WOMENS HISTORY MONTH: Settling in the Sunflower State: Briers, Dettmers, and Hammontrees

My paternal great-grandmother, Ollie Johnson Utter Brier, married Bill Brier in 1921. The Brier family immigrated from Germany and settled in Kansas. Bill’s parents, Herman and Dora (Dettmer), and their many family members came to the United States in the 1880s and settled around Liberal and Emporia in Southwestern Kansas. This photo shows Bill holding a child and members of his family. 

The Dettmer family left Hamburg, Germany, on the ship Wieland in February 1885 and arrived in New York in March. The Briers came around that same time. Coming to America on the great steamers was a hope-filled trip for those who crossed the waters to land in New York on American soil. Finding those records of your family who sailed to America can be daunting and time-consuming.

Bill’s parents were farmers and acquired an abundance of land. They raised mainly wheat. Herman Brier died from consumption when he was 27 years old. He left his wife and three children, Anna, Bill, and Edward. Dora remarried eleven years later. 

I found the families using genealogical records, Newspapers.com, and Find a Grave online. Most of them farmed the land, some owned businesses, especially restaurants, and most of the men who were able fought in the Great War. A few of their friends never came home from France. 

The Briers and Dettmers were exceptionally social, attending various community events. Newspaper accounts talk about their active lives; they were constantly out and about doing charitable deeds in the community and visiting friends. 

Bill’s sister, Anna, was a schoolteacher in Liberal, Kansas. She had many friends and enjoyed social events with her Brier and Dettmer cousins, Anna Mae, Dora, Mary, Clara Hammontree, and others. Anna married Grant Webber in a double ceremony with her brother, Edward, on June 1, 1914. She had two children. Grant died four years after marriage, and she remarried Albert McLeod. She and Great Grandma Ollie held each other in high regard. I remember Anna and Albert. We visited them on their Kansas farm in Sublette. Anna and Al came to visit me in Neosho, Missouri. I have letters that she wrote telling me about her family history. Anna died in 1979.  Here is a photo of Anna. 

Clara Hammontree married Edward Brier in a double wedding ceremony with his sister, Anna, on June 1, 1914. They had five children. Ed died in 1930, and Clara married again in 1931. In this photo, Grandma Ollie is the woman on the left, Clara, and unknown. Bill is bottom left, and Ed is on the right. 

The Hammontrees were socialites from Arkansas who moved to Kansas at the turn of the century. There, Ed met Clara. Ed joined the Navy at the same time Bill did. Ed and Bill were the “Brier Boys” in the community. They enjoyed outings and get-togethers. Here are photos of the family. 

                                

Lyla Brier married Frank Sprague and had three boys and one daughter. Her daughter, Louise Sprague, was a schoolteacher. She joined the Army in April 1943 and served as an aviation cadet in the Women’s Army Corps for four years. She never married and died in 1992 in Emporia, Kansas. This is Louise.

Anna Mae, Mary, and Dora Dettmer always helped, worked, and connected with the community in some way. Anna Mae Dettmer was a Red Cross nurse. She married Elijah Wright and had one son. Anna Mae died in 1980 in Liberal, Kansas. This is Anna Mae and her mother. 

                             

Dora Dettmer was a Kansas schoolteacher. She married Leonard Young; they had no children. She died in 1999 in Liberal, Kansas. This is Dora. 

Anna Dettmer, an aunt of Anna Mae and Dora, married Dr. Howard Marsh. They had one daughter. Dr. Marsh died when he was 45. Anna never married again. 

The Modlin family were neighbors of my great-grandmother Ollie’s family in Southwest Missouri and became great friends. Ollie’s sister married William Modlin, and Lydia Modlin Fitzgerald remained friends with Ollie and Bill Brier for years. Here are photos of Lydia, Ancil, and Bill. 

          

Bill and Ollie loved baseball; he played for the town team in Liberal, Kansas. He was an aggressive player who played very well as a pitcher, fielder, first baseman, etc. In 1921, he was hailed as “The Babe Ruth” because he got a number of hits off the pitcher. Here is Ollie and Bill.

