USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > District No. 15 of Allegheny County Pennsylvania in the Great War : a history of activities at home and abroad from the declaration of war in 1917 to the home-comings in 1919 > Part 8
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The language used by one of the Red Cross workers in making a report of the branch of a community in the District is applicable with slight change to all the others.
He wrote, "Like the little tribe of Benjamin 'we are not least among the people' of the valley; since the fire of patriotic zeal flamed hotly here for months before the nation was called to arms.
"The history of our Red Cross is like its history in ten thousand other small suburban com- munities where husbands go early to business and return late in the day, thus leaving a double burden upon the shoulders of their wives.
"The response of these same busy women, whose young families require so much care, creates
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THE RED CROSS
a noble chapter in the history of personal sacrifice. Although president of the local branch, I was excluded from their sewing circle, since the male sex do not often handle the needle deftly. This makes of me at least an impartial historian. The labor and sacrifice were the glory and honor of the women alone.
"Having in our adjoining neighborhoods various families of New Americans whose sons enlisted to fight for the defense of their adopted country, it was the happy privilege of our branch to prepare comfort kits and sweaters for the warriors who were to stand side by side with the boys from our own shores. The little notes returned by them in which they thanked so graciously this local Red Cross for its glorious assistance are among our literary treasures.
"The big van from the Pittsburg Headquarters made its regular stop before the door of the building where the work of the branch was largely done. The credit cards which were returned indicated something of the precise care that our women had observed in following the exact in- struction sent out to all workers. There were few corrections to be made during all the months of unflagging labor.
"The intellectual and social benefits of this experience are very marked. Women have dis- covered their larger public gifts and have learned to test and value their personal judgments in many ways. Various creeds have found a common cause which has bound them in a secure bond.
"The war has brought us sorrow and loss, but it has brought us in our great Red Cross a revived divine impulse of comradeship and concern for the greater sorrow and greater loss of the big outside world."
NATRONA-BRACKENRIDGE BRANCH
The history of this Branch begins with the formation of the Natrona Auxiliary, as it was originally called. On April 24, 1917, less than three weeks after the declaration of war, a group of women attended a meeting in the Natrona Town Hall, called by Mrs. H. M. Brackenridge for the purpose of forming a Branch Society to aid in war work. In the beginning there were twelve members, several of whom had already been meeting weekly in an informal association under the direction of Miss Anna Goss to make Red Cross garments.
May 8, 1917, a second meeting was held at the same place with about two hundred people in attendance from Harrison Township and some from Brackenridge Borough. A member of the Pittsburgh Chapter addressed the meeting, an organization was effected and became established as an auxiliary of the Pittsburgh Chapter with the following officers: President, M. C. Harner; Vice Presidents, Dr. John A. Huth, Mrs. H. M. Brackenridge, Clyde H. Clinton, J. S. Bejenkowski, W. Earl Bollinger, Kenneth Linhart, Mrs. J. C. Smith, and the Rev. C. J. Whitlatch; Secretary, George P. Schmitt; Treasurer, Albert C. Adler. As the work of the Auxiliary was at first organized, Dr. John A. Huth was director of First Aid and Dietetics classes and Mrs. H. M. Brackenridge directress of Women's Work. In each of these activities the Auxiliary was destined to perform large service. A drive for membership was at once instituted, with the Rev. W. F. Hunter in charge, and at the next meeting on May 28, 1917, there were reported 72 annual and 3 subscribing members with a fund of $172 in the treasury and the work of the Auxiliary well underway. On June 4, 1917, a committee for Civilian Relief was formed, with Miss Cornelia Brackenridge as chairman.
On May 21, 1917, an auxiliary had been organized in Brackenridge Borough at a meeting held in the schoolhouse on Brackenridge Avenue. The officers of this organization were: President,
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MAY 4, 1918 VIII -A
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JULY 25,1918 VIII-B
PLATE VIII-A 1. Frank Yanuzzi 2. William Brown 3. Paul Hoey 4. Homer Wolferd
PLATE VIII-B 1. George S. Mitchell
2. John Glink 3. John George Kapteina 4. Clifford Rodgers
5. John Gonlock 6. John Dick 7. William Pressler 8. Arthur Finnegan 5. Ralph Chantler 6. Boleslaw Kolokowski
9. Guiseppe Pioiett 10. Silvester Egnatiuk 11. George Watt 12. Frank Thiry
13. Howard Stump 14. Eugene Misson 15.
16. Merle Sutton
17. Praetti Marzilio 18. Zigmont Berent 19. John Hill 20. Patsy Zito
13. George Washington Jones 14. Emelion Simonowitch 15. Christian Jacobs 16. Stanislaw Niezranski
7.
