By Carol Powell

In 1918 children would skip rope to the rhyme:

I had a little bird,

Its name was Enza.

I opened the window,

And in-flu-enza.

When the Spanish flu began to cut its deadly path across the country in 1918 it did it with such efficiency that some believed sinister forces to be at work. In March of 1918 an Army private at Fort Riley, Kansas reported to the camp hospital complaining of a sore throat, fever and a headache. As the day advanced more soldiers became sick. The U.S. was at war, which provided a convenient target upon which to heap suspicion. Had the Germans used germ warfare?

The name Spanish flu is misleading, suggesting that the influenza outbreak began in Spain. In actuality, it is thought to have started on the Kansas poultry farms and then passed to the nearby soldiers at army camps, though the origin of the 1918 influenza has not been pinned down definitively. The close troop quarters promoted transmission of the virus. The troops were shipped to other army camps and on to Europe carrying the virus with them. The pandemic spread to nearly every part of the world. Spain was particularly hard hit by the influenza virus, hence the name given the disease. In all, it is believed that 500 million plus people were infected between 1918 and 1919, with greater than 50 million deaths, most within a period of nine months.

By fall 1918, Prescott was shut down but not yet officially quarantined. The public was warned that there should be "no public gatherings of any sort." The bird flu rode into the state along the rails of the Santa Fe Railroad. One of its engineers was William Service Miller who had been reared in Prescott. The railroad transferred William to Wickenburg from Prescott and his family moved there with him. By December the flu was all but gone; it seemed the rate of illness was truly in decline. Many towns lifted their quarantines.

During World War I, the Spanish Flu had rocked the world and, though Wickenburg was remote, it was still affected. The Miller family did not escape. William’s young wife Anna contracted the disease and died.

From the Prescott Journal Miner:

"From Wickenburg comes news which will occasion universal sorrow in this community, the death of Mrs. Anna Miller being announced as occurring there on Dec. 23, from influenza pneumonia. She will be remembered as a resident of this city for many years. The wife of William Miller an engineer of S.F.P. & P., who until a short time ago was assigned to this division of the road. To add more sorrow to this home, Mr. Miller is ill with this affliction, while the nurse also has been stricken, two small baby girls are left motherless and the once happy home is clouded by that sorrow which is inconsolable. Mrs. Miller enjoyed a large acquaintance in this section, having also many friends who will regret that one so young and of such a pleasing personality should be called away. The funeral was held at Wickenburg on December 24th. The attendance was large, reflecting on the estimable character of the deceased."

My mother-in-law, Clara, was one of those little girls left motherless. The emptiness showed throughout both their lives. William was left a widower with the two small girls. With Anna’s bright light gone from the world, he left the railroad for awhile and spent a year or so working as a miner. But mining was not really his cup of tea so he returned to the railroad. He remarried and had another daughter by his new wife, Mary. Anna’s memory faded but her stunned family would never fully recover from the sorrow.

The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919 was one of the deadliest outbreaks of disease in recorded history and on a similar plane as the plague of the 1300s. Horrible and inexplicable while it lasted, it was over fairly quickly and the world could move on to other things. The families that it affected did not forget.

(Carol Powell is an historian for the Olmstead/Miller families. Please see the Days Past article for April 8, 2007 for more information on William Miller at sharlothallmuseum.org)

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(courtesy of Carol Powell) Reuse only by permission.

Anna Miller, left, lost her life to the 1918 Spanish Flu and is shown here weeks before her unexpected death with her two young daughters, Clara and Pearl (in matching coats) and her sister and her children.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(courtesy photo) Reuse only bypermission.

Anna Fairchild Miller was known as Annie to family and friends.

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(courtesy photo) Reuse only bypermission.

William S. Miller with daughters Pearl and Clara a few years after his wife’s death from the 1918 Spanish Flu. William, who left railroading for a short while after Anna’s death, returned to the railroad job he had left.