"A Romance Resulted": Irene Wilkinson and Bernard O'Connor

Cupid's arrow struck one more couple amidst the wards of Base Hospital 50: Nurse Irene Wilkinson and Private First Class Bernard "Barney" O'Connor. It all began when Irene visited the dispensary staffed by pharmacist Barney and love was the drug for them, you might say!¹

Irene Wilkinson was born in Stanley, New Brunswick, Canada, on July 18, 1895, the oldest child and only daughter of Thomas Lemuel Wilkinson, and his wife Frances Elizabeth Jonah, both natives of New Brunswick, and of Irish descent.² Irene had three younger brothers St. Elmo, Gregory, and Jack. By 1911 the Wilkinson family had made its way from Eastern Canada to the far west of Vancouver, British Columbia.³

Irene traveled to Bellingham, Washington, 55 miles south of Vancouver, crossing the border in pursuit of nursing education.⁴ Irene graduated from St. Luke Hospital's nursing school in April 1918 and had enlisted with Base Hospital 50 before she'd even completed her studies.^{5, 6} She received a month's training at Fort Riley, Kansas, before being ordered to meet up with her fellow nurses in New York.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 22, 1888, Bernard Leo O'Connor was the oldest of Peter O'Connor and Sarah McDonald's three children.⁷ Both natives of Ireland, Peter and Sarah had immigrated to the United States in the 1870s. Barney, as he was known to friends and family had a younger brother, Peter, and sister, Sarah. Barney graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, the first pharmacy college in the nation, founded in 1821.⁸ Barney later moved to Seattle where he studied business at the University of Washington between 1910-1912 and was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. 

Barney served as a pharmacist for Base Hospital 50, where he met Irene "when it became necessary for the surgical nurse to go to the dispensary for supplies" and "a romance resulted."¹ After the war ended both returned to the United States with their respective units; Barney on the S.S. Graf Waldersee with the men of Base Hospital 50 and Irene on the S.S. Mobile with the first group of nurses to receive debarkation orders. Barney arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey, on April 20, 1919.⁹ Irene arrived in Hoboken on April 23, 1919, and proceeded to the New York's Hotel Albert for demobilization.¹⁰ From there the young couple made their way to Boston, where both had extended family, and were married on May 7, 1919, residing at the Hotel Lenox during their stay.¹¹

After the war ended, Barney was a drug salesman and then partner in pharmacies in Los Angeles, Yakima, and Wenatchee.¹² Later he owned a successful chain of pharmacies and a medical supply company in Seattle. Irene and Barney remained active in the veterans community, including the American Legion, and were fixtures in helping to organize the annual Veteran's Day reunions for the personnel of Base Hospital 50.

Barney died at the age of 69, after a short period of poor health, in 1958.¹³ Irene died one month shy of her 99th birthday, in 1994, and was buried next to her husband at Holyrood Catholic Cemetery in Shoreline, Washington.¹⁴ The romance of a quick-witted Irishman and his Rose of No Man's Land, was just one of the stories told and retold at reunions of the adventures of Base Hospital 50.

