When I sat down to write today’s post, I didn’t think it would take long.  Four hours later, I’ve gone down a trail that has proved to be very interesting.  The editor of the Kinsley Graphic prefaced a letter published December 6, 1917 as “B. K. Lesley, formerly of Lewis but now in the Canadian Infantry in France, writes to his brother J. H. Lesley of Lewis as follows:”.  That statement made we wonder what a Lewis man was doing in the Canadian Infantry.

Through Find A Grave, I found that B. K.’s name was Bennett King Lesley.  He died at 90 years old on January 27, 1975 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  He was born in Lewis, Kansas, 134 years ago on March 9, 1884.  Subsequent research revealed that his parents, Henry and Martha Huckstep Lesley, were early pioneers having come to the area in 1879.  They had four sons and four daughters. Martha died in 1900 when Ben was just 16.  Henry served on the school board, and his daughters taught in schools, but I found no record that Bennett graduated from high school.  One of Ben’s older brothers, Herbert, died in 1909 when he was kicked by a mule.

I could not discover exactly why and when Ben left Edwards County.  He is not mentioned in the newspapers during the years before the war.  However, from 1903 thru 1914, Canada was heavily promoting homesteading opportunities in western Canada.  I found mention of several other Edwards County men investigating and/or moving to Canada.  The Kinsley Graphic of April 14, 1910 reported, “The exodus of our good citizens to Canada is steadily increasing,….It is estimated that not less than fifty thousand heads of families, most of them successful farmers, expatriated themselves in 1909 and took up home under the British flag….The lure of cheap land is strong, and as long as the Canadian Northwest offers its virgin prairies to home seekers at low prices, the rush of settlers is likely to continue.”  Perhaps Ben saw a better opportunity for himself in Canada and had been living there for a few years before the war.

Of the 619,636 soldiers in the Canadian army during WWI, at least 35,612 were American citizens by birth.  Some American men were angered by the 1914 invasion of neutral Belgium by the German armies attacking France.  Some felt the United States should help defend France, which had been its staunch ally during the American Revolution.  Some may have just been seeking adventure.  Whatever the reason, I do know that Ben Lesley joined the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on November 24, 1916 in Vancouver.

At this point, I found B. K. Lesley’s complete Canadian army records online.  So far, I do not have a picture of Ben, but he is described as 32 years of age, 5’ 10 ¾”, medium complexion, brown hair, gray eyes, 20-20 vision, perfect hearing, and no fillings or dental problems.  By trade he was an engineer and by faith, a Methodist.  He was #2020155 and assigned to the 11^th regiment of the 47^th battalion, Canadian infantry.  He trained, perhaps at New Westminster, BC.
On May 28, 1917, Private Lesley sailed out of Halifax for England on a British ocean liner, the RMS Olympic.  I doubt Ben knew it, but his father had died back in Lewis the day before he sailed.   In a letter written on June 16, 1916 to his brother James, Ben describes the journey.

“I arrived in England about a week ago, after a trip lasting two weeks and a half.  We had a fine trip over.  The ocean was just like a mill pond all the way and we were on a fine boat.  It was almost like being in a town and I wasn’t a bit sea sick, in fact, if I thought the water would always be as smooth I would be a sailor or a pirate or something in that line.”  (Hutchinson News, July 24, 1917)

Besides having a calm sea, Ben’s trip was enhanced by the “fine boat” he was on.  The RMS Olympic, which was launched in 1910, reigned as the largest ocean liner in the world from 1911-1913 except for the very brief time that the RMS Titanic sailed on her tragic maiden voyage.  The Olympic and the other large ocean liner of the day, the HMHS Britannic, had been turned into troopships.  The latter struck a mine and sank off the coast of Greece in 1916.  The Olympic survived the war and sailed until 1935 earning it the nickname “Old Reliable”.

During the war, Private B. K. Lesley wrote letters back to his brother James.  I’ll share one with you in my next post and then from time to time as they appear in the papers of 100 years ago.

