H. J. Smethurst

Howard J. Smethurst

Birth: 5/10/1896; Cleveland, OH

Address: 2916 W. 25th St., Cleveland, OH

Demographics: age 21 at draft registration; Caucasian; 1916 and 1917 Cleveland City Directories listed occupation as Electrician; natural born citizen 

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: draft registration card not found; enlistment date 5/25/1917; Landsman (see below) 

Service Number: 1926926

Deployment: N/A  

Action: USNRF (United States Navy Reserve Forces) Retg Sta Cleveland, O. May 25/17; Great Lakes Illinois May 25/17 July 31/17; Hosp Great Lakes Illinois to July 31/17; Lds E (Landsman Electrician) 67 days; Landsman was the lowest rank given to new recruits with little to no experience at sea who performed menial, unskilled work aboard ship. Died July 31/1917 before deployment

Death: Died of scarlet fever on July 31, 1917 at age 21 at Naval Hospital Great Lakes, Illinois 

Burial: Funeral per Edick's Undertaking Rooms at 2914 W. 25th St., Cleveland, OH, "Fri. 2:30 pm Friends invited;" (this may be an example of the common practice of the funeral director Eugene Edick, 1101 Pearl St., holding services at the home of the deceased); burial Brooklyn Heights Cemetery, 4700 Broadview Rd., Cleveland, OH, Plot Acacia 

Next of Kin: Isabella Smethurst, mother, 2916 W. 25th St., Cleveland, OH

Additional Information: During WW I, a quarter of a million men were trained at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, less than 40 miles north of Chicago. Nearly a thousand sailors died there in 1918 due to the influenza pandemic; mother Isabella Hall Smethurst (1864-1928), born Scotland, immigrated 1889; father James W. Smethurst (1867-1938), born England, immigrated 1894, occupation Cigar Dealer, own shop; parents buried in same cemetery as son Howard; sister Frances Smethurst, born Ohio, occupation Teacher in 1916; parents' burial record mentions Howard as their child, but no mention of Frances; the 1940 Census shows Frances (sister), age 44, single, occupation Dental Hygienist, living at 1459 Winton Ave, Cleveland,OH with partner Rowena Baker, age 41, single, occupation Office Clerk at steel mill