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References

1. "They Recalled Overseas Service" Seattle Daily Times, August 2, 1942, p23. 
2. "New Brunswick, Provincial Returns of Births and Late Registrations, 1810-1906," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XT3N-FTP : 13 February 2019), Wilkinson, 18 Jul 1895; citing Stanley, York, New Brunswick, certificate 006412, Provincial Archives, Fredericton; FHL microfilm 2,024,645.
3. "Recensement du Canada de 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:27XB-CTZ : 13 February 2019), Irene Wilkinson in entry for Thos L Wilkinson, 1911; citing Census, Vancouver Sub-Districts 19-50, British Columbia, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 2,417,662.
4. "United States Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1895-1956," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XP14-9TB : 27 November 2014), Irene Wilkinson, Jun 1917; from "Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1954," database and images, Ancestry(http://www.ancestry.com : 2010); citing Ship , arrival port Blaine, Washington,, line 3, NARA microfilm publication M1464, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, RG 85, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 338.
5. "Local Hospital Will Graduate Nurses" Bellingham Herald, Monday, April 1, 1918 p4.
6. "Base Hospital Unit to Mobilize at Palo Alto" Seattle Daily Times, March 28, 1918, p14. 
7. "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Births, 1860-1906," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBYV-M9X : 13 February 2019), Benard Connors, 22 Feb 1888; citing Birth, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, Pennsylvania.
8. "Services Set for Bernard L. O'Connor" The Seattle Times, Thursday, January 30, 1958, p44.
9. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939; Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives Record Group 92, roll 109; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 13 February 2019). Bernard L. O'Connor, S.S. Graf Waldersee, sailed 7 April 1919, Brest, France to Hoboken, New Jersey.
10. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939; Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives Record Group 92, roll 205; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 13 February 2019). Irene M. Wilkinson, S.S. Mobile, sailed 13 April 1919, Brest, France to Hoboken, New Jersey.
11. "Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLGR-PXCD : 13 February 2019), Bernard L O'Connor and Irene M Wilkinson, May 7,1919.
12. "B.L. O'Connor Buys Store" Drug Trade Weekly, March 26, 1921, p14.
13. Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 13 February 2019), memorial page for Bernard L O'Connor (1888–1958), Find A Grave Memorial no. 26691610, citing Holyrood Catholic Cemetery, Shoreline, King County, Washington.
14. Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 13 February 2019), memorial page for Irene M Wilkinson O'Connor (18 Jul 1895–2 Jun 1994), Find A Grave Memorial no. 81492785, citing Holyrood Catholic Cemetery, Shoreline, King County, Washington.

100 Years Ago: Married at the Depot

Altered image. McCall's Magazine, June 1918.

"At Detroit, Mich., one member of the Unit met his best girl and took advantage of the delay caused by replacing a broken truck, to get married at the depot."¹

The journey east by train was recalled as being "very pleasant" by the men of Base Hospital 50 "with a few incidents of special note to be remembered." No doubt the marriage of Private First Class Leigh Thompson and Thelma Wellington was one of those incidents. Thelma and her family planned to meet Leigh's train as it passed through Detroit, but an unexpected delay provided the opportunity for an impromptu wedding. Their marriage was the culmination of a romance begun in Seattle five years before.²

Thelma Grace Wellington was born on January 16, 1895, the second of Albert Lincoln Wellington and his wife Jessie Victoria Eddy's three daughters. Like her sisters, Marguerite and Frances, Thelma was born in Chicago.³ Together with her parents, Thelma moved to New Orleans where the family was enumerated in the 1910 census.⁴ Shortly thereafter her family moved to Washington, first to the Everett area and then Seattle, where she entered Broadway High School in September of 1911.⁵ Thelma graduated in 1915 and Broadway's yearbook, the Sealth, described her as "studious and quiet, actions sweet and kind." How Thelma and Leigh met is unknown, but they must have become acquainted shortly after the Wellington family arrived in Seattle.

Leigh Oliver Thompson was the older of two children born to Robert Oliver Thompson, a native of Scotland, and Jane "Jennie" Smaling. Leigh was born in Havelock, Nebraska, on December 28, 1893, and lived in Kewaunee, Illinois, before moving to Seattle about 1910.⁶ Leigh seems to have left school at an early age as he is working as a clothing salesman at sixteen. At the time Leigh registered for the draft he was employed as a clerk at the Dexter Horton Bank.⁷

Thelma and Leigh became engaged in August of 1917. At the time of their announcement, Thelma's parents had recently moved to Detroit.⁸ In April 1918, Thelma traveled from Detroit to Seattle to see Leigh off as he, and the other members of Base Hospital 50, made their way to Camp Fremont for training.⁹

Once Base Hospital 50 was eastbound for New York in early July, Leigh telegraphed his fiancée when he learned the unit would have a 45-minute stopover in Detroit on Tuesday, July 9, 1918. At the appointed time, Thelma and her family arrived at Detroit's landmark Michigan Central Depot, expecting only to have a short visit with her fiancé. When the departure was delayed, Leigh "used such persuasive powers" as to convince Thelma to marry him at once. "A hurried trip was made by automobile for the marriage license and the clergyman. The wedding took place in the lobby of the station witnessed by the bride's family and all the officers of the unit."