On June 5, 1917, Bill, Ed, and many others registered for the military. The newspapers reported it was a solemn day in the community as wartime efforts began to build. Olive green armbands were distributed to those who came for the food drives and Red Cross funds. The draft lists were updated in a timely manner for those who were being called to the Great War. May 15, 1918, a new draft list was released, Bill’s number was 470, so he enlisted in the United States Navy the next day. Eight days later, the town gave the men a sendoff with flags flying, a band playing, and prayers as they left for Kansas City, Missouri. Bill served as a gunner’s mate in the Navy until January 30, 1919, when he received his discharge. Here are a few photos from my great-grandmother’s collection.

  

                     

During my family history research, I spent hours finding newspaper articles about my families on Newspapers.com. It is delightful to learn how they lived life to the fullest in the Sunflower State, and I’m happy that my great-grandmother was a part of their lives.

 Resources

Home - Kansas Historical Society (kshs.org)

https://2nd-division.com/_div.units/17th.fa/17th.fa.media.htm#:~:tex

 https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums

 https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/world-war-

The 2nd Division A. E. F. — Chronology of the 17th Field Artillery (2nd-division.com)

WOMENS HISTORY MONTH: Ozarks Hills and Hollows Granny Women

My 2nd great-grandmother, Nancy Smith Johnson, was a Granny Woman. She practiced midwifery and the healing arts in the hills and hollows of Donald County, Missouri. Her obituary notes, "The nights were never too dark nor the times too hard for Nancy Johnson to willingly lend a helping hand in time of need. She could count the dozens of babies she helped into the world and the lives she practically saved. Her cheerful disposition and pleasant smile made her most enjoyable to all around her."

Nancy was short and petite, with black hair, a thin face, a sharp jutting chin, and high cheekbones. She bore five children: Chloe Adele, Eva Oder, Otis Benjamin, Ollie Francis, and Osie May. She passed away in 1949 at Rocky Comfort, Missouri. Her parents were Benjamin Franklin and Anna Smith. Here is a photo of her with her daughter, Ollie. 

 

Her Smith family sailed from England to settle in the British Colonies before migrating to Northern Missouri. Here is a photo of the Benjamin Smith family.

In 1943, her daughter, Ollie, returned to the old home place to care for Nancy. This photo is of Nancy, her husband, Tom, Ollie, Ollie's son and two sons. The little boy standing is my father. 

Women have always been the backbone of families. They served many roles, including caring for their children, husbands, elderly parents, siblings, neighbors, and friends. Homemakers did not need a job outside the home, for homemaking included everything from making soap and doing the laundry to caring for the needy and the ill to helping perform the farm work when needed.  

 

In days long gone, women learned from their mothers and grandmothers how to care for the sick and help bring babies into the world. Their medicine usually came from the earth; the plants, flowers, and trees provided remedies to cure the sick and afflicted.

 

The most knowledgeable and experienced of these women were healers and midwives, often called Granny Women. They were known everywhere for their giving service and helping hands. Folks depended upon them to come when the need arose, and they relied on the Granny Woman's unique knowledge of herbs, roots, and concoctions. Those women had the skills and the wisdom to use the native plants for healing.

 

In the early days, doctors sometimes traveled a great distance to reach a patient, which was a hindrance for the gravely ill. Before the turn of the century, many doctors needed to be trained about germs and their deadly consequences. The states lacked standardized licensing requirements, and the quality of their education varied, so their medical practices were managed with crude effectiveness. 

 

Many women preferred the familiar Granny Woman to treat them with mild herbal remedies and deliver their babies. Traditional midwives met the concern for modesty during the birthing process, an important consideration in areas where the use of male doctors might offend an entire community.

 

 Some midwives carried a "midwife's book" to reference when complicated childbirth procedures arose. Sometimes, they used superstitious rituals to give mothers psychological relief, such as having the mother hold something that belonged to her husband to symbolically bring him into the delivery room. Their use of herbal remedies and teas helped speed up the birth process. Still, they might also use morphine tablets or quinine if the medicine was available.

 

 After the baby's birth, the Granny Woman might stay a week or longer to help with the housework and allow the new mother time to heal.

 

 Many times, Granny Women were not paid with money. Instead, they accepted whatever offering the family could provide at the time, possibly giving her meat or chickens, vegetables from the garden, or enough material to make a dress. If the family had nothing, that was all right, too.

