Katharine Preston Sherman

Wedding was performed by Rev. Charles Edward Spalding (Rector of Christ Church, Coronado, Ca.) who was her Aunt's (Emma Louise Schwartz-sister of her father: Preston Schwartz) husband. She died with her infant of influenza , and they were buried together in the Sierra Madre, Ca. Pioneer Cemetery.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jan 18 2019, 13:09:34 UTC
• Reference: https://sackett-tree.org/getperson.php?personID=I58084&tree=1 Sackett Tree
• Residence: 1910 - Philadelphia Ward 22, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Race: White
• Ethnicity: American
• Reference: 1910 United States Federal Census - SmartCopy: Jan 23 2019, 19:27:35 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 25 2022, 16:25:24 UTC schwartz
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 25 2022, 16:44:03 UTC Charlton Schwartz
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 18 2019, 13:11:09 UTC Snell
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 10 2020, 20:24:46 UTC Patterson

History of 1918 Flu Pandemic

The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919. In the United States, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918.

It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States. Mortality was high in people younger than 5 years old, 20-40 years old, and 65 years and older. The high mortality in healthy people, including those in the 20-40 year age group, was a unique feature of this pandemic.

While the 1918 H1N1 virus has been synthesized and evaluated, the properties that made it so devastating are not well understood. With no vaccine to protect against influenza infection and no antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections that can be associated with influenza infections, control efforts worldwide were limited to non-pharmaceutical interventions such as isolation, quarantine, good personal hygiene, use of disinfectants, and limitations of public gatherings, which were applied unevenly.

The Influenza Encyclopedia: The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-19

It was mid-September 1918 when cases of influenza began appearing in the Los Angeles area. At first, the disease attacked seamen aboard a naval vessel that had arrived in the harbor. On September 28, officials at the Naval Reserve Station at Los Angeles Harbor was placed their installation under quarantine, although they were quick to state that the move was merely precautionary, as no cases yet existed. Several days later, Army officials placed the Arcadia Balloon School under protective quarantine, prohibiting the men there from visiting nearby Pasadena and other communities without special permission. There too, officials stated that there were no cases amongst soldiers.1

The first civilian cases in Los Angeles appeared on September 22, although influenza was not made a reportable disease in California until September 27.2 Amongst these first cases were 55 students at Polytechnic High School, at the time located on the corner of Washington Boulevard and Flower Street in downtown. Publicly, City Health Commissioner Dr. Luther Milton Powers only described the Polytechnic cases as “alleged influenza.”3 Privately, he took stock of resources and advised Mayor Frederic Thomas Woodman that the city should prepare an active campaign to limit or control the influenza epidemic that was just starting to develop. Mayor Woodman responded by appointing 11 of the most respected Los Angeles physicians, plus Dr. E. A. Ingham, the California Health Department’s Los Angeles representative, to form a Medical Advisory Board to support Health Commissioner Powers.4 When the new advisors met on October 10, businessmen and various state, county, and local health officers, including those from Pasadena, Long Beach and other adjacent cities, joined them. Paving the way for immediate municipal action, the group recommended closing schools, theaters, churches, dance halls, and other public meeting places, as well as daily disinfection for all public transportation vehicles.5

The next day, on October 11, Mayor Woodman declared a state of public emergency.6 The City Council confirmed the health department’s legal right to issue a closing order and passed an ordinance giving Powers authority to act in the emergency. The health commissioner then ordered schools closed and banned all public gatherings – including public funerals, movie houses, theaters, pool rooms, and other public entertainments – effective 6 p.m. the same day. The list of closed venues was more or less exactly what other local and state health officers across the United States also closed. Because of its burgeoning film industry, however, Los Angeles also had two novel bans: the filming of mob scenes was prohibited, as were any crowds that gathered to watch street scenes being filmed.7 One of the first victims of the gathering ban was the upcoming Liberty Day Parade. Liberty bond sales may have suffered a bit as a result, but Angelinos, fortunately, may have dodged a bullet.8 In other cities, tens of thousands gathered for the celebrations kicking off the Fourth Liberty Loan drive, creating conditions perfect for the spreading of influenza. In Los Angeles, however, residents had at least one less opportunity for getting sick.

Los Angeles prepared to do battle with influenza. As Angelinos adjusted to the restrictions, Powers’ Medical Advisory Board met regularly, modifying the rules of closure from time to time as dictated by necessity. Clarifying questions ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous: Are dental schools included in the ban? What about piano lessons? Should businesses stop holding sales, playing music or doing other things to attract crowds? Will the health department recommend wearing gauze masks? Should they be mandatory? Since poolrooms are closed, should a hotel shut down its single pool table?

Tracking the epidemic, the health department quickly began issuing daily statistics to show the number of reported new influenza and pneumonia cases and deaths. People watched for any sign that the epidemic was abating. For the three-day period ending October 14, only 300 cases and 11 deaths were recorded, leading Powers to opine – prematurely – that the epidemic may have peaked. He also expressed confidence in the city’s hospitals to manage emergency cases. In a well-timed show of support, the City Council had appropriated funds enabling the health department to hire more inspectors and to create at least one temporary hospital, the first of three to be assembled that fall.9 Five thousand dollars went to outfit an emergency hospital at the Parent-Teacher Clinic on Yale Street. The new hospital opened on October 19, as the number of new cases per day approached 800.10

Still, Powers wanted the City Council to appropriate more funds for patient care. When he declared that people in the harbor district needed an emergency hospital close to their homes, the City Council appropriated $4,800 for a 35-bed emergency hospital in the Women’s Club House in San Pedro. On October 19, Powers was back, asking City Council to fund three more part-time physicians to visit the sick. Council members supported Powers’ request.11 Then, in mid-November, Powers realized that many poor patients lacked a place to fully recover after being discharged from hospital. Once again, the City Council agreed to the emergency appropriation, this time to the tune of $10,500 used to convert a vacant hotel into a 100-bed convalescent hospital for the poor.12---Influenza Encyclopedia

• Reference: https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-losangeles.html# Influenza Encyclopedia
• Reference: https://www.theeastsiderla.com/lifestyle/history/northeast-l-a-1918... Northeast L.A. 1918: Life and death amid the Spanish flu
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 25 2022, 16:25:24 UTC schwartz
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 25 2022, 16:44:03 UTC Charlton Schwartz