"An atmosphere of much romance" surrounded the couple, when after a delay procuring a license at city hall, the train was held while they were married in the Depot lobby by Rev. W. L. Torrance of the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, who was hastily summoned to serve as the officiating clergyman. Thelma's father Albert and sister Marguerite served as witnesses. "There was no wedding ring so the bride drew off her grandmother's wedding ring, which she wore on the other hand and it did duty for a second ceremony."¹⁰

Detroit Times, July 10, 1918, pg. 2.

Following the ceremony, Thelma returned home with her parents and remained in Detroit for the duration of the war. After Base Hospital 50 returned from France in May of 1919, the young couple was finally able to begin their married life together. They welcomed a son, Donald Eddy Thompson, in 1926. Leigh returned to work as a bank clerk and later worked as a bookkeeper for the Continental Baking Company in Seattle.

Leigh died of a heart attack at his home, 3233 Hunter Boulevard, on December 11, 1958 at the age of 64.¹¹ He had been active in organizing Base Hospital 50 reunions, serving as the organizing committee's treasurer, in addition to Commander of the Lake Washington Post 124 of the American Legion and a member of Posts 8 and 40. Thelma also worked in the office of the Continental Bakery from 1945-1959. She died at the at age of 68 on November 11, 1963.¹²

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References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 65.
2. "Society." Seattle Daily Times, July 17, 1918, pg. 6.
3. Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1940," database, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q239-NVR2 : 6 July 2018), Thelma Grace Wellington, 16 Jan 1895; Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, reference/certificate 291650, Cook County Clerk, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm.
4. "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPYL-PGG : accessed 7 July 2018), Thelma G Wellington in household of Albert L Wellington, New Orleans Ward 14, Orleans, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 223, sheet 6B, family 106, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 524; FHL microfilm 1,374,537.
5. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Thelma G. Wellington, Broadway High School (Seattle, WA), 1915.
6. "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGVD-VFX : accessed 7 July 2018), Lee Oliver Thompson in household of Robert O Thompson, Seattle Ward 3, King, Washington, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 94, sheet 9B, family 197, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1659; FHL microfilm 1,375,672.
7. "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:29JH-4QW : 7 July 2018), Leigh Oliver Thompson, 1917-1918; citing Seattle City no 12, Skagit County, Washington, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,992,013.
8. "Society." Seattle Daily Times, August 20, 1917, pg. 11.
9. "Society." Seattle Daily Times, April 11, 1918, pg. 6.. 
10. "Persuades Her to Wed Him as Train Halts at Station on Way." Seattle Daily Times, July 21, 1918, pg. 4.
11. "Leigh O. Thompson." Seattle Times, December 12, 1958, pg. 45. 
12. "Mrs. Leigh O. Thompson." Seattle Times, November 13, 1963, pg. 17. 

Pvt. William Bruce White (1893-1918)

White family photo. Used with permission.

Private William Bruce White was the fifth and final casualty for the staff of Base Hospital 50. His death, like most of his colleagues before him, was due to disease rather than injury. Private White succumbed to pneumonia, as a result of the raging influenza epidemic, just five days before Armistice on November 6, 1918.

William was one of eight children – four boys and four girls  – born to Lewis Pindle White and his wife Mary Ellen "Ella" Burke. He was the sixth child and fourth son and his older siblings included Clarence George Thornton, Jessie Pearl, Lewis Pinckney, Lily Darling and Harry Stanhope. William was followed by sisters Helen Frances Luella and Margaret Virginia. Born on January 1, 1893, in Terra Alta, Preston County, West Virginia, William and his family moved to Bellingham in 1897.

