Daniel Goodwin Durbin

The following profile was researched and compiled by Candice L. Buchanan and Glenn J. R. T. Toothman III, for RainDayBoys.com.

Birth: 31 May 1890 Greene County, Pennsylvania

Parents: Jefferson D. Durbin and Anna Supler

Residence at time of enlistment: Greene County, Pennsylvania

Physical description: Tall, medium build, blue eyes, dark brown hair

Death: Influenza epidemic, he was taken ill aboard the ship Teucer, which was transporting his unit from the United States to Europe, and died 9 October 1918 just after arrival in Liverpool, Lancashire, England.

Age at death: 28 years old

Last resting place: 26 August 1920 Jacksonville Cemetery, Wind Ridge, Richhill Township, Greene, Pennsylvania

Military rank: Serial No. 3180493. Private. Company D, 2nd Battalion, 605th Engineers.

Additional information:

Daniel Goodwin Durbin was a rig builder for the South Penn Oil Company in Bristoria, Greene County, Pennsylvania, before entering the military during World War I.

En route to the front in France with his Company aboard the Teucer, Daniel was stricken by the influenza epidemic and died on 9 October 1918, just one day after arrival in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. On 26 July 1920, his casket was taken aboard the Antigone, arriving in Hoboken, New Jersey, 7 August 1920, after which Daniel was brought home to Wind Ridge and laid to rest. With him on both passages, and victim of the same fate, was another Greene County native, Albert Davis.

Left to mourn Daniel were a young widow, Edith Ugean (Curry) Durbin, and an infant daughter, Anna Marguerite Durbin.

SOURCES:

  • "Body of Soldier Returned from England" article, Waynesburg Republican, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, 26 August 1920, page 1, column 2.
  • Jacksonville Cemetery (Wind Ridge, Richhill Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania), Daniel G. Durbin tombstone; personally read and photographed by Candice Buchanan and Glenn Toothman, 2018.
  • Greene County, Pennsylvania, Marriage License Docket 16: 249, Durbin-Curry, 1918; Office of the Orphans' Court, Greene County Courthouse, Waynesburg.
  • "Two More Greene County Soldiers Killed in Action" article, Waynesburg Republican, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, 5 December 1918, page 1, column 5.
  • "United States, Army Transport Service Passenger Lists 1910-1939," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61174 : accessed 30 June 2018), Antigone, sailing from Liverpool 26 July 1920, arriving at Hoboken 7 August 1920, Daniel G. Durbin entry, unpaginated, line 33, box 33; citing Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938. Textual records. 360 Boxes. NAI: 6234465. Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985. Record Group Number 92. National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
  • "United States, Army Transport Service Passenger Lists 1910-1939," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61174 : accessed 30 June 2018), Teucer, sailing from New York 25 September 1918, arriving Liverpool 8 October 1918, Daniel G. Durbin entry, line 222, page 93 (stamped), box 589; 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.
  • "United States, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6482 : accessed 17 June 2018), Daniel Goodwin Durbin draft card, serial no. 1481, Local Draft Board, Richhill Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania; citing National Archives microfilm publication M1509, FHL roll 1892939.
  • "WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60884 : accessed 17 June 2018), Howard E. Greenfield, guardian of D. Goodwin Durbin's minor child - application no. 288754; citing World War I Veterans Service and Compensation File, 1934–1948 (RG 19, Series 19.91), Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.