Musings - Part 3: Remember the Ladies

Musings Part 3: Remember the Ladies 

Before reaching the gravesites of World War II veteran Francis M. Carter and Civil War veteran George Dunham, there’s a grave for Grace M. Page.  I had intended her story to end these posts about veterans until I looked more closely.  

The American flag that had been beside her monument was gone, and the emblem on the stanchion did not relate to a particular war or armed service.  Grace Mclaughlan Page was born in 1868 in Nova Scotia, and died in 1922.  She  was married to Charles S. Page, one year older than she, who died a year before her.  He was not a veteran either.  

The emblem represented the Knights of Pythias.  I recognized the name because Earl Spear’s granddaughter had donated his elaborate Knights of Pythias badge to us.  It was the first fraternal organization chartered by the U.S. Congress back in 1864.  

I vaguely recalled the Greek legend of Damon and Pythias – an adventure about friendship, trust, and loyalty.  Versions can be found readily online.  There’s even a 1962 movie and a clip of it on YouTube. 

The North Hampton chapter of the Knights of Pythias began in 1909.  In its heyday (1910s and 1920s) membership topped 100.  In all likelihood, Grace’s husband was a member; and Grace would have been a Pythian Sister.  

This social organization offered lobster and oyster suppers, dances, plays, and card parties.  The Pythians used both Town Hall and Centennial Hall for their functions.  Centennial Hall had a dining room and kitchen on its third floor, a low ceilinged space with beautiful views from the windows.  As for Town Hall, the Knights sponsored a petition warrant article to create a second floor in Town Hall where they could meet.  Seems meeting space has been something of a constant problem in town.

While all this may be interesting, I’ve learned only a bit about Grace.  She was a fine seamstress and most likely made the wedding dress worn by Priscilla Leavitt’s grandmother, Frances P. Leavitt, now in the Historical Society’s collection.  Grace and her husband had a farm at the corner of Exeter and South Roads. The farmhouse still exists, much changed to resemble the new houses constructed on the property.   

I did learn my lesson -- take a second or third look before jumping to conclusions.  Not just veterans but Knights of Columbus, Fire Department, Masons, Elks, and no doubt others are represented on the gravesite markers. 

Eventually, by happenstance, I did find another female veteran at Center Cemetery.  In her case, the flag staff had broken off on a windy early March day. I picked up the flag and then looked for an empty stanchion.  There she was -- a flat stone for “Helen C. Weddle CY U.S. Navy World War I”.  That’s not a typo – World War I.  

She, like George Dunham, is a veteran who does not appear on the Town’s war monument because when she enlisted she lived in Portsmouth, her birthplace.  Helen and her husband did not move here until the early 1950s. 

Born Helen Newton in 1897,  she must have been quite impressive at a young age as the CY means Chief Yeoman and that was as high a rank as a woman obtained in World War I.  She truly was in select company.  

World War I was the first war in which American women were allowed to enlist. Faced with the potential for serious manpower shortages in the approaching war, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels took advantage of a loophole in the Naval Act of 1916 – it did not specify that only men could enlist -- and in March 1917 initiated the controversial step of recruiting  women.  By the time the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, two thousand women aged 18 to 35 had enlisted as “Yeoman (F).” 

The Navy initially expected women to assume clerical duties, freeing men to fight. But the list of jobs the Navy considered suitable for women grew as the war went on. Women became radio and telegraph operators, supervisors for naval shipments, commissary stewards, fingerprint experts, draftsmen, pharmacists, torpedo assemblers and camouflage designers. 

Once the Navy realized young women in uniform were good publicity, it trained female yeomen to march and perform military drills so they could parade in support of war bond drives, troop send-offs and other official events where goodwill was valuable.

The press dubbed them “Yeomanettes.” Daniels objected to the nickname, saying, “If a woman does a job, she ought to have the name of the job.” The official designation, Yeoman (F), made it clear women were the institutional equivalent of men who held the same rank. Although they were not allowed to serve at sea, female yeomen received the same pay as sailors and marines at the same rank, a uniform allowance, medical care and war risk insurance.

The service of the female yeomen in World War I may have assisted in the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote in 1920.  It also created a precedent, giving rise to the Navy WAVES in the Second World War and a much greater role for women in the military ever since. 

Newton was stationed in Washington DC where she most likely met her husband, Cleo Weddle.  His father was an accountant so perhaps they both had administrative jobs. In any case, they married in 1919 in Portsmouth, lived a few years at least in St. Louis with her husband’s family and then for many years back in Portsmouth.  How many people were even aware of her pioneering military service? 

Postscript.  There must be several thousand graves at Center Cemetery and at present many more people making the cemetery one of their walk destinations.  Pick a monument that catches your eye and see what you can learn about someone from the past. And let us know.

Cynthia Swank