Confronting the Modern Era
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Read excerpts from journals and letters from the nuns and people who worked with them.
The entries only identify people by the initial of their last name. It is not known if the entries were written that way or later changed by the Anglican Church that printed them.
August 27
Met man with a telegram, who stopped us and said, “Read that.” I read, “Father and Mother are lying dead in the house, brother is dying, send me some help, no money,” signed Sallie U….We went at once. Found small neat house, pretty young girl, one corpse on the sofa, tall young man in bed, delirious, rocking himself back and forth…I did what I could….I just crawled home and fairly dropped into bed, first time for three nights.
Met man with a telegram, who stopped us and said, “Read that.” I read, “Father and Mother are lying dead in the house, brother is dying, send me some help, no money,” signed Sallie U….We went at once. Found small neat house, pretty young girl, one corpse on the sofa, tall young man in bed, delirious, rocking himself back and forth…I did what I could….I just crawled home and fairly dropped into bed, first time for three nights.
Sister Constance, Sister Superior
Diary entry
August 29
Yesterday I found two young girls, who had spent two days in a two-room cottage with the unburied bodies of their parents…One grows perfectly hardened to these things—carts, with eight or nine corpses in rough boxes, are ordinary sights. I saw a nurse stop one today and ask for a certain man’s residence—the negro driver just pointed over his shoulder with his whip at the heap of coffins behind him and answered, “I’ve got him here in his coffin.”….Four Romish priests died today and one Sister.
Yesterday I found two young girls, who had spent two days in a two-room cottage with the unburied bodies of their parents…One grows perfectly hardened to these things—carts, with eight or nine corpses in rough boxes, are ordinary sights. I saw a nurse stop one today and ask for a certain man’s residence—the negro driver just pointed over his shoulder with his whip at the heap of coffins behind him and answered, “I’ve got him here in his coffin.”….Four Romish priests died today and one Sister.
Sister Constance
In a letter to her mother
August 31
At Mrs. F.’s I found the nurse ill on the floor. Lucy died. Mr. H. dying. His young daughters, E. and B. here. Fanny S. dead. Dr. Harris, the wise and holy priest upon whom we depended daily for direction, and much of our strength was stricken with the fever.
At Mrs. F.’s I found the nurse ill on the floor. Lucy died. Mr. H. dying. His young daughters, E. and B. here. Fanny S. dead. Dr. Harris, the wise and holy priest upon whom we depended daily for direction, and much of our strength was stricken with the fever.
Sister Constance
Diary entry
Diary entry
September 1
Friday I was called to see, at the Whitemore House, a sick family consisting of a mother and two children…They were bringing down the stairs the remains of the son. In a little room at the head of the stairs the faithful nurse composed the body of the little daughter in death, and on the bed hard by the mother was breathing her last…Why, it is a perfect waste of death, and destitution, and desolation all around us here.
Friday I was called to see, at the Whitemore House, a sick family consisting of a mother and two children…They were bringing down the stairs the remains of the son. In a little room at the head of the stairs the faithful nurse composed the body of the little daughter in death, and on the bed hard by the mother was breathing her last…Why, it is a perfect waste of death, and destitution, and desolation all around us here.
Rev. Charles Parsons, Rector of Grace Church
In a letter to Bishop Charles Quintard
September 2
Sisters Helen and Ruth arrived from New York, and with them Sister Clare from Boston. [The church had put out an appeal for assistance.]…Sister Thecla came in hastily and called me. She said: “Sister, give me some garments in which to bury a girl…This is the fourth in the same family that I have seen die..Oh, it is heart-breaking! One can do so little.”
Sisters Helen and Ruth arrived from New York, and with them Sister Clare from Boston. [The church had put out an appeal for assistance.]…Sister Thecla came in hastily and called me. She said: “Sister, give me some garments in which to bury a girl…This is the fourth in the same family that I have seen die..Oh, it is heart-breaking! One can do so little.”
Unknown St. Mary’s Sister
Entry in church journal
September 7
Sister Constance and Sister Thecla were taken with the fever the day before yesterday, and Dr. Armstrong told us this morning he has no hope for either one: they are very ill. Mr. Parsons died this morning…
There are nearly fifty children here now [Canfield Orphanage]; we have no clean clothes, and it is utterly impossible to get any washing done. An old negro cooks for us, and his wife takes care of six little children. It looks utterly hopeless, and all we can do is to go on until each one drops…Money is quite useless; there is plenty of money here, but it buys no head to plan, no hands to wash, nor the common necessaries of life.
Sister Constance and Sister Thecla were taken with the fever the day before yesterday, and Dr. Armstrong told us this morning he has no hope for either one: they are very ill. Mr. Parsons died this morning…
There are nearly fifty children here now [Canfield Orphanage]; we have no clean clothes, and it is utterly impossible to get any washing done. An old negro cooks for us, and his wife takes care of six little children. It looks utterly hopeless, and all we can do is to go on until each one drops…Money is quite useless; there is plenty of money here, but it buys no head to plan, no hands to wash, nor the common necessaries of life.
Sister Ruth
Letter to the Sisters at Trinity Infirmary, New York
Letter to the Sisters at Trinity Infirmary, New York
September 10
Our hearts ache, and we have not many words: and yet you must know all. Yesterday morning, dear Sister Constance entered into rest…Few know what a wonderful life it was that ended, for this world, when Sister Constance died…She was but thirty-three years old when called away; a woman of exquisite grace, tenderness, and loveliness of character…
Our hearts ache, and we have not many words: and yet you must know all. Yesterday morning, dear Sister Constance entered into rest…Few know what a wonderful life it was that ended, for this world, when Sister Constance died…She was but thirty-three years old when called away; a woman of exquisite grace, tenderness, and loveliness of character…
Sister Ruth
Letter to her mother
September 12
When Sister Helen and I came in…this morning we learned Sister Thecla died. Dr. Armstrong is ill now…I am not very well, but it is nothing like the fever. I only need to keep still a few days. [Sister Ruth in fact fell ill with Yellow Fever and died.]
When Sister Helen and I came in…this morning we learned Sister Thecla died. Dr. Armstrong is ill now…I am not very well, but it is nothing like the fever. I only need to keep still a few days. [Sister Ruth in fact fell ill with Yellow Fever and died.]
Sister Ruth
Letter to her mother
September 12
On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 8, the Rev. Louis Schuyler arrived from New York, and came directly to the aid of the Sisters. [Schuyler had decided to come when he heard that both Harris and Parsons were ill, and the church had no priest.] For four days he worked with deep earnestness and a might spirit of love; then on Thursday, the 12th, he too fell a victim to the fearful fever.
On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 8, the Rev. Louis Schuyler arrived from New York, and came directly to the aid of the Sisters. [Schuyler had decided to come when he heard that both Harris and Parsons were ill, and the church had no priest.] For four days he worked with deep earnestness and a might spirit of love; then on Thursday, the 12th, he too fell a victim to the fearful fever.
Unknown St Mary’s Sister
Entry in church journal
September 12
No vehicles are seen on the streets except the dead-cars and the doctor’s buggies…A night the streets are here and there lit up with the gleam of death fires, which burn in front of houses which contain a corpse…Persons taken sick on the streets crawl into unoccupied tenements, and their corpses are afterward discovered by the order…
No vehicles are seen on the streets except the dead-cars and the doctor’s buggies…A night the streets are here and there lit up with the gleam of death fires, which burn in front of houses which contain a corpse…Persons taken sick on the streets crawl into unoccupied tenements, and their corpses are afterward discovered by the order…
“A Graphic Account of the Appearance of Memphis”
New York Tribune
September 14
Dr. William Armstrong died. Armstrong had been the physician to the ill priests and nuns and St. Mary’s.
Dr. William Armstrong died. Armstrong had been the physician to the ill priests and nuns and St. Mary’s.
September 17
Rev. Mr. Schuyler died. Sister Ruth died. She was 26 years old and only had been a nun for a year. Sister Frances became ill. She died on October 1.
“The Sisters of St. Mary at Memphis: with the Acts and Sufferings of the Priests and Others Who Were There with Them during the Yellow Fever Season of 1878,” (New York: Printed, but not Published, 1879) transcribed by Elizabeth Boggs, 2001, for Project Canterbury, Anglican History
Picture Credits:
- Newspaper print showing a doctor visiting victims of the yellow fever. The caption reads, “Scene in Memphis – A Howard Physician on His Rounds.” Tennessee State Library and Archive.
- Photograph of Reverend Patrick J. Ryan. This photo was taken in 1878. Father Ryan was a Catholic priest at St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic Church from 1872 and 1878. He died caring for yellow fever epidemic victims. Chattanooga Hamilton County Bicentennial Library.
- Front page of a newspaper portraying a scene during the Memphis Fever Yellow Epidemic. The cover features a nun visiting a family of yellow fever victims. The caption reads, “Tennessee – Memphis Under Quarantine Rule – Sisters of Charity Administering.” This print was originally published in the September 20, 1879 issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Magazine. Tennessee State Museum Collection, 81.192.19B
Confronting the Modern Era >> Life in Tennessee >> Making Life Better >> Fighting Disease
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