerfield, family needlework, a silver cup passed down in the Davenport family made by the first American-born silversmith.....and a stick.

Contributed by Betsy McKee, LHS Board Member

Originally published April 8, 2021