To view this or another nurse profile at any time, click the “WWI Profile” link beside the nurse’s name on Fort Caswell WWI Nurses, which is also accessible by the blue button on the top right of the webpage.
Source: Findagrave
Anna Lucille “Lou” Andis Cleveland
Johnson City, TN
Army Nurse Corps
Served:
October 5, 1918 – January 15, 1919
Fort Caswell, US Army Post Hospital:
October 5, 1918 – January 15, 1919
Anna Lucille “Lou” Andis was born and raised in Jonesville, VA.
The 1900 Census, when Lou was 11 years old, listed her father as a farmer. There were eight children, all living. Lou was the third eldest sibling and the eldest daughter. Her older brothers were working on the family farm. All siblings over age 5 were reportedly reading, writing, and attending school.
In 1910, Lou was living in Johnson City, TN, with her younger sister who had recently married. Lou’s brother-in-law was employed as a salesman. Lou was employed as a trained nurse.
According to The Comet [Johnson City, TN], 1 July 1909, p. 1, her younger sister’s marriage was “a notable event in social circles.” Lou served as maid of honor. The bride was reportedly a “most popular young lady” and the groom “is a successful young business man of Johnson City, where he holds a responsible position with the Summers-Parrott Hardware company.”
Jonesville, VA, is in the far western part of Virginia. Johnson City, TN, is actually east of Jonesville, VA, and NE of Asheville, NC, about halfway between Jonesville, VA, and Asheville.
The 1913 Johnson City, TN, City Directory, the earliest directory in which Lou appears, shows Lucile Andes (both names misspelled) as an apprentice nurse at Memorial Hospital, living at the hospital. It was common to live at the hospital while training.
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA,
The next year, the nurses were listed in the City Directory as shown. It is assumed that Lou had completed the training program.
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA
On October 5, 1918, Lou enlisted in the Army Nursing Corps as Anna Andis. She served at Fort Caswell Post Hospital and was discharged on January 15, 1919.
Source: The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Dec., 1918), pp. 60, excerpt shown below
Lou’s younger brother Guy Herbert Andis served in WWI in the 117th Infantry, 30th “Old Hickory” Division.
Source: World War Record of Ex-Soldiers of Washington County, State of Tennessee; Page 10
Lou remained in Johnson City, TN, according to city directories until some time after 1935. She married Wilbur Cleveland in Miami, FL, sometime before the 1940 Census. (Wilbur divorced a woman named Ann in 1936, then married Anna Lucille “Lou” Andis, which created complications due to their similar names.)
Wilbur and Lou remained married until her death, as her death certificate shows. Lou died in 1943, at age 54, after spending 6 months in the VA Hospital in Asheville, NC. The cause of death was cervical cancer.
The following obituaries were published.
Mrs. Wilbur Cleveland
A nurse of World War I, Mrs. Wilbur Cleveland, 50, died in a hospital in Asheville, N.C., Wednesday morning. Word of her death was received by a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Mr. And Mrs. Charles W. Cleveland, 1227 S. W. 11th ave. The deceased had lived in Miami at 3030 S. W. 25th terrace the last five years, coming here from Asheville. She was well known here, in North Carolina and in Tennessee as a nurse. Funeral services will be held in her home town, Johnson City, Tenn.
The Miami News, 30 Sept. 1943, p. 13.
Mrs. Wilbur Cleveland
Mrs. Wilbur Cleveland of Miami, Fla., formerly of Johnson City, Tenn., died yesterday at 8:30 a.m. in an Asheville hospital following an illness of several months.The body will be sent by the Morris-Gearing funeral home to Johnson City for funeral services and burial today. The Morris funeral home will be in charge of services in Johnson City.
Mrs. Cleveland, a nurse in World War I, is survived by her husband, Wilbur Cleveland of Miami; her mother, Mrs. W.H. Andis of 22 Kenilworth road, and four sisters, Mrs. George M. Hyder of 22 Kenilworth road, Mrs. Alton Riley of New Town, Ind., and Mrs. M.S. Smith of Roanoke, Va., and Mrs. Lon Smith of Jonesville, Va.
Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC), 30 Sept. 1943, p. 2.
Anna Lucille Andis Cleveland was laid to rest in Johnson City, TN. Her husband Wilbur passed away over 30 years later.
Four years later, in 1947, a military flat marker was ordered for her gravesite. The marker was requested by Mrs. John W. Moulton. Her connection to Lou is unclear.
If you would like to help us honor Anna Lucille “Lou” Andis Cleveland or another Brunswick County WWI veteran, please use the following links:
Click here for the announcement: Announcement: Honor a Brunswick County World War I Veteran
Click here for directions to donate and honor a veteran: How to Honor a Brunswick County World War I Veteran
You must be logged in to post a comment.