Doing research can sometimes be a challenge.  Today’s post involves a letter from Augustus P. Hann to the editor, James M. Lewis, of the Kinsley Graphic which was published on February 14, 1918.  I had come across A. P. (Gus, Gust) several years ago when I was researching the literary women of the area.  He and his widowed mother, Ila Taylor Hann, had come in 1908 to Edwards County where her father, James D. Taylor, and brother, E.D. Taylor, were prominent ranchers and business men. It took me quite a while to figure out that a Kinsley lawyer and founder of Jetmore by the name of Thomas S. Haun had divorced his wife in order to marry Ila in May, 1911.  Thus, Mrs. Hann became Mrs. Haun.  If that was not confusing enough, finding out about Gus was made more difficult when his name was misspelled “Hahn” in the Kinsley Mercury.  If you are into genealogy research, you know that name spelling can cause problems.

Augustus Phillip was born to Ila and Louis J. Hann on December 15, 1888 in New Jersey.  Gus’ father died in 1897 which probably helped bring about the move when Gus was twenty years old.  In July, 1912 Gus married Nellie in Houston, Texas.  They came back to Kinsley where he set up a poultry farm.  By 1917 he was working for the post office when he registered for the draft on June 5.  He was number 12 of the 708 men who registered in Edwards County.  In July, the numbers for the order of the draft were drawn in Washington, D. C., and number 12 was the 541^st number drawn.  Despite having this high draft number, the August 16 issue of the Kinsley Mercury reported that “Gust Hahn, Assistant Postmaster, of the Kinsley Post Office, has been accepted as a candidate for a commission in the U.S. army and leaves the 25^th of this month to begin his work in the school for officers at Ft. Sheridan, Ill.  There is little doubt in the minds of those who know Gust that he will meet the requirements, however, stringent they may be.”
During World War I Fort Sheridan served as an induction and training center for the midwest

The November 29 issue reported that “The many friends of Gust Hahn were deeply gratified, though not at all surprised, to learn from telegrams sent here that he had been granted the commission of second lieutenant.  This paper predicted that Mr. Hahn would have no trouble in getting a commission for Uncle Sam never misses an opportunity to place responsibility on a man who is qualified to carry it and it is the ability to concentrate his mind on the intelligent management of his own affairs that made this honor possible.  Gus will arrive on Thursday morning to eat Thanksgiving dinner with relatives.  His wife who has been with friends in Texas will join him here.”  Nov 29, 1917, Kinsley Mercury

Three months later, Gus wrote this thoughtful letter back home.

My Dear Jim

No matter what one thinks when we go into a thing, it is always lots different than it looks.  We talked about it being a long time until we could hear from each other, and believe me it has seemed like months to me since I said good bye, to all of you, and all that is near and dear to me, except the cause that brought me here on this wild storm-ridden, and still magnificent ocean.  I hope it may be my lot, to return to all of you and tell you about it.  It is indeed an experience of a life time and were it not for the fact that a torpedo may decide at any moment to make us vacate in its favor, it would be a very pleasant life indeed.  We have nothing to do but ride, how many miles we have gone has long since failed to be of interest.  The prime factor now is how long will be before we see some land.  Once in a while we see a ship at a great distance, but very seldom close in on one.  Have been on board twenty one days today without getting our feet on land.  Most of the fellows take it as a matter of course, which is the best way, but some have an awful time wondering and surmising and fretting, because things do not suit them.  It has been very cold a couple of times.  Altho it was fine while we were in the Gulf Stream.  We are learning a little French, but I have an awful time making my mouth believe that it was ever meant to be twisted up in that manner.  I think that I shall have to talk with my hands or get a new mouth.  The room steward on this boat was a Belgian.  The Germans carried away his mother and two sisters, when they took Antwerp, and killed his wife.  He has three little bits of tots.  We have several sailors that have been on torpedoed ships, and it looks a great deal different when one learns that all the things that we heard really did happen.  Well Jim I don’t suppose I ever before sat down and wrote letters, that I didn’t know whether they would ever get mailed or not.  But I am sure doing it tonight.  But I am not regretting it.  I would hate to “go out” without getting a whack at the Huns.  But if such is my fate that it will have to be.  Now course all my life, there have been lots of things that I have regretted and at a time like this you feel them that much worse.  But Jim I am glad I am here; this is America’s battle.  It is our war, as much as anybody’s and I cannot help but believe I will get through it alright.  I hope you have all managed to keep well, I am feeling fine.  Just a little blue once in a while.  We get wireless news every day and I understand it has been very cold in the States, I hope you had a good snow along with it, to help out in another year’s wheat crop.

