Robert Ivan Dexter

Corporal, Co B, 309th Infantry, 78th Division.

Died aboard homebound ship February 12, 1919, of pneumonia and wounds received in action near Grandpré, France. Age 25.

Town:  Batavia

Burial: Millville Cemetery, Shelby, Orleans County, New York

 

Robert Ivan Dexter was born in Barre (Orleans County), New York, on November 11, 1893. The February 15, 1919 Batavia Daily News says his “family moved to Batavia 13 years ago,” which would mean 1906, and the 1900 US Census shows the family already living in Genesee County prior to that, in Alabama. The 1905 NY Census also shows them in Alabama, while the 1910 US and 1915 NY censuses list the Dexters living at 224 State Street in Batavia. Robert, who appears to have been widely known by his middle name, Ivan (he’s listed in the 1900 US, 1905 NY, and 1910 US censuses as Ivan or R. Ivan), was the only son of three children (along with daughters Inez and Nora) of George G Dexter and wife Cora Belle nee Tinkham Dexter.

After graduating as valedictorian of the 1911 Batavia High School senior class, Dexter attended Alfred University and was working in his father’s insurance agency in Batavia when called into the service. On April 3, 1918, he was inducted in Batavia as a member of Genesee County’s fifth draft contingent, which left the next day for Camp Dix, home of the 78th Division. About six weeks later, on May 20, 1918, he was sent overseas as a member of Company B of the division’s 309th Infantry.

Corporal Dexter died aboard a homebound troopship on February 12, 1919. The ship, USS Finland, arrived in New York from France two days later. County List 2 (October 12, 1922 Batavia Daily News) and the NY Roll of Honor give Dexter’s cause of death as lobar pneumonia; more detailed documents in his Burial Case File cite not only pneumonia but also pleurisy and “sudden cardiac dilatation.” But several other sources, including County List 1 (August 5, 1919 Batavia Daily News), say that he died of pneumonia and wounds. Though perhaps not technically accurate, this is certainly a more complete description of Dexter’s condition when he died. Nearly all sources, including his NYSS, agree that Dexter was wounded in action on October 19, 1918, about four months before he died. At the time, the 309th Infantry was attacking well-defended enemy positions in the Bois des Loges, northeast of Grandpré. “On the 19th,” reads History of the Seventy-Eighth Division, “the 1st Battalion, 309th Infantry [which included Dexter’s Company B] . . . advanced twice almost to the northern edge of the woods but was driven back with heavy losses. The enemy was keeping up an incessant fire with machine guns . . . and was also sending over great numbers of high explosives, shrapnel, and gas shells.”

Reports of the degree and seriousness of Corporal Dexter’s wounds varied. Dexter’s own letters home said that he’d been shot in the right foot and was doing well. In a letter to his parents excerpted in the November 25, 1918 Batavia Daily News, Dexter wrote, “On the morning of October 19th our company went ‘over the top’ and Jerry opened up on us with machine guns. One of his machine gun bullets went through my right foot. I immediately pulled off my shoe and leggings and put on a first-aid bandage. . . . Now I am in a big American base hospital, No. 61, where I am being cared for. . . . The wound is not serious, but will lay me up for a few weeks.” In another letter excerpted in the January 24, 1919 Batavia Daily News, he wrote, “I have been getting about the hospital with crutches for some time. Although I am not able to walk much I have the best of care and am feeling fine.”

Apparently Corporal Dexter’s wounds were more serious than his letters implied, however. The December 14, 1918 Buffalo Evening News reported that Dexter had been listed in the latest official casualty report as “severely wounded”; a list published the day before in the Plattsburg Daily Press and another in the December 12 Tonawanda Evening News support that, showing Dexter among the “Wounded Severely.” Also, his NYSS specifies, “Wounded severely Oct 19/18”. Perhaps most telling is this statement from Corporal Dexter’s death announcement in the February 20, 1919 Medina Tribune: “The young man was desperately wounded, having lost both legs.” It should be noted, however, that research failed to locate any other sources confirming that statement.

Corporal Robert Ivan Dexter was among five Genesee County members of Company B, 309th Infantry, who died in the war as a result of the fighting at the Bois des Loges. His remains were returned to Batavia under military escort and were interred at Millville Cemetery in Shelby (Orleans County), New York, on February 18, 1919.

– – – – –

—— [CLICK ON DOCUMENTS TO OPEN FULL VIEW IN SEPARATE TAB] ——

November 25, 1918 Batavia Daily News p5 c3

– – – – –

December 14, 1918 Buffalo Evening News p12 c6

– – – – –

January 24, 1919 Batavia Daily News p5 c3

– – – – –

February 14, 1919 Batavia Daily News p1 c6

– – – – –

 February 15, 1919 Batavia Daily News p6 c5

– – – – –

February 20, 1919 Medina Tribune p5 c5

– – – – –

 Source: New York Service Summary from Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919, NY State Archives, Albany, New York

– – – – –

Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

– – – – –

Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

– – – – –

Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

– – – – –

Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

– – – – –

Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

– – – – –

Robert Ivan Dexter headstone, Millville Cemetery, Shelby, Orleans County, New York

GPS Coordinates: Lat 43° 11’ 22.25” N, Long 78° 19’ 29.169” W (DD:43.189514, -78.324769)

– – – – –

Robert Ivan Dexter Sources:

– All County Lists; also BHR

– Nov 13, 1918 BD p8 c4

– Nov 25, 1918 BD p5 c3

– Dec 12, 1918 Tonawanda Evening News p6 c4

– Dec 13, 1918 Plattsburg Daily Press p3 c4

– Dec 14, 1918 Buffalo Evening News p12 c6

– Jan 24, 1919 BD p5 c3

– Feb 14, 1919 BD p1 c6*

– Feb 15, 1919 BD p6 c5

– Feb 15, 1919 BT p4 c6

– Feb 15, 1919 Ogdensburg Daily News p2 c1-2

– Feb 17, 1919 BD p6 c5

– Feb 18, 1919 BD p8 c3

– Feb 20, 1919 Medina Tribune p5 c5

– Feb 22, 1919 BT p2 c4-5

– Sep 16, 1937 Medina Tribune p2 c6

– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for George Dexter (head) and Ivan Dexter (son, age 6), citing Census Records, Alabama, Genesee, New York; sheet number 14A, line numbers 32 and 35, microfilm series T623, Roll 1037, page 14.

– “New York State Census, 1905.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for R. Ivan Dexter, age 11, citing Census Records, Alabama, E.D. 02, Genesee, New York; page number 23, line 11.

– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for George Dexter (head) and R. Ivan Dexter (son, age 16), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 3B, line 99, and sheet number 4A, line 2, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, pages 109 and 110.

– “New York State Census, 1915.” Online index and images, Ancestry.com. Entries for George Dexter [indexed as Dester] and family (son’s name entry unreadable but likely Ivan; age matches), citing Census Records, Batavia, A.D. 01, E.D. 02, Genesee, New York; page number 11, lines 11 – 14.

– NYSS

Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)

78th Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 27-29

History of the Seventy-Eighth Division, pp 111-13

– BCF

– Millville Cemetery (Shelby, New York) D listings (online), http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyorlean/millvd.htm

– Photograph of Robert Ivan Dexter used with the kind permission of his family.

– – – – –

Click for Key to Source Abbreviations. See the Bibliography for complete title, author, and publisher information, with links to online access when available.