George T. McNeely

The following profile was researched and compiled by Candice L. Buchanan and Glenn J. R. T. Toothman III, for publication in "The Rain Day Boys: The Greene That Lay Near Grimpettes Woods" (2017). Learn more at RainDayBoys.com.

Birth: 2 September 1899 Worth Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania

Parents: Simon Coen McNeely and Martha Clark

Residence at time of enlistment: Wind Ridge, Richhill Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania

Physical description: 5 feet 3 5/8 inches tall, florid complexion, grey eyes, brown hair

Death: Killed in action 29 July 1918 Cierges, Picardie, France

Age at death: 18 years old

Last resting place: Body not recovered/identified. Tablets of the Missing, Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, Picardie, France

Military rank: Serial No. 1241538. Private. Company K, 110th Infantry, 28th Division.

Witness account of death: Statement given by Cpl. Edward Y. Smith. “I was lying alongside of George McNeely when he was hit by machine gun fire. We were on top of Hill 212, he was hit first in the leg and was advised to go back but remained with the company. Then he was hit somewhere in the body and I saw him fall back dead.”

Additional information:

George T. McNeely is the youngest of Greene County, Pennsylvania’s fallen World War I soldiers. He was 17 years old when he enlisted on 14 July 1917 with Company K. This meant that George never filled out a draft card. The first draft held 5 June 1917, required all men between the ages of 21 and 31 to present themselves. George never reached that age.

No one in George’s family applied under the Pennsylvania Veteran’s Compensation Act. His parents had both died before 1934, when the act was passed. The file maintained by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) and digitized by Ancestry.com, does contain the official account of George’s death, several cards related to his service, and a questionnaire completed by his father, Simon Coen McNeely in 1919. The questionnaire was published in local newspapers. Simon clipped it out to fill-in and mail to the state. Unfortunately, the record provides no further personal or family information.

Sources

  • Aisne-Marne American Cemetery (Belleau, Picardie, France), George T. McNeely inscription, Tablets of the Missing; read and photographed by Candice Buchanan and Glenn Toothman, 4 September 2017.
  • Butler County, Pennsylvania, Registration of Births 1893-1905, page 238 (stamped), McNeely entry, birth 2 September 1899, record 7 December 1899; digital images, FamilySearch.org (www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/283998 : viewed 5 November 2017); original held by Butler County Clerk of Orphans' Court; filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1972.
  • "Deaths of Two More Company K Men" article, Waynesburg Republican, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, 17 October 1918.
  • Greene County, Pennsylvania, Marriage License Dockets (1887), vol. 2: 86, Simon C. McNeely - Martha Clarke; Office of the Orphans' Court, Greene County Courthouse, Waynesburg.
  • Memorial Services and Dedication of Tablet, Company K, 110th (10th Pa.) Infantry, Waynesburg, Pa., Sunday, May 30, 1920 (Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: Sutton's Printing Office, 1920), page 6.
  • Mrs. S. C. McNeely obituary, Waynesburg Independent, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, 29 December 1904.
  • "PA National Guard Veterans' Card File, 1867-1921," digital images, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), Pennsylvania State Archives Records Information Access System (www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp: viewed 12 November 2017), George T. McNeely, Private, Co K, 10th Inf., P. N. G.; citing Pennsylvania State Archives, series #19.135.
  • "United States, Army Transport Service Passenger Lists 1910-1939," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61174 : accessed 14 October 2017), George T. McNeely entry, line 159, page 35 (stamped), Ausonia, box 373; citing Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Textual records. 255 Boxes. NAI: 6234477. Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985. Record Group Number 92. National Archives, College Park, Maryland. The ledger lists an emergency contact person and address for each passenger. George listed his father, with whom he likely lived at the time of his enlistment. He gave his address as “Wind Ridge, PA.”
  • West Virginia, Death Certificates, no. 903, Simon C. McNeely, 1925; digital images, West Virginia Archives and History (WV State Archives), West Virginia Culture and History (www.WVCulture.com : viewed 13 November 2017); original records on file at the County Courthouses or the Vital Registration Office, Bureau for Public Health, Charleston.
  • "WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60884 : accessed 9 October 2017), George T. McNeely file (no application for compensation submitted, but military records and family submissions on file); citing World War I Veterans Service and Compensation File, 1934–1948 (RG 19, Series 19.91), Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.