Maude Frances Essig
by Molly Daniel, Charleston, IL (maryjdaniel@outlook.com)
Frances Essig was born 29 November 1884 on a farm near Elkhart, Indiana, daughter of Lewis Essig and Mary Eliza Leininger; she died 6 September 1981 at the VA Center in Dayton, OH at the age of 96.
She received her nursing education from Passavant Memorial Hospital School of Nursing (Chicago, IL), graduating in 1907. Prior to accepting a position at Elkhart General Hospital (Elkhart, IN), she worked for the Chicago Visiting Nurse Association as a school nurse, infant welfare nurse, tuberculosis nurse, and industrial nurse.
Maude joined U.S. Army Base Hospital 32 on 7 September 1917 and served overseas at Contrexeville, France, from 26 December 1918 to 20 February 1919. The hospital received its first American wounded in March 1918, with greater numbers arriving in July 1918 from battles near Château-Thierry. During this time, Maude cared for 130 patients on her floor – with only herself and one orderly to provide care. In the main surgical hospital, housed in Hotel Cosmopolitan, one of the town’s many hotels, patients were carried down seven flights of stairs to surgery and then back up seven flights to recover in the ward. There were no elevators. Maude wrote in her journal:
“These are busy nights and busier days. Miss Elder, charge nurse is anxious for me to get off night duty and relieve her, says she can't take it, our patients are coming directly from The Front and they say it is terrible, lying there waiting for help to come. All come
in awful condition, no previous care has been given to their wounds. It takes a lot of soaking to clean their wounds, dried blood, filth and dirt and lice. The bath house is not
able to cope with the situation and neither can our limited staff and walking patients. Four of our nurses left for the Front, conditions are worse there. We do have a roof, a floor and everyone is fed after a fashion. No one works less than 12 hours in 24 and most of us do more. I see no one these days but my patients. I am happier than any time since in France, I feel I am really needed. No deaths yet.”
From the end of September to November, casualties from Meuse-Argonne were heavy and the hospital was busy. The census on Maude’s floor swelled to 190 (covered by two nurses and two orderlies.) Finally, news of the Armistice came and Contrexeville rejoiced:
“When the news became official at 11 AM the Mayor, through the Town Crier, declared a Holiday, flags were immediately displayed and there was much rejoicing and many tears were shed. The local people were sick at heart to realize their sons would never return. Our firing squad fired the twenty-one volleys as an Honorary Salute. The Mayor kissed Col. Clark on both cheeks, and their [sic] was much hand shaking, no shouting, no band and very little drinking, many of the local homes, lawns, doorways and roofs are decorated with colored lights and the whole town was lighted for the first time since our arrival. Everything looks festive, I was on duty, all day but made some divinity in evening to celebrate.”
The hospital continued to receive patients through December, but preparations began for ceasing operations. In mid-December, Maude received a token of gratitude from a local citizen:
“Yesterday, a former civilian patient, the husband of our floor maid presented me with a skinned rabbit, beautifully wrapped in a snowy white napkin, some one who knows said the gift would have cost $4.00. The patient had a badly infected hand, I took care of him and he was satisfied with results. Mary Houser fried the rabbit on our wee stove. I will never know how, but it was delicious as were the fried potatoes. Bread, butter and cherry preserves, a real banquet!”and he was satisfied with results. Mary Houser fried the rabbit on our wee stove. I will never know how, but it was delicious as were the fried potatoes. Bread, butter and cherry preserves, a real banquet!”
On 20 February 1919, Maude departed Contrexeville with others from Base Hospital 32 to begin their trip home. On March 2, most nurses boarded the SS America at Brest for the voyage home. (Due to lack of space, eleven nurses and one civilian employee were asked to wait for the next debarkation, which occurred ten days later.) Maude’s ship docked at Hoboken, NJ, on 13 March 1919, and after she released from duty on 4 May 1919, Maude returned to civilian service.
From 1920-1922 Maude resumed duties as Director of Nursing at the Elkhart General Hospital, with a brief stint as an instructor of the training school of the Women’s Christian Hospital in Jamestown, NY. From 1924-1940, she served as the director of the Brokaw Hospital School of Nursing, Normal, Illinois; director of nursing at the hospital; then administrator of the hospital from 1930 to 1940. During World War II, Maude served as the assistant director of nursing at Passavant Memorial Hospital in Chicago, from which she retired in 1948.
From 1952 to 1981, Maude Essig lived at the Veterans Administration Center in Dayton, Ohio, a retirement home for persons with military service. When she died on 6 September 1981, she was buried, at her own request, in the Dayton National Military Cemetery, Section 19, Site 1699. (In addition, a stone was placed in her honor in the Prairie Street Cemetery in Elkhart, IN.)
After her death in 1981, Maude’s nephew found among her belongings an unpublished 68-page manuscript about her time in Contrexeville. He presented the journal to one of Maude’s former students, who donated it to the archives of Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL. Her journal provides a descriptive and personal account of Maude’s experience as a WW I nurse. A digital edition of Maude Essig’s wartime journal is available from Illinois Wesleyan University Historical Collection and can be viewed online at this link:
http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/iwu_histph/id/1247
N.B.: Another former student, Alma S. Woolley, published an account of Maude’s experience with some excerpts from her journal. See Wooley, Alma S. A Hoosier Nurse in France: The World War I Diary of Maude Frances Essig. Indiana Magazine of History (a publication of the Indiana University Department of History), Volume 82, Issue 1, March 1986, pp. 37-68. Access online at https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/10683/15078
Photo credits:
Three images are from the Unit History of Base Hospital 32 (Hitz, Benjamin D. A history of Base Hospital 32, including Unit R. Indianapolis, 1922.) These images are in the public domain.
BH32-0021a.jpg - Hotel Cosmopolitan, Contrexeville (Hospital A, in which Maude worked on the second and fourth floors)
BH32-0021b.jpg - Personnel of Hospital A (not individually identified)
BH32-0034b.jpg - the Town Crier of Contrexeville (not identified by name in the unit history); because of the shortage of paper, official news and public announcements were communicated by the town crier
The (undated) image of Maude Essig is from the Tate Archives & Special Collections, The Ames Library, of Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL. This image and permission for use on the Army Nurse Corps website of the US World War One Centennial Commission is provided by the Tate Archives & Special Collections (per correspondence with Meg Miner, University Archivist & Special Collection Librarian, email address: mminer@iwu.edu.) Unless approved in advance, the image must be used unaltered (not cropped, overprinted, etc.) Appropriate acknowledgement in a caption is "the Tate Archives & Special Collections, The Ames Library, of Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL."