Scarlet Fever Days by Lucille Kate Kinsella and Evelyn Laufer Taylor

In these days of Coronavirus quarantining, social distancing, and being in a world totally new from what we are used to, I thought a look back to Mom/Aunt CB’s TWO bouts with scarlet fever would be of interest! Then, I found out Evelyn Taylor also had scarlet fever. 

We are lucky here on the Cousins Blog to have TWO 90 plus year olds who like to write. Both Mom and Evelyn Taylor (wife of Bryant Taylor) had scarlet fever as young girls. Here are their stories.

Lucille Kate 'CB' Taylor Kinsella

First, Aunt CB aka Lucille Taylor Kinsella aka Mom:

In the summer of 1930, we moved to Geneva, NY. Daddy had lost his dream poultry farm in South Byron sometime in the last year. His uncle, Orrin Taylor, was a horticulturalist at the Experimental Station, a branch of Cornell University, and had obtained a job for him as a seed analyst. The Depression had begun!

Ruth had finished the 8^th grade, Arnon had finished the 6^th grade, and Esther had finished  4^th grade and all had been feted at parties; it was time to move on!

Daddy had started earlier and found a large 8 room house in Geneva, at 30 West Street, renting for $20 per month! Four bedrooms, a living and dining room, parlor and kitchen, plus front and back stairways! The last we children made good use of, chasing one another up and down. Also, a huge unfloored attic made for marvelous workspace for the boys and fun room for all!

Thus, we settled in Geneva, attended the First Presbyterian Church, and met our neighbors. Ruth started high school, Arnon attended Junior High School, and Esther went to the 5^th grade at High Street School, which was only around the corner from our home. In due time, Doris started there also, in 2^nd grade, and eventually, Lucille began Kindergarten in the same school, certainly being walked to school by the last two sisters. 

1932--Front Row: Harold, Doris, Lucille

Back Row: Esther, Ruth, Arnon

Then, catastrophe struck! Lucille contracted scarlet fever!

Thus for the next two years, in the spring of 1932 and 1933, I was kept home with scarlet fever. The Public Health Nurse arrived with a large bright red sign which tacked onto the house ( about 10 by 20 inches!).  People began to walk on the opposite side of the street from our house, and that was embarrassing to us all.

I was put to bed in Mom’s bed in the front of the house. Daddy, who had to work daily, lived in a large tent (his hunting tent!) in the side yard where he, Ruth, Arnon, and Esther each had a cot. I believe they got their food from the kitchen where Mom left food. Their clothes? I don’t know—they entered the house from the back porch which enclosed the kitchen door and where Mom’s washing machine was kept. She must have done their wash, and although none were supposed to enter the house-they had to at least use the back stairs to use the bathroom. I know NONE came near my room!

I remember very little except the visits of our doctor, Dr. James Allen, who would tell while sitting on the bedside and looking in my ears, that they were so full that he could see potatoes growing! I really thought they were! And, some kind soul had given me a celluloid (like plastic) baby doll which I loved. It had 2 outfits and diapers and I loved her dearly. Unfortunately, she had to be burned when I was declared well again! Where Harold slept, I don’t know, as his crib was kept in Mom’s room. Maybe in the bedroom where Doris and I usually slept. In any case, it must have been a very hard time for all!

The town nurse, Miss Mary Dormer, whom I knew from the church we attended, visited 2 to 3 times a week. She did not care for me, just came to check that no one but Mom took care of me--Mom must have bathed me and I suppose I had a potty chair in the room. The second year’s illness brought with it an extension of problems as infection entered the mastoid area of the head and affected my ears (the ultimate cause of my deafness)!

Dr. Allen attended often, no sulfa or penicillin then; he was a kind, gentle man. Later, I went to church and school with his nephew Bill, and we became lifelong friends. Another temporary bonus for the second time, was a weeklong period when it was thought that Doris also had the fever! We joyfully played together in bed with our paper dolls which were cut from the Sunday comic section. And then, she was banished—did not have the disease after all (nor did she get it from me later)!

The first year’s illness extended into four weeks. The second must have been a scorcher as it took six weeks!

Ruth, who had been thrilled to be a part of the yearly drama presentation in high school, was heartbroken to not be allowed to attend the first year—the tent was thought not to be ‘safe’ enough. And when NY State Regents exams took place at the end of the year, she had to take them outside in the tent with a teacher present. 

When I finally got well enough, after the first year, to again attend Kindergarten, I was so happy that looking back, I can see that all the teachers concerned, made a pet of me! Mrs. Palmer, an elderly teacher, surely ready for retirement, took good care of me and the younger teacher, Miss Elizabeth Rhodes, whom I’d known from church, read the class books with me by her side!

