Private, Co C, Ordnance Corps.
Died of pneumonia at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, October 11, 1918. Age 28.
Town: Batavia
Burial: St. Joseph Cemetery, Section 4, Batavia, Genesee County
Florence Vincent Carney was born in Oakfield (Genesee County), New York. Sources agree that he was born on June 7, but vary regarding his birth year. His NYSS and most newspaper reports say 1889; his listing in 1917’s Genesee County “Militia Enrollment List” says 1891. However, his draft registration card, his tombstone, and the 1900 US, 1905 NY, and 1910 US censuses indicate that he was born in 1890. This seems most likely to be accurate.
A lifelong Genesee County resident, Carney was the only child of farmer Alexander J Carney and his wife, Mary A Carney. The 1892 NY and 1900 US censuses show the family living in Alabama township, while the 1905 NY and 1910 US censuses show them in Elba. The October 14, 1918 Batavia Daily News article announcing his death says that “for the past four years he lived with his parents in Batavia,” and that he “was employed as a teamster for the trucking firm of Parker and Carney.” His draft registration card and his NYSS give his address as 26 Russell Place in Batavia (1917’s Genesee County “Militia Enrollment List” gives 25 as the street number, but this is likely an error). Note that in censuses Carney is listed as either Vincent or Vincent F, not Florence. However, his draft registration card is signed Florence Vincent Carney and all newspaper reports and Burial Case File documents, as well as his NYSS, give his first name as Florence; a October 23, 1918 Batavia Daily News notice refers to the “estate of F Vincent Carney.”
Carney was inducted into the Army on May 25, 1918, and left the next day for Camp Dix, New Jersey with 95 other members of Genesee County’s eighth draft contingent. In July, 1918, he was transferred to the Ordnance Corps and sent to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, a then-new 35,000-acre facility near Baltimore, Maryland, constructed earlier that year. The Ordnance Corps at Aberdeen played a vital role in the testing and development of artillery, ammunition, and aerial bombs, research that was critical to the war effort.
Private Carney was among the first of over 200 soldiers at Aberdeen who died from Spanish influenza or resulting pneumonia during the months of October and November 1918. Prior to his funeral at St. Joseph’s church in Batavia on October 15, 1918, it was decided that in the public interest, because of the epidemic of deadly influenza at the time, only a military honor guard and relatives should attend.
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October 14, 1918 Batavia Daily News p4 c6
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October 15, 1918 Batavia Daily News p2 c3
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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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Florence V Carney headstone, St. Joseph Cemetery, Section 4, Batavia, Genesee County, New York
GPS Coordinates: Lat 42° 59’ 21.109” N, Long 78° 10’ 15.32” W (DD: 42.989197, -78.170922)
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Florence V Carney Sources:
– All County Lists; also BHR
– May 27, 1918 BD p1 c6-7, p2 c1
– Oct 14, 1918 BD p4 c6*
– Oct 15, 1918 BD p2 c3
– Oct 23, 1918 BD p6 c3
– “New York State Census, 1892.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entries for Alexander J Carney, head, and Vincent F Carney, age 2, citing Census Records, Alabama, E.D. 02, Genesee, New York; page number 6.
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for A J Carney (head) and Vincent F Carney (son, age 10), citing Census Records, Alabama, Genesee, New York; sheet number 14, line numbers 40 and 42, microfilm series T623, Roll 1037, page 14.
– “New York State Census, 1905.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for Vincent F Carney, age 15, citing Census Records, Elba, E.D. 01, Genesee, New York; page number 482, line numbers 10 and 12.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Alexander Carney (head) and Vincent Carney (son, age 19), citing Census Records, Elba, Genesee, New York; sheet number 12B, lines 81 and 83, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 81.
– “Militia Enrollment List” (Genesee County, 1917), p C1
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 64
– World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)
– Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Volume 3, Part 2, p 710
– Aberdeen Proving Ground (by Bill Bates, Arcadia Publishing, 2007) p 46
– BCF
– St. Joseph Cemetery tombstone transcriptions, C listings, online, access from USGenWeb, “Genesee County NY Cemeteries” Table of Contents (http://www.usgwarchives.net/ny/genesee/cemeteries/cemeterytoc.htm)
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