Solving a Photo Mystery...

In mid-July, the nurses of Base Hospital 50 received their orders to travel to New York in preparation for their departure for France. The nurses had been posted to Army camps across the U.S. for training before their deployment, gathering as a unit for the first time following their arrival in New York. While waiting for their overseas orders, the nurses had daily roll calls and training at a nearby Armory. 

They also gathered for a unit photo and a flag dedication service on August 15, 1918, before their departure. The photo's location, however, wasn't recorded in the annals of The History of Base Hospital Number Fifty. Looking at other nursing unit photos, it quickly became clear that this was an important and standard location for unit photos. As it turns out, this "mystery" wasn't much of a mystery, after all. 

Other units noted where the photo had occurred, St. Paul's Chapel, located in Lower Manhattan at 209 Broadway, New York. Adjacent to the chapel is St. Paul's graveyard, and sharp eyes will note the headstones visible in several of the unit photos, such as this group of American Red Cross nurses. The nurses were seated along a curved path, which can be seen more clearly in this view of the churchyard from the 1940s.

The identities of the two clergymen pictured in the photo with the Base Hospital 50 nurses were also of interest. An email query to the Trinity Church archives quickly yielded an identity for the rector pictured on the far left, "with the impressive facial hair", as William Montague Geer, an Episcopal vicar who was named vicar emeritus of St. Paul's in 1918. The Base Hospital 50 history provided the key to the other man, which included this detail:

“Dr. Crosby of the St. James Chapel, was a very good friend of all nurses. We had an opportunity to join French classes organized by him, and each Unit had a Dedicatory service in his Chapel.” (pg. 76.)

Thomas James Crosby served as the assistant rector of St. Paul's until 1918. In addition to serving as the chaplain to Army nurses, he was also the chaplain for the Guild of St. Barnabas for Nurses, a social and religious society founded in 1886, as an offshoot of the Anglican (Church of England) organization of the same name. Dr. Crosby can also be seen in this photo of nurses receiving French language instruction. 

Built in 1766, St. Paul's Chapel is the oldest surviving church in Manhattan. Miraculously spared from damage during the 9/11 attacks, the chapel served as a community gathering place, Red Cross center, and refuge. It continues to serve as a beacon for visitors to New York to this day, but its role during World War I as a haven for nurses en route to France is just one of the ways this historic site has witnessed history.

Photo Credit: Colin W  CC BY-SA 3.0

Emma Lydia Rutz, RN, ANC, 1876-1955

Emma Lydia Rutz, RN, ANC.

Emma Lydia Rutz led a remarkable life full of adventure. As a dedicated and valuable nurse, her profession afforded her the unique opportunity to never truly settle in one place. Although the passage of time had obscured many details of her life, today we are able to celebrate her legacy through the enduring traces of her presence left behind in official government records and newspapers.

While her childhood is not exactly known, federal and New York census records imply that Rutz and her family stayed in New York for most of her childhood and early adulthood. Rutz was born in Staten Island, New York on March 22, 1976 to Swiss immigrant parents Marie [Maria or Mary] Rutz (née Enz) and John [Johannes or Henry] Rutz.¹ She was the youngest of eight siblings and the only living daughter of the family. Death was always close to Rutz as by the time of her birth, three of her siblings, including her older sister Rosa, had already passed.² Then, in 1885 when Rutz was nine, her mother Marie passed away.³ No grave site or cause of death can be found at the time of writing.

For the remainder of her childhood, Rutz' father never remarried and remained a widow. He then passed away in August 26,1898 at the age of sixty-two due to heart failure.⁴ His passing most likely left young, unmarried Rutz in the care of one of her many brothers. By 1900, the New York census indicates that she was living with her oldest brother Charles [Karl] and his wife Sadie.⁵ During this time, Rutz was also listed as a clerk at a New York importing house.

From left to right: St. Mary's Hospital, N.J. Postcard; Haines, AK Postcard

It wasn’t until her late twenties that Rutz got into nursing. From newspaper clippings from the Passaic Daily News, Rutz is said to have attended the St. Mary’s Hospital Training School and graduated in January of 1909, where she then took post graduate work in the Women’s Hospital in New York City.⁶ This new profession afforded Rutz the ability to live apart from men and primarily on her own, a luxury she maintained for the rest of her life. In August of 1914, Rutz made the big leap to visit the West Coast, specifically Alaska, Haines, with her friend Mazie [Mary] Brown for the purpose of visiting Brown’s brother, the then mayor of Haines.⁷ Intriguingly, even after Brown had left Alaska, Rutz remained. In local Alaskan newspapers, Rutz can be tracked traveling and staying between Douglas Island and Haines.⁸ By 1917, Rutz is found in Washington; her footprints tucked away in that year's Seattle City Directory and scribed as a nurse that lived in Boylston.⁹

By this time, the cries of war could be heard across the globe. In 1918, as American involvement in WWI began to increase, the University of Washington’s Base Hospital unit was officially ordered by Major General Arthur Murray to mobilize.¹⁰ This involved the call for one hundred nurses in and around the Seattle region to enlist for duty to staff the hospital overseas.¹⁰ Rutz took the opportunity to enlist with Base Hospital 50 and by June 8th, 1918, Rutz was officially an enlisted registered nurse of the US Army.¹¹ Rutz, with the nurse unit, left for Mesves on August 24, 1918.¹²

