Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

Veteran's Day - regardless of how we celebrate it, Veteran's Day occurs every November 11 in the US. It originated as Armistice Day to commemorate the end of "The Great War" or World War I.

Combat was to cease on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month- 11 November 2018. In 1938, it became a national holiday to commemorate ALL U.S. veterans.

And in those closing minutes of the fighting, Medina County lost one of her own. Neil Conkling died right as the War was ending on that day in 1918.

When I first read about Neil's story in the latest edition of the Medina County Genealogical Society newsletter, I wondered how much of his short life we could document.

Starting on the Ancestry Library Edition database, I found him in the 1910 census with his widowed mother, Hattie,  and sister, Pearl. And I discovered that he was born in 1890, so he was 28 years old when he died. (I had estimated his birth year as around 1898.) He was listed as a laborer at "Bee Keeper's Supply Co." or as we know it, A.I. Root Company. Ancestry also had an entry for his Ohio Soldier Grave Registration that directed me to Fold3.

Neil Conklin with widowed mother Hattie, and sister Pearl. Pearl also worked at "Bee Keepers Supply Co."
1910 Census, Montville Township, Village of Medina, Medina County, Ohio.
From Ancestry Library Edition (LE).

Fold3's copy of the Graves Registration Card shows his military unit - 28th Infantry, company M and that he was a Private. It also has the image of his military draft registration. In June of 1918, he was working as a weaver at Medina Carpet & Rug Whrs (warehouse?). And it had something I have never seen before - the cable from "Pershing" (Possibly General Pershing?) listing Neil among the casualties.

Neil Conkling's grave registration card gives Garrettsville, Ohio as his birthplace. Garrettsville is in
Portage County, Ohio.  Eldora Fredcerick is listed as his next of kin.
Grave Registration Card from Fold3.

World War I Draft Registration Card from Fold3.

Cablegrams Exchanged Between General Headquarters American
Expeditionary Forces and the War Department from Fold3.
This is the document that reported Neil among the casualties.

Heading back to Ancestry, Neil was listed with his father, Austin, mother and sister in Windham Township, Portage County, Ohio in 1900. He is just 9 years old.

Neil is listed with his father, Austin, who was a farmer, mother Hattie and sister Pearl.
1900 Census Windham Township, Portage County, Ohio from Ancestry LE.

Neil's Tombstone at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France.

The database also had 2 listings for Neil on Findagrave.com. One shows that he was buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Lorraine, France and the second shows that he was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, here in Medina. (The Findagrave listing in Medina does not include a photo of the tombstone.)

Ancestry LE also included a scan from the Ohio Adjutant General's WWII listing of sailors and soldiers:

This entry from Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917-1918, provides a synopsis of Neil's short military career.

These resources led me to wonder what newspaper articles I might be able to find on Neil and his family. From the census, we know that Neil's father, Austin, died between 1900 and 1910. What happened to his mother, Hattie, and sister, Pearl? They are not listed as next of kin on the Graves Registration card.

For easier access I went to the Newspaper Archives database from the Akron and Summit County Public Library and found several articles.

Medina Sentinel  16 Nov. 1917, page 10. News of Neil's draft into the war.

Medina Sentinel  25 April 1919, page 1

This article is the first news the people of Medina had of Neil's death five months after the fact. It also mentions that both his mother and sister had died before he went into the army.




The Medina Gazette is not yet digitized for this time period, so next  I checked the Medina Library's Obituary Index to find listings for his family members. From there I used the microfilm to view the articles.











The  April 25, 1919 Gazette had this to say about Neil's death:

Neil's father died in 1905:

Medina Gazette  22 Sep 1905, page 8.

Pearl Conkling died in 1913:

Medina Gazette 15 Aug 1913, p.8

And Neil's last remaining family member, his mother, Hattie, died in 1916:

Medina Gazette 21 July 1916, p.5

A deeper search in Ancestry Library Edition turned up two other documents:

The Farmers' Directory of Medina County 1916-1921,  page 20.

The exact date of Neil's residence on East Liberty is uncertain since the directory covers multiple years.

And something else I have never seen before:

U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939

The passenger list for a troop ship!


I also checked the Medina High School yearbooks, double checking in the 1918 and 1919 yearbooks for the names of Medinians who perished in WWI. While the yearbooks did have such lists, Neil's name was not on them, leading me to conclude that he never graduated high school. Most likely he had to leave school early to help support his widowed mother and ill sister.

A timeline of what we have learned of Neil's life looks like this:

• 1890 - Born July 14 in Garrettsville, Portage County to Austin and Hattie (Robinson) Conkling.
• 1900 - Listed in the census with his parents and sister Pearl in Windham Township, Portage County, Ohio.
• 1905 - His father, Austin died in Grangerburg, Medina County, Ohio.
• 1910 - Listed in the census with his widowed mother and older sister on South Court Street, Montville Township, Village of Medina, Medina County, Ohio.
• 1913 - Sister Pearl died 17 July in Medina, Ohio
• 1916 - His mother, Hattie, died in July at Mrs. Eldora Frederick's home on South Huntington St. Medina Ohio.
• 1916-1918 - Neil was listed in the Farmers' Directory of Medina County as living at 502 East Liberty St., Medina, Ohio
• 1917 - Neil received his draft number, 1533, in November.
• 1918 - April 1, Neil traveled to Camp Sherman for training.
• 1918 - June 28, Neil sailed on the military transport ship, The Saxon, to France.
• 1918 - November 11 - Neil died in combat during the last hours of World War I.

R.I.P. Pvt. Neil Conkling

Sources:
Thanks to Tom Hilberg's article in the latest Medina County Genealogical Society newsletter for bringing my attention to Neil Conkling's story.
Meuse-Argonne Cemetery