Sitting here thinking about my Grand Uncle Frank, 1892-1918

[Dennis Donovan]

Mom's Uncle Frank, Francis E Quinn, was the youngest of 9 children. A grandchild of Irish immigrants that were part of the 1849-50 wave of people driven from their homeland due to famine, he grew up in southern Cayuga County, NY in a farming family.

In 1917, he was called up for The Great War. He served with the 36th Field Artillery Regiment, and was on his way home when he contracted the Spanish Flu on the troop ship USS Imperator. He died before it docked in New York.

Hadn't thought about him in a while...

[mcar]

1. Sad

[Dennis Donovan]

4. He died 11 yrs before Mom was born

...but she remembered how sad her father would get when speaking about him, since they were close before Frank died.

[htuttle]

2. Had one of those too

My Third Great Uncle Arthur Grindell. He ended up acting as Executive Business Manager for the International Red Cross, and was coordinating relief operations in Vladivostok at the end of the war. Ever heard of the 'Czechoslovak Legion'? They ended up there, among others.

Basically, his job became 'finding stuff' (food, medical supplies, etc) for like 3 armies that were stuck there. After less than a year, he contracted the Spanish Flu and died there. Apparently had an enormous military funeral from the Generals he'd helped, based on the Red Cross accounts of it.

The sad part is, nobody in my family remembered -- what I'd call -- his heroism. I happened upon it while doing genealogy.

[Dennis Donovan]

5. I have a few of them in my tree as well (ancestors that did interesting things)

For example, I never knew my great grandfather was an inventor with several patents. Happened upon the patents via Google! Or that his father served in the War of 1812 with the NJ militia and was outside of DC when the British burned it down.

Is this the same Arthur Grindell? https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/ww1-canadian-soldiers/arthur-grindell.html

[htuttle]

6. Nope, he was from Platteville, WI

Mentioned here near the bottom of the page in the ARC archives:
https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt1h4nd13n/entire_text/

"Captain Arthur B. Grindell, 1920
Scope and Contents note
Box/Folder 158 : 21"

Ended up asking them for a copy of his files, and they sent me a PDF of the whole thing.

[Dennis Donovan]

7. The internet's made the whole genealogy thing sooo much easier!

[htuttle]

8. Sure has. I was astonished when I learned what happened to Arthur's 1st cousin, Thomas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibur%C3%B3n_Island_Tragedy

Thomas Grindell fought with the Rough Riders, was Territorial Marshall of AZ for a bit, and also taught Math and English at the AZ Territorial College. Then he perished on an expedition to a lost gold mine in Mexico.

So basically, there was an Indiana Jones in our family, and NOBODY REMEMBERED HIM, lol. It was only 100 years ago!

Time will do that, I guess.

[malaise]

3. He was so young

Too sad

[defacto7]

9. My dad lost two brothers to the 1918 flu.

Two uncles I never knew.

[Delmette2.0]

10. My Grandmother lost her brother Daniel.

My Uncle told me that their father, Daniel Sr., died of a broken heart a year later.

[JCMach1]

11. Great grandmother caught it en route alone on the train to FL

Spent weeks in Abilene, TX on death's door alone with three young children.

Children did not catch it and she survived to reach 99.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. My paternal grandfather was also born that same year and enlisted with his closest brother

Both served in France, my Great Uncle Tim won the silver star for his service, he survived the worst of the fighting at the front. My grandfather was in the Cavalry, delivered needed ammunition by horseback. They were both very lucky to come home, both married and had children. My Dad was the eldest son, had an older sister and two younger brothers. My grandmother said he would never talk about his experiences in the war though he'd tell stories to the children. I never met my grandfather, he died of a heart attack at 48.

[Lars39]

13. I exist because of 2 deaths

from Spanish flu. Both first spouses of maternal grandparents died.

[Mendocino]

14. My grandfather

left Germany after his father, his mother and two sisters died from the 1918 flu.