The large family lived for several years in a grand Victorian house at 1200 N. Garden St., in Bellingham.¹ Its distinctive turret topped by a bell-shaped dome made it a local landmark, then and now. The house still stands although it has since been divided into apartments.

Built in 1890 for banker James W. Morgan, the house plan was from a pattern book designed by Robert Shoppel. Stock market collapses in the mid-1890's led Morgan to sell his home to Lewis White and his business partner William G. Brown, Jr. Together with Brown, also from West Virginia, Lewis White had started the Bank of Whatcom in November of 1897. The acquisition of 1200 N. Garden proved fortuitous since, with eight children, the White family needed a large house!

Snow-covered 1200 N. Garden, c. 1916. 

Photo by J.J. Donovan #1995.6.12, 

Whatcom Museum of History & Art

The family was at the center of many enjoyments in Bellingham."Darlings of the Society column, the Whites hosted elaborate dinners, parlor dances, and card parties that were always “most recherché and artistic” with “choice table decorations,” “tasteful hand-painted place cards” and “dainty favors.” Their guests included the business elite of New Whatcom and Fairhaven. The White’s teenage daughter, Jessie, had her own chaperoned social calendar and often entertained the “younger set” in a “most charming style” with music, dancing, and refreshments."²

Jessie White christened the 200-foot, four-masted lumber schooner Sehome on December 30, 1899. Youngest sister Margaret Virginia won a national photo contest for Resinol Soap in 1903 at the age of four. Sadly, the White family was rocked by the untimely death of Lewis White on July 9, 1903.³ Lewis White had traveled back to the West Virginia home of his mother in Terra Alta where it was hoped the mountain air would restore his health. Although he had been in poor health and suffering from diabetes, his death was unexpected. He left his widow, Ella, and children ranging in age from 4 to 20. Just one month later, Ella White sold the house on Garden and moved to a slightly smaller house at 2007 G Street which she purchased for $3,300.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1908, Ella White was married to Frederick Schuh and the family continued to reside on G Street. It is there the family is enumerated in the 1910 census, with 17-year-old William's occupation listed as bank clerk.⁴ By the time William registered for the draft in June of 1917, he was continuing to follow in his father's footsteps working as a bank clerk at First National Bank in Sedro-Woolley.⁵

Bellingham Herald, 10 August 1918, pg 6.

It isn't known if William specifically volunteered to serve with Base Hospital 50, but he was mustered into service in June of 1918 with Base Hospital 50, training first at Camp Lawton, in Seattle, then onto Camp Fremont in Palo Alto, California, before traveling to Camp Merritt in New Jersey in anticipation of overseas deployment. Together with the other members of Base Hospital 50, William sailed for Europe on July 14, 1918, aboard the S. S. Karmala.⁶

His death from complications from influenza came just as the Meuse-Argonne Offensive – the final push towards ending the war – was taking place and Base Hospital 50 was inundated with casualties. Initially buried at the cemetery at the Mesves-Bulcy Hospital Center, William's mother elected to have her son's remains brought home to Bellingham after the war ended. His death was remembered in Whatcom County's Honor Roll and commemorated with a Gold Star on the service flag of Whatcom High school, one of six out of 364 students who served.^7,8 In January of 1921, William's journey was completed when he arrived home. He was buried in Bellingham's Bayview Cemetery on January 16, 1921, his loss deeply mourned by his friends and family.⁹

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References:

1. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. New Whatcom, Whatcom, Washington; NARA T623-1742; Enumeration District: 245, Page: 4A, Line: 30; Louis P. White.
2. Bellingham Business Journal. Victorian on Garden restored to 1890s style. November 30, 2007. (Accessed November 1, 2017.)
3. Prosser, William Farrand. A History of the Puget Sound Country, Its Resources, Its Commerce and Its People. New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1903. Biographical Sketch of Lewis P. White, pg. 338.
4. Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910. Bellingham, Ward 7, Whatcom, Washington; NARA T624-1688; Enumeration District: 320, Page: 5A, Line: 14; Fred Schuh.
5. United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Precinct 1, Skagit County, Washington; William B. White, June 5, 1917.
6. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939; Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives Record Group 92, roll 457; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 1 November 2017).
7. William B. White Funeral Notice. Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, WA), Thursday, January 2, 1919, page 6.  
8. Jacobin, Louis. With the colors, from Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties: an honor roll containing a pictorial record of the gallant and courageous men from northwestern Washington, U.S.A., who served in the world war, 1917-1918-1919. Seattle, Wash. : Peters Pub. Co., 1921.
9. "High School is Given Service Flag with 364 Stars Flag Presented to School by Superintendent." Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, WA) Saturday, January 15, 1921, page 8.

