Private, Co C, 70th Engineers.
Died of pneumonia at Fort Douglas, Utah, October 21, 1918. Age 25.
Town: Batavia
Burial: St. Joseph Cemetery, Section 1, Batavia, Genesee County, New York
James Silve was born on September 22, 1893, in Livonia (Livingston County), New York. He was the only son among three children (sisters Lena and Vera) of Italian immigrants Charles (variant Carlo), and wife Anna (sometimes given as Annie) nee Tabacci or Tabacchi.
It is possible, perhaps even likely, that James’s family surname was actually Silvi. That spelling is used in the family’s listings in the 1915 NY State Census and the 1917 Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County, and in the obituaries for both James’s father (see June 7, 1912 Batavia Daily News) and mother (March 29, 1922 Batavia Daily News and April 1, 1922 Batavia Times). Likewise, his father’s and mother’s surname is listed as Silvi in their respective entries in the New York State Death Index (see sources), which is tied to their official death certificates.
Compounding the confusion is James’s own tombstone, which shows his name as James Silvie—a spelling that appears in no other source; all others use either Silvi or Silve. One can only speculate, through the fog of time, how or why this came to be. Perhaps a decision was made to reconcile the conflicting surname versions by combining the two, or perhaps it was simply an error or miscommunication due to language difficulties.
Regardless, all newspaper reports of James’s death, as well as all Genesee County and City of Batavia honor roll lists, the NY Roll of Honor, James’s NYSS, the Army’s “Report of Death” in his Burial Case File, and the 1900 and 1910 US Censuses use the spelling “Silve.” Because of the preponderance of sources, including all official military documents, that employ that spelling, and in deference to the fact that all preceding honor roll lists and county monuments display the name “Silve,” that is the surname used here.
The 1900 US Census shows the Silve family, including James at age 6, living within the township of York (Livingston County), in the “Retsof Italian settlement.” His father’s occupation is given as salt miner. By the time the 1910 US Census was taken, the family had moved to Genesee County; that census shows the Silves at 40 Center Street in Batavia, with both James and his father listed as laborers working odd jobs. In a December 29, 1911 Batavia Daily News account of a trial in which James is a primary witness, he is described as a young “Italian boy” whose testimony was put off because “it was difficult to make him understand English without the aid of an interpreter.”
All sources from 1915 through James’s death give his and his family’s address as 1 Ferrin Place in Batavia. In 1917’s Genesee County “Militia Enrollment List,” Silve listed his occupation as “railroad employee,” and on his draft registration card (also from 1917), his employer is given as “NYC&HR RR”—presumably the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad.
James Silve was among 27 men in a Genesee County draft contingent who left Batavia on April 29, 1918, bound for Camp Dix, New Jersey. According to the October 23, 1918 Batavia Daily News article announcing his death, Silve was transferred from Camp Dix to Indianapolis (probably to Fort Benjamin Harrison in that city) before being sent later to Fort Douglas, near Salt Lake City, Utah. Accordingly, his NYSS shows him being transferred in early June, 1918, from his original unit at Camp Dix to Company C of the 603rd Engineers, which was based at Fort Benjamin Harrison, an army engineers training and mobilization center for railway specialists near Indianapolis, Indiana. His NYSS shows him being transferred again in early August, 1918, to Company C of the 70th Engineers, which was a specially trained railroad construction battalion at Fort Douglas. (Note that County Honor Roll List 1 and all cited newspaper articles say that Silve was in Company B, 70th Engineers. However, County Honor Roll List 2, his NYSS, the NY Roll of Honor and the “Report of Death” in Private Silve’s Burial Case File all say that he was in Company C; this is most likely the correct unit designation.)
In the fall of 1918, the first cases of Spanish influenza in Utah occurred at Fort Douglas. Silve’s was one of 21 deaths reported at the fort’s hospital in October of that year. Private James Silve was interred with military honors at Batavia’s St. Joseph Cemetery on October 29, 1918.
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October 23, 1918 Batavia Daily News p1 c6
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October 24, 1918 Rochester Democrat Chronicle p9 c5
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October 29, 1918 Batavia Daily News p6 c4
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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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James Silve/Silvie headstone, St. Joseph Cemetery, Section 1, Batavia, Genesee County, New York
GPS Coordinates: Lat 42° 59’ 24.269” N, Long 78° 10’ 18.59” W (DD: 42.990075, -78.171831)
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James Silve Sources:
– All County Lists; also BHR
– Dec 29, 1911 BD p1 c6
– Jun 7, 1912 BD p4 c5
– Apr 29, 1918 BD p1 c7
– Oct 23, 1918 BD p1 c6*
– Oct 24, 1918 RDC p9 c5
– Oct 26, 1918 BT p2 c4
– Oct 29, 1918 BD p6 c4
– Mar 29, 1922 BD p2 c4
– Apr 1, 1922 BT p2 c4
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Chas Silve (head) and James Silve (son, age 6), citing Census Records, York, Livingston, New York; sheet number 14B, line numbers 72 and 74, microfilm series T623, Roll 1071, page 207.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Charley Silve (head) and James Silve (son, age 17), citing Census Records, Batavia, Genesee, New York; sheet number 2, line numbers 23 and 25, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 175.
– “New York State Census, 1915.” Online index and images, Ancestry.com. Entry for James Silvi, age 21, citing Census Records, Batavia (Ward 5), A.D. 01, E.D. 05, Genesee, New York; page number 11, line 36.
– “Militia Enrollment List” (Genesee County, 1917), p S1
– NYSS
– Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County (1917), p 96
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65
– New York, Death Index, 1852-1956 (Ancestry.com)
– World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)
– War Department Annual Reports, 1919, Volume II, Report of the Chief of Engineers, p 28
– “The Great Pandemic: The United States in 1918-1919,” Utah page, accessed online (http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/1918/your_state/northwest/utah/index.html)
– The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume V, Military Hospitals in the United States, Chapter XXVII, pp 574, statistical chart, accessed online, U.S. Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History (http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/MilitaryHospitalsintheUS/chapter27page574.pdf)
– BCF
– St. Joseph Cemetery tombstone transcriptions, S 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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Click for Key to Source Abbreviations. See the Bibliography for complete title, author, and publisher information, with links to online access when available.