Private, Co C, 3rd Provisional Battalion, Engineers.
Died of influenza and pneumonia at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, October 10, 1918. Age 28.
Town: LeRoy
Burial: St. Francis Cemetery, Section F, LeRoy, Genesee County, New York
George F Ripton was born in LeRoy (Genesee County), New York, on March 20, 1890. For some reason his 1917 draft registration card lists his birth date as March 20, 1894, and his age in years is accordingly given as 23. However, all New York (1892, 1905, and 1915) and federal (1900 and 1910) censuses indicate, either directly or by way of his listed age, that Ripton was born in 1890. His NYSS and articles in both the LeRoy Gazette-News and the Batavia Daily News also give his birth date as March 20, 1890.
George Ripton was the eldest of six children (brothers John R and Joseph P; sisters Loretta T, Sarah, and Monica M) born to Patrick F Ripton and Mary nee McKeon Ripton. In censuses from 1892 through 1910, Patrick Ripton is listed as a cooper; in the 1915 NY Census, his occupation is listed as furniture dealer. The family lived at 57 Mill Street in LeRoy. According to the July 24, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-News, George Ripton attended St. Peter’s parochial school and LeRoy High School and at one time was a brakeman for the BR&P (Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh) Railway. The 1915 NY State Census lists his occupation as “fruit picker.”
On July 23, 1918, George Ripton left for Camp Dix, New Jersey, with a Genesee County contingent of 122 draftees. Perhaps because of his railroad experience, he was transferred in August to Fort Benjamin Harrison, an army engineers training and mobilization center for railway specialists near Indianapolis, Indiana. County Honor Roll List 2 (October 22, 1922 Batavia Daily News) and the NY Roll of Honor give Ripton’s unit as Company A of the 3rd Provisional Battalion, Engineers. However, his NYSS and documents in his Burial Case File say that he was with Company C; this is most likely the correct unit designation.
George Ripton contracted Spanish influenza and pneumonia in early October, 1918, at the peak of the nation’s influenza pandemic, and died about ten days later at Fort Benjamin Harrison’s Army General Hospital No. 25. According to statistics from the Army’s Office of the Surgeon General, General Hospital No. 25 at Fort Benjamin Harrison reported 189 deaths in October, 1918, compared to two the previous month and four the following month.
On one of two documents in Private Ripton’s Burial Case File, both of which list his date of death, the number 10 in October 10, 1918 is crossed out and the number 11 is written in its place. However, all other sources give his date of death as October 10, 1918, so that is the date used here.
Private Ripton’s body was brought to LeRoy under military escort and was interred at St. Francis Cemetery on October 15, 1918.
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October 12, 1918 Batavia Daily News p8 c3
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October 16, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-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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George F Ripton headstone, Saint Francis Cemetery, LeRoy, Genesee County, New York
GPS Coordinates: Lat 42° 58’ 08.19” N, Long 77° 59’ 9.409” W (DD: 42.968942, -77.985947)
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George F Ripton Sources:
– All County Lists
– Jul 23, 1918 BD p7 c2-4
– Oct 12, 1918 BD p8 c3*
– Oct 16, 1918 LG p1 c6
– “New York State Census, 1892.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for George F Ripton, age 2, citing Census Records, LeRoy, E.D. 04, Genesee, New York; page number 8.
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Patrick Ripton [indexed as Patrick Repton] (head) and George Ripton (son, age 10), citing Census Records, LeRoy, Genesee, New York; sheet number 30B, line numbers 51 and 53, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 280.
– “New York State Census, 1905.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for George Ripton, age 15, citing Census Records, LeRoy, E.D. 01, Genesee, New York; page number 24, line number 22.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Patrick F Ripton (head) and George F Ripton (son, age 20), citing Census Records, LeRoy, Genesee, New York; sheet number 8B, lines 80 and 82, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 252.
– “New York, County Marriages, 1908-1935. ” Online index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V6H5-ZYC). Mary McKeon [Ripton mother maiden name; indexed as Mckeon] in entry for Joseph P Ripton and Antoinette E Ranney; marriage license, Mt. Morris, Livingston County, Registered No. 972; 27 November 1934. New York State Department of Health, Vital Records Sections, Albany, New York.
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65 [name misspelled “Rapton”]
– 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 876
– The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume V, Military Hospitals in the United States, Chapter XXVII, p 568, statistical chart, accessed online, U.S. Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History (http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/MilitaryHospitalsintheUS/chapter27page568.pdf)
– BCF
– St. Francis Cemetery (LeRoy, NY) listings (online), http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycleroy/Cemeteries/StFrancisCemN-R.htm
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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.