 

As midwives became certified within their home state, they could charge money to attend births. The going rate in 1906 was $3.00. Granny Women knew how to prepare herbs, roots, tree bark, and other native plants and flowers to make healing ointments, teas, poultices, and concoctions. 

 

For example, Southwest Missouri Ozarks midwives combined sage, peppermint, black walnut, slippery elm bark, pokeroot, horseradish, elderberries, and dill weed with honey, black strap molasses, lard, onions, vinegar, and whiskey to make tonics, potions, plasters, poultices, and teas. Many a child with an earache had tobacco smoke blown into their ears as a cure. (I’m one of those children.)

 

The Missouri Medical College was initially organized in 840 as the Medical Department of Kemper College. It was the first medical school established west of the Mississippi River. In 1845, it became the Medical Department of the University of Missouri. There are a few midwives listed on the Missouri History Program website, all of whom lived in St. Louis, Missouri, for the years 1888-1892.

 

The American Medical Association was founded in 1847, and doctors eventually began to resent midwives. They looked upon the granny women as competition for business. The medical profession grew and insisted upon education, standard examination procedures, and licensing requirements for all practicing physicians. Doctors waged a campaign throughout the nation to run midwives out of business. They portrayed the women as being ignorant of medical procedures and lacking cleanliness.

 

Even though European countries were establishing schools of midwifery, American doctors were refusing to admit women to medical schools. When the American Medical Association demanded that all people practicing medicine be trained and licensed, midwifery was demolished.  

 

However, Granny Women continued to use their skills to serve their communities into the twentieth century. Ozark's folklorists have collected information about these women and their healing practices.

 

Until the New Deal programs and World War II changed the region's financial system and transportation, bad roads and the lack of money forced most country people to rely on native remedies prepared by the family's womenfolk.

 

Eventually, pregnant women began to enter hospitals to give birth, and Granny Women went by the wayside. The science of medicine scoffed at the nurturing and holistic care midwives provided for their family, friends, and neighbors.

 

The era of women's healing art in domestic medicine is now history. But if we look closely into our family history, we will find Granny Women.             

 

Among the McDonald County Historical Museum acquisitions, I found a midwife certificate. Issued on October 20, 1884, at the State Board of Health in Hannibal, Missouri, it certifies that Mrs. Delphia Hall Laughlin had practiced midwifery for ten years and was legally authorized to practice in the state. Laughlin received her certificate at Powell, Missouri, on January 1, 1885.

 

Today, midwifery is an internationally recognized profession. The American College of Nurse-Midwives includes the primary health care of women and their newborn children. A Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) is a woman who is educated in nursing and midwifery and who has certification according to the requirements of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. 

 

The nurse-midwifery practice manages women's health care, focusing on pregnancy, childbirth, the postpartum period, care of the newborn, and the family planning and gynecological needs of women. The Certified Nurse-Midwife practices within a health care system that provides consultation, collaborative management, or referral as shown by the client's health status.

 

Despite the evolution of medicine, Granny Women continued to practice the healing arts that had been handed down from mother to daughter. Instilled in the women, they did whatever was necessary to care for their family and friends, in sickness and health. 

 

The herb garden was grown right alongside the vegetable garden. In the fields and woods, native plants, trees, and flowers grew abundantly, offering healing properties for those who gathered and gleaned. 

 

In this modern world, some scoff at and become quite angry with the thought of people seeking holistic health and "folk," "home," or "natural" remedies. And, of course, after doctors spend countless years of study and pay for it all, they do not want to hear of someone seeking backwoods cures. 

 

But herbs are a big industry. Herbal stores and natural food stores run a brisk business. Women have always known how to care for themselves. I remember my grandmothers using herbs and plants to put a meal on the table and to heal what ailed us. I remember the herb garden near the smokehouse in the old home. I'm proud to have documentation of a Granny Woman in my family history, and I celebrate my 2^nd great-grandmother, Nancy Smith Johnson.

 

References for this article

Missouri History Museum: Genealogy and Local History Index

Missouri Medical College (http://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/missouri); an online workshop, "Herbal Lore and The Historic Medicinal Uses of Herbs"

The obituary of Nancy Johnson from the Wheaton Journal on DVD, courtesy of the MO Historical Society, of which I own a copy 

Disclaimer: In writing this article, I make no claims to persuade people to choose folk remedies over a medical doctor should a person have an illness. I write historical articles about exciting topics and especially enjoy researching women and history. With that in mind, I will give you information about midwifery in Southwest Missouri.  