Any time you think it is a joke about Uncle Sam’s gunners being good shots, you miss it.  These sailor boys played around with a barrel the other day that was floating around out here in this pond in a way that would make a strong man sick.  Believe me there isn’t money enough in the world to tempt me into a barrel they are going to use for a target.  Well it is getting pretty late now.  I understand we will be limited in the amount of mail that we send.  If such is the case my letters will be few and far between, but whenever you can, write me.  I will be glad to hear as often as I can.

Sincerely, Gus

“Two dimes and a nickle may make but a
But war Thrift Stamps put the Kaiser in a pickle.  Salt him down.” 

During World War I, war expenses totaled $33 billion, and the Treasury Department sold approximately $21 billion worth of Liberty Bonds to meet the nation’s new financial demands. Edwards County citizens showed strong support in their purchase of Liberty Bonds, but not everyone had $50 to buy one.  On January 1, 1918, the treasury department began another way that even the poorest citizens and the children could give patriotic support.  They developed an installment plan which also fostered the traditional value of saving. The Kinsley School system enthusiastically embraced this plan which was explained in the January 17, 1918 issue of the Kinsley Graphic,

 “The Thrift Stamp movement inaugurated by the government is getting hold of the pupils in our schools. Teachers are stimulating their pupils in healthy rivalry with other rooms in this matter.  At the present Miss Folger’s room is ahead.  The stamps are kept in the office, and pupils are buying them every day.  As soon as one of the Thrift Cards is filled (it holds sixteen Thrift Stamps) the pupil takes it and twelve cents to the postoffice or to one of the banks and gets a Baby Bond.”

       Once 10 Baby Bonds were collected, they could then be exchanged for a $50 Liberty Bond. Baby Bonds, like Liberty Bonds, drew interest.  The campaign began on 2 January 1918 and closed at the year’s end. When the War Savings Stamps matured on 1 January 1923, the Treasury Department promised to pay the sum of five dollars for each certificate. In little more than a year over $1 billion was raised in this campaign, fulfilling its ideological and financial purposes

The February 21, 1918 issue of the Graphic made another plea.

“Can children be taught to save?  They certainly can, and this is one of the greatest lessons that childhood and youth need to be taught.  It may be a little difficult under ordinary conditions to inculcate in our youth the principles of thrift, but during these stenuous war times it will not require much effort if the advantages of saving are kept continually before our boys and girls.

The schools of our city are making a great effort to build up the habit of savng, while at the same time they are helping the government in a patriotic way.  On Saturday, the 2^nd of this month, Mr. Baugher compiled a list of thrift stamps and baby bonds held now by the different schoolrooms of the city.  It was found that 129 baby bonds and 384 thrift stamps are now owned.  This is an excellent showing, but we hope that our young people have only made a beginning. The pupils ought to be buying thrift stamps every day.  The teachers are boosting this movement all they can.  Every parent is urged to help.  Teach the children thrift.”

  It’s interesting that in recent conflicts neither the general public nor the children have been called on to sacrifice or support our military to such an extent. 

I will be continuing Chester Bidleman’s letter that I started In the last post.  It was written to his mother from Camp Doniphan and published in the Kinsley Graphic on February 21, 1918

“We were issued the rest of our equipment yesterday, even to bayonets and hob-hailed shoes. Of course, everyone is in love with the hob-nailed shoes.  They are so heavy that the two pair we are issued will last the rest of the war, even if it continues for fifty years.  At least they feel that way when we walk a mile or two in them.

Part of our company is to guard the lake from which the camp gets its water supply, for a week.