Rutz and her fellow Base Hospital 50 nurses served their full length until the end of WW1. As a hospital that received both surgical and medical cases, they treated a total of 7,399 patients with 1,135 operations conducted.¹³ Additionally, while normal bed capacity was at 1,000, the constant influx of patients demanded that the hospital expand their capacity to nearly double its original limit which resulted in a total of 1,950 beds.¹³ Still, Rutz managed to find the time to enjoy herself and travel around Paris after the war officially ended on November 11, 1918. She took many candid photographs of wartorn France; within her collection includes photos of burials, men in uniform, crumbling infrastructure, and much more. Additionally, she documented her travels by collecting real photo postcards from the French cities she visited. These photos and postcards can be found in the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections.

The Lewiston Morning Tribune, Feb. 7, 1937, pg 1.
Medical staff and nurses at the Old Fort Lapwai Tuberculosis Sanatorium.
Left to right: Dr. Alley, Lillian J. Welch, Genevieve Townsend, Ruth
McKay, Emma Rutz, Lorraine S. Ellis, Susan Shoemaker, Dr. C. H. Koentz

All Base Hospital 50 nurses safely returned to the United States by 1919, officially ending Rutz’ overseas military service by May 17, 1919 according to her VA records.¹¹ Still, Rutz continued to stay in the West Coast by continuing her work as a government nurse. For the next three decades of her career, Rutz worked and traveled between Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. Some of the hospitals she worked in included: Virginia Mason Hospital, various other King County Hospitals, and the Sellwood General Hospital in Portland, Oregon.¹⁴ She often took the role of supervisory roles in the hospitals she would work in. By 1937, Rutz had entered into the United States Indian Service and worked as chief nurse in various rural hospitals in numerous southern and Northwestern states for the remainder of her medical career.¹⁵ She retired in 1946 and despite having already lived in so many states, she still returned to the West Coast.¹⁴ Rutz settled in Vashon Island, Washington, to spend the remainder of her days living as neighbors to her longtime friend Mrs.Ress, who graduated a few years after Rutz from the same nursing school.¹⁵ Tragically, Rutz passed away on July 30, 1955, at the age of seventy-nine due to a stroke.¹ She was laid to rest in 1956 at Willamette National Cemetery. ¹¹

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Sources:

1. Washington State Department of Health, Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960. Entry for Emma L. Rutz, July 30, 1955, FHL microfilm 2,033,537. Olympia, Seatle: Bureau of Vital Statistics. Reference 14771, FamilySearch, accessed March 10, 2018, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3BT-QYS.↩
2. "About Johannes or John Rutz." Familysearch, accessed May 7, 2024, https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/about/KZR2-Q6P.↩
3. "New York, State Death Index, 1880-1956." entry for Marie Rutz, 4 Jan. 1885. Familysearch, accessed March 9, 2024, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG5W-9TW1. ↩
4. New York City Department of Health, "Death Certificate No. 841, John Rutz." New York: New York City Deaths, 1892-1902, Borough of Richmond, Deaths Reported in 1898, New York City Municipal Archives.↩
5. United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C., T623, roll number 1153, Page 21. Familysearch, accessed May 7, 2024.↩
6. "Diplomas for Nurses: St. Mary's Hospital Training School Graduates Three," Passaic Daily News, Jan. 7, 1909, pg 1.↩
7. "Haines News," Skagway Daily Alaskan, Aug. 4, 1914, pg 3.↩
8. "The Local Field," Douglas Island News, Oct. 7, 1914, pg 6.↩
9. Seattle City Directory (1917), Seattle: R.L. Polk and Company, Inc., pg 1387.↩
10. "Base Hospital Unit to Mobilize at Palo Alto," Seattle Daily Times, Mar. 28, 1918, pg 14.↩
11. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962. Form for Emma Lydia Rutz, A1 2110-B. NAID: 5833879, The National Archives at St. Louis, MO. Ancestry.com, accessed May 7, 2024, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/2590.↩
12. Base Hospital 50. University of Washington Special Collections, StoryMapsJS, accessed may 7, 2024, https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/70f3f8e120d96de35cd8f454a5081b85/base-hospital-50/index.html. ↩
13. United States Surgeon-General's office, The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War (Volume 2). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1921-1929. Pg 675.↩
14. "Miss Emma L. Rutz," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Aug. 11, 1955, pg 27.↩
15. "Miss Emma Rutz, RN, Here From Seattle" The Morning Call (Patrson, New Jersey), May 23, 1950, pg 13.↩

Karen Marie Lauridsen, RN, ANC, 1883-1950

Special thanks to Chery Kinnick, author of the blog, Nordic Blue,
who contributed this entry.

