Eva Emmons, Women's Oversea Hospitals

Eva Emmons, 1917 passport photo

Like thousands of women, Eva Emmons answered when Uncle Sam called for trained nurses to serve during World War I. Eva served with both the American Red Cross and the Women's Overseas Hospitals, organized by the National American Woman Suffrage Association. And also like so many others, her life was tragically cut short by the devastating influenza pandemic of 1918.

Eva was the oldest of seven children born to David Elisha Emmons and his wife Elizabeth Olivia “Ollie” Lindsey. Exactly when and where she was born isn’t entirely clear, however. In passport records, Eva reports she was born November 28, 1886, in Beason, Illinois, her father’s hometown. However, an Ohio birth record suggests she was born on November 4, 1885, in Pike Township, Brown County, Ohio.^1,2 Eva provides misinformation about herself on more than one occasion so perhaps this alternate birth date was deliberate.

Brown County Children's Home, postcard ca. 1910

Throughout her life, Eva exhibited considerable independence. One contributing factor may have been as a child Eva, and several of her siblings were committed to the Brown County Children’s Home in Georgetown, Ohio.³ The reasons are unknown as several siblings remained with their parents, who were still living. In the 1900 Federal Census, Eva is enumerated as a boarder with the Francis Bartlow family in Lewis Township, Brown County, Ohio.⁴ By 1905 she was making her own way in the world and employed as a dining room attendant at the Longview Asylum in nearby Carthage, Ohio. She worked there for nearly two years, receiving a salary of $12 per month.⁵ Eva later worked at the Columbus State Hospital.⁶

Bellevue Nurse's Pin

From Ohio, Eva moved to New York City where she received instruction at the Bellevue Training School for Nurses, graduating in 1910.^7,8 Nursing degree in hand, Eva first worked as a night superintendent at Bellevue Hospital for a year and later at Sea Breeze Junior Hospital, a tuberculosis hospital for children on Coney Island. She worked at several hospitals throughout New York before volunteering for service with the Red Cross. A biographical sketch from a history of Bellevue Hospital states “from April 15, 1915, till January 16, 1916, she served in Belgium with American Red Cross Unit 1.”⁹ Eva applied for her first passport issued April 9, 1915, and on April 17th sailed for Europe, together with 23 other nurses to be attached to the Belgian Red Cross, aboard the S.S. St. Louis.¹⁰ 

Following their arrival in Liverpool on April 25, the nurses made their way to the Hopital L’Ocean in La Panne, Belgium. A former hotel, L’Ocean was notable for being where the first blood transfusions were carried out and the sterilization of the wounds was developed.¹¹ In January of 1916, after over six months work at the hospital, Eva returned to the U.S., sailing on the S.S. Rotterdam arriving at the port of New York on January 30, 1916.¹² Eva’s time in New York was short, however and she returned to Europe aboard the S.S. Lafayette on June 24, 1916.¹³ Upon her arrival she was attached to Military Hospital V.R. 76. Located at Ris-Orangis (12 miles south of Paris), V.R. 76 treated only surgical cases, and served as the operating center for a group of nine hospitals attached to it.¹⁴ After a year of service, Eva once again returned to New York, sailing from Bordeaux aboard the S.S. Espagne, arriving on July 5, 1917.¹⁵

Osborn Hall, 426 E. 26^th St, New York
Bellevue Training School for Nurses caption

Whenever Eva was in New York she boarded at Osborn Hall, a graduate nurse dormitory located at 626 E. 26th St, associated with her alma mater, Bellevue Hospital. Responding to the government’s call for graduate nurses, Eva re-enlisted for the third time. On July 10, 1918, she was assigned by the Red Cross to U. S. General Hospital 1 in New York but "did not execute orders as she was on duty in a hospital in New York which was caring for wounded and sick officers under government supervision.”⁸

Yet, at some point she volunteered to serve with the Women’s Overseas Hospitals (WOH), sailing on the La Lorraine on September 25, 1918. So impromptu was her departure she didn’t even notify the Red Cross when she went abroad. The Bellevue history noted her behavior “was not uncharacteristic of Miss Emmons: she had several singularities. She was a competent nurse nevertheless.”⁸

While en route to France, many on board began to show signs of the influenza which was ravaging Europe and the Eastern seaboard. Eva cared for them as she’d cared for so many before, include Winifred Fairfax Warder, a fellow member of the WOH.¹⁶ Eva contracted influenza herself and both she and Winifred died days after arriving in France; Winifred on October 8, 1918, at a Red Cross Hospital in Bordeaux, and Eva, on October 11, at the refugee hospital at Labouheyre, she had come to work at.¹⁷

Eva’s story doesn’t end here, however. In 1920, after the war had ended, officials discovered a trunk in a storehouse in Paris. The Army locker, painted drab olive green, was without any other markings identifying its owner. An item in the Los Angeles Times reported how the story unfolded:

   

