Lee County, Illinois - Chapter 32, 1920

Anidiii!; the very first of the war activities in Lee Center township was the raising of nioiie\- for the "Comfort Fund" that was used to purchase extra supplies for the boys at Camp Crant.

This subscription papei' was circulated by \V. H. Wehmaii, one of the few that wore three stars on his service |iin. Piccedin<i- the canipaiitn for the first Y. M. C. A. war fund J. Dcr Kinderen addressed a meeting at Lee Center in the interest of the Associations' plans for work in the camps and at the front.

Upon the call of the Allied Relief for contributions to a bazaar to be held at Dixon, Lee Center citizens respondeil with cash and supplies that were valued at a goodly sum. Lee Center township stood near the top in the list of t()\viishi|>s, outside of Dixon, as to the value of its contributions.

Tiiere was not much of an effort made to secure subscriptions to the First Liberty loan and there seems to be no record available as to the amount subscribed, if any, to this loan. The subscriptions to the Second loan were secured by William S. Frost Jr. and W. H. Wellmaii and the amoimt suliscribed was S(i25().llO.

After the Slate ( "ouncil of Defense completed its organization it was nnich easier to carry on the work of securing subscriptions and help for the various war activities.

The county organizations api)ointed Kyle C. :Miller, William Callahan and S. L. Shaw as members of their committee for Lee Center townshij).

Acting on instructions from the county organization this committee appointed a committee foi- each school district, and the success of the work from this time on was largely due to the fai t hfiil work of these district committees that township's quotas were subscribed.

Tiie iollowing constituted the school district ccmnnittees: District <)2- William S. rost , Jr., W. H. Wellman and C. H. Henschel. District 93 - A. H. Hill, John \-ivian and Joseph Nicholson. District 95 - Frank Ford, Kn Conibear and Mrs. Hiel Brunson. District 96 - Clem Miller, Cieorge W. Frost and Orville Tiffany. District 97 - Julius Bernardin, Fred Biggart and Fred S. Dale. District 9S - E. E. Turner, Richard Willey and Amos Leffelman. District 99- .loseph Auchstetter, Frank Delhotal and W C. Reinhart .

A cei-taiii percent of the township's ([Uota was apportioned to each tlistrict and district No. 99 has the recoi'd of raising its (pota every time and reporting before any of the other districts.

The pcopl(> of Lee ('enter and viciiiil>' iiiiw recciitions in hcii wild went into the service frdiii the tdwiishi)) and tlie neiiiliborlK of them with comfort kits.

The record of war work fci' bee ('enter townsliip wduld not be coin]>lele without a report of the artivities, both the lied ( 'loss and tlie ( 'ouiKal of Nalional Defense receiving assistance as calls came.

Knitting for the Red Cross began in August, 1917, but sewing and the making of surgical dressings were not undertaken until the following spring. Rooms in the Congregational church in Lee County were nicely fitted tip for their use an<l during the stunmer one afternoon a week was devoted to lied ( "loss s<'wing and the making of siirgieal th-essings. Miss Eda Sandberg acted as secretary of the auxiliary.

No accurate record of the knitting was kept by the women save a good account of themselves. Four barrels of clothing were collected and shipped for the Belgian Relief.

Work for the Council of National Defense began with the registration of the women in October 1917. :Mrs. S. L. Shaw ariing as ehairman. In :Mareh 191S, a generous donation was made to tlie Alli<'d Bazaar held in Dixon, and in ^Nlay, sewing and the making of surgical dressings were taken up. (_)ver 3000 surgical dressuigs were made besides a g lly number of other aitirles, one afternoon a week being given to the work.

Mrs. A. F. Jeanblanc was rhairman of the committee for the batheiiess Children of Fi-ance and as the result of the work four children have been adopted.