Wave 2 of the Spanish Influenza in Jackson County ran from mid-November 1918 to early January 1919.

School closings, shuttered churches and other measures during the holidays helped reduce the infection rates across Jackson County. But no sooner had cases dropped than schools, churches and meeting places opened back up at the first of the year, leading to a third wave, every bit as cruel as the last.

On Jan. 13, the epidemic reappeared in Surprise. Three days later, more cases were reported in Brownstown, followed by cases in Seymour, Acme, Cortland, Oak Grove and Maumee. An entire family was stricken in Norman. The third wave was well underway.

On Jan. 26, an 86-year-old man in Medora died of the flu. A 28-year-old man in Maumee fell victim to the virus. Fresh cases were reported on Hobson Hill.

More than 30 cases in a week appeared in Reddington, resulting in a ban on public gatherings. The following day, 26-year-old Clarence T. Hunsucker died of influenza in Seymour. Two days later, James Duncan of Vallonia succumbed to the flu. An entire family was sick in Pleasantville. More illness was reported in Rockford.

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, the Seymour Daily Republican reported a meeting at the Reddington school was postponed because “of the prevalence of influenza in the neighborhood.” The following day, 32-year-old Clara Louise McDonald died of the flu in Seymour while more cases surfaced in Acme.

That same day, three children in one family in Pleasant Ridge, a girl in Clearspring, Alonzo Pruitt’s family in Pleasantville and Ellen Gruber of Reddington all contracted the flu. About 30 cases were reported in Freetown, including a teacher. The next day, 38-year-old ticket agent Clarence Porter of Cortland died of influenza.

By the last half of February, the situation was “becoming serious” in Kurtz. At one point, 42 cases were registered in the small town, including that of teacher Golda Hanner, James and Ralph Conner, Lee Crouch, Alvin Moore, Roy Cummings, Lena Edwards, Clyde Callahan, Claudie Callahan, Buell Brown and others.

The Tribune columnist from Oak Grove became too sick to submit articles for several weeks. He eventually wrote, “Almost every family in our vicinity is suffering with attacks of influenza.”

Cases also were reported in Sparksville, County Line, Weddleville, Uniontown, Cortland, Shieldstown, Pleasant Ridge, Liberty, Norman, Tampico and South Driftwood Township.

“Many homes are now under quarantine” in Clearspring. In Acme, “20 families, averaging five to the family … have the influenza.” The cases in Eclipse were “too numerous to mention as almost every family has the influenza,” read the Republican.

Still more deaths were recorded in Seymour, Brownstown, Beck’s Grove and Freetown.

Five-year-old Avahnell Rogers of Kurtz also died of influenza. Schools closed again in Beck’s Grove, Oak Grove, Eclipse, Clearspring, Uniontown and Cortland, where two-thirds of the students were out sick with the flu.

March began with a death reported in Medora. A week later, a number of people in Dudleytown had contracted flu. The Goss Mill mail carrier was sick with influenza. Cases multiplied in Medora. Sunday school was canceled in Ratliff Grove because “influenza is raging in this community.”

Another outbreak in Freetown prevented the Republican columnist from even submitting reports for a couple of weeks.

“The majority of families in Freetown,” he later wrote, “have had from one to five cases of influenza… We would be glad to name all of them personally, but space will not admit.”

The 1-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Denny of Freetown died of the flu.

In East Grassy Fork Township, flu was “still raging in this vicinity.” Another spike in cases struck Vallonia. But the epidemic was winding down.

On April 2, a 73-year-old man in Dudleytown and 78-year-old Elizabeth Black of Owen Township died from complications of the flu. On April 4, a 2-year-old girl died in Zelma. Before the end of April, 28-year-old Margaret Cornett of Brownstown died as a result of a three-week bout with influenza.

Just one month into the outbreak in 1918, Jackson County decision makers reached a consensus that keeping businesses, churches, schools, gyms and gathering places open and functioning was worth the relatively low fatality rate.

In November 1918, county health officer Dr. McCormick argued that less than one in a hundred would succumb to the Spanish fu, and even then, those with preexisting conditions were at greatest risk.

Over the next six months, time and again, public officials and the media tried to cast a positive light on the increasing death toll by telling readers that the worst was over, only to be proved wrong each time. Indeed, the vast majority of infected citizens recovered.

While the economy survived and citizens exercised their right to congregate for extracurricular activities, worship and entertainment, many families paid the price with the deaths of their children, siblings and parents.

Craig Davis, who was born in Seymour and graduated from Brownstown Central High School, currently lives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and works for a U.S. government contractor on school-based violence prevention. He is the author of “The Middle East for Dummies” and is conducting research for a genealogy and social history book in Kurtz and Freetown. Send comments to [email protected].