Careful with those shaky leaves!

I've been doing a lot of clicking and lookie looing at my online tree.  I've been tempted to just go crazy and add all the information I find in other peoples trees to mine and be all happy-go-lucky with all those ancestors.  I have to remind myself that accuracy is critical to being taken seriously with genealogy.  As much as I would love to just claim all of those exotic sounding ancestors, I can't just assume that they are correct.

I love this hobby and truly gain joy from finding connections to my ancestors and other descendants, I cannot bear to think that I'm connecting to the wrong person.  As a beginner, I did not understand the importance of paying attention to the details.  When you get carried away and excited it's easy to just start adding people willy nilly and ending up with a completely inaccurate and totally amateur tree.   I see them everyday when I'm clicking along.  Now, don't think I'm perfect, because I'm terrible at actually citing my sources and am slowly working through trying to fix that flaw in my tree.

Could he be where my Italian DNA comes from?

Of course I was supposed to be researching military service by my direct ancestors, but somehow I got distracted by following some shaky leaves on my ancestry.com tree and ended up with what just might be an Italian ancestor!  What the huh?

I did the AncestryDNA test a while ago and it came back with 2% Italy/Greece.  I was really surprised to see that ethnicity pop up in my DNA.  I've been testing anyone that will let me in my family.  My daddy has a slight 1% and his father 1% but his mother has a whopping 8%.  It is on my Grandmother's side that I clicked my way back to find this possible Italian.  His name was Salvator Muscoe.

I used my DNA matches to search for the last name Muscoe and low and behold there are several matches to me that include this Salvator Muscoe.  The accepted story is that Salvato Muscoe was born in Italy and went to London to help build St. Peter's.  I, of course, have not fully documented this nor tried very hard verify the information.  If nothing else I am clearly related by DNA to other people related to this fella.

It is my understanding that Muscoe is not actually Italian, but likely an Anglicization of the name.

John C. Bussey Enlistment Record

I obtained a copy of John C. Bussey's military records back in 2003.  I looked at them and tried to decipher what they said.  The copy appears to have been faxed and then mailed.  It was printed in negative form since the writing was extremely difficult to read in it's normal form.  Below is a copy of the Enlistment Record.

As you can see, it is not the easiest document to read, but I believe I have seen worse as I'm sure you have as well in your research.  

This document gives me more insight into my Papa Bussey.  He entered service Sept 30th 1918 in Atlanta, Georgia.  He was born and lived his life in Atlanta. Under battles, engagements, expeditions: to the right is written none. But there is also written Mar 18  21 and Brouge.  I believe this may be bleed through from another document onto this one.  I know that my Papa was not in the military at that time.  

I love that his character is described as : Excellent.  

Remarks:  Inducted Sept 30th 1918 at Atlanta, Ga assd to 13th Depot Sig Franklin Contonment, ind 11/9/18  No AWOL on record  No (cannot read) 31/12or 45/14 {I'm assuming that these were some sort of rules, regs etc that he had not broken}  Service honest and faithful.  

Note written on the left side reads: Soldier entitled to travel pay from Camp Hancock, Ga to Atlanta, Ga place of induction. 

Here is his Discharge Paper and it is even more difficult to read. 

  \

I'm not even going to guess on what it says.  I really want to know the reason for discharge but I cannot read it no matter how much I stare at it.  I see that he was in the Army from Sept 30, 1918 until Jan 20, 1919. He served just shy of 4 months. The war ended Nov. 1918 and that is likely why he was able to be released since he was drafted.  I don't know for sure.  As far as I can tell he did not have a disability at that time.  I do know that later he was blind in one eye, but I don't know how that came to be.  It's clear it wasn't the case for when he was younger though.  

Feel free to see if you can decipher what is written on the document.  

John C Bussey WWI Service Card

What information can I gather from my great grandfather, John Colvin Bussey's WWI Service Card?
Below is a snippet of his card.

Ancestry.com. Georgia, World War I Service Cards, 1917-1919 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Original data: Georgia Adjutant General’s Office. World War I Statements of Service Cards. Georgia State Archives, Morrow, Georgia.

What information do we find here?
1. His name.  John C. Bussey
2. His Army serial number.
3. Residence address.
4. That he was inducted.  It is my understanding that inducted in this case meant drafted and that he did not enlist.
5.  Location of induction and date.  Ft. Thomas, KY
6. Date of birth.  Nov 19, 1892  (there seems to be some inconsistency in his birthday as to if it's Nov 18th or Nov 19th, but the year is always consistent.
7. Organizations that he served in. "13 Dep Bn Sig C Franklin Cantonment Camp Meade Md to disch"
      I tried to break down what these acronyms meant.  Here is what I deciphered.
       13th Department Batallion Signal Corp.  The unit he was assigned to.
       Franklin Cantonment    The school he went to.
       Camp Meade Md
       to disch (discharge)
8. Grades, with date of appointment:  
        Pvt 1 cl Dec1/18   = Private 1st class Dec 1, 1918
       Pvt Dec 26, 1918  = Private
9. Did not serve overseas
10. Honorably discharged on demobilization Jan 20, 1919
11. 0 per cent disabled.

So I was able to gather a small bit of detailed information about the time in service for my great grandfather.  I'm now curious as to why his rank appears to have been moved down, yet he was still honorably discharged.  I have a copy of his service record, but it is very difficult to read.

I was unable to find much definitive information regarding the unit "13 Dep Bn Sig C".  I would like to find out more about what he was supposed have been learning at the signal school in Maryland.  His time in service was short, but it was something that stuck with him his whole life.  When he was older he utilized the VA for medical care.

I look forward to fleshing out more of my ancestors.  I'm currently concentrating on the military members in my direct line.