On May 18, 1919, Karen Marie Lauridsen, her finely featured face a ghostly white, arrived at Union Station in Portland, Oregon. Stepping off the train, she was grateful to be nearing the end of a long and tedious homeward journey. For nearly a year she had served and survived in the Army Nurse Corps overseas. Every line of her slender frame suggested profound weariness. A modest and private person, Karen was reluctant to discuss her travels or experiences with a Portland news reporter who approached her on the platform. The battle-worn army nurse shot a terse reply when asked what she would do now that the Great War was over. Mixed impressions from the past year flooded her mind. “I’ll never go back to school teaching,” Karen said emphatically before turning away.¹ For the time being, she was anxious to reunite with her father and the rest of the family in Astoria along the Pacific coast, as well as surrender to some restorative sleep. After that, she would find a way to continue nursing and make a difference by healing others to the best of her abilities. It mattered more than ever after the suffering she had witnessed while in the service of her country. 

Karen was born in Hygum, Central Jutland, Denmark on April 22, 1883, to Jens Lauridsen and Mette “Katrine” (Nielsen).² At some point, Jens left for America, became a citizen and began farming in Chinook, Pacific County, Oregon. After the 1885 death of his wife in Denmark, he returned to Europe in order to bring his daughter, Karen, 14 years, and three more of his five children, to the United States: Sophie, 19 years; Laurids, 17 years; and Magdalene, 9 years. An older sibling, Marie, had left Denmark for America in 1884.³ The family traveled aboard the S.S. Waesland, a Red Star Line vessel, departing from Liverpool, England on October 13, 1897. They arrived at the port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania eleven days later, on October 24.⁴

As a young woman and naturalized American citizen, Karen studied at Pacific Lutheran Academy in Tacoma, Washington. Graduating in June 1906, she taught in Oregon’s Clatsop County schools for a couple of years. In about 1908, she returned to Tacoma to enroll in a nursing program at Fannie C. Paddock Memorial Hospital, where she received training in surgery, contagion, children’s care, gynecology, and obstetrics. Her application for a nursing certificate was received in December 1911, and she became registered on June 10, 1912. After working as a nurse in the Tacoma area for a few years, she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in June 1918.^{1, 5, 6}

Following enlistment, she was sent briefly to Camp Grant in Illinois, newly established in 1917. As part of Base Hospital 50 military unit, she was then transported overseas. On August 25, 1918, Karen boarded the S.S. France at the port of New York. Her destination was the Mesves-Bulcy Hospital complex in central France.^{7, 1} 

At Bulcy, Karen worked day and night with precious few breaks in order to care for soldiers, both ill and wounded. She gained a reputation for effectiveness and reliability, and in April 1919, she was one of ten army nurses awarded the Medaille d’honneur des Epidemies by the French government. The award was established to honor those having distinguished themselves during an outbreak of an epidemic disease, such as the Spanish Flu that subsumed world populations during World War I. The presentation of her silver medal took place at the Red Cross military hospital No. 112, Auteuil. Many officials gathered to watch the decoration of the nurses, plus 23 officers of the American medical corps and seven enlisted men.⁸ Karen was a close friend of another nurse who received the award: Ada Merrifield from Kent, Washington, known for finding romance and marriage with a medical professional who also served at Bulcy.⁹

When Karen’s tour of duty was over, she received transport back to the United States aboard the U.S.S. Mobile, which departed Brest, France on April 13, 1919. Ten days later, the ship reached port at Hoboken, New Jersey, where she began making her way to the west coast.⁷ Before she arrived home, Karen’s family was surprised to learn through newspaper dispatches about the medal bestowed upon her in France. Somehow, she had neglected to mention it in her letters.¹ 

After reuniting with family in Astoria, Oregon she returned to Tacoma, Washington to resume the nursing work she had been engaged in before enlisting. By the time her father, Jens Lauridsen, passed away in 1926, she had relocated across the state border to Walla Walla, Washington.^{10, 11}

Karen Lauridsen’s nursing career continued until the late 1930s when she moved back to Oregon and retired in Roseburg, a timber town in the Umpqua River Valley.¹² Socially responsible even into her retirement, she maintained a membership with the local branch of Business and Professional Women’s Club (B.P.W.C.). As part of a National Federation supported by the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation, the club sought to promote workforce development programs and workplace policies to acknowledge the needs of working women, also their communities and businesses. 

At one evening conference, Karen was part of a round-table discussion entitled “Women of Other Lands,” where she and others discussed their experiences as international women. Karen represented Denmark, while several other women represented Holland, China, and Sweden.¹³ While she had been loath to discuss her wartime experiences for the sake of publicity, she readily shared information when it might be helpful to other women trying to establish careers. 