One day last week an airplane broke a propeller and came down just west of us.  A man on a motorcycle saw him coming, so got off and ran. Guess he thought that in a case like that he could outrun a motorcycle.  The airplane demolished the motorcycle, however.

Last Thursday night the grenade class made a night attack on the snipers’ class.  The snipers were in the trenches.  We had to crawl through barbwire entanglements.  Nearly all of us got stuck in the wire, but finally managed to get through.  We had to crawl through on our backs. We use lumps of dirt for grenades, but not one got him, and it ended by both sides claiming a victory.

All the corporals and sergeants have been given combination cartridge belts for carrying both pistol and rifle cartridges.  We do not have our automatic pistols yet,  Am glad we are going to get pistols, as I think I would much rather shoot a German than chase him around trying to get a chance to stick him with a bayonet.  They tell us the Germans don’t like bayonets, but I don’t think any of us do either.

 Well, it is supper-time, and of course I can’t miss out on that.
Sincerely, Chester”

Perhaps the bayonet was like this Remington M1917.

Chester had several interesting post scripts to this letter.

“PS — Have my new wool suit at last, but it fits as though it had been “picked” a little too soon.  But guess wool material is a little hard to get.”

Through sarcasm, Chester reveals that his uniform was made of 8.2 ounce cotton khaki. This is February and they are about to be sent to France where it is probably still cold and very wet.  Wool repels water and at the same time holds heat, so I find it interesting that they are receiving cotton uniforms.

 PS continued — “Another boy of our company died last Thursday of pneumonia.”

Because the dates match, this undoubtedly is Hugh Matthews that I wrote about in Post #46.  One of the artifacts that the Bidlemans allowed me to scan for the display is a panoramic picture of the company that was taken in November.  I imagine Hugh is in this picture but I have no other image of him to be able to pick him out.  It would be good if I could locate a relative who might have a picture so I could do so.

PS continued – “Have been helping in the quartermaster’s room for the past two days and have not had to drill much the past week.

Yes, I still have to go on guard, but a corporal gets to stay in the guard-house, and he does not have to “walk” a post and does not have to get on working details, unless he wants to, and you can imagine how many they get on.”

Chester has been promoted to corporal at this time.  Previously he mentions getting the combination cartridge belts and now he talks of lighter duty.

 PS continued – “Don’t be afraid of getting the socks too heavy, for we can wear socks an inch think with the big hob-nailed boots”.

The women back home knitted socks, sweaters, and wristlets for the young men.  See Post #25 for more information.

The letter ends there.  I’ll be sharing more from Chester’s letters and diary in future posts as he proceeds to France and fights in the trenches.

I just changed my foyer display to feature Chester W. Bidleman who served in the trenches in France.  Chester’s granddaughter, Lucinda, recently came to visit her father, Bill John.  She generously brought in and shared Chester’s memorabilia with us to scan for this display and to archive in our collection.

Chester wrote letters and kept a small diary during his months of service. The diary is in such good shape, I can only imagine that he carried it in a small tin box or leather case for protection during those hard days.  I will be excerpting Chester’s diary and letters in future posts during the next few months as we follow his war experiences.  But first, a little bit about Chester.

Chester was born January 18, 1895 in Seward, KS to William and Etta Bell Bidleman.  The family came to Edwards County by 1908.  Chester graduated from Kinsley High School in 1913.  He went on to Kansas State Normal College (Emporia) for two years and became a teacher of mathematics in Greeley, Kansas.
              1913 H.S. Graduation                        1915 College Graduation                    1916 – Teaching
(Below)  Chester and Cyrus C. Barnes, 1917
According to Chester’s diary, on April 24, 1917 in Burlington, Kansas, he “put down his John Henry to join the army.”  He took his physical the next day and was accepted for enlistment into Company C, First Kansas Infantry. 

He wrote on his Service Record forms that he reported “at a rendezvous” on August 5, 1917.  The U.S. Army made getting typhoid shots mandatory for all its enlisted soldiers, and Chester started his series on August 5. He signed a muster roll for the first time on August 31 and received his first month’s pay on September 30.  (It is uncertain, but he may have been at Camp Funston during this time.

