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Research in Other Countries => Canada => Topic started by: RedMystic on Monday 11 April 11 21:42 BST (UK)
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Good afternoon all.
I have a family story I'd like to verify but have been unable to do so in Google news archives (though admittedly I'm not very good at those searches).
I've been told that I have 2 great uncles that died in flu quarantine in Moose Jaw in Nov. 1918. The quarantine station was apparently in a school, and one of the young men apparently tried to "escape", dying as he crossed the school yard.
I do know that both men died within 2 weeks of one another, the first Nov 7 and the second Nov 19.
I have contacted the Moose Jaw library to see if they can provide any info on the quarantine of 1918, but have had no response. Does anyone know how I might search this further?
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Here's a link to RedMystic's thread about this family:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,524972.0.html
Your other thread is from last week. It will take longer than a few days before the Moose Jaw Library will have a chance to respond.
Jacquie
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http://www.ourroots.ca/e/search.aspx?field=Subject&key=Moose+Jaw+(Sask.)--History.
return to search
All the moose-- all the jaw
Heritage headlines
Heritage headlines
the leaves of history ... a news history of Moose Jaw and the prairies from the pages of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald
These are book titles so I don't think they would break copyright.
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I live in Moose Jaw. I believe the school may have been Ross School, which is now closed. If you're still looking for information about the flu, I could take a look at some of the local books here if you like.
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TX scaryoldbycicle,
As you can see, vbain and Jacquie have sent me some links and I have since heard from the Moose Jaw Library re obits - just that they have them for King * Joseph, that they contain very little info, and that they will mail them.
Anything you can provide in addition would be very generous on your part and gratefully accepted on mine.
Happy Easter.
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Here is one newspaper report from Google News:
How Moose Jaw is Grappling with Epidemic (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OtJSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ojcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6190,3769145&dq=moosejaw+influenza&hl=en) from the Morning Leader on October 28, 1918, page 2.
This public health booklet (http://www.sasksettlement.com/display.php?cat=1910-1920&subcat=Spanish%20Flu) from the Saskatchewan Settlement Experience shows that 179 died in Moose Jaw from 1918-1920.
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Here is another article from the Morning Leader, October 21, 1918, page 2:
Moose Jaw Shuts Off Street Cars For Disinfection (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NNJSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ojcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6280,2824839&dq=moosejaw+influenza&hl=en)
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Thank you very much Avidgenie. It sounds as if it was a terrible time.
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Yes, it was. It killed more people worldwide that the First World War did. Most of the people who died would be considered normally young and healthy.
Here is another article about its effect in Saskatchewan The Impact of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic on Saskatchewan Farm Families, 1918-1919 (http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/saskatchewan100/researchpapers/WDM/1918%20Spanish%20Flu.pdf) by Joan Champ.
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Wow. TX for that last piece. (I got really excited when I saw a Fisher in it, but no joy - I don't think we're related.)
I went to visit my grandmother this past weekend. She is the only person I know who was alive in Moose Jaw at the time of the flu. (She would have been 7 in 1918 and had been sent from the family farm 30 miles outside of Moose Jaw to a convent (at age 5) to be schooled.) I asked her if she remembered anything of the time, and her only recollection is that she had to look after the "little ones" as the adults at the convent were sick too.
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I looked at three books and found minimal information, only giving a death toll (about 254), when it was in the city, and that schools were closed. I stand corrected about Ross school - Prince Arthur school was turned into a hospital, while military patients were treated at Ross.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N9JSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ojcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6496,3315562&dq=moose+jaw+influenza+school&hl=en October 24: This news article says there were four hospitals set up in Moose Jaw.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ONJSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ojcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4608,3459454&dq=moose+jaw+influenza+drastic&hl=en
This article from October 25 states that the situation in town is getting worse and that "more drastic" measures may be taken.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PdJSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ojcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4463,4256922&dq=moose+jaw+influenza+stores+6&hl=en October 31: Stores in Moose Jaw were opened at 10 a.m. and closed at 5 p.m.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kPs-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=dE0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4594,5625762&dq=moose+jaw+influenza+quarantine&hl=en November 1: This one simply says the city was quarantined around the end of October.
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TX very much for the investigation scaryoldbycicle. It's intersting that there isn't much about the quarantine building locations themselves (& their operation) isn't it?
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Oh, I forgot to add that hospital locations have been given as the Providence Hospital (now demolished), the General Hospital (now the location of the Union Hospital), Ross School (closed but still standing), and Prince Arthur School (still open). It's interesting that those books didn't give much information!
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TX again to all for your help on this. I just received the obituary for the fellow who apparently died while trying to "escape" the flu quarantine at a school. Obit says he died of the flu in Prince Arthur Hospital. Another good family story put to rest. ::)
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Prince Arthur Hospital is/was one of those schools (well, if the obituary says he died in Moose Jaw) so at least that part of the story is correct. ;)
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So Prince Arthur School & Prince Arthur Hospital are one and the same building? Was it a school that was called a hospital during the outbreak?
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Yes, they were the same building. It's in a book I have, but I just found a newspaper article <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LvpSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nTcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1944,3987697&dq=prince+arthur+school+moose+jaw&hl=en
">that mentions it.</a> I can't find the date when the school was first used as a hospital or when it reverted back to school use.
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Can't thank you enough scaryoldbicycle. :)