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- 1870 United States Federal Census Name: John Hume Birth Year: abt 1862 Age in 1870: 8 Birthplace: Indiana Home in 1870: Jefferson, Sullivan, Indiana Race: White Gender: Male Post Office: Merom Joseph C Hume 35 Rebecca Hume 36 John Hume 8 Edwin Hume 6 Manda Hume 3 Lauretta Hume 4/12
1880 United States Federal Census Name: John Hume Home in 1880: Jefferson, Sullivan, Indiana Age: 17 Estimated birth year: abt 1863 Birthplace: Indiana Relation to Head of Household: Son Father's Name: Joseph C. Father's birthplace: Indiana Mother's Name: Rebecca Mother's birthplace: Indiana Occupation: At Home Marital Status: Single Race: White Gender: Male Joseph C. Hume 44 Rebecca Hume 45 John Hume 17 Edwin Hume 15 Maud Hume 13 Retta Hume 10 Estella Hume 7 Verner Hume 5
1900 United States Federal Census Name: John R Hume Dr [John B Hume Dr] Home in 1900: St Louis Ward 23, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri Age: 37 Birth Date: Aug 1862 Birthplace: Indiana Race: White Gender: Male Relationship to Head of House: Head Father's Name: Joseph C Father's Birthplace: Indiana Mother's Name: Rebecca Mother's Birthplace: Indiana Marital Status: Widowed John R Hume 37 Joseph C Hume 66 Rebecca Hume 66 Maud Hume 32 Estelle Hume 29 Wyals Wittich 12
1910 United States Federal Census Name: John R Huwe[John R Hume] Age in 1910: 47 Estimated birth year: abt 1863 Birthplace: Indiana Relation to Head of House: Head Father's Birth Place: Indiana Mother's Name: Rebecca Mother's Birth Place: Indiana Spouse's name: Ethel Home in 1910: Doniphan Ward 1, Ripley, Missouri Marital Status: Married Race: White Gender: Male John R Huwe 47 Ethel Huwe 25 Rebecca Huwe 76
Arkansas Death Index, 1914-1950 Name: John Rob Hume Estimated birth year: 1862 Age: 81 Death Day: 15 Death Month: May Death Year: 1943 County: Pulaski Volume Number: 29 Roll Number: 1943 Certificate Number: 862
Information Sheet R Hume, John Robert. Papers, 1898-1919. Two folders, photocopies.
These are typescript copies of a World War One diary and poetry of John R. Hume, a native of Doniphan in Ripley County, Missouri, and captain of a U.S. Army medical detachment in France, 1917-1918.
The Hume family, which had antecedents in Scotland and Virginia, was among the earliest to settle along the Current River in Missouri. They located near Doniphan, in Ripley County, some-time around 1800.
John R. Hume was a physician at Doniphan. Some of his poetry, dated 1898 at Jacksonville, Florida, and 1900 at Asheville, North Carolina, suggests that he may have been educated in those places. Hume entered the U.S. Army before World War I. He was surgeon of the 7th U.S. Infantry Regiment, serving with Pershing's expeditionary force in
Texas and Mexico in 1916-1917. He was captain with a field hospital detachment which landed in France in September 1917. The unit served variously at Bourmont, Goncourt, and in the Verdun sector, attached to the French 77th Infantry Regiment, the 23rd U.S. Infantry Regiment and the 1st and 2nd U.S. Infantry Divisions.
Hume's diary and most of his poetry concern his military experience in Europe. The diary entries begin on 8 September 1917, as the medical detachment sailed for France, and continue through 14 February 1918. The entries concern the movements of his field hospital unit and Hume's own hospitalization twice in four months. He was wounded while visiting British forces at Cambrai in November 1917, and developed pneumonia after prolonged exposure to chlorine gas in January 1918. Hume's narrative ends during his second hospitalization, but the dateline of his poetry indicates he recovered and served in France through the summer of 1918. By November 1918, Hume was in Genoa,
Italy.
Hume was particularly sensitive to the health and well-being of the troops he served. He was exceedingly disaffected with the quality of American leadership, especially that of Gen. Omar Bundy, who led the 2nd Division. He accused Bundy of precipitating many cases of exposure and death among soldiers who had fallen out of forced marches and who were ordered left along the roadside. The “Joseph Boyce Incident,” narrated in the diary, was a particularly disturbing example. Hume's poetry describes the plight of the common soldier and the motives which sustained the troops in combat.
THE SONGS THEY SANG IN THE TRENCHES
The songs they sang in the trenches
Are the songs that I long to hear.
The dear old songs that the soldiers sang
Are music to mine ear.
The songs they sang in the trenches,
The songs of the brave and true,
The stirring songs of the homeland,
I'd hear them, boys, from you.
The glorious songs of Britain,
The peerless queen of the wave,
I'd hear you sing of your island home
Of the land that you died to save.
When the moonlight fell on the trenches,
In accents tender and mild,
I'd hear the sweet-voiced poilu
As he sang of his wife and child.
Oh, the wonderful songs of the Yankees
That they sang when the flag was unfurled!
The song that was echoed from heaven,
The song that was heard round the world.
Oh, the prayerful songs of the trenches
That the soldiers sang when they died!
We'll join them again in the chorus
When we sing on the other side.
Oh, the beautiful songs of the trenches,
Murmur them softly and low!
Many heroes that sang in the trenches
Are moldering under the snow.
Captain John Robert Hume,
23d Infantry.
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