PFC Charles Norman Fletcher (1896-1918)

“Working day and night to take care of a number of pneumonia patients that poured into Base Hospital 50,” Private First Class Charles Fletcher contracted the disease and died two days later on October 9, 1918.¹

University of Washington TYEE, 1919⁷

Charles Norman Fletcher was born on July 10, 1896, in Buckley, Washington. His father, Charles Fletcher, was a native of England and his mother, Anna Spence, of Scotland. Charles had two older sisters, Charlotte and Hazel Velma Fletcher. Just three weeks after Hazel was born on December 13, 1889, Charlotte died of membranous croup at the age of 3, on January 4, 1890. The family was living at 1609 Front Street in Seattle, at the time, and Charlotte was buried in Lake View Cemetery. Charles Fletcher, Sr. was a miner and later a saloon keeper and lumberman. The family moved back and forth from the Buckley area to Seattle, before settling at 5269 17th Ave NE about 1910.^{2, 3}

"Chuck"– as he was called in high school – graduated from Seattle's Broadway High School in 1915. His senior class entry notes he entered from Lincoln High School in September 1913 and included the quote "A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market."⁴

At the time he registered for the draft, Charles was working in a salmon cannery in Dundas Bay, Alaska.⁵ His draft card described him as a blue-eyed redhead of medium height and build. Charles was one of the first to enlist after the organization of Base Hospital 50 in Seattle, by Major James B. Eagleson. Charles interrupted his sophomore year at the University of Washington (UW), where he was majoring in business administration, to enlist in December 1917. When he previously attempted to enlist in the infantry and artillery he had been rejected.

"Charlie Fletcher and mates"¹⁷

While at the UW, Charles was affiliated with Kappa Sigma (KΣ) fraternity. At the time of his enlistment, the KΣ service flag for the UW's Beta Psi chapter had 93 stars and Charles' death was the first gold star for his chapter.⁶ Before his departure, Charles was elected to Tyes Tyon, the sophomore honor society.⁷

Along with other members of Base Hospital 50, Charles was first ordered to Fort Lawton in March 1918. In April, the unit headed south to Camp Fremont, in Palo Alto, for training and to await their overseas orders. Finally, in early July, the unit was given orders to travel to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, in preparation for their deployment to France. Base Hospital 50's staff sailed from Brooklyn on the Karmala on July 14, 1918.⁸

Base Hospital 50 records, UW Libraries¹⁰

At the time of his death, Charles was wardmaster of the hospital, responsible for the patients and the enlisted staff. Word of his death from pneumonia reached Seattle in letters home from his comrades before his parents received official notification.⁹ He was originally buried in the Base Hospital 50 Cemetery at Mesves, in the department of Nievre, his name recorded in a notebook of burials kept by chaplain Bergen Hansen.¹⁰

After World War I, the Army gave families the option to have the remains of their loved ones buried in permanent cemeteries in France or repatriated to the United States. The Fletcher family elected to have Charles brought home and his body arrived in Seattle on January 15, 1921.¹¹ Funeral services were held for him at 3 o'clock the following day, Sunday, January 16, at the Bonney-Watson Chapel at 1702 Broadway. Coincidentally, Rev. Hansen, who had buried Charles in France, officiated at his funeral.¹² Charles was buried at Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery with his sister, Charlotte.¹³

