Military History in Paulding County
By: Mark Holtsberry
Albert Wallace Treat was born December 23, 1895, in Guys, Illinois.
He was the son of William E. Treat, born August 9, 1854, in Dowagiac, Cass County, Michigan, and Carrie E. (Wallace) Treat, born February 9, 1869, in Windsor, Shelby County, Illinois. This couple was married April 24, 1889, in Shelby, Illinois.
By 1900, the couple was living in Whitley, Illinois. William was working as a hardware salesman, and Carrie was raising three children: Birdie Vay, born January 1891; Dee E., born December 1892; and Albert, born December 1895.
By 1910, William and Carrie had moved the children to a farm in Farmer, Defiance County, Ohio. William became a postmaster. Dee was helping on the farm. The daughter, Birdie, and Albert were in school but also helped on the farm.
On July 20, 1911, Carrie passed away from cancer, surgical shock, and septicemia. She was buried in Forest Home Cemetery, Hicksville, Ohio.
On June 5, 1917, Albert left the University of Chicago Medical School after two years and traveled to Payne, Ohio. He registered at the Payne precinct for the World War I draft. Albert had moved to Payne a few years earlier. He was listed as medium build, medium height, with brown eyes and brown hair. He was single and working as a traveling solicitor for the Radcliffe Chautauqua out of Washington, D.C.
Albert enlisted to serve in the military on June 21, 1917, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On January 9, 1918, as part of Section 562, United States Army Ambulance Service, Albert was sent overseas as a Private First Class to serve with the 508th Ambulance Service. He shipped out of New York and headed to France.
In June of 1919, Albert joined the Foreign Food Service as a food relief officer, but soon after that, he became part of the United States Consular Service. This position required a passport from the United States State Department.
He returned to America on March 14, 1920, to attend the Phi Beta Theta fraternity banquet in Washington, D.C.
On March 16, 1923, Albert’s father, William, passed away. He was buried with his wife Carrie in Forest Home Cemetery.
On December 17, 1923, Albert was nominated and promoted to serve at a higher level in the United States Consulate. He eventually became Vice Consul in Smyrna, Iran. He held and commanded the food relief structure to feed war-torn countries.
On May 3, 1929, Albert Wallace Treat died suddenly. According to reports, he was stricken with pleural pneumonia at his post in Tehran, Iran, some two weeks earlier. His health then declined rapidly after he contracted blood poisoning. At one time, his fever rose to 105 degrees. Serum was rushed to Tehran from Cairo, Egypt, by airplane, and three physicians were constantly by his bedside. The State Department in Washington advised relatives.
His remains were returned to Washington, D.C., where arrangements were made to return the body to Hicksville for burial. He was buried in Forest Home Cemetery, Hicksville, Ohio, Lot 58, Section 5.
…Until Next Time!