Karen Lauridsen never married, but throughout her life continued to focus on a commitment to the medical field and to helping others. She died at age 67 on August 27, 1950, and was buried at the Los Angeles National Cemetery. Her grave marker is adorned with the words: “Nurse Army Nurse Corps, World War I.” The Danish-born woman who always desired to put other first would, no doubt, find the simple tribute to be more than enough.¹⁴

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References:

1. “Nurse, Decorated, Home.” Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), May 19, 1919, p.3.
2. U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969 [database-online], Ancestry.com (accessed October 30, 2020). Karen Marie Lauridsen; confirmation, June 16, 1901.
3. 1900 United States Federal Census [database-online], Ancestry.com (accessed October 30, 2020). Marie B. Jensen; Astoria, Clatsop, Oregon.
4. Pennsylvania, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1800-1962 [database online], Ancestry.com (accessed October 31, 2020). Jens Lauridsen, 1897.
5.  U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database online], Ancestry.com (accessed October 30, 2020). Karen Lauridsen; Tacoma, Washington, 1903, 1905, 1908, 1910.
6. Professional License Records [online], Washington State Digital Archives (accessed October 30, 2020). Karen Marie Lauridsen, Application for Certificate as Registered Nurse, 1912, https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/.
7. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939 [database online], Ancestry.com (accessed October 30, 2020). Karen M. Lauridsen, Base Hospital No.50.
8.  “American Nurses Honored.” The Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington), April 11, 1919, p.2.
9.  “Nurse Wins Fiancé and Cross of War.” Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), April 17, 1919.
10. Washington, Wills and Probate Records, 1851-1970 [database online], Ancestry.com (accessed October 31, 2020). Jens Lauridsen, Pacific County probate records, 1927.
11.  “...Karen Lauridsen, reinstated at Walla Walla, WA.” The Pacific Coast Journal of Nursing, 1931, p.562.
12.  “...Karen Lauridsen retired from nursing in Roseburg, Oregon.” Nursing World (1940), v.105, p.478.
13. “B.P.W.C. Has Enjoyable Meeting on Monday Evening.” The News-Review (Roseburg, Oregon), September 30, 1939, p.3.
14. Find-a-Grave.com. Karen Marie Lauridsen, Los Angeles National Cemetery, Plot 214, 6 Row D, Memorial ID 3726657. 

Magdalene Judith Førland, RN, ANC, 1887-1991

Special thanks to Chery Kinnick, herself of Norwegian descent,
and author of the blog, Nordic Blue, who contributed this entry.

Førland in uniform from
History of Base Hospital 50.

“I felt like a shell,” said Magdalene Førland Underle, when asked how she was affected by her involvement as a World War I Army Nurse. She tried to maintain a protective outer coating to safeguard from thinking too much about the awfulness of the injuries surrounding her. Many soldiers suffered from missing limbs, were shell-shocked, or had multiple types of injuries or disease. She was a constant witness to death. The first step toward operating as a caring and effective nurse was to look beyond the horror, focusing instead on each patient’s need for kindness. Magdalene was frequently ill as a child, and her early experiences instilled a deep sense of empathy and an urge to help others.¹

The youngest of eight siblings, Magdalene Judith Førland was born on December 4, 1887, at the farming village of Redal in Vevring, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.^1,2 The municipality of Vevring was dissolved in 1964; Redal is currently within the Sunnfjord municipality. At the age of twenty-two, Magdalene immigrated to the United States via Quebec aboard the S.S. Empress of Ireland, departing from Liverpool, England on September 10, 1909.³ Her father, Anders Førland, a sailor and part-time preacher in Norway, previously left for the United States. He settled in the Seattle area and worked as a builder and a logger for a time, but returned to Norway and died there in 1899.¹

She did not consider leaving Norway until she was dared to go and received a ticket from her brother, Ludvig Førland, who was farming in Mount Vernon, Skagit County, Washington. Magdelene was content with her life in Norway. With sadness, she prepared to leave, probably swayed by the impression that relatives newly established in Washington State needed her help. She spoke no English, but began working as a housekeeper and learned some language skills from her employer’s children. She later attended a class for English learners at Pacific Lutheran Academy, founded in 1890 by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants. After the additional language instruction, she began a three-year nurses training program at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, which had 70 beds at that time. Magdalene graduated second in her class in 1914.^1, 4

Magdalene’s photo attached to
her nursing application, ca. 1914.

Several years after completing nurses training and getting some practical experience, she noticed a call for Base Hospital 50 Army Nurses in the local papers. She enlisted on July 10, 1918, in Mount Vernon, and was required to report to Camp Lewis, near Tacoma, the next day. She did not have much time to get to know her fellow enlistees before the base hospital was mobilized and sent to France later that month.⁵

In a letter dated October 29, 1918, Magdalene wrote to the widow of a soldier from Kansas who died of pneumonia while under her care. Mrs. Frederick H. Behrhorst, greatly affected, shared the letter with the local press:

...[Pvt. Behrhorst] showed me your bridal picture and somehow it went to my heart when I realized he would never return to you again... He was always smiling and never forgot to thank [the nurses] when we had done something for him no matter how sick he was...

You may think we nurses get hardened to things and perhaps we do in some ways, but I never see one of those strong boys pass away without a heartache. In lots of ways it is not so hard for us over here as it is for you folks at home. You have to worry and wonder while we are here knowing just how things are going on. It is for those who are left behind I feel sorry.

[The soldiers] are away from much pain and suffering that they would have to go thru when going back to the front, but you are left home alone. May the great Comforter be very close to you and may you find rest and comfort there. He is the only friend that never will forsake you. Your husband died a noble death, it was for his country and liberty.