We must have had a full day session, for we each had our towel on which we napped after our can of milk. And the milk I drank tasted so good! I loved it (We only had skim milk at home)! Daddy brought home from work (the Experimental Station also had cows) two quarts of regular milk (8 cents a quart) in his milk container, and weekly, he brought one large metal can (15 cents) of skim milk. We never could have paid for daily milk for me. Sometimes, during nap time, I must have slept on after the others left, for I’d awaken to find Mrs. Palmer sitting and waiting for me to do so!

Both times after getting healthy, all of my bedclothes, toys, dolls and anything I had touched or played with, was burned.

Over the Second Bout of Scarlet Fever!

It must have been a horrendous time for all involved. Daddy must have had memories of his five year old sister Mildred dying from scarlet fever ( after just recovering from typhoid fever). Her body had to be held in a makeshift grave until public health felt it safe to bury in the local cemetery. So, my father and his brothers dug her first grave beneath a tree in the side yard of Woodlawn.

My Scarlet Fever Days DID give my children a reason to tease me when I’d make them do their homework. “Well, Mom, it took you TWO years to get out of Kindergarten!” That it did, as I was thought too frail to move on to First Grade right away.

Next, Evelyn Laufer Taylor:

Evelyn Laufer Taylor

The highlight of our stay in Detroit was my getting Scarlet Fever.  It came on an Easter weekend, and we had gone to Belle Isle with friends for a picnic.  There, I got sick, and the next day the doctor diagnosed my illness as Scarlet Fever, which then meant that I had to be quarantined for one month.

This quarantine applied to Dad also, so he had to live in a hotel and not see us at all.  We had no phone, so he came on weekends, regardless of the quarantine, to check on us and to visit.  One day he had come and was not feeling well at all, having a fever, so we thought , surely,he was coming down with it.  I looked out the window and saw the doctor coming.  We panicked and hurriedly hid Dad in the attic!  It turned out that he just had a bad cold, but we sure were scared over that one.

Evelyn, Age 6

The days were very long for Mom and me, and I am sure they were especially so for her.  I tried to entertain both of us by reading all the Campbell Soup ad jingles in the magazines.  I also read recipes out of the cookbook.  She was inspired to try "chicken croquettes"!  Mom made dresses for me and for her on my child's Singer sewing machine, which I still have.  She clamped it to the table edge and then turned the wheel by hand.  It makes a chain stitch, so every seam had to be tied off at the end, or it would unravel.  Believe me, this was time consuming.

After the first few days, I felt great except for itching from the skin peeling off me because of the high fever.  Every day Mom rubbed olive oil on my flaking skin.  To this day, whenever I eat a glazed doughnut, I am reminded of this, for the aroma is the same.  

Finally, the day came when the red quarantine sign was to be removed by the Health Department.  However, this was not to happen until all my toys that were washable had been put into the bath tub and washed with Lysol and water.  Any that could not be sterilized this way had to be burned.  This was a rough day for me, for a couple of my favorite dolls didn't make it.

Thank you Mom and Evelyn!! I so appreciate these remembrances of long ago. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!

Corona Virus Today; Adin Baker’s 1918 Battle with the Spanish Flu

In these uncertain days as we wait to see just how the Corona virus progresses, it seems like a good time to revisit again the story of Adin Baker (my great uncle) and the Spanish Flu that almost took his life.

Adin Baker, World War One and the Spanish Influenza, By Aunt CB and Pat Kinsella Herdeg 

From August, 2009, http://taylorbakercousins.blogspot.com/2009/06/adin-baker-world-war-one-and-spanish.html

Adin Leonard Baker wanted to travel ‘round the world as he was growing up in central New York State; finally, his travel bug still strongly in place, and no doubt, patriotic to boot, Adin joined the Army in June of 1918, at 29 years of age. Attached to the 152nd Division Medical Allentown Replacement Unit One, he was sent to England.

In October, just as his squad was ordered over to France (from London), Adin became sick and was ordered to escort another very ill veteran back to New York City; in the city, surrounded by beds of other sick soldiers, doctors realized that Adin was in the far advanced throes of Spanish influenza, a very lethal strain.

The influenza pandemic--"Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe"— actually didn't originate in Spain - it got its name because at the time, Spain wasn't involved in the war and had not imposed wartime censorship, thus it received great press attention there.

The Spanish Flu killed more people than World War I itself-- somewhere between 20 and 40 million people, according to Molly Billings of Stanford University. 

Billings continues: ‘In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe was winding down and peace was on the horizon. The Americans had joined in the fight, bringing the Allies closer to victory against the Germans. Deep within the trenches these men lived through some of the most brutal conditions of life, which it seemed could not be any worse. Then, in pockets across the globe, something erupted that seemed as benign as the common cold. The influenza of that season, however, was far more than a cold. In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world's population was infected. 

