The church records at St. Benedict’s Church in Carrrolltown, Pa., clearly identify “Ambros Sylvester” and his 1866 birth date, and a tombstone at St. Nicholas Cemetery in Nicktown, Pa., shows a 1870 death date of a three-year old child to his parents, just shy of a fourth birthdate. A young “Sylvester” does appear in the 1870 Census, but in no subsequent records. Read together, this establshes certainty that the child died at the early age indicated.

A question lingers as to whether this Sylvester had a younger brother named Anselm Sylvester who was born December of 1867, as stated in the records of Fr. Modestus Wirtner in about 1929. Fr. Wirtner stated that Sylvester served in the Cuban War (more accurately, the Spanish-American War), which was in 1898. But there are compelling reasons to believe Fr. Modestus, an otherwise reliable source, was mistaken. There is only one Sylvester in the 1870 Census, only one in the church records and only one in Fr. Modestus’s record. Fr. Modestus recorded a birthdate that was close to the church record for Ambros Sylvester, except for the birth year. Although Fr. Modestus references the Cuban War, no Sylvester Farabaugh is found in any other records such as the family record in the 1880 Census, and nor is he mentioned in his sibling’s obituaries. Finally, no Sylvester Farabaugh is listed in databases for the Spanish-American War and he is not listed as someone who received compensation, as authorized by the Pennsylvania Veteran’s Compensation Act of 1934.