New cross memorializes those who died in 1918 influenza epidemic
WINFIELD TWP — Although their names are not marked at the site, numerous victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918 are recognized by a newly erected cross at the intersection of Cornetti and Sasse roads.
Members of the RC Men’s Club and Scout Troop 39 hoisted the marker onto its perch Sunday afternoon, May 12, which is black and adorned with a circle, which represents the different nations many of the victims came from to work in mines in the area.
Mike Miniot, president of the RC Men’s Club, helped organize the building and placement of the cross. The previous cross at the mass burial site collapsed about 17 years ago, leaving the victims buried at the site unmarked.
“That graveyard is not affiliated or taken care of by any church,” Miniot said. “Since there were so many immigrants from different countries, they put a round symbol on the cross to symbolize everyone who died from the plague.”
A marker at the site placed by the Saxonburg District Woman’s Club in 2002 indicates there were some 260 deaths in Butler alone from the influenza epidemic. Miniot said his research found many of the bodies could not be transported to their homes, leaving the wooded area at the Winfield Township intersection their final resting place.
On Sunday, Scouts placed the cross at the site to mark the mass grave site, and the Rev. Ward Stakem, of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, blessed it and the grounds. Prior to a prayer at the ceremony, Stakem said the recognition of the people buried at the site is long overdue.
“They are individuals who we recognize came to this country because of the need that they had to find a decent job and support their families,” Stakem said. “Because they were immigrants, because they were, in many ways, unknown to the people that inhabited this area, once they contracted this disease they were buried in a rather unceremonial fashion.”
Brothers Dylan and Nolan Thurber were the Scouts who helped raise the cross Sunday. Dylan said he spent several weekends at the site preparing the stake for the cross and digging a hole for it to be placed in. He said he was going for his Citizenship in Society Merit Badge, which requires eight hours of community service.
“I put 12 hours into it,” Dylan said. “It was long, but it was worth it.”
Following the blessing ceremony, Miniot said the work Sunday was the first step in a three-step process of beautifying the site out of respect for the people buried there. Miniot said people have deduced that their ancestors are buried at the site “through process of elimination,” and some have stopped by in the past to pay their respects.
Over the coming years, Miniot and the men’s club plan to place benches around the site, along with sidewalk leading down to the cross and around the grave markers. In the works is also a plan for people to buy bricks for the sidewalk in memory of someone potentially buried at the grave, or someone who died in the epidemic.
“The big dilemma is there's a lot of people who knew their great-great-grandparents died (from influenza),” Miniot said. “They can come here and know they are buried somewhere around here.”
