Family and local history for Skidmore and northwest Missouri.
The influenza epidemic of 1918 took its toll on Skidmore, Missouri, as it did many places that year. One more consequence: Fewer letters to Santa that year. Some sad but hopeful holiday spirit from the Skidmore News (Skidmore, Missouri), December 19, 1918.
Francis Smith wrote home to his mother in October 1918. He wrote a casual, friendly letter and mentioned his desire to come home to see her. He couldn’t come, he said, because of a restriction on train travel due to… Read moreLetters Home: James Francis Smith, 1893-1918
From the October 17, 1918 Skidmore News: From Francis Smith. Mrs. S. P. Smith, Skidmore, Mo. Dear Mother: — This is Saturday. I have been in charge of quarters all day and will have to sit up tonight till taps. … Read moreLetters Home: Francis Smith
Local reports of a difficult flu outbreak in our community this year remind us of Skidmore in 1918. By January, the outlook was brighter. From the January 9, 1919 Skidmore News, page 1: The Ban is Off The ban that… Read moreThe Ban is Off
From the January 2, 1919 Skidmore News, page 1: Maude Orton Maude Susan French was born at Mooresville, Livingston county, Mo., Nov. 23, 1883. Died at her home in Los Angeles, Calif., Dec. 25, 1918, aged 35 years, 1 month… Read moreMaude French Orton
It can be hard for our cell phone generation to fathom a world in which telephone calls involved a lot more than speed dial and text messages were things you wrote on paper and put in the mail. As this… Read moreUnnecessary Telephone Calls