8. Boleslaw Fialkowski
9. John O. Olson 10. James P. Ray 11.
12. Russell Love
PLATES VIII-A AND VIII-B
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NATRONA-BRACKENRIDGE BRANCH
William Loucks; Vice President, Mrs. Frank Thompson; Treasurer, James Stauffer; Secretary, Miss Gertrude Lewis. Thirty-seven persons were present at this meeting.
At a second meeting of the Brackenridge Auxiliary, held in the schoolhouse on June 21, 1917, Mr. George Schmitt, Secretary of the Natrona Auxiliary, was present and extended an invitation to the Brackenridge Auxiliary to unite with the Natrona Auxiliary under the name of "Natrona- Brackenridge Auxiliary." The invitation was accepted. A joint meeting was called and held and the new organization which resulted took up its activities with the following officers: Presi- dent, M. C. Harner; Vice President, William Loucks; Chairman of Women's Division, Mrs. H. M. Brackenridge; in charge of the Women's Executive Board, Mrs. Frank Thompson and Mrs. A. G. Cunningham. The Rev. C. J. Whitlatch, Charles Snyder, Edward Robinson, and the Rev. S. Shimp were appointed as Executive Board.
The Pittsburgh Red Cross Chapter had not yet thoroughly organized its work nor was it financially in position to purchase supplies. The local organizations at this time purchased their own raw materials with funds supplied by men of the community and made up the garments and finished articles which were turned over either to individual soldiers or to the Pittsburgh Organiza- tion. Later in order to correlate the work contributions to the cause were made in funds trans- mitted to the central Chapter and the raw materials furnished by the County Organizations were fabricated by the local branches and afterwards collected. For convenience of service the organization was divided into a number of units. Those in Harrison, Fawn, and East Deer Town- ships were numbered from "I" to "19," and those in Brackenridge Borough were lettered from " A" to "I." Two surgical dressing units were also organized and were active throughout the war, one in Natrona and the other in Brackenridge. By means of this unit organization, it was found that a more systematic distribution and prosecution of the work was possible.
The headquarters of the organization were at the Fairmont School from which place distribu- tion of material was conducted. As soon as materials were received they were counted out and distributed to the units by the Motor Corps, already organized by Miss Cornelia Brackenridge. This latter was a subsidiary to the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Red Cross and was formed for the purpose of distributing through Brackenridge, Natrona, and Tarentum, Red Cross raw materials and for collecting the finished articles from some forty different units of these branches. The Motor Corps consisted of two companies, one active, and one reserve, with fourteen members in each. It had as officers a Captain over both companies and for each a First Lieutenant, a Second Lieutenant, and two Sergeants. The personnel of the companies changed from time to time. This organization was especially active during the influenza epidemic when the entire force were engaged more or less constantly in nursing, messenger service, district visiting, and distribution of food and medicine. Some idea of its service may be obtained from the statement that during seven months, from May I to December 8, the record shows 2050 miles traveled, 777 driv- ing hours served, 1016 containers handled. A list of its officers and personnel would include the names of tireless and faithful young women and men.
Along with its activities, under direction of the County Chapter, the Natrona-Brackenridge Red Cross Branch, as it came to be known after its reorganization, took up in the fall of 1917 the project of sending a home box to each soldier from Harrison and Fawn Townships and Bracken- ridge Borough. This was no mean task. It required first that the soldiers be found. To locate the boys was not difficult in the case of selectives, but entailed much work where enlisted men were concerned. Mrs. E. E. Armstrong was named chairman of the committee. She was assisted by
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THE RED CROSS
Clyde H. Clinton, and the matter of raising money to purchase necessary oufits was undertaken through the instrumentality of Dr. John A. Huth. Some 202 local sailors, soldiers, and marines were located and boxes were sent to each of them. These boxes contained candy, toilet articles, metal trench mirrors, and the like, to the retail value at pre-war prices of about $3 each. Post cards were inclosed in each box and nearly all of the recipients returned the cards with expressions of thanks couched in more or less characteristic language. So well did the boxes seem to meet the needs of the boys that in a number of notes inquiries of comrades from other places were received to know whether there were any more such boxes. It was, of course, out of the question for the local organization to go beyond the boys from its particular locality. A committee was appointed to distribute books and magazines to camps and local soldiers and did able work under the direction of Miss Moss Galbraith.
