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Source: Ancestry
Polly Anna Loveland
Corry, PA
Army Nurse Corps
2nd Lieutenant
Served:
March 20, 1918 – April 30, 1934
Fort Caswell, US Army Post Hospital:
March 20, 1918 – January 25, 1919
Polly Anna Loveland was born and raised in Pennsylvania. There is a family tree is FamilySearch.
Her WWI PA Service Card shows her place of birth as Columbia, PA, but it seems more likely to be Columbus, as her 1880 Census lists the family residence in Corry, which is very close to Columbus. In addition, most of the family was laid to rest in a cemetery in Columbus. Columbus and Corry are both located in Erie County, PA.
In 1880, her father was working in a tannery. Anna was the youngest, age 10 (should be 7 or 8). There appears to have been eleven children total and one child, a son, born after Anna. According to census records, Anna’s father immigrated to America from England when he was 20, and worked various jobs such as toll collector, farmer, and the tannery as mentioned.
Anna’s mother, Polly Ann Witter Loveland passed away in 1894 and was laid to rest in Columbus, PA. Anna was 23 at the time.
“New Trained Nurses.” Buffalo Evening Times, 7 June 1899, p. 7.
Anna graduated in 1899 from School for Trained Nurses at Buffalo General Hospital, as shown in this newspaper clipping. The 1900 Census, when she was 29 years of age, lists her with the other nurses at the hospital.
In 1902, she is listed in the Buffalo City Directory as Night Superintendent at Buffalo General, shown below. [Source: Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA]
In 1906, she is listed as Assistant Superintendent.
A story published in Buffalo Evening Times on January 23, 1907, p. 4 (“Nurses’ Training School Doing a Noble Work”) listed her as one of seven head nurses for the three year training program at Buffalo General Hospital.
By 1910 she had moved to Batavia Hospital. Batavia is about halfway between Buffalo and Rochester, NY.
“New Hospital Superintendent.” The Buffalo Times, 31 July 1918, p. 10.
In July 1918, this story appeared in The Buffalo Times from the town of Batavia. Assistant Superintendent Anna Loveland at Batavia Hospital, and Superintendent Etta E. Robbins resigned to join the war effort. Nurse Loveland was 47 years old. As mentioned earlier, when the war began, only nurses between age 25-35 were accepted.
Details of her US Army service may be found on her WWI PA Service Card, which is shown below and also in table form for easier reading. Her military service is not detailed on the service card after December 1922, but some additional information was found through other records.
| 03/20/1918 | Fort Caswell, NC | |||
| 01/25/1919 | Demobolization Hospital #4 | |||
| 08/14/1919 | Hazelhurst Field, NY | |||
| 04/1922 | Fitzsimons General Hospital, Denver, CO | |||
| 1930 | Leiterman General Hospital, San Francisco | |||
| 04/30/1934 | Retirement | |||
The 1930 Census shows she was stationed at Leiterman General Hospital in San Francisco.
The 1939 and subsequent Military Registries (two excerpts shown below), indicate that Anna Loveland retired on April 30, 1934, with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Her address at retirement was 6028 Harcourt Ave, Los Angeles. [Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., Select Military Registers, 1862-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA]
In 1940 Anna was living in the same house in Los Angeles with her widowed sister and widowed niece, as well as an unmarried niece.
On April 17, 1964, Anna Loveland passed away at age 93. As her flat marker shows, her military service is displayed. A memorial stone had been placed earlier in the cemetery in Columbus, PA, where her family was laid to rest.
Final Rites Held for Miss Loveland
Funeral services for Miss Anna Loveland, 93, of Saratoga, were held Monday at the West Valley Chapel, Los Gatos.She died in a Saratoga convalescent hospital.
Before entering the hospital, Miss Loveland had lived for seven years with her niece, Mrs. Louise Morrow, on Williams Ave., Saratoga.
Miss Loveland began a long nursing career after graduating from Buffalo General Hospital, Buffalo, N.Y. She worked in hospitals treating wounded of the Spanish-American War. Later she joined the Army and became a second lieutenant. She got a disability retirement in 1934.
Saratoga survivors are a nephew, Harold Loveland, of La Paloma Ave., and two nieces, Mrs. Louise Morrow and Miss Eunice La Monia, both of Williams Ave.
[Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29719890]
If you would like to help us honor Polly Anna Loveland 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
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