by Laura Stolk April 11, 2020

Patriotism was rampant in the year 1918. Take for instance the story of this “girl” named Laura Mina Seitz who lived in Canton Ohio.

Laura was dragged from her place of employment by a gang of twenty female co-workers, wrapped in an American flag, taken to the courthouse and made to kiss said flag upon the courthouse steps. After this incident, they marched her to the bank and forced her to buy war bonds.

Laura Seitz was her name and she worked for the F.E. Kohler Company up until that day.

Laura had grown up in the Zoar Community in Ohio. This was a communal group of German immigrants who migrated from the Kingdom of Württemberg due to differences with the Lutherans, majority to their area. They bought land and established a town based upon communal living. They contributed greatly to the building of the Ohio and Erie Canal.

The Zoar Community was successful for a large part of the 19th century. However, their society began to dwindle just after Laura was born in 1885.

Laura’s mother died when she was fifteen in 1900. Her brother, who was eight years her senior, died in a horrific way, involving dynamite, in 1909. His death was presumed a suicide. However, after reading the (decidedly insensitive) newspaper article about it, it’s possible this was actually a horrific accident. He left no note and there were no apparent reasons for him to harm himself, especially in such a violent manner. Laura’s father died the following year. He was only sixty-one.

Laura was left under the guardianship of Otto Seitz. However she did not live with Otto’s family. In 1910, she was an inmate at the Massolin State Hospital where she was also employed in the kitchen. The was twenty-four at that time. Details about the reason she was living at the hospital are not known, but surely it could have had to do with the deaths in her family and her mental state.

Massolin State Hospital was a first-of-its-kind facility that was notorious for its beauty and the wonderful treatment of patients. Though a state hospital, it was funded by patients and their families. The patients resided in cottages, rather than dormitories and were also able to work paying jobs during their time there, if able.

Laura inherited her father’s land when the Zoar Community disbanded that same year. She moved to Canton, Ohio and worked for the Kohler Company, during the years that WWI took place, which unfortunately for her was a time of extreme anti-German sentiment.

Having been raised in the Zoar Community, she had a strong German background. So, it was not surprising that she would make positive statements about her heritage.

The way she was treated by the gang of women co-workers was abhorrent. Not much else is known about that incident. It did not appear from the article that anyone was charged with a crime, but it was instead written in a way that made it seem like Laura was the culprit receiving her just desserts rather than a victim.

Laura died in 1929, without marrying. She is buried with her family in the Zoar Cemetery.

1918 Thu, Apr 18, 1918 – Page 1 · The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio) · Newspapers.com