WOMENS HISTORY MONTH: Madness or Mishap?

 Madness or Mishap: Locked Away for Life in the Insane Asylum: Frances Caroline Utter 

Nellie Blye was a famed journalist and social reform activist. In 1887, working for a New York newspaper. Her first assignment was to show how easy it was to get admitted to an insane asylum and find out what happened there. After pretending to be crazy, she was admitted to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island. While there for ten days, she encountered the truth of neglect and physical abuse the patients endured. And she found that not all the patients there were crazy! Her many articles about the experience and the conditions in the asylum led to improvements made at Blackwell Island Asylum.

Years ago, people were taken to asylums if they showed any type of behavior that appeared to be unruly, upsetting, or ill with health problems. Sometimes, people died in the asylum, while others were lucky to be released and went home.

Frances Caroline (Parrish) Utter died in Hospital #3 in Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri. She was the 2^nd wife of my paternal great-grandfather, Dee Jay Utter. This is her story. 

Born in McDonald County, Missouri, in 1908, Frances was the only daughter in a family of boys. After many hours of research, only a few historical records are available about her. It’s as if she never existed. When I discovered that she was a patient at the insane asylum, of course, questions arose. Was she born with an affliction? Did she go to school? Did her parents treat her differently than her brothers? Was she hidden away from the prying eyes of townspeople and gossiping friends? 

When Frances was 19 in 1927, she married Dee Jay, who was 41. They were married for one year and three months, when on March 14, 1929, they had trouble that ended badly. The local newspaper account wrote that Frances Utter was adjudged insane and ordered to the State Hospital in Nevada, Missouri, by the county court. The county sheriff and a deputy took her to the hospital on a Tuesday afternoon. Her husband, Dee Jay, was arrested on a charge of wife abandonment. He was placed in the county jail awaiting a preliminary hearing. Dee Jay was later released. I have found no other writing about the outcome of his part in the story. 

Frances entered the Insane Asylum when she was twenty-one years old. She is listed on each of the U.S. Federal Censuses as a patient until her death. Due to privacy matters, nothing is shared about the cause and details of why the patients were there in the first place.  

Another newspaper account relates that on a cold February afternoon in 1930, one of Frances' brothers was arrested for a felonious assault in connection with Dee Jay. It states that George Parrish threw rocks at Utter, dangerously wounding him about the head and shoulders as Utter passed by the Parrish home. The article said that evidence showed that Parrish was of unsound mind and subject to "epileptic fits." A verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insanity was returned by the jury. Parrish joined his sister - he was taken to Hospital No. 3. He was twenty-two. However, he was released after spending several years in the hospital, dying at 77 years old.   

Frances' mother died in 1953, and her father died several years later. She died as a patient in the asylum on December 5, 1957. Her death certificate states she was a patient in the hospital for 28 years, 8 months, and 26 days. She’s listed as a married housewife. The cause of death was due to pulmonary tuberculosis, of which she suffered for over two years. Sometimes, a code number is written on death certificates, the International Classification of Diseases, which gives more information about the death. But there is no code on Frances’ certificate. She is buried at the Owsley Union Cemetery south of Stella, Missouri. Her headstone is a simple one.

Mental illness was profoundly misunderstood. People, especially women, were treated terribly when they suffered from depression, stress, postpartum problems, and other female ailments. Men's and women's health issues were sometimes diagnosed as insanity. Anger problems and behavior issues were another reason to send people to the insane asylum. Disabilities were embarrassing to families, and many times, those afflicted paid the price by being institutionalized.

I researched the Nevada Insane Asylum, the third asylum built in Missouri. The original building was built with the famous Kirkbride architecture and bore the name State Lunatic Asylum No. 3. Later, it was renamed Nevada Hospital No. 3. The main buildings are gone, but other original red brick buildings still stand on the grounds and are currently in use. Not far from those buildings is the hospital's cemetery. 

I ponder what Frances and the other patients went through. Frances spent most of her life there. What treatments was she given? Did she have a good relationship with the other patients? Did her parents visit her? Did she make friends in the asylum? Did she read books, sew, paint pictures, or write letters? Was she deemed "simple" and quiet, or was she unruly and loud? 