I am,
Sincerely,
Magdalene Forland
U.S. Base Hosp. No. 50
A.P.O. No. 798, A.E.F. France ⁶

At the time of her discharge, on August 15, 1919, Magdalene was at Camp Hospital 33, which served the entire port of Brest, France.² Camp Hospital 33 started out in an old concrete building formerly used as barracks. There was no lighting except for candles. Hospital supplies were difficult to obtain, and most of the medical equipment used came from medical and surgical chests. Sanitation was a serious problem due to the lack of a sewage system; the camp utilized can-style latrines. As the largest camp in American Expeditionary Forces, Camp Hospital 33 treated more patients than the majority of base hospitals in France, but it was never rated as one.⁷

When her obligations as an Army nurse came to an end, she sought passage from Brest, France to Norway for a lengthy visit with family. While in Vevring, she met her future husband, Lyder H. Underle. Lyder immigrated to America some years before and became a naturalized citizen. Although both grew up in the same Norwegian community, they did not form a connection until meeting as adults.

In October 1920, while still a foreign national, Magdelene returned to the United States through the Ellis Island immigrant inspection station aboard the S.S. Stavangerfjord, having departed from Kristiania (Oslo), Norway.⁸ She married Lyder Underle near her brother’s home in Mount Vernon, Washington on April 9, 1921.⁹ Magdalene’s naturalization petition, filed on February 26, 1921, describes her as a fair-complexioned woman with auburn hair and blue eyes, at 5 ft. 4 ins. in height.¹⁰

Magdalene liked the Puget Sound area because it was green and had plenty of water, like her home in Norway. She was decidedly less fond of South Dakota after setting up housekeeping on her husband’s farm east of Draper. It was a dry country with few trees, and hot in summer. They were forced to sell the property within a few years due to severe drought. As with many ranchers and farmers in the area, enough well water could not be accessed to feed livestock and grow crops. By 1930, the Underles had relocated to a farm near Larchmont, Pierce County, Washington, in Magdalene’s preferred Puget Sound location.^1, 11

She continued to find employment in nursing. The pay was meager, but she was not in it for the money. To her, nursing was a life calling. She worked regularly at Tacoma General Hospital and Tacoma Indian Hospital, where Native American patients were sent from Alaska and all over the United States, many of them suffering from tuberculosis.¹

Magdalene Førland Underle (center, wearing a traditional bunad),
attends a Norwegian festival at Pacific Lutheran University on
May 2, 1981. With her are Dr. Janet Rasmussen of PLU,
and Doris Dahlen, a social work student.  Used with permission.
Pacific Lutheran University Archives and Special Collections;
New Land, New Lives: Oral History Collection; Magdalene Forland. 

Magdalene’s husband of 21 years, Lyder Underle, died from a cerebral hemorrhage on January 15, 1943.¹² The couple had no children. After her older brother, Ludvig, was also widowed, she moved to his Mount Vernon farm to help with housekeeping. In 1965, brother and sister moved together to a senior living facility in Des Moines, Washington, where they remained for the rest of their lives.¹

In June 1981, at the age of ninety-three, Magdelene was recorded in an interview destined to become part of the “New Land, New Lives” oral history collection on Scandinavian immigrants at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU). After over seventy years in America, Magdalene still spoke with a pronounced accent, even though after losing her brother she was not able to speak Norwegian very often. A couple of months before the interview, she attended a Norwegian festival at PLU dressed in a Sunnfjord-style bunad, a traditional costume made entirely by hand by her nieces in Norway.¹

Magdalene passed away on February 5, 1991, at the accomplished age of 103.¹³ She loved her adopted country, but also Norway, traveling there about five times over the decades and regularly corresponding with family. She lies at rest next to her husband, Lyder Underle, at Mountain View Memorial Park in Lakewood, Pierce County.^{1, 14}

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References:

1. Magdalene Førland Underle, Oral History Interview, 1981. Pacific Lutheran University, Archives and Special Collections.
2. Magdalene Judith Forland. Naturalization records of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, 1890-1957; indexes to naturalization records of the U.S. District Court Western District of Washington Northern Division (Seattle), 1890-1952 v. 31, no. 7044-7293, 1920-1921. Petition for Naturalization, File 7285, February 26, 1921. 
3. List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States, S.S. Empress of Ireland sailing from Liverpool to Quebec, 10 September 1909. Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 (accessed July 13, 2020).
4.  “Magdalene J. Forland,” Application for Certificate as Registered Nurse, May 22, 1914. Professional License Records. Department of Licensing, Business and Professions Divisions, Registered Nurses Licensing Files, 1909-2005. Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov (accessed July 12, 2020).
5. “Magdalene J. Forland,” July 10, 1918. Washington, World War I Veteran’s Compensation Fund Application Records, 1921-1925.” Database, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPR8-B9D2 (accessed July 10, 2020), citing Mount Vernon, Skagit, Washington, USA.
6. “Frederick H. Behrhorst,” The Walnut Eagle (Walnut, Kansas), December 6, 1918, p.3.
7. “Camp Hospitals,” U.S. Army Medical Department. Office of Medical History. Administration American Expeditionary Forces, Vol. II, Chapt. XXV, https://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/adminamerexp/chapter25.html (accessed July 9, 2020).
8. “Magdalena Forland,” Immigration, October 19, 1920. New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924. Database, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J68B-C4Q (accessed July 13, 2020).
9. “Lyder H. Underle and Magdalene J. Forland,” State of Washington, Certificate of Marriage No.5861, April 9, 1921. Skagit County Auditor, Marriage Records, 1884-2000. Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/A9FEA68FB1CCC723240C1A97404 C4188 (accessed July 10, 2020).
10. “Magdelena Judith Forland,” Petition for Naturalization, Cert. No. 1502863, February26, 1921. Washington, Western District, Naturalization Records, 1853-1957. Database, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGPL-CD83 (accessed July 13, 2020).
11. “Lyle H. Underle,” United States Census, 1930: Larchmont, Pierce, Washington. Database, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XC35-BV7 (accessed July 13, 2020).
12. “Lyder Underle,” Washington State Death Certificate, State File No.49 (Tacoma, Pierce County). Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960, Database, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3T4-871 (accessed July 13, 2020).
13. Underle, Magdalene, “Deaths,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 14, 1991, p.B4.
14. “Magdalene Underle,” Database, Find-a-Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/105233600/magdalene-underle (accessed July 11, 2020).