During the year 1917 there were enrolled 1257 members. In 1918 a Junior Red Cross was organized and over two thousand children enrolled. The Junior Branch was able through enlist- ment of the children generally to accomplish large results in keeping up enthusiasm among young and the old alike.
At a meeting held January 15, 1918, the officers of the organization were unanimously re- elected. These included Mrs. N. D. Kramer, who took the place of Mrs. Thompson when the latter resigned as Vice President.
Early in 1918 a Comfort Kit Department was established for the purpose of supplying to each local sailor, soldier, and marine, one of the standard comfort kits containing a razor, shaving stick, comb, pins, needles, thread, trench mirror, towel, toothbrush and tooth paste, clothes brush, but- tons, etc. Messrs. Clyde H. Clinton and John S. Bejenkowski were elected as committee in charge of this department. The committee at once secured one hundred complete kits at wholesale rates and these from time to time were sent to soldiers from the communities represented in the Branch.
The Natrona-Brackenridge Branch is very proud of its record in connection with the War Fund of one hundred million dollars. Of Allegheny County's Quota of four million dollars, the share of the Natrona-Brackenridge Branch was fifteen hundred dollars. Dr. John A. Huth was appointed general chairman with the Rev. W. F. Hunter as Vice Chairman in Natrona and William Loucks as Vice Chairman in Brackenridge. Such was the spirit of the organization that the sum of $52,257.13, more than thirty times the quota of the Branch, was raised.
It is worthy of remark that the local branch was assisted financially by numerous other or- ganizations in the District. Among these the Knights of Malta, Eagle's Club, Windsor Music Company, German Beneficial Union, Polish Falcons, and several of the moving picture and in- dustrial concerns made substantial contributions during 1918. Especially was the interest of the Juniors actively and efficiently engaged in connection with a generous contribution from the District for the needs of the French War Orphans. The Branch and the several units with assistance of the Juniors made a number of contributions of $36.50 each, the sum required for adoption of an orphan. This cause was also presented to the Natrona and Brackenridge schools, several of which took up the plan and "adopted" some of these orphans, a most worthy and appealing benevolence.
With the invasion of the influenza epidemic in the fall of 1918, the Red Cross Organization together with the Township and Borough authorities formed an Influenza Relief Commission. This part of the local district was particularly hard hit by the epidemic probably because of the industrial character of a large portion of its population and crowding resulting from necessarily restricted living quarters. Mr. Charles Nicholas and Miss Nicholas offered the Walnut Street
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TEAM WORK
Hotel fully furnished to be used as a hospital, and it was filled up with patients almost at once. Mr. Thomas M. Hathaway was named superintendent. Many men and women of the town gave all or part of their time to assist in the nursing. For six weeks or more the Red Cross Organization performed enormous emergency service in addition to the routine of making up hospital supplies in large quantity for military purposes.
The situation so far as the epidemic was concerned may be better understood if it is observed that out of a population of ten thousand in Harrison Township nearly three-fifths were crowded in the town of Natrona, with an average of a dozen or more to each house. Within a week after the epidemic arrived, more than one thousand cases developed and in all there were over three thousand patients ill of influenza or pneumonia or their complications. That the death roll was kept down to about sixty-five was due in large part to the assistance rendered by the Red Cross Organization to the little group of faithful and terribly overworked physicians. In this service the Junior Red Cross and Motor Corps were especially busy and their assistance invaluable. Diet kitchens were established in Natrona, Natrona Heights, Brackenridge, and Brackenridge Heights, where suitable food was prepared and sent out to those who were too ill to provide for themselves.
During the fall of 1918 the Branch appointed committees to assist in preparation of boxes to send to soldiers overseas. It was a very considerable matter to determine on the contents and packing of these boxes by reason of Post Office restrictions. The cartons furnished by the Ameri- can Red Cross Society were about the size of an ordinary building brick and the reconciliation of a multitude of requirements with an unspeakable insufficiency of packing space was no mean problem. Mrs. G. L. Bumgarner had charge of this work in Natrona and Mrs. David Kuhn in Brackenridge, and the grateful acknowledgments from far-off camps and battle fronts are eloquent testimonials of a task well done.
