Spanish Influenza and Dr. John Martin

As we acknowledge the six-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in mid-March of 2020, many of us remember the school/business closures, the mask mandates, the shortages, and the fear. On the Hampton Chronicle’s Facebook page, a comment was left regarding a young doctor from Latimer who was practicing during the Spanish Influenza epidemic 1918-1920. His name was Dr. John Franklin (J.F.) Martin.

John was born June 26, 1887, in Iowa Falls and was the son of Arthur and Margaret Martin. He had two siblings: Nora and Pearlie. He graduated from Iowa Falls High School in 1907, and completed a course in medicine at the University of Illinois School of Medicine in Chicago.

In 1910, he married Bonnie Bell Blakely who was also from Iowa Falls. While they were residing in Chicago, their son, Richard A. Martin, was born July 4, 1911. Unfortunately, Bonnie died a few months later on September 20; she is buried in the Union Cemetery in Iowa Falls.

When Dr. Martin completed his medical degree in 1912, he opened his medical practice in Latimer. He spent his entire career serving the people of Latimer and Franklin County.

In November of 1916, Dr. Martin married Elsie June Sawtelle in Latimer. She had grown up in Latimer, attend Memorial University in Mason City, and was a teacher in Franklin County schools. Their daughter, Helen Jeanette, was born in November of 1917.

Little did Dr. Martin or anyone else know how significantly their lives were going to change with two words: Spanish Influenza.

Doctors documented the "first" case of the influenza pandemic on March 4, 1918, in Albert Gitchell, a U.S. Army cook at Fort Riley, Kansas. Nicknamed the "Spanish Flu," cases of "severe influenza" were observed in Kansas as early as January 1918. Within a week, hundreds of soldiers who worked, trained, and bunked alongside Gitchell were sick. Within a matter of weeks, more than 1,000 soldiers were ill and the virus was reported at the majority of Army training camps throughout the United States.

During the first wave of the influenza pandemic, the sick and elderly were most at risk. In the United States, approximately 75,000 influenza-related deaths were reported during the first half of 1918.

By the time the second influenza wave began in August 1918, the virus had mutated to become much more deadly—rapidly killing the young, middle-aged, and old with many previously healthy people succumbing to respiratory failure within hours of becoming ill. Between September and December 1918, nearly 300,000 Americans died of influenza. In October 1918 alone—the deadliest month of the pandemic in the United States—an estimated 195,000 people died. The severity of the second wave forced public health officials to enforce quarantines of infected people and ordered residents to wear masks in public to slow the spread of the disease.

A third wave of the pandemic hit Australia and parts of Europe particularly hard during the first half of 1919, but despite outbreaks in American metropolitan areas, the mortality rate from the virus fell dramatically. The pandemic subsided in late 1920. Deaths from influenza in 1921 were comparable to pre-pandemic levels.

Franklin County was not exempt from the Spanish influenza outbreak. The first mention of Spanish influenza was in the September 26, 1918, issue of the Hampton Chronicle where it was reported that Walter Shroyer of Hampton was ill from the disease at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Chicago.

The October 10, 1918 Hampton Chronicle reported that the selective draft call for the county was postponed for two weeks by the War Department due to the influenza epidemic.

Hampton began a quarantine on October 11, 1918 when the mayor (G. T. McCrillis) by direction of the city council sitting as a Board of Health and by orders of city health physician, Dr. F.E. E St. Clair, ordered all public places and public gatherings, the local schools, theatres, billiard halls, etc. closed until Monday morning, Oct. 21. At that time there were approximately 150 cases in Hampton and 125 in the surrounding county.

Due to the Spanish influenza’s second wave, another quarantine was implemented December 19, 1918. Many of the same stipulations occurred during the second quarantine. Homes with infected family members were encouraged to post placards warning others against visiting. Most holiday celebrations were canceled including the Municipal Christmas celebration which had included a parade, an appearance of Santa Claus, and the distribution of free presents.

The second quarantine was lifted on January 6, 1919. During the second wave of the Spanish influenza, nearly every family in Hampton and the surround community had one or more family members sick. The average number of cases reported each day was over 50; by the end of the quarantine the number had dropped to five per day. Several of the influenza patients contracted pneumonia. A number of deaths occurred, most of them being in the rural neighborhoods. Over the course of the epidemic, the Iowa Board of Health reported 6,116 deaths from influenza and 3,085 from pneumonia.

The Hampton Chronicle acknowledged the impact on doctors in the area in their January 6, 1919 issue. At the time of the Spanish Influenza, doctors often made house calls rather than having the patients come to their office. These doctors were on the road early in the morning and visited patients until late into the night. They missed sleep, and they missed meals. They wore out automobiles and they exhausted horses, but they stayed faithfully on the job working 20 of 24 hours. After treating very sick patients, they then returned to their own, often young families.

Deaths continued to reported in Franklin County into April of 1919.

Following the influenza epidemic, Dr. Martin continued his illustrious medical practice in Latimer. He served his community over the years by being: the mayor for 12 years; a member of the town council; the county coroner; on the Latimer Independent Schools Board of Education, and on the staff of the Lutheran Hospital in Hampton. He was an ardent sportsman and was active in game conservation programs. He was a loyal supporter of the Beed’s Lake project when it started and was one of the first to build a family home at the lake, He was a member of the Franklin County Medical Society and the Iowa State Medical Society. He was a member of the Masonic Order in Iowa Falls.

Dr. Martin continued to practice medicine until his death in 1955 due to a heart attack. He died at the Lutheran Hospital in Hampton and is buried in the Alexander Cemetery.

What a remarkable 45-year career he had! As we pause and reflect on the timeline of his career, it is astounding. He started his medical practice just before World War I, treated multitudes of people during the Spanish Influenza epidemic, witnessed women being allowed to vote for the first time, survived the Depression, World War II, and the Korean Conflict, and experienced tremendous strides in the field of medicine. He was truly one of the quiet heroes of our county’s history.

Obituary photograph of Dr. J. F. Martin, circa 1955.

Dr. John Martin, circa 1926-1929.

Circa 1919, a public service advertisement issued during the Spanish flu pandemic