The following is a brief story about my maternal great-uncle, Sargent Joseph Aloysius Grace (1892-1918) of Middletown, Connecticut, who died on October 11, 1918 during the Meuse-Argonne Operation  in World War 1.  Joseph enlisted in August 1917 and was serving in the III Corps – 4th Infantry Division – 7th Infantry Brigade – 39 Infantry Regiment (AAA-O) – HQ Company at the time of his death in 1918.

While Joseph’s cause of death is not stated, American Expeditionary Force (AEF) order of battle reports from that day note that “early on the morning of the 11th, the entire regimental staff of the 39th was gassed.”  If Joseph was assigned to headquarters, it can be assumed that he was among those who died that morning. Ironically, a news article (right) announcing his death, states that he had been recently promoted to be the regimental non-commissioned officer of gas defense (27 Nov 1918 – Meriden Journal). The use of chemical weapons was deployed heavily by both sides during the campaign. 

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the largest operation of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War and remains the deadliest American troops have ever fought.  The AEF launched its massive offensive on September 26, 1918 along a twenty-four-mile front from the Argonne Forest to the Meuse River—a long strip of rolling hills and wild woodland about 150 miles east of Paris.  One month to the day after Joseph’s death, an Armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany on 11th November 1918, bringing an end to the  First World War.

Meuse-Argonne Offensive – September 26 and November 11,
1918

AEF – 26,277
killed and 95,786 wounded

German –
28,000 killed and 92,250 wounded

The History of the 39th U. S. Infantry during the World War (p.81-83)

The Use of Gas in the Meuse-Argonne Campaign

© David R. French and French in Name Only, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

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This photograph, taken by my father John Spencer French, shows his buddies Louis Zieminski and Patsy Ruggiero. John passed away in 2014, Pasquale “Patsy” died in Florida in 2013 and Louis in 2004 in Wallingford, CT.

Copyright © 2019. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.

Part II – This post offers several more newspaper clippings from the Hartford Courant about life on the farm in Bloomfield, Connecticut featuring my second great-grandfather, John William Spencer (1834-1896). The topics of the articles range from corn and pumpkins to snakes and rabid dogs!

Part I – I’ll Say it Again, Those are My Nuts!

If you are interested in researching your family history, newspaper accounts can provide a wealth of information. The above referenced clippings were discovered through Newspapers.com by Ancestry.

Above is a probate notice from 18 July 1878 that notes a bequest of $2,000 from Jason Goodwin (J.G.) Eggleston to his grand-niece Anna Eggleston Spencer. Anna is my second great grandmother. $2,000 in 1879 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $51,351.80 in 2019. Thank you great-uncle! Jason was the co-owner of Eggleston & Rowley Grocery located at 286 Main Street in Hartford, Connecticut.

Link to a previous post about Anna: Introducing Annie and John Spencer

Another benefactor in the will is the Reverend Nathaniel Eggleston who received $1,000. I wrote an earlier post (Rev. Eggleston’s Woods) about Nathaniel who was appointed chief of the Bureau of Forestry (now the United States Forest Service) from 1883-1886.

If you are interested in researching your family history, newspaper accounts can provide a wealth of information. The above referenced clipping was discovered through Newspapers.com by Ancestry.

Copyright © 2019. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.