“The trunk was sent to the lost baggage department in this city [Paris] and the contents were searched. All the apparel appeared to be new material and bore the sales tags of several of the big department stores in New York. There was a complete woman's overseas equipment, shoes, dresses, lingerie, etc. The only name found was “Emmons.” The baggage officers, who have restored thousands of lost trunks to the men of the A. E. F. in this country, canvassed the department stores. At Stern Brothers the accountant department went over their records for the years covering the entrance of this country in the World War. The name of Miss Eva Emmons of 337 Home [s]treet, Georgetown, Ohio, was located.”¹⁸

Now armed with an identification, officials were able to ascertain that Eva had volunteered for overseas service and died shortly after arriving in France. Eva Emmons is buried at Suresnes American Cemetery, near Paris, alongside the soldiers she came to administer to.¹⁹ Eva’s service is also honored on a World War I Memorial in Flushing, New York.²⁰

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References:

1. 

   Los Angeles Evening Herald
    1 April 1920, pg. 8.
   

   "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDN-8DM7 : 16 March 2018), Eva Emmons, 1918; citing Passport Application, New York, United States, source certificate #33516, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 581, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
2. "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X67S-7V7 : 12 June 2018), Eva Emmons, 04 Nov 1885; citing Birth, Pike, Brown, Ohio, United States, county courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 384,296.
3. “An index to the Record of Indentures and Adoptions, Brown County Children’s Home, 1886-1921.” OGS (Ohio Genealogical Society) Report. 1984. 24(3), 146.
4. "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMCC-P9N : accessed 12 June 2018), Eva Emmons in household of Frances M Bartlow, Lewis Township, Brown, Ohio, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 12, sheet 2A, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,242.
5. Longview Asylum (Carthage, OH). Annual Report of the Board of Directors and Superintendent of the Longview Asylum. 1906. Page 53. (books.google.com/books?id=jconAQAAMAAJ : 12 June 2018), Eva Emmons, dining room attendant.
6. Columbus State Hospital (Ohio). Annual Report of the Columbus State Hospital, to the Governor of the State of Ohio, for the Fiscal Year Ending November 15, 1907. 1908. Page 59.(books.google.com/books?id=ojtHAQAAMAAJ : 12 June 2018).
7. Board of Managers, Bellevue Hospital. Training School for Nurses. 46th Annual Report. (1919). Page 26. In Memoriam: Miss Eva Emmons. (archive.org/details/bellevuehospital1919boar : 12 June 2018)

   

   Headstone of Eva Emmons
   Suresnes American Cemetery
   

8.  United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch
   (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5ZD-ZD3 : accessed 13 June 2018), Eva Emmons, Manhattan Ward 18, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 954, sheet 11A, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1036; FHL microfilm 1,375,049.
9. The Society of Alumni of Bellevue Hospital. “A seven years' record of the Society of alumni of Bellevue hospital, 1915-1921; being the Year-book with memorials of those who died in the great war.” Page 48. Eva Emmons. (archive.org/details/sevenyearsrecord00bell : 12 June 2018)
10. “U.S. Army Hospitals Start for Belgium” New York Times, April 17, 1915, page 13.
11. Hôpital de la Croix-Rouge l'Océan (www.depanne.be/product/1451/35-hpital-de-la-croix-rouge-locean : 12 June 2018)
12. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, National Archives Record Group T715, roll 2450; digital image, Ancestry.com, ancestry.com (accessed 12 June 2018). Eva Emmons, S.S. Rotterdam, sailed 20 January 1916, Rotterdam, Netherlands, to New York, New York.
13. "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJP-MLW4 : 16 March 2018), Eva Emmons, 1916; citing Passport Application, source certificate #26487, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, Roll 310, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
14. Reckitt, Harold J. “V.R. 76 – A French Military Hospital” London: William Heinemann, 1921. (archive.org/stream/vr76frenchmilita00reckrich : 13 June 2018).
15. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, National Archives Record Group T715, roll 2531; digital image, Ancestry.com, ancestry.com (Access 12 June 2018). Eva Emmons, S.S. Espagne, sailed 23 June 1917, Bordeaux, France, to New York, New York.

    

    Memorial Plaque
    Flushing World War I Memorial
    

16. Lansden, D., et al. “Winifred Fairfax Warder.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 1919. 12(1), 93-106. (www.jstor.org/stable/40187080 : 12 June 2018)
17. “Women Die in Service” New York Tribune, October 19, 1918, page 13.
18. “Trunk is Restored to Kin of War Nurse” Los Angeles Evening Herald, 1 April 1920, Section 2, page 8. (cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19200401 : 12 June 1920.)
19. Flushing World War Memorial (www.nycgovparks.org/parks/flushing-fields/monuments/502 : accessed 12 June 2018.) 
20. Find A Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/55952779 : accessed 13 June 2018), memorial page for [Civilian] Eva Emmons (28 Nov 1886–11 Oct 1918), Memorial no. 55952779.

Copyright 2020 by Lisa A. Oberg, The Forgotten Fallen. All Rights Reserved.