Private, HQ Co, 312th Engineers, 87th Division.
Died of pneumonia at Camp Grange-Neuve, Bordeaux, France, October 15, 1918. Age 31.
Town: LeRoy
Burial: Machpelah Cemetery, LeRoy, Genesee County, New York
Errol Dwight Crittenden was born on January 25, 1887, in LeRoy (Genesee County), New York. He was the second oldest of six children (brothers Ralph, Fay, Stuart; sisters Helen and Mildred) of Shelton E and Mary Crittenden. The family lived on Lake Road in LeRoy’s Fort Hill area, north of the village. For many years Shelton Crittenden was a mail carrier, serving Rural Route 37. The 1892 NY and 1900 US censuses show Errol living in LeRoy with his parents and siblings; he attended LeRoy schools. The 1905 NY Census lists him in Pavilion, at age 18, working on the farm of Eben Coffey, and a July 17, 1907 LeRoy Gazette-News article mentions that he had “finished painting the schoolhouse at northwest LeRoy” and in the coming week would be “assisting farmers with their haying.”
Sometime in 1911 or early 1912 Crittenden moved to Idaho, where he took courses in forestry at the University of Idaho and worked for the U.S. Forest Service for several years. An article in the January 17, 1917 LeRoy Gazette-News reported that he’d recently returned home. “He has been located in Northern Idaho and Washington for the past six years or more,” the paper reported. “He expects to return to the west in the spring.” Crittenden stayed long enough, however, to register for the draft in Batavia on June 5, 1917. His draft registration card gives his residence as LeRoy but indicates that he worked as a scaler for the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho and was on furlough. After registering, he apparently returned to work; an item in the March 9, 1918 Batavia Daily News noted that he had been accepted as physically fit for service by the draft board of Newport, Washington (which is on the border with Idaho). He came back to Genesee County in 1918 when he was called for service.
Errol Dwight Crittenden left for Camp Dix with a Genesee County draft contingent of 122 men on July 23, 1918, and went overseas on August 24, 1918. He died of lobar pneumonia resulting from influenza less than two months later, not quite a month before the war’s end.
Honor Roll List 1 ( December 5, 1918 Batavia Daily News), as well as Private Crittenden’s initial death notices in November 1918 area newspapers, state that he was a member of the 108th Infantry regiment, 27th Division. This is an error. The 27th Division had shipped to France several months before Crittenden was drafted. All other sources, including his NYSS, the NY Roll of Honor, and all documents in Private Crittenden’s Burial Case File, correctly state that he was with HQ Company, 312th Engineers, which was part of the 87th Division.
In September 1918, shortly after its arrival in France, the 87th Division was assigned to Services of Supply and sent to the vicinity of Bordeaux, in southwestern France, where it performed critical duties in labor, convoy, freight handling, and construction. According to a document in his Burial Case File, Private Crittenden died at Camp Grange-Neuve, which was a large rest and embarkation facility located at Bordeaux. He was initially interred in the American Expeditionary Forces Cemetery at nearby Carbon-Blanc. In 1920 his body was returned to the United States under military escort and now rests at Machpelah Cemetery in LeRoy.
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November 27, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-News p1c4 & p8c4
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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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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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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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Errol D Crittenden headstone, Machpelah Cemetery, LeRoy, Genesee County, New York
GPS Coordinates: Lat 42° 59’ 17.679” N, Long 77° 58’ 56.83” W (DD: 42.988244, -77.982453)
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Errol D Crittenden Sources:
– All County Lists
– Jul 17, 1907 LG p8 c4
– Jun 19, 1912 LG p8 c4
– Jan 17, 1917 LG p8 c3
– Mar 9, 1918 BD p2 c1
– Jul 23, 1918 BD p7 c2-4
– Nov 21, 1918 BD p2 c5*
– Nov 25, 1918 RDC p5 c1
– Nov 26, 1918 BD p5 c5
– Nov 27, 1918 LG p1 c4, p8 c4
– Nov 17, 1920 LG p1 c4
– “New York State Census, 1892.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for Errol Crittenden, age 5, citing Census Records, LeRoy, E.D. 01, Genesee, New York; page number 12 [parents Shelton and Mary listed on page 11].
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Shelton Critenden (Crittenden misspelled, head) and Errol (son, age 13), citing Census Records, LeRoy, Genesee, New York; sheet number 12, lines 33 and 36, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 245.
– “New York State Census, 1905.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for Earl [Errol misspelled] Crittenden, age 18, in household of Eben Coffey, citing Census Records, Pavilion, E.D. 01, Genesee, New York; page number 9, line 10.
– 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 1, pp 58-60
– Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Volume 2, pp 387-91
– BCF
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Click for Key to Source Abbreviations. See the Bibliography for complete title, author, and publisher information, with links to online access when available.