My most haunting question is why she married my great-grandfather, who was so much older. They came from a small town where everyone knew everyone in the county. Whether it was madness or mishap, I must tell Frances’ story so that we know she did have a life, insane or not. I celebrate Frances Caroline (Parrish) Utter during Women's History Month. Rest in peace, Dear One.

Sources: 

 Once tied to a 'mental asylum,' this cemetery in Nevada, Missouri has a dark past - Springfield Daily Citizen (sgfcitizen.org)

 Insane Asylum Number 3, Nevada, Missouri (lyndonirwin.com)

 Historic Joplin » Missouri State Mental Hospital for the Insane No. 3

https://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/Nevada_State_Hospital

WOMENS HISTORY MONTH: Special Ordinary Homemakers

 Special Ordinary Homemakers: My Maternal Grandmothers on the Ross Family Side

My maternal great-grandmother, Nora Ethel Painter, was born on July 22, 1890, in Cassville, Barry County, Missouri. Her parents were John Douglas Painter and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Mahala Davenport. She was the second oldest in a family of six children. Cassville is a small town in the Ozarks. 1890, social life revolved around community gatherings, religious activities, and local events. Baseball, which was gaining popularity across the country, was a favorite pastime. This is a cropped photo of Ethel:

The family surprised Ethel with a party for her 16th birthday. The local newspaper reported the event in the hometown news column.

 When Ethel was twelve years old, her mother, Lizzie, passed away seven days after giving birth to a baby sister, Dollie. Dollie died four months later. Here is a picture of Lizzie, my 2nd great-grandmother:

Ethel married Daniel Lewis Ross, Sr., on October 20, 1910, in Granby, Missouri. Daniel worked in many occupations, including farming, mining, and truck huckster. A huckster was a farmer who drove into towns selling the produce from his truck. Missouri was primarily an agricultural state, with crops like corn, wheat, and tobacco being major contributors. The state also had a significant lead and zinc mining industry. So, Daniel traveled around the area, working in those occupations.  

One of their children was my maternal grandmother, Belvia Elizabeth Ross. Here’s a photo of her:

Here’s a family photo of Daniel and Ethel. Belvia is in the middle of the back row, holding my mother, Emma Faye Laney. Also, in this photograph, the woman sitting in the middle of the front row is my second great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Hembree) Ross. She was Daniel's mother: 

Ethel and Daniel moved to Joplin, Missouri, in 1943 and were members of the Baptist Church. Daniel died in Joplin on September 29, 1961. They had been married for 50 years.

Ethel died on November 13, 1967, at the St. John’s Hospital in Joplin. in Barry, Missouri, when she was 77 years old. She and Daniel are buried in the Horner Cemetery in Barry County, Missouri. 

Nora Ethel lived the life of a homemaker, enjoying the events and women’s social activities of the day. She, Belvia, Lizzie, and Mary Elizabeth were not famous, they didn't have a high education and pursue notable careers. Their lives were not all high society and grandeur. Still, as we all know, “Women’s work is never done” tells a story of women working hard, caring for their family, loving God, and making the best of their lives. I celebrate all of my grandmothers' lives as remarkable ordinary women during Women’s History Month.

Here are my maternal grandmothers on the Ross/Lewis side of the family:

Belvia Elizabeth (Ross) Laney                        Nora Ethel (Painter) Ross

     Elizabeth Mahala (Davenport) Ross                             Mary Elizabeth (Hembree) Ross

                    

Curilla (Lewis) Ross, my 3rd grt-grandmother         Elvira (Sloan) Lewis my 4th grt-grandmother

                   

WOMENS HISTORY MONTH: The Social Scene: Newspaper Country Correspondents

 Humans are made to socialize. We love sharing the latest news about our families, jobs, and local community gossip and events. Remember when the print newspapers offered local community news? Rural life was brimming with births, weddings, deaths, accidents, and events. We can thank the country correspondents who gathered the local news in their area. Editors relied on them. 

