52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #7 Florence I. Giddens, My Grandmother's Sister

Babe Lutz, my grandmother—Edith Giddens, Florence Giddens Samer, and Dorothy James

#7 Florence I. Giddens 

This week, the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks suggested prompt is “Favorite Photo,” and the photo at the top is one of mine. It shows my grandmother with her friend Babe Lutz, her sister Florence, and her niece Dorothy James.  I didn't know much about Florence. Grandma had only a few photos of her sister, and I shared them in Friday’s Photo: Florence I. Giddens in 2017. That post included photos of Florence with her husband and adopted daughter, Billie, as well as this telegram my grandmother received informing her of Florence’s death.

This post takes a closer look at Florence Giddens Samer’s 1934 death certificate, the telegram above, and what they reveal. In the family, the story was always that she died of strep throat. But when I looked closely at the certificate, I realized that wasn’t what it said. The listed cause of death was agranulocytic angina—a term unfamiliar to me at first. I wondered if it might refer to a heart condition, but it actually means something very different.

Agranulocytic Angina 

In the 1920s and 1930s, agranulocytic angina described a devastating condition caused by agranulocytosis—a sudden loss of white blood cells needed to fight infection. Without them, the immune system could no longer protect the body.

The illness often began with a sore throat or mouth infection. In the years before antibiotics, such infections could spread rapidly and become fatal within days. The term angina comes from an older usage referring to choking or constriction and describes the severe throat involvement doctors frequently observed.

By the early 1930s, physicians had begun to recognize that agranulocytosis was frequently caused by reactions to common medications—especially widely used headache, flu, and fever remedies. Many of these products were sold over the counter and advertised heavily in newspapers. These were early, lab-made pain relievers—widely used and effective, but later discovered to have serious risks.

Florence 

Florence - about 1927

Florence, the daughter of Charles Allen Giddens and Mary Lucy Glynn, was born on 21 February 1896.  She was the wife of Arthur P. Samer and the mother of their adopted daughter, Billie.  When she died, she was survived by two brothers, Charles and Warren Giddens, and two sisters, Edith Giddens Davis and Elizabeth Giddens James. Her mother died in 1926, and her father was living in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Florence died on 13 May 1934, in Easton Hospital in Easton, Pennsylvania, just across the Delaware River from her home in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, after an illness which, according to the telegram, lasted only four days. 

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Diana

© 2026

Blake, Francis G., Milton C. Winternitz, Arthur J. Geiger, John C. Leonard, and Lincoln Opper. “Yale Case Studies: Agranulocytic Angina.” Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 7, no. 5 (May 1935): 465–471, PDF, PubMed Central (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2601374/pdf/yjbm00555-0081.pdf : accessed 11 February 2026).

DB Quinn, “#1 Diana's Bryan-Quinn Family,” public Ancestry Member Tree (login required), Ancestry.com (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.); URL withheld for privacy; accessed 15 February 2026.

Family papers of Edith Giddens Davis, including a telegram reporting the death of Florence Giddens Samer and a photograph of Florence; in possession of E. M. Bryan (Virginia), privately held.

Pennsylvania Department of Health, death certificate no. 52376 (1934), Florence Giddens Samer, died 13 May 1934, Wilson, Northampton County; citing Charles A. Giddens and Lucy M. (Glenn) Giddens as parents; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5164/records/4924201?tid=45260559&pid=6887144818&ssrc=pt : accessed 15 February 2026).

Pepper, O. H. “LEUKOPENIA-A REVIEW: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AGRANULOCYTIC ANGINA: PART II.” California and Western Medicine 35, no. 3 (September 1931): 173–177, PubMed Central (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1657991/ : accessed 15 February 2026).