"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.

Clara Mabel Cramer, RN, ANC, 1883-1953

"I will soon arise shed my bath robe sheep skin shoes blanket etc. and in their place put my leather sweater (a dandy) wool sweater rain coat boots and hat and after stopping at the nurses mess for a short while will go on to work and the queer part of it is that I am enjoying such a life immensely."¹

Ashland Tidings, Jan. 14, 1918, pg 5.

Clara Mabel Cramer was one of 25,000 graduate nurses who enlisted with the American Red Cross to serve during World War I. Clara was working as a nurse in Bellingham, Washington, when the call went out in newspapers across the Pacific Northwest for 100 nurses to staff Base Hospital 50. 

A native of Galva, Kansas, Clara was the third of four daughters born to Loren Lamont Cramer and his wife, Leora Tinsley. Loren and Leora were married on December 23, 1887, in McPherson County, Kansas.² Their first daughter Lillian Esther arrived in 1879; Maude in 1880; Clara on March 28, 1883; followed by Myrtle in 1885.

Local newspapers such as The Galva Times, The McPherson Daily Republican, and The Canton Pilot, were full of mentions of the four Cramer girls, their perfect school attendance—"those with the grit and life about them to be on time"—exemplary deportment and visits with friends and relatives.³ In 1895, Clara was tasked with arguing against the question “that traveling is more beneficial to the young than school” and yet her life would take her on many adventures.⁴

In 1901, Clara graduated from Galva High School. She likely taught school for several years before enrolling at the Illinois Training School for Nurses in Chicago in 1904 with the intention of "completing the three-year course if the work proves congenial".⁵ In 1907, Clara graduated with first honors and began her nursing career at the Cook County Hospital.⁶

After their marriages two of Clara's sisters, Lillian and Myrtle, moved to Bellingham and in 1909 Clara joined them there.7 Clara was enumerated in the 1910 federal census living with her sister Lillian Cramer Morrison.⁸ Later that year, on November 28, 1910, she applied for a Washington State Nursing license.⁹ Clara's brother-in-law, John Reid Morrison was a physician and Clara may have assisted in his practice. Clara continued to hone her nursing skills and by the time she renewed her nursing license in 1916, she had completed a short course in bacteriology and lab analysis in Seattle. 

 American Red Cross Nursing recruits who received their
 equipment kits at the Holly Hotel, Washington Square,
New York City. NARA 20806898.

When the United States entered the Great War on April 6, 1917, the armed forces had an inadequate medical corps and immediately began recruiting civilian doctors to help fill out their ranks and create a network of base hospitals and other triage centers. The Army also turned to the American Red Cross, still a fledgling organization at the time, to help supply graduate nurses, those who had completed training at an accredited nursing school, like Clara Cramer. By March of 1918, Clara had enlisted with the Red Cross and been assigned to Base Hospital 50, the Seattle unit organized under the auspices of the University of Washington.¹⁰ 

Clara made a visit home to Galva to visit her parents, sister Maude and other family and friends before reporting to duty at Fort Riley, Kansas, on May 15, 1918.¹¹ After receiving basic training, Clara joined up with other nurses assigned to Base Hospital 50 in New York City to receive their uniforms, get additional training and wait for orders. The unit's history describes how they spent the time waiting for their deployment orders, including a trip to the Stock Market, before finally departing aboard the France, along with over 4,500 soldiers and nurses, from Pier 86 on the Hudson River on August 25, 1918.^{12, 13}

Two of Clara's letters home were published in local papers describing her experiences and the journey to France.^1,14 Once they arrived in Mesves in late August, the nurses worked steadily through the end of 1918, when units began to be consolidated including Base Hospital 50 which was deactivated on January 20, 1919. Clara was one of 50 of the unit's nurses transferred to Evacuation Hospital 31, located at Nantes, near the French coast. Eventually, the nurses received their orders to return to the United States, sailing on the Imperator on July 7, 1919.¹⁵ Upon their return, the nurses were demobilized at the Hotel Albert in New York City's Washington Square. 