He left Burlington for Camp Doniphan, Oklahoma on September 30 for six months of training.  The following excerpt is from a letter which was published in the Kinsley Graphic on February 21, 1918 and appears to be an answer to a letter from his mother.

“Dear mama:

This is the nicest day we have had here for a long while, and can hardly stay inside, as I suppose tomorrow the dirt will be flying again.  We did not drill two afternoons the last week, as the dust was blowing so much that we couldn’t see where we were going.  The dirt is almost as bad inside the tents as outside.

Hope we leave before March 1^st, if it is any worse then than now.  I do not have any ideas as to when we will leave.  No. the report that we are to stay here sixteen more weeks is not an order – just some more Great Bend Tribune dope, is all.  We will likely leave sometime in March.  We were to have left before now, but the 32nd division was better trained and took our place.  If we had gone, part of us would have been on the Tuscania.  Guess there is some advantage in being poor soldiers….”

Chester is referring to the February 5, 1918, sinking of the Tuscania.  This luxury liner was turned into an American troop ship and was en route to Britain with more than 2,013 American soldiers and a crew of 384 on board.   It was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-77 in the North Channel and sank.   210 lives were lost, either by drowning in the seas or being dashed to death on the rocks. The Tuscania was the first ship carrying American troops to be sunk in the war, and the American public was outraged by its loss.

Look for more reprinted from Chester’s letter in my next post.

  Because World War I soldiers and sailors are often forgotten, this blog is an effort to remember their service and sacrifice.  One hundred years ago today, February 8, 1918, this area had its first casualty.  Hugh Matthews died at Camp Doniphan in Oklahoma (now part of Fort Sill)..  The February 14 issue of the Graphic reported it this way:

“The death of this young man brings the war closer to us, especially to those of us who have sons in the army, for he was the first to return to us stilled in death and we cannot but wonder who will be next.”

It had been reported the week before that Hugh was ill with pneumonia and that his brother John had gone to Camp Doniphan to be with him.  When Hugh died, John accompanied his body on the train back to Kinsley.

“They were met here by many friends, and escorted to the city limits by the Home Guard.  The body was taken to the old home near Crescent, south of this city, and the funeral was held at Bethel the following afternoon, and the remains were laid to rest in the Parkhurst cemetery escorted by a firing squad from the Home Guard of this city, the Home Guard of Mullinville, and the many hundreds of friends and neighbors.”

Hugh had been born September 3, 1890 in Green County, Tennessee to Mary Ann (Haun) and W. T. Matthews.    Around 1911, the family had come to the Crescent community (also called Bethel) which was located due south of Kinsley on 17^th Avenue at the Edwards/Kiowa County line.  I found a couple items about Hugh in the local newspapers which show him to have the typical interests of a young man.  In December 1912 the Graphic wrote:  “There is considerable complaint because Hugh Matthews went off on a visit to his old home in Tennessee, without bidding his best girl goodbye, however he sent back word that he would not stay very long.”  In December, 1916, the Kiowa County Signal reported that he had purchased a new Ford.  He was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.  Hugh continued to live with his family until he enlisted in the army on September 21, 1917.  He was a member of the 110^th Engineer Regiment and was in training at Camp Doniphan when he contracted pneumonia.

The Graphic article continues to describe his funeral:  “The concourse was so great that the church building was far too small, but it was a beautiful day and so the services were held out of doors.  Elder A. S. Allphin of Pawnee Rock, an old friend of the family, stood on the steps of the church while in front of him was placed the casket, containing all that was left of a fine soldier lad, draped with the stars and stripes and covered with a wealth of beautiful flowers.  There were fully fifteen hundred people present to show by their presence their high regard and affection for the deceased and his family, and Mr. Allphin’s funeral address touched the hearts of his hearers and was a source of comfort and consolation to Hugh’s relatives and friends.” 

Hugh was survived by his parents, W. T. and Mary Ann Haun Matthews and nine brothers and sisters.

“That there will be many similar occasion we cannot doubt, as we watch the storm clouds of war darken our horizon, and we can but pray and hope that we may be spared the great personal loss and sorrow that has come to our friends in the death of a loved son and brother.”
 
