John Goslin Areford

The following profile was researched and compiled by Candice L. Buchanan and Glenn J. R. T. Toothman III, for www.RainDayBoys.com.

Birth: 31 January 1889 Carmichaels, Greene County, Pennsylvania

Parents: George Washington Areford and Mary Margaret Craft

Residence at time of enlistment: Carmichaels, Greene County, Pennsylvania

Physical description: Medium height, stout, brown eyes, brown hair

Death: Edema of glottis (swelling in the windpipe) which developed as a complication of the influenza epidemic, 27 February 1919 Camp Lee, Prince George, Virginia

Age at death: 30 years old

Last resting place: 11 March 1919 Hewitt Cemetery, Rices Landing, Greene County, Pennsylvania

Military rank: Serial No. 4079481. Private. 5th Company, 2nd Training Battalion, 155th Depot Brigade.

Additional information:

John entered the US Army in the Summer of 1918, while the United States was still growing and preparing its forces for service in World War I. However, the war in Europe ended while John was still in training. He was stationed at Camp Lee, Virginia, in February 1919, when another wave of the influenza epidemic struck. Complications from the illness ultimately took his life, as it did so many US soldiers, despite the best medical efforts at the Base Hospital to help him pull through. He was buried with the honors of war.

Before joining the military, John had been a school teacher and a mail carrier in the Carmichaels area, where he grew up.

SOURCES:

  • "Carmichaels Young Man Dies at Camp Lee" article, Waynesburg Republican, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, 13 March 1919.
  • Hewitt's Cemetery (Jefferson Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania), John G. Areford tombstone, section 3, lot 33; read and photographed by Candice Buchanan, 23 April 2018.
  • "United States, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6482 : accessed 19 May 2018), John Goslin Areford draft card, serial no. 510, Local Draft Board, Carmichaels, Greene County, Pennsylvania; citing National Archives microfilm publication M1509, FHL roll 1892939.
  • Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014, no. 6796, John G. Areford, 27 February 1919; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9278 : accessed 19 May 2018); citing Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.
  • "WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60884 : accessed 19 May 2018), John G. Areford file (no application for compensation submitted); citing World War I Veterans Service and Compensation File, 1934–1948 (RG 19, Series 19.91), Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.