University of Washington TYEE, 1912¹⁴

Unfortunately, Charles' was not the last untimely death for the Fletcher family. Charles was survived by his parents, Annie and Charles Fletcher, and his sister, Hazel, who had married William Whitlock Mattson.⁶ Hazel received her bachelor of arts degree in Latin from the University of Washington in 1912, where she was a member of Chi Omega sorority.¹⁴ Her marriage in 1915 was the result of a "campus romance" with William, who was a standout football player under legendary UW coach Gil Dobie.¹⁵ Her husband became a surgeon and they were married in Minnesota where William was working at the Mayo Clinic. William also served during World War I, as a Lieutenant with the 342nd Field Hospital, part of the 311th Sanitary Train.

Hazel and William were the parents of three children, William Whitlock, Jr., Muriel Ann, and Charles Fletcher Mattson, born in 1926 and named for his uncle. On December 27, 1936, young Charles was kidnapped from his parent's home at 4506 N. Verde St. in the affluent Point Defiance Park neighborhood of Tacoma. Despite responding to the kidnapper's ransom requests, the story ended tragically on January 11, 1937, when Charles’s body was found south of Everett by a teenager hunting rabbits. "The kidnapping and murder of Charles F. Mattson has never been solved and, because capital crimes have no statute of limitations, the case remains an open file at the Federal Bureau of Investigation."¹⁶

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References:

1. "University Boy Dies Suddenly in France." Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 28, 1918, page 9.
2. 1900 U.S. census, population schedule, Buckley, Pierce, Washington. Enumeration District 148, sheet 5B, Charles Fletcher household; National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 1748; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 30 July 2017).
3. 1910 U.S. census, population schedule, Seattle Ward 10, King, Washington. Enumeration district 181, sheet 8B, Charles Fletcher household; National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 1661; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 30 July 2017).
4. Broadway High School, Seattle Washington. Seatlh, 1915, Charles Norman Fletcher "Chuck", page 45: digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 30 July 2017).
5. "U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 July 2017); Seattle, King County, Draft Board 2. Charles Norman Fletcher, dated 5 August 1917, Dundas, Alaska.
6. "Charles N. Fletcher, member of University Kappa Sigma fraternity, whose death in France has been reported." The Seattle Daily Times, December 3, 1918, page 9.
7. University of Washington. Tyee, 1919, Charles Norman Fletcher, page 40.
8. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939; Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives Record Group 92, roll 457; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 30 July 2017).
9. "Comrades Tell of Death of Local Boy." The Seattle Star, November 28, 1918, page 12.
10. United States Army Base Hospital No. 50 records, 1917-1971. Accession No. 3847-003. University of Washington Libraries.
11. "Bodies of soldiers arrive." The Sunday Seattle Times, January 16, 1921, pg 3.
12. "Charles N. Fletcher" funeral notice. The Seattle Daily Times, January 14, 1921, page 19.
13. PFC Charles N. Fletcher. Find a Grave, http://findagrave.com, Memorial #153928281. (Accessed 30 July 2017.)
14. University of Washington. Tyee, 1912, Hazel Velma Fletcher, page 35.
15. "Here and Elsewhere" The Seattle Star, March 27, 1915, page 7.
16. "Ten-year-old Charles F. Mattson is kidnapped in Tacoma and held for ransom on December 27, 1936." HistoryLink, http://www.historylink.org/File/8028 (Accessed 30 July 2017).
17. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The history of Base Hospital Fifty : a portrayal of the work done by this unit while serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922.

Pvt. Edward John Nesser (1895-1918)

The following day we had another shock, when Ed. Nesser died after a brief illness. This was the third death in less than two weeks, and everyone was beginning to get a little worried. It was the overwork that caused the weakened condition of the men and made them susceptible to the different diseases.¹

Just a day after surgeon William Kantner died suddenly from a heart attack, Private Edward John Nesser became Base Hospital 50's third casualty when he died of pneumonia on September 19, 1918. Ed was the third of eight children born to Andrew Nesser and his wife, Ida Goodmanson (Gudmanson). Five of the Nesser children survived infancy, but, like Ed, the entire family were victims of untimely deaths.

