William James MacFeeters

Birth: 10/6/1893, Cleveland, Ohio

Address: 10703 or 10705 Englewood Ave., Cleveland, OH

Demographics: age 23 at draft registration; single; Caucasian; native-born Clevelander; occupation unemployed at draft registration; claimed [widowed] mother as a dependent; it was noted that he was "confined in Eddy Rd. hospital suffering from hernia." 

Appearance: Height 5'11," Weight 140 lbs., Eyes gray, Hair dark brown 

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 6/3/1917; 4/5/1918; Seaman Second Class U.S. Navy

Service Number: 141-02-84 

Deployment: not noted  

Action: Home awaiting orders to Apr 14/18; Naval Tng Sta Great Lakes Ill to May 13/18; Naval Tng Sta Naval Operating Base Norfolk Va to May 24/18; USS Georgia to Sept 14/18; Receiving Ship Norfolk Va to Nov 11/18. At sea 87 days; Sea 2c 103 days

Death: October 12, 1918 [one month before the Armistice on November 11, 1918] at age 25 at Naval Hospital, Norfolk, Virginia; cause of death Pneumonia  

Burial: Woodland Cemetery, 6901 Woodland Ave., Cleveland, OH, Section 30 Lot 32, a gravesite he shared with his parents

Next of Kin: not noted 

Additional Information: 

Seaman William James MacFeeters was 4 years old when his fireman father died on Christmas Eve, 1897 after being injured the day before while fighting a "million dollar" fire in downtown Cleveland, as reported in The New York Times and other newspapers.

Father: Lieutenant William B. MacFeeters (1865-1897), born Pennsylvania, occupation Fireman at Cleveland engine company No. 1, died at age 32 in the Power Block fire in downtown Cleveland, funeral took place at Superior St. Baptist Church with 2,000 people in attendance, buried Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland, OH in same gravesite as wife and son were buried years later; Mother: Flora Clark MacFeeters (1864-1945), born Portland, Maine on 10/6/1864, the same birth month and day as her son Private William James MacFeeters, had 2 children, lived in her daughter's household for some years after the death of her son, buried Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland, OH in same gravesite as husband and son; Siblings: Florence MacFeeters Slusser (?1890-?), married on 9/4/1918 to George Slusser and had a stillborn daughter and a daughter Auretta Clark Slusser (1929-1987).