It infected 28% of all Americans. An estimated 675,000 Americans died of influenza during the pandemic, ten times as many as in the world war.

1918 would go down as unforgettable year of suffering and death and yet of peace.’

Spanish Flu victims, hopefully recovering

Closer to home, the Spanish flu entered Syracuse at the State Fairgrounds, or Camp Syracuse, where hundreds of World War I soldiers were returning from Europe. When the worst was over, more than 900 people in Syracuse died of infection and pneumonia. In a federal survey of how many deaths per capita, Syracuse was in the top five, tied for third with Boston.

In Buffalo, the toll of the epidemic topped 2,000. Albany's death toll was over 500. In Rochester, 213 people died from the flu in one week.

Back in Center Lisle, Kate and Byron received a telegram from J. Nelson Borland, Field Director of the American Red Cross: “It is our sorrowful duty to inform you that your son, Adin Baker, who returned from overseas October 19, is critically ill at this hospital”.  Byron hot footed it down to New York City, but by the time he arrived, Kate had already been told that Adin had “turned the corner”: “It is very good news I have for you tonight. Your son’s temperature has been normal all day and the Doctor said he had passed the critical part of his illness although he is still very sick.”

Later, volunteers continued to write notes to his parents of Adin’s progress. He was discharged in January of 1919.

Having gotten a taste of travel (and perhaps because of his near death experience), Adin now took to traveling the country by rail, ‘hobo-ing around’. Center Lisle, New York, and the farm would have to wait.

One hundred and two years later, let’s hope that the Corona virus is not being talked about one hundred years hence!

Happy New Year-- The Start of 2020 by Pat Kinsella Herdeg

Happy New Year’s Eve!! 

Firstly, one of my favorite poems to start the New Year:

Beannacht

(‘Blessing’ in Gaelic)    By John O’Donohue

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

-------------------------

A few pictures from Cousins gatherings long ago:

The first two are from December 1957, so yours truly is not even here yet:

Combining the two pictures from the bottom of the stairway up, the cousins are:

Tim Kinsella with Nancy Taylor, David Lochner, Mary Lou Taylor, Dan Maney, Bob Taylor with Ann Taylor, Chuck Lochner, Dan Kinsella, Julie Lochner, Sue Kinsella, Cindy Hawkes, Kathy Taylor, George Taylor, Jack Taylor and others (Mom could not see well—CAN YOU??) and Uncle Dick Lochner at the top of the stairs holding down the fort!

Then, another picture from New Year’s Eve 1999: The millennium was upon us, a new century, Y2K….

My family gathered to play instruments to welcome in the New Year, and what a time these last twenty years have been!

I wish all of you the best of New Year's, the best of 2020, that we all have our share of laughter, good stories remembered, jokes told, as we also weave a cloak of love all around those we love.

Lucille and the calf ‘Lucille’ By Lucille (CB) Taylor Kinsella

The story behind this picture?

Mom has written a three part story on Center Lisle and Baker history there:

http://taylorbakercousins.blogspot.com/2009/08/baker-history-in-center-lisle-by-aunt.html

And also a story about visiting the 1939 World’s Fair in NYC:

http://taylorbakercousins.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-first-television-viewing-by-aunt-cb.html

 Actual date of Photo? August 27th, 1939

See below for Mom's write up!

Top of the hill and Grandma's! Grandma's farm or Adin's farm was the best place in the world to us. We loved it and both of them!

Adin was wonderful to us. He took us with him as he worked at his farm chores, we 'helped' cut hay, clean out springs in the pasture, buzz wood, clean the 'drops'--in my mind's eye, I can still see him hunkered down, cigarette held between two fingers, as he told us stories about his 'wife with the traveling wart' or some such crazy story.

Mid August, 1939, I was visiting Grandma and Adin in Center Lisle. Early one morning, I crept out to see the animals in Adin’s barn, and heard a strange noise coming from one of the side pens. I saw a strange sight, a cow lying down and bellowing. 

Thinking it funny for her to be inside rather than out with the others in the pasture, I squatted on my haunches to watch and saw a miracle born—a little red and white calf! As the mother stood licking her baby, I realized that Adin was also squatting beside me. 'Wow', I exclaimed. He just looked at me and said, 'Don't tell your grandmother.' That was the birth of the calf named Lucille.

August 26th, 1939 was the date we began our big trip—we were on our way to visit the New York World’s Fair. We drove as far as Grandma Baker’s to spend the night. 

The next day we left early to drive on through the Poconos, but not before Daddy took a picture of me with ‘my’ calf—the one I’d seen born a week or two before, my Lucille!