Clara was discharged on August 7, 1919, and made her way home to Galva for a welcome visit with her family. Eventually, she returned to Washington where she worked as a nurse in Seattle, Bellingham, and Everett. Whether it was a private nurse or for a much-needed break after the war, Clara spent nine months in Hawaii from December 1921 through September 1922. In 1936 she received a Bachelor of Nursing Degree from the University of Washington and a certificate in Public Health Nursing. Clara later returned to the city where her nursing education began, Chicago, where she worked for several years before returning to Bellingham. Clara's adventurous life as an independent woman ended at the age of 70, just months after the death of her sister Lillian, and she was buried in her hometown of Galva, Kansas.¹⁶

Detail from signature quilt donated to
Galva Historial Museum. McPherson Sentinal.

Clara's eventful life as a self-sufficient woman, traveling, furthering her education and serving her country is remarkable in its own right.¹⁷ And yet, her story does not end here. In 2017, more than 60 years after her death, several of Clara's family quilts were discovered in a thrift store in Oregon. A shopper recognized their historical value and, noting the mention of several Kansas towns, contacted a museum in McPherson County, who in turn forwarded her email to a curator at the Galva Historical Museum.

Three amazing quilts, which belonged to the Cramer family, were returned to the community that nurtured Clara in her youth. One of the quilts is inscribed to Clara, by her paternal grandmother Sabrina Wilsey Cramer, with a date of 1904 the year she first left Galva to attended nursing school in Chicago.¹⁸ This tangible postscript to one woman's incredible, yet invisible, experiences reminds us that every life has a story and the threads are just waiting to be pieced together. 

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References

1. "Red Cross Nurse's Letter." The McPherson Weekly Republican, Friday, December 13, 1918, p10.
2. Ancestry.com. Kansas, County Marriage Records, 1811-1911 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
3. "School Report" The Galva Times, Friday, January 30, 1891, p2. 
4. "Galva Public Schools" The McPherson Republican, Friday, January 25, 1895, p1.
5. "Galva" The McPherson Daily Republican, Friday, January 29, 1904, p4.
6. "Kansas Girls Win Honors" The Canton Pilot, Friday, November 08, 1907, p5.
7. "Galva" The McPherson Weekly Republican, Friday, September 17, 1909, p5. 
8. "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGVK-JNN : accessed 10 February 2019), Clara Cramer in household of John R Morrison, Bellingham Ward 4, Whatcom, Washington, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 332, sheet 4A, family 72, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1673; FHL microfilm 1,375,686.
9. Clara M. Cramer, Department of Licensing, Business and Professions Division, Registered Nurses Licensing Files, 1909-1917, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov, 9 February 2019.
10. "Base Hospital Unit to Mobilize at Palo Alto" Seattle Daily Times, Thursday, March 28, 1918, p14.
11. "Galva" The McPherson Daily Republican, Saturday, May 11, 1918, p3.
12. "War Nurses at Stock Exchange" New-York Tribune, August 20, 1918, p8.
13. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939; Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives Record Group 92, roll 441; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 11 February 2019). Clara Cramer, La France, sailed 25 August 1918, New York to Brest, France.
14. "From France" The Canton Pilot, Thursday, January 2, 1919, p2.
15. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939; Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives Record Group 92, roll 125; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com (Accessed 11 February 2019). Clara M. Cramer, S. S. Imperator, sailed 7 July 1919, Brest, France to Hoboken, New Jersey.
16. Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 January 2019), memorial page for Clara Mabel “Bay” Cramer (28 Mar 1883–13 Sep 1953), Find A Grave Memorial no. 48196678, citing Empire Cemetery, Galva, McPherson County, Kansas, USA.
17. Washington, World War I Veteran's Compensation Fund Application Records, 1921-1925," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPR8-MFGX : 5 December 2018), Clara M Cramer, 8 May 1918; citing Galva, McPherson, Kansas, United States, Military Service, Washington State Archives, Olympia; FHL microfilm 004992972.
18. A common thread: Oregon woman sends antique quilt home to Galva. McPherson Sentinal. [online] May 18, 2018. (Accessed 11 February 2019.)

Something About France: Ada Merrifield and Copeland Plummer

Postcard detail, ca. 1918.
War Nurses. Series 571.

The wards of Base Hospital 50 provided the backdrop for another wartime romance, that of nurse Ada Merrifield and physician Copeland Plummer. Curiously Ada's prospective husband got prime billing in the news over her exemplary war service. Ada was one of just two Base Hospital 50 nurses to be awarded a Croix de Guerre, for her bravery and endurance during the influenza epidemic, yet "Nurse Wins Fiancé and Cross of War" was how one headline conveyed the news.¹

Ada Mary (or Merry) Merrifield was the oldest of three daughters born to Edward Lee Merrifield and his wife, the former Myrtle Young. Ada's parents were both originally from West Virginia, and following their marriage in 1889, made their way west to Washington where Ada was born in the town of Christopher on April 21, 1890.² She was followed by sisters Florine in 1896 and Lee in 1905. Edward Merrifield was a pioneer merchant in South King County and the family later moved to the city of Kent. Ada graduated from Seattle's Washington High School (later Broadway High School) and then went on to enter nursing school at Minor Private Hospital.³ After a course of three years, Ada graduated on January 31, 1912, and received her nursing license several months later.