Hugh Matthews                                             Bethel Cemetery

As in the past, one thing always seems to lead to another in this blog.  In my last post about young Robert Wilson a mention was made of his big brother Albert being at the navy medical reserve at Great Lakes training camp.  I’m sure this is what probably heightened Robert’s dedication to the war cause.  Albert and his two other brothers had preceded Robert in the Boy Scouts.  The 1905 picture below is of Fred, Albert, and Jerome Wilson  (Kinsley-Edwards County Centennial 1873-1973)
    

“Albert Edgar Wilson was born on January 20, 1896 and graduated from Kinsley High School in 1915 president of the class).  Albert was the first of the Wilson family to go to college at the University of Kansas but according to one source, “his mother missed him so much, he came home after a year.”  (Wilson Thornberry Family History book)

The Wilson brothers were quite musical and formed an orchestra to play at dances.  Myrtle Richardson wrote in her book, The Great Next Year Country, “At the time the Palace theatre was opened (1917), the old silent movies were all that were offered.  Back ground music was furnished for the pictures…Albert Wilson and Robert Wilson were two of the members of the Wilson orchestra which helped to make the early day movies come to life.”   

Albert enlisted in the navy in July, 1917 and wrote a very interesting letter to the Kinsley Graphic editor from the Great lakes training center in Chicago, Illinois.  It was originally published November 29, 1917, and I have printed an excerpt below.

“….All of us are housed in steam-heated barracks now, and have things a little like home.  Of course we have to sleep in hammocks, but like everything else they are not so bad after you are used to them.  The rub is getting used to them.  They are nothing but a large piece of canvas which is hung eight feet from the floor.  A fellow has to be quite an acrobat to get into them, and worse that that to stay there.  On has to sleep on his back, and you know that position has a funny effect upon most persons, consequently all night long there is no such thing as silence, it’s just one long snore.  I believe that an author could spend a night with us and write a book or at least at article on his experience, but like working in a boiler shop, you soon get used to it.

We get up at 5 o’clock the year around, so the old salts say, and for that reason I am ready to go to bed about 8 every evening.  We get up, or hit the deck, to use the salty expression, take our watch and turn to and swab down the decks.  We have breakfast at 7 and then loaf until 8, when we in the hospital start to school.  We knock off for chow at 11:30.  At 1 o’clock classes are resumed and we recite and listen to lectures until 3 o’clock.  If the weather is nice we have an hour at litter drill after classes, but lately we have just been loafing during that time.  From then until 9 o’clock we are free to use as we see fit. 

Every one up here likes it fine, although at first it was a little hard upon us, as very few of us knew what discipline or regular hours were.  The officers are very lenient with us at all times, and if a fellow tries to do right he will get along all right.

One thing that surprised me here was the food.  I didn’t think that it was possible to serve so many men so well.  Of course it is not like sitting down to a meal at home, but nevertheless, everything is clean, well-seasoned, and plentiful.  Like the most of the families, for that is what we are, we have our little wheatless and meatless days…..”

Albert would serve 28 months in the navy and  be discharged September 16, 1919.  He became one of the charter members of the American Legion post in Kinsley.  He married Annette Kauzer in 1926 and they owned Al n’ Annette’s Diner in Kinsley and was the Kinsley City Manager for a number of years.

While looking for the picture of G.E. Wilson, the Edwards County Food Administrator mentioned in Post #41, I came upon this picture of his son, Robert, in a Wilson-Thornberry Family History book given to the library.  it is labeled “Bob Wilson & Tuffy.”

In Post #42 I reported that the Boy Scouts were distributing tags for shovels to remind people to conserve coal.  Then, this week, while reading the February 14, 1918 issue of the Kinsley Graphic, I found the following article which ties these things together.

“A Neighborhood General

 Not all the able generals helping to win this war are on the French front or in the training camps not all of them have yet been given the commissions they have earned by valuable service in their country.  We have one in our neighborhood in the uniform of a Boy Scout and his initials are Robert Wilson.  He is busy all the time seeing that we do our part.  He made everybody buy Liberty Bonds, and has sold $7,100 in the two drives.  For selling the first 10 he received a medal and certificate with the president’s signature and having sold 30 bonds has another coming.