It may be interesting at this point to note that one of the members of the Natrona-Bracken- ridge Branch, Mrs. Harrison Harvey of Natrona Heights, was one of the oldest Red Cross workers in the District. The Branch of which she was a member felt honored when she received from the Secretary of War an acknowledgment of her service in the following letter: "My dear Mrs. Harvey :- I have learned of your generous and patriotic devotion to our Soldiers and of the fact that you, who knit for your brothers and husband in the Civil War, have knit thirty-three pairs of socks for the soldiers of today. May I send this word of appreciation and gratitude? Cordially yours, Newton D. Baker."
The financial report of the Branch for the year 1918 showed among others the following con- tributions:
War Fund.
$52,257.13
Comfort Kits.
1,115.13
Membership fees remitted ..
4,907.00
The Emergency Hospital.
2,504.69
Miscellaneous.
554.II
With a balance remaining in the treasury of.
690.13
After the armistice was signed a slump in activities of the Red Cross as of other war agencies was inevitable. The attention of the organization was then turned toward taking care of the fag ends of war work, most important of which was service to wounded and invalided soldiers. In 1919 a Civilian Relief Committee, with the Rev. J. R. Mohr as chairman and a Welfare Organiza-
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THE RED CROSS
tion with Miss Amelia Stephenson as chairman, was appointed. During this year a membership campaign was conducted which resulted in a roll of 807 memberships as against some 4000 during the war period.
From its organization in April, 1917, to the close of 1919, the Natrona-Brackenridge Red Cross Branch handled funds in the aggregate sum of $66,269.78, of which amount $60,395.18 was given over to the Pittsburg Chapter for War Fund and memberships, and $5,875 was used locally to buy comfort kits and materials that were either given directly to the soldiers or sent through the Pittsburg Chapter. It is not too much to say that the labor of love thus involved in the contributions of personal service and money on the part of the members of this Branch had a tremendous reflex influence in uniting for philanthropic service the entire district covered by the Branch and that herein we may find another illustration of the sacred truth that "it is more blessed to give than to receive."
TARENTUM BRANCH
The history of the war activities of the Fifteenth District would be incomplete without a story of the Tarentum Branch of the Red Cross. One might without exaggeration go farther and ays that the history of civilian war activities in the District exclusive of the purely industrial and military agencies could be narrated in a history of the Tarentum Branch of the Red Cross without digressing very far from what might be styled the proper activities of the organization. To put it another way, the organization and work of the Tarentum Branch of the Red Cross had its ramifica- tions so extensively throughout the other activities of the District that in some way or another it seemed to touch directly or indirectly almost every locality and almost every every branch of effort. It is not the purpose of this history to be fulsome or flattering, but to record as accurately as possible the facts with reasonable regard for their relationships. In conformity with such a gen- eral purpose this introductory statement is made.
Before the United States had formally issued a declaration of war against the imperial govern- ment of Germany the people of the District with an alertness characteristic of the American com- munity had already sensed afar the march of events and preliminary plans had been made for the organization of a Red Cross Auxiliary in Tarentum. As early as March, 1917, a temporary or- ganization had been formed at a meeting held in the Council Chamber of the Borough Building at which A. B. Davidson acted as chairman and W. S. Robinson as secretary.
The first permanent officers of the Auxiliary were O. C. Camp, President; A. D. Endsley, Vice President; J. P. Crawford, Treasurer; and Frank C. Stewart, Secretary. E. Clay White, the Burgess of the Borough, had been chosen as First President, but at a meeting of April 2, 1917, his resignation was tendered and accepted. A little later Mrs. C. H. Cooke was elected Second Vice President and made Chairman of the Women's Division, which included the organization and direction of the work of the various units.
Following its formation the Auxiliary under the old plan was engaged in independent Red Cross work rendering assistance to the Pittsburgh Chapter until July, 1917, when under the national system of reorganization then adopted, it was converted into a Branch of the Pittsburg Chapter. From the very beginning the Tarentum Branch received enthusiastic response to its call for mem- bers. During the first year 321 persons enrolled and the total cash receipts were $4,260. Al- though subsequently the community was divided and the membership of the Branch distributed into other auxiliaries and branches, the enrollment of the parent branch never fell below 1000.
