— Others Listed from Previous Genesee County Rolls —
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Theodore J Acquard
Saddler, Btry F, 106th Field Artillery, 27th Division.
Contracted influenza and pneumonia aboard homebound troopship; died at Embarkation Hospital No. 1, Hoboken, New Jersey, March 19, 1919. Age 22.
Listed under Darien on County List 1.
Actual home town: Bennington/Attica (Wyoming County; also Erie County, see text)
Burial: Sacred Heart Cemetery, Bennington, Wyoming County, New York
Theodore Acquard had family ties to Darien (Genesee County), New York, but he was born and raised in Wyoming County and was living in Erie County prior to his service. He’s most appropriately designated as a soldier from either or both of those counties.
The 1905 NY and 1910 US censuses show Theodore’s paternal grandfather (Joseph Acquard, Sr.) in Darien, and, according to an article in the March 21, 1919 Batavia Daily News, Acquard’s parents (Joseph Jr. and Mary Acquard) were living in Darien at the time of his death. But Theodore grew up in the town of Bennington (Wyoming County), where he was born on June 26, 1896. The 1900 US Census shows Theodore at age three living in Bennington with his parents and seven siblings. The Acquards apparently lived in Bennington until at least 1908, when Theodore would’ve been 12 years old; a July 15, 1908 Batavia Daily News article refers to Theodore’s mother, Mary, as “of Bennington.” By the time the 1910 US Census was taken, however, the family had moved to Buffalo, where the census shows Theodore at age 13 living with his parents and five siblings.
Theodore Acquard enlisted in the New York National Guard’s 3rd Field Artillery on May 8, 1917, giving his address as 88 Harriet Street in Buffalo. Listings in War Book of the 106th Regiment Field Artillery and the NY Roll of Honor (where he’s shown as an Erie County soldier) also carry that address. His home town is given as Attica (Town of Bennington) in List of Names of the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines of Wyoming County, N.Y., published in 1919. The 1920 US Census shows Acquard’s parents again residing in Bennington.
After surviving months of combat at St. Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, Private Acquard contracted influenza and pneumonia on his way home from the war, aboard the troopship USS America. He died in an Army hospital on March 19, 1919, six days after arriving in the United States. His mother was on her way to the hospital at Hoboken when she received the news of his death. The next day, she accompanied her son’s body back to Attica. Private Acquard was interred at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Bennington on March 23, 1919.
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March 21, 1919 Batavia Daily News p8 c3
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March 22, 1919 Batavia Times p5 c7
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March 27, 1919 Attica News p1 c6
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Source: New York Service Summary from Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919, NY State Archives, Albany, New York
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Theodore J Acquard headstone, Sacred Heart Cemetery, Bennington, Wyoming County, New York. Photo ©Donna Bonning, used by permission
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Theodore J Acquard Sources:
– County List 1
– Dec 7, 1904 BD p5 c3
– Jul 15, 1908 BD p1 c6
– Sep 9, 1917 Buffalo Express p66 c7
– Mar 20, 1919 Attica News p1 c6
– Mar 21, 1919 BD p8 c3*
– Mar 22, 1919 BT p5 c7
– Mar 27, 1919 Attica News p1 c6
– Mar 27, 1919 Warsaw Western New Yorker p6 c2
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Joseph Acquard (head) and Theodore Acquard (son, age 3), citing Census Records, Bennington Town, Wyoming, New York; sheet number 6, line numbers 3 and 10, microfilm series T623, Roll 1178, page 64.
– “New York State Census, 1905.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for Joseph Acquard (head, age 77), citing Census Records, Darien, E.D. 02, Genesee, New York; page number 11, line 14.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Joseph Acquard (head) and Theodore Acquard (son, age 13), citing Census Records, Buffalo (Ward 1), E.D. 10, Erie, New York; sheet number 17B, line numbers 52 and 57, microfilm series T624, Roll 940, page 190.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entry for Joseph Acquard (head, age 82), citing Census Records, Darien Town, Genesee, New York; sheet number 3B, line number 70, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 59.
– “United States Census, 1920.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Joseph F Acquard (head) and Mary Acquard (wife), citing Census Records, Bennington Town, Wyoming, New York; sheet number 10B, line numbers 70 and 71, microfilm series T625, Roll 1274, page 10.
– List of Names of the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines of Wyoming County, N.Y., p 22
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 38
– War Book of the One Hundred and Sixth Regiment Field Artillery, p 113
“America In With 4700 of the 27th . . . 200 Influenza Cases,” March 14, 1919 New York Times
– BCF
– “Acquard, Theodore J,” tombstone transcription, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Cemetery, Bennington, New York, Historical Wyoming, Vol. XXIII No 3, January 1977, p 75
– “Theodore J Acquard,” tombstone transcription and photo, Findagrave.com online (photo ©Donna Bonning, used by permission)
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