Late last autumn, the Huron County Museum was fortunate enough to receive funding from the Federal Government to produce, among other things, two films about Huron County during the First World War.
Maud Stirling was originally from Bayfield.
One film was about Huron County on the Home Front (watch here!) and the other was supposed to be about Maud Stirling, a nurse from Bayfield who was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class. While doing background research for the films, I thought it would be interesting to see how many other women from Huron County enlisted as nursing sisters during the war, thinking I would only find a dozen or so more names. As of November 2016, 48 women with ties to Huron County have been identified as WWI nurses, with several other names on the “maybe” list. More research still needs to be done!
The list of names so far:
| Mary Agatha Bell
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Ellie Elizabeth Love
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| Mary Agnes Best
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Marjorie Kelly
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| Mary Ann Buchanan
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Clara Evelyn Malloy
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| Martha Verity Carling
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Mary Mason
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| Olive Maud Coad
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Jean McGilvray
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| Muriel Gwendoline Colborne
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Beatrice McNair
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| Lillian Mabel Cudmore
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Mary Wilson Miller
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| Alma Naomi Dancey
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Anna Edith Forest Neelin
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| Gertrude Donaldson (Petty)
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Bertha Broadfoot Robb
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| Mary Edna Dow
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Barbara Argo Ross
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| Lillian Beatrice Dowdell
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Katherine Scott
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| Elizabeth Dulmage
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Ella Dora Sherritt
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| Annie Isabel Elliott
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Jeanette Simpson
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| Frances M. Evans
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Emmaline Smillie
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| Annie Mae Ferguson
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Annie Evelyn Spafford
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| Clara Ferguson
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Annie Maud Stirling
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| Jean Molyneaux Ferguson
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Helen Caton Strang
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| Margaret Main Fortune
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Vera Edith Sotheran
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| Anna Ethel Gardiner
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Mabel Tom
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| Florence Graham
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Cora Washington (married name Buchanan)
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| Irene May Handford
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Annie Whitely (Hennings)
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| Bessie Maud Hanna
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Ann Webster Wilson
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| Ruth Johnson Hays
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Harriet Edith Wilson
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| Clara Hood
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Jessie Wilson
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Florence Graham was originally from Goderich, She was a nurse in the United States Army. She was killed in a car accident in France on May 27, 1919.
I learned that many women enlisted not just with the Canadian Army Medical Corps but also with the American or British Army. Here are just some of the resources I’ve used to help track down the nursing sisters and their stories:
Library and Archives Canada: for digitized personnel records, including Attestation Papers and service files
Great Canadian War Project: for an alphabetical list and nursing sister awards
The UK National Archives: for British Army nurses’ service records (caution – the records aren’t free)
Ancestry.ca: a number of different resources are useful on this site, including Imperial War Gratuities, 1919-1921 and New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919. You need a subscription to access Ancestry or you can visit your local Huron County Library branch for free access!
Digitized Newspapers: Huron County’s newspaper have be one of the most useful resources for tracking down names of nursing sisters
There are many more women and stories to discover and I am looking forward to continuing on with this intriguing research project. Stay tuned for some of my discoveries!