Are you certain it was THIS particular species that caused you the troubles? The berries are and have been used for making tea for a very long time and the dried berries and leaves are to this day mixed with tobacco and smoked in some Native American cultures.
Poison Sumac (Toxicodendron vernix), previously known as Rhus vernix, on the other hand, can cause all sorts of problems.
Also, are you sure there was no other plant growing up and into the sumac in question. Poison Ivy is insidious in its tendencies to be everywhere you think it isn't. (It happens to love growing in the same areas that Staghorn Sumac grows, often clinging to and climbing up the sumac)
Just wondering because I've never heard of this species causing problems. I grows EVERYWHERE in my area. I'm in it often in the course of my job. I've chipped it up in chippers, surely breathing in some of the dust. I've burned trimmings from it in open fire pits and have surely inhaled some of it's smoke and never had any trouble.
That is not to say it was not this species causing you trouble, as people can be allergic to just about anything, but I'd hate to give a bad rap to the wrong plant.