 He brings us all the literature from the food conservation department, not leaving it on the porch, but seeing that you get it.  He tags our shovels, and buys Thrift Stamps and Baby Bonds.  We suggest that Hoover make him food dictator for our neighborhood which is known all over town as “Piety Park.”  If he was we should have to toe the mark in saving food to win the war. 

 He sets all of the grown-ups in Piety Park such an example of earnest sincere work in doing his part that we all do our part of war work a little better.

 This young soldier, working between school hours for his country, is the youngest of the four sons of Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Wilson.  His biggest brother, Albert, is in the medical reserve at Great Lakes Training camp.

 Robert is doing more than his share to whip his imperial malignity, the German Kaiser.”

 This article was written a week before Robert Wilson’s fifteenth birthday.  And just a note about “Piety Park” mentioned in the article.  It was what the local people called the homes in the vicinity of all the churches — from the Methodist on Marsh Street, to the Congregational, Episcopal, Christian Christ on Niles Avenue, and the Church of Christ a little further down Eighth Street.  The Wilson home was at 321 Eighth Street, just about across the street from where the old Church of Christ stood.

H. G. Britton (Photo shared by W. G. Britton)
100 years ago today a letter from Harold Gale (H. G.) Britton to his Uncle David Gibson was published in the Kinsley Graphic.  He was 21 years old when he wrote it from the aviation ground school at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

“This is a military school connected with Cornell University.  There are about 500 students studying how to be officers in the aviation section.  The school draws from as far west as Chicago.  You get wireless, engine work, aeroplane work, drill, machine guns, army regulations.  In fact everything an officer should know.  Wireless and machine guns I have found the hardest so far as I have gone, but they can be learned all right.  The system used is mostly lectures and short recitations.  They certainly cram it to you, and the secret of it all is to have a wonderful memory and to pay attention.

We are quartered in a big armory and most of the class rooms are in different towers, which are on all four corners of the building.  The armory here is the largest in the state which makes it some building.”

Hundreds of future pilots had quarters in this newly built New York State Armory and Drill Hall.  I found the following pictures of a class of cadets and the barracks in the armory accompanying an article, “Cornell Rewind:  A great school faces the Great War” by Elaine Engst and Blaine Friedlander, published in the Cornell Chronicle, January 22, 2015 issue.  The barracks picture was taken in 1918, the same time H. G. was there.


According to the Chronical article, “For the pilots, final exams required comprehensive and skillful answers. In the engines class, students saw questions like ‘What are the advantages of [a] double ignition system for airplane motors?’ or ‘How many times per second does the interrupter break the primary current of a magneto which is furnishing the ignition for an eight cylinder engine running 1400 rpm?’ or ‘Make a sketch of a two-gear oil pump, showing path of oil and direction of rotation of gears.’”

In this same letter H.G. describes the Thomas Morse Aeroplane Factory and Engine Works that was also in Ithaca:  “They are employing lots of men, and wages are very high for this class of work in the east. They are testing planes out every day, using Cayuga Lake as a flying field.  The lake is frozen over completely now, some 40 miles long and various widths, so is some lake.  A fellow was up yesterday, using an air cooled motor, some 19,000 feet, getting lost and landing 50 miles from here at Syracuse, coming back on a direct line made the 50 miles in 30 minutes flat.  That is moving right along.”

The only other reference I could find to H. G.’s military service is his name appears as a Private in the Signal Corps Aviation School in Chandlefield, Pennsylvania  (Congressional Record, October 3, 1918).  His father, notified the Graphic that he arrived safely overseas (October 3, 1918 Graphic).  Four months later, with the war over, the January 9, 1919 Graphic reported “Sergeant Britton who had been instructing in aviation In England for some months” had recently been discharged and was back visiting in Lewis.

H. G. settled in Kinsley, starting the Britton Motor Company and marrying Florene Colver in May, 1926.