Ed’s father, Andrew Nesser, was an immigrant from Norway, arriving in the United States circa 1888, according to census records.² He married Ida Goodmanson, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on December 4, 1890.³  Ida was a native of Wisconsin and herself of Norwegian heritage. By late 1891, when their first child – daughter Dora Hattie – was born, Ida and Andrew Nesser had moved to Seattle. Sons Ingwal Andrew and Edward John followed in 1893 and 1895. Norman and Hattie arrived in 1904 and 1907, respectively.

The family lived in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood – a separate city until 1907 – at 5810 20^th Avenue NW. Andrew was a successful halibut fisherman and Ballard was home to the region’s burgeoning Scandinavian community and commercial fishermen due to its ready access to Puget Sound. Although Ida and Andrew lost several children in early infancy, their first major brush with tragedy occurred in 1905 when their oldest child, Dora, died of typhoid fever at the age of 13. Dora was buried at nearby Crown Hill Cemetery, which opened just two years prior.⁴

The family was next rocked by Andrew Nesser’s accidental drowning in 1915. His body was found floating in Elliott Bay three weeks after his family had declared him missing. A witness reported seeing Nesser leaning over the seawall the night he disappeared. He might never have been discovered had there not been a dynamite blast in the area which caused the body to float free from under the pier. The coroner conjectured Andrew became suddenly ill and had fallen into the bay.⁵ As the body was being transferred to the morgue a bouquet was dropped squarely on the casket by aviator Herbert Munter as he flew over the waterfront. Brothers Ingwal and Edward took over captaining their father’s fishing boat, the Ida N. 

The brothers responded together on June 5, 1917, to the mandatory draft registration. Both brothers were described as tall, blue-eyed, brown-haired fisherman.⁶ Although Ingwal is also noted as being ‘stout’. Ingwal died in December later that year in Los Angeles, of tuberculosis. Less than a year later Edward was dead from pneumonia in France, where he was serving with Base Hospital 50. Edward was buried at St. Mihiel American Cemetery.

Ida eventually remarried Timothy Small in 1926, a decade after Andrew’s death.⁷ Her two surviving children both succumbed to tuberculosis; Norman in 1926 and Hattie in 1928. Ida’s second marriage likely wasn’t successful as her marital status is listed as 'separated' on her death certificate. Ida Goodmanson Nesser died alone in 1934 – an inmate at Western State Hospital in Steilacoom – having outlived her first husband and all her children, a sad end to a large Seattle family.⁸

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1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The history of Base Hospital Fifty : a portrayal of the work done by this unit while serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. 
2. 1900 U.S. census, population schedule, Ballard, King, Washington. Enumeration District 58, sheet 23A, Andrew Nesser household; National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 1743; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 17 February 2017).
3. Minnesota Marriages, 1849–1950. Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2009, 2010. Index entries derived from digital copies of original and compiled records. Andrew Nesser and Ida Goodmanson. 4 December 1890, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
4. Dora Hattie Nesser. Find a Grave, http://findagrave.com, Memorial #6219036. (Accessed 23 January 2017).
5. Flowers Descend on Nesser's Body. The Seattle Daily Times. June 2, 1915, pg. 3.
6. "U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com, : accessed 17 February 2017); King County, Washington, Seattle, Draft Board 1. Ed. John Nesser and Ingwal Andrew Nesser entries, dated 5 June 1917.
7. Pierce County Auditor, Marriage Records, 1876-1947; 1984-2014, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov: accessed 17 February 2017. Timothy Small and Ida Nesser. 
8. "Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQ98-NH3 : 17 February 2017), Ida Small, 30 Apr 1934; citing Ft Steilacoom, Pierce, Washington, reference 258, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Olympia; FHL microfilm 2,023,101.

Pvt. Samuel N. Parker (1897-1918)

Tyee, 1919, pg. 41.