Veta Fikes Jennings was my mother-in-law, a country correspondent for the local newspaper. She was born and raised in Neosho, Newton County, Missouri. Her parents lived five miles from town and owned a small farm at the top of Schmake Hill. Her father worked on road construction for the Works Progress Administration. During her senior year in high school, in 1949, she sang in the choir and got a job writing about her local community news for the paper. Here's a photo of Veta Fikes Jennings

Veta was well known in the Schmake Hill Community, so visiting her neighbors and gathering their news was easy. She wrote it up and took it down to the newspaper office. She told me she received a "little bit" of money for each column she wrote. When I asked her what a "little bit" was, she said it was fifty cents. This photo of Veta was taken in 1955. 

 

After graduation, Veta married Leroy Jennings from Neosho. Her parents moved to town, and she and Leroy moved to the farm on Schmake Hill. That's where they raised a big family. Leroy is best known for his guitar music, which he played at all the local hootenannies for years.

 On the farm, Veta and Leroy raised a variety of animals. She was especially fond of her brood of chickens. She sold fresh eggs for years. Another favorite of their animals was the Shetland ponies. They owned a male and female, Tony and Tonette. Tonette had a foul one year, but it didn't last long. When we gathered for visits, the grandchildren loved the pony rides.

 Ask any of her grandkids what they loved about Grandma Jennings, and they will tell you her dill pickles were the best. She kept a jar on the kitchen table at all times, and she sent many jars home with us over the years.

Veta enjoyed quilting and reading. People may remember her working in the kitchen during the hootenannies at the Hammer Community Center held in the Hammer schoolhouse just north of town. She and Leroy ran the hootenanny for a long time. Veta died from cancer in 2009.

 As I researched this story, I read that sometimes people scoffed at community news, comparing it to gossipy rubbish. At the same time, people clamored to read the latest news reported in their community column. Correspondents were made fun of, but they eventually earned the respect they deserved. People cared about their neighbors and were hungry for news. As time passed, newspaper subscriptions were a great need in the community.

 Veta's newspaper columns are preserved on microfilm at the local library. From those columns, I learned that in July 1949, her parents bought a new car. In another column, she wrote about going to a Saturday night movie in Neosho with her future husband, Leroy Jennings, and a pal of theirs. That added exciting details to the growing family tree.

 If you're working on your family history, remember to check the local historical societies, libraries, and museums for newspapers on film. Read the society pages to find interesting tidbits about your family history. Newspapers.com is another online resource for finding social history. To serious family historians, it is a valuable research resource.

 

                      

 

 

WOMENS HISTORY MONTH: Addie Was A Hello Girl

 Imagine that your job is a telephone operator with a local telephone company. But the era is around the turn of the twentieth century, those early days of the telephone. You sit on a stool before a giant switchboard with wires everywhere. You must learn where those wires go to connect caller to caller. That was Adeline "Addie" Cardwell’s occupation. Her death certificate lists her as a “Hello Girl” for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. She lived in McDonald County, in Southwestern Missouri. She was a mere twenty-four years old, born in 1890, and died in 1915. Adeline is a distant relative in one of my family trees. 

The term “Hello Girls” is early-day slang for the American bilingual switchboard operators in World War I and any switchboard operators working for telephone companies in our nation.  

It all started with World War I and General John J. Pershing's plea to improve communication between America and European countries. In 1917, the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit was formed to accomplish this feat. Thousands of women applied, but only 450 were selected; all had to be bilingual in French and English and recruited from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). 

 The selected women went through training at Fort Franklin in Maryland, under the leadership of Chief Operator Grace Banker, then were sworn into the U.S. Army Signal Corps. The training consisted of military training and radio and switchboard operator training. They were given navy blue uniforms with dog tags, steel helmets, and gas masks. Later, their uniforms changed to olive green. 

The Army Signal Corps women became known as “Hello Girls.” They were sent to numerous locations in Europe during the war. They relayed messages in military code about troop movements and supplies. They functioned as interpreters between the French and American military units. 

 One group of Hello Girls worked during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. That was the final Allied push of World War I. The women briefly abandoned their positions at their switchboard when their barracks caught on fire but returned immediately after the flames were extinguished. 

 After the Armistice, although the women qualified for veteran status, it took years for them to be recognized. From 1930 to 1948, Merle Egan Anderson introduced bills into Congress and finally helped the Hello Girls gain the respect they earned. In 1979, Congress added an amendment to the GI Bill Improvement Act, granting women veterans benefits, honorable discharges, and World War I victory medals. 