Ada married Seattle dentist Clyde Merrill Mattice in Tacoma on March 4, 1915.⁴ The young couple rented an apartment at the Olympian (1605 E. Madison).⁵ The marriage wasn't a success and Ada filed for a divorce on the grounds of non-support and desertion, which was granted on July 31, 1917.⁶ Perhaps in anticipation of her divorce, Ada renewed her nursing license in March of 1917. Clyde doesn't seem to have been a model husband as he was sued for divorce a second time, this time for cruelty, just two years later. By March of 1918, Ada had already enlisted with the Red Cross and been assigned to serve with Base Hospital 50.⁷

It's unknown whether Ada ever encountered her future husband in Seattle prior to serving in France, but it was there, according to a letter Copeland wrote to his mother, that a week after he saw Ada "working in the pneumonia ward he knew he was in love" and "had met his Waterloo" according to newspaper accounts.⁸

Reginald Copeland Plummer was an otolaryngologist who, like many of Seattle's prominent physicians, readily enlisted to serve with Base Hospital 50. Commissioned as a captain he was promoted to major at war's end. He served as the unit's Chief of Head Surgery and as the detachment commander.

He was born on November 22, 1881, in Lansing, Michigan, to Civil War veteran William Henry Plummer and his Irish-born wife Sarah Anne Cochrane. He had one sister, Mabel, who was eleven years older and died when Copeland was 11. In his younger years, he went by Reg and Rex, but in Seattle he generally was known as Copeland.

He graduated from Lansing High School and then studied at the University of Michigan where he received his medical degree in 1908.⁹ After finishing his internship, he became the assistant to Dr. Roy Bishop Canfield and an instructor in the Department of Otolaryngology. Dr. Canfield declared Copeland was the “most capable man I have ever trained.” In 1912, he spent several months in Vienna before settling in Seattle, together with his parents, to continue his practice.¹⁰

By February 1919, as their time in France was winding down, Ada and Copeland had made the decision to marry. After Base Hospital 50 was officially disbanded, Ada made her way back to Seattle to prepare for their wedding, leaving ahead of most of Base Hospital 50's nurses and before she could be awarded her Croix de Guerre. She arrived in New York on the U.S.S. Leviathan on March 6, 1919. The couple was married on May 10, after Copeland returned home with the staff of Base Hospital 50 on the Graf Waldersee in late April.¹¹ Ada wore a black satin dress with blue and gold embroidery and a black hat trimmed with birds of paradise.¹²

In 1921, Ada and Copeland welcomed their only child, daughter Nancy Lee. After the war, Copeland resumed his practice and was elected president of King County Medical Society in 1922. A skilled surgeon, Copeland specialized in the removal of foreign objects from the esophagus. Ada dedicated her time to charitable works and raising daughter Nancy who enjoyed competitive horseback riding. Copeland died prematurely, at the age of 55, on December 26, 1936, at Seattle's Swedish Hospital. He had been forced to retire a decade earlier from tuberculosis which had settled into his genitourinary tract. He was cremated and interred at Lakeview Cemetery.¹³

Ada died suddenly in 1948 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 57.¹⁴ She was looking forward to a visit later that week from her daughter and her family and had already invited friends to a dinner in their honor. From the wards of Base Hospital 50 to the shores of Lake Washington, Ada Merrifield and Copeland Plummer's romance was just one of the hidden stories of World War I.

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References:

1. Nurse Wins Fiance and Cross of War. Morning Oregonian, 17 Apr 1919, pg 1.
2. Washington Births, 1891-1919. Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington. Ada M. Merrifield, 21 April 1890, 12312.
3. Ada M. Merrifield, Department of Licensing, Business and Professions Division, Registered Nurses Licensing Files, 1909-1917, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov, 24 February 2018.
4. Marriage of Ada M. Merrifield and Clyde M. Mattice. Pierce County Auditor, Marriage Records, 1876-1947; 1984-2014, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov, 24 February 2018.
5. Society. Seattle Daily Times, 13 February 1915, pg 3.
6. In Divorce Courts. Seattle Daily Times, 1 Aug 1917, pg 9.
7. Base Hospital Unit to Mobilize at Palo Alto. Seattle Daily Times, 28 March 1918, pg 14.
8. Wins War Cross. Seattle Daily Times, 16 Apr 1919, pg 2.
9. Reginald Copeland Plummer, Department of Licensing, Business and Professions Division, Physician Applications and Registers, 1872-1946, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov, 24 February 2018.
10. Obituaries. Northwest Medicine. 1937 February. 36(2):65. 
11. Marriage of Ada M. Merrifield and Copeland Plummer. King County Marriage Records, 1855-Present, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov, 24 February 2018.
12. Merrifield-Plummer Wedding. Seattle Sunday Times, 18 May 1919, pg 3.
13. Copeland C. Plummer. Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2014, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, 24 February 2018.
14. Ada Merrifield Plummer. Department of Health, Death Index, 1907-1960; 1965-2014, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, 24 February 2018.