By September, 1918, the overwork was beginning to show on the men, and this, along with bad drinking water, put a large number of our own men in the hospital. … It was at this time that the unit lost its first man, Sam Parker, who died the evening of September 7, just as taps was sounded. He was run down from overwork and contracted diphtheria.”¹

Private Samuel N. Parker was just twenty-one when he succumbed to exhaustion and diphtheria while serving with Base Hospital 50 in France. 

The only child of John William Parker and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Nichols, Sam's parents were married in Chicago on June 23, 1896.² Sam's exact date and place of birth are unknown, but the 1900 census indicates he was born in August of 1896, although 1897 is more likely.³ At the time of the 1900 federal census, Sam, his parents and maternal grandmother Edna Johnson Nichols Mitchell were living in Hampton Township, located in Rock Island County, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from Davenport, Iowa. By the 1910 census the family had relocated to West Seattle and were living on Alki Avenue.⁴ Their move had likely been a recent one as a biographical sketch of Sam's father was published in a Rock Island County history in 1908.⁵

News story written by Sam Parker.
Thursday, June 28, 1917, Morning Olympian
(Olympia, WA), pg 1. 

Sam graduated with honors from West Seattle School – later West Seattle High School – in 1915 and enrolled at the University of Washington with the class of 1919. While at the UW, Sam was a member of Pi Tau Upsilon Fraternity. He worked as a writer and editor for The Daily, the UW's student newspaper, and was a member of Sigma Delta Chi, a national honorary journalism fraternity.

A few months before he enlisted, Sam left college to take a position on the news staff of Seattle's Post-Intelligencer, where his work was highly esteemed. After having "tried in vain to enlist in a dozen different fighting units", Sam "did the next best thing and applied for a place in Base Hospital Unit No. 50."⁶

"He was not a man of robust health and for months he made futile efforts to enlist in the service of his country. Finally Dr. Eagleson, impressed with the young man's lofty patriotism and persistent attempts to serve, accepted him for the hospital corps, and on the day of his induction into service Parker bade his associates on the staff of the Post-Intelligencer goodbye."⁷

Original grave of Sam Parker.
The History of Base Hospital Fifty, 1922.

Sam enlisted early in the summer of 1918, traveling to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, for training and then deployed on July 14, 1918, for service overseas under the command of Major Eagleson. His death was a blow to the optimism and morale of the staff of Base Hospital 50 who lost two additional men not long after. Originally buried at the cemetery located outside the hospital complex, Sam was later reinterred at nearby St. Mihiel American Cemetery.⁸

His mother, Sarah, who lost her only child, participated in the Gold Star pilgrimages sponsored by the U.S. government and visited her son's final resting place in July of 1930.⁹

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References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The history of Base Hospital Fifty : a portrayal of the work done by this unit while serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 69.
2. Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1920. John W. Parker and Sarah E. Nichols. 23 Jun 1896. Chicago, Cook, Illinois.
3. 1900 U.S. census, population schedule, Hampton, Rock Island, Illinois. Enumeration District 93, sheet 16A, John Parker household; National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 338; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 20 January 2017).
4. 1910 U.S. census, population schedule, Seattle Ward 14, King, Washington. Enumeration district 218, sheet 10A, J.W. Parker household; National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 1661; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 20 January 2017).
5. Historic Rock Island County: History of the Settlement of Rock Island County from the Earliest Known Period to the Present Time... . Kramer & Company, 1908. Volume 2, pg. 153.
6. University of Washington. Tyee, 1919, Sam Parker, War Memorial, page 41.
7. Sam Parker Dies in Country's Service. The Washington Newspaper. 4(1) Oct 1918, pg 12.
8. Pilgrimage for the mothers and widows of soldiers, sailors, and marines of the American forces now interred in the cemeteries of Europe as provided by the Act of Congress of March 2, 1929... Washington, U.S. G.P.O., 1930. Sarah Parker, Pacific Palisades, California, page 23.
9. Pvt. Samuel N. Parker. Find a Grave, http://findagrave.com, Memorial #56341596. (Accessed 23 January 2017.)