Notable among the occasions which assisted in creating and arousing community spirit in
BRACKENRIDGE -RED CROSS SURGICAL UNIT
CENTRAL ยท BRANCH TARENTUM RED CROSS DEC.23,1918
ABOVE-BRACKENRIDGE RED CROSS, SURGICAL UNIT BELOW-TARENTUM RED CROSS, CENTRAL BRANCH
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TARENTUM BRANCH
support of the Branch was a great Red Cross Rally which was held in the Nixon Theatre in May, 1917, in which Mrs. W. W. Clendennen of New Castle, Pa., was the principal speaker. This resulted in a large increase in membership and together with the publicity methods put into effect soon resulted in practically the entire population of the Borough being enrolled in the Red Cross work either as members or supporters.
The activities of the Red Cross were diverse. There was what might be called Red Cross work proper, which consisted of service undertaken for soldiers and the military department of the government. This included providing of comfort kits and other conveniences for the boys and the preparation of material and articles for hospital and other Army use. Then in public service at home the activities of the organization were invaluable in connection with Liberty Loan Drives and War Fund Campaigns, with the organization of local service such as emergency hospital, nursing, and sanitary service at the time of the influenza epidemic, with the service of the Motor Corps which assisted in transportation needs when occasioned by war activities and epidemic. Again there was the more intimate and very important work done by the Red Cross called the "home service," that is in providing for the comfort and meeting the needs of families of soldiers. This the organization accomplished not only in a material way but in what was hardly less im- portant, by extending sympathy and assisting in the procuring of Army information for the home folks and home information for the boys abroad.
The work of the Branch was carried on under the direction of the Executive Committee, whose membership included O. C. Camp, A. D. Endsley, Rev. Wm. J. Dickey, Shields Stockdale, Mrs. J. G. Campbell, Mrs. C. H. Cooke, and Mrs. J. Nameche. Mrs. W. S. Robinson was appointed to the vacancy caused by Mrs. Campbell's death, and Mrs. Louviaux was appointed to succeed Mrs. Nameche.
One of the first lines of activity undertaken was that of providing comfort kits for the depart- ing soldier-boys under the auspices of the Tarentum Branch. A comfort kit was supplied to every man who entered the service from the Tarentum District. This Branch was also the distributing agency through which all selectives and enlisted men in the entire Fifteenth District from Harrison Township to Harmar Township were supplied with sweaters. The distribution of sweaters was not begun until after some of the boys had departed for the army, but as the work became organ- ized those who had not been supplied were located and provided for so far as possible.
The most active and constant work performed by the Branch was that of preparation of surgical dressings, hospital supplies, hospital garments, and knitted articles. This work was done by the Women's Division with headquarters in the Grandview School Building on East Ninth Avenue and was under the direction of Mrs. C. H. Cooke, Vice President of the Branch and Chair- man of the Division, with Miss Lillian Mahaffey as Secretary of the Division. A working schedule was compiled which included Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M., and Monday and Thursday evenings from 7 to 10 o'clock. This was the regular schedule, but during frequent periods when there were special orders to fill the rooms were open every day. There was an average daily attendance of forty-two.
Mondays were designated as "church days" and the various churches in the Borough regard- less of their denominations or affiliations or faith took charge of the work at headquarters on different Mondays. In some instances several churches cooperated on a single day, but in the case of large congregations a single church frequently took entire charge of the work on that particular Monday. The following congregations were among those which participated: Baptist, Christian,
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THE RED CROSS
German Lutheran, German Evangelical Lutheran, Grace Lutheran, Trinity Lutheran, First Methodist, Free Methodist, Church of Nazarenes, First Presbyterian, French Presbyterian, Central Presbyterian, St. Peter's Roman Catholic, St. Clement's Roman Catholic, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic, First United Presbyterian, and East Ninth Avenue United Presbyterian.
For the purpose of convenience the Branch was divided into units each with its leader and assistant. These are as follows:
Downtown Unit, with headquarters in the Chamber of Commerce Rooms: Mrs. J. G. Campbell, chairman, Mrs. C. L. Leydic, assistant. At the time of Mrs. Campbell's death, Mrs. Leydic was out of town, and Mrs. W. S. Robinson was appointed chairman with Mrs. Frank Anderson assistant.
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