 Numerous websites are dedicated to the history of the Signal Corps and the Hello Girls, outlining several women and their biographies. Michelle Christides wrote her mother’s oral history of her time served in the war as a Hello Girl. 

Here is a vintage photo of a small telephone company and its Hello Girls that I bought on Etsy from BrassMouse. It's in my collection now. 

 As telephone wires were strung on poles nationwide, telephones became a favorite new gadget for homes and businesses. Switchboards needed operators, which led to hiring women for that occupation. 

 The Home Telephone Company arrived in Joplin, Missouri, in 1902, and the Joplin telephone switchboard operators answered the calls by saying, “Hello Central.” The operators knew various daily information, ranging from the weather to train schedules, and they gave that information to customers who rang up Central. Thirty-five women directed calls in the city; by estimation, they took 16,000 daily calls.  

 In 1910, the Joplin News-Herald ran a story about women working as Hello Girls at the switchboard of the Home Telephone Company. The telephone operators worked long hours and even holidays but were treated to a lunchroom that served free meals. The telephone company also provided lockers, a restroom, and baths for their workers. 

 Although Addie didn’t work for the Signal Corps, she is vital in her own way. Her legacy is essential to share with others. She helped implement new technology that arrived in Southwest Missouri, the telephone. What would the Hello Girls think about our handheld, take-anywhere cell phones we use today? 

 References:

Online at http://www.historicjoplin.org/?tag=jasper-county-missouri-history.

Online at http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/hello.htm.

Online at Missouri Digital Heritage Initiation, online Missouri Death Certificates 1910-1959; MO Death Cert; Ancestry.com Operations, Inc./https://sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/deathcertificates/:accessed 24 Aug 2014, Lehi, UT USA. 

Wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello Girls.

Website of the Official U.S. Army Signal Corps.

 

FAMILY HISTORY: The Diary of An Ozark Girl

Diaries are a wonderful resource for researchers when working on family history and genealogy. Giving a glimpse into the lives of the people who pen them, they hold information on everything from the daily weather to the hidden secrets of families. To read a diary is to peek into the writer’s life and relive those important moments they chose to write about.

 In my Utter family line, family members own several diaries written by Amy Cora Utter. She was my second cousin twice removed. Reading about her journey was a treat for me.

Born in 1899 in Barry County, Missouri, she died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-one on December 18, 1930. Amy’s father was the son of Elijah Burton Utter, one of the Utter brothers who migrated from Indiana to Southwest Missouri during the Great Migration Period of our nation.

 Amy Utter fell in love and married her sweetheart, but the marriage was short-lived, and she found herself divorced in 1924. Amy started writing in a diary about living her life with gusto until four years later when she was stricken with pulmonary tuberculosis.

 During a time when little was known about tuberculosis and its transmission, folks feared the disease and thought it was surely a death sentence for those who were afflicted. After a year in the Missouri State Sanatorium at Mount Vernon, Missouri, Amy thought she was cured. However, that was not the case. She wrote several diaries from 1924 through 1929 chronicling her life while staying for long stretches at a time with family members. She wrote about battling her illness and undergoing treatments of the day that were frightening and hurtful.

 Eventually, Amy’s diaries were passed down to family members and her niece’s husband used the information found in the diaries to write a book entitled, “Amy Utter’s Journeys: TB and Other Tragedies in Rural America’s Heartland.”

 The book is a first-hand look into rural living in the Ozarks during the era from flappers to the Dust Bowl beginnings as well as how doctors and hospitals dealt with tuberculosis known as “The Great White Plague.”

 Diaries are an effective way to learn about people’s trials, joys, family, excursions, and their way of life. One day I was wandering around in a local flea market and found a small diary that was a little bigger than a deck of playing cards. I bought it and discovered the author is a woman who lived in Neosho. She wrote about her daily life with family and friends. But the author neglected to record her name in the diary, so she will forever be unknown.

 I’m always interested in the lives of women through the ages and their cultural differences and social norms. While doing your family history research, visit museums and family history centers and look for diaries. They are interesting research tools. You will find that women led fascinating lives while raising their children, keeping their homes, working hard, selling their goods, and loving their families. And that’s what life is all about.