World War I Veteran
By Camille Arbogast
Guiseppe Louis Adduci, known as Joseph, was born in Cassano all’lonio, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy, on April 8, 1888, to Louis and Fortunata or Fortuna (Paterno) Adduci. He had at least two siblings, Frank born in 1882 and Lucia (known as Lucy) in 1886.
Joseph attended school through eighth grade, according to the 1940 census. In June 1900, he sailed from Naples on the Anchor Line’s SS Bolivia, arriving in New York City on July 1 and immediately continuing on to Boston. In 1905, Frank and Lucy joined him in the United States. In 1910, they lived at 346 Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South End, along with Frank’s wife, Mary. Joseph’s life-long profession was tailor; in 1910 he was working as an operator at a tailor’s shop. Lucy, a tailoress, married in 1913. By 1917, the Adduci siblings had moved to 26 Barry Street in Dorchester. The household had grown to include Lucy’s husband, Guiseppe, as well as Frank’s two young children, Louis and Vincent. The house was a two-family, and additional Adducis, possibly cousins, lived in the other unit. When he registered for the draft in June 1917, Joseph reported that he was a tailor with John Scalpenti of 20 Devonshire Street in Boston and that he supported his mother and disabled sister back in Italy. The next month, he declared his intention to become an American citizen.
On August 29, 1918, Joseph was inducted into the Army. He served as a private in the 22nd Company, 6th Battalion, 151st Depot Brigade. In October 1918, he became an American citizen. Joseph was demobilized at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, and discharged on December 4, 1918.
On November 9, 1919, Joseph married Vita Mary Angeramiof 245 Washington Street in Dorchester. Vita had been born in Boston. Joseph and Vita were married by Reverend Pasquale Di Milla at the Church of Our Lady of Pompeii on Florence Street in the New York Streets neighborhood of the South End (today the location of the Ink Block development). Their son, Melvin Joseph Adduci, was born on November 16, 1920.
In 1920, Joseph and Vita were living in Dorchester at 54 Elmo Street (today’s Ellington Street). Joseph was working as a tailor at a clothing manufacturing company. Three years later, they had relocated to 243 Washington Street. In 1928, they moved to 27 Kenberma Road, which they rented for $40 a month. The 1930 census recorded that Joseph was a department store tailor. In 1932, the Adducis lived at 117 Gallivan Boulevard, which they owned and which was valued at $3,700. Joseph was out of work for 12 weeks in 1939, but in 1940 was again employed as a tailor in retail clothing, earning $600 a year. The Aduccis moved a short distance to 1999 Dorchester Avenue in 1941. That February, Joseph reported on his Second World War draft registration that he worked for the Tailored Coat Company, Inc, of 650 Harrison Avenue in Boston. Melvin worked in the Charlestown Navy Yard. Later that year, Melvin joined the Navy, serving through April 1946. According to the Boston directory, in the early 1950s, Joseph was a stitcher at Morse’s, perhaps the Leopold Morse Company, which had stores in Boston and Cambridge and a factory at 217 Friend Street in Boston.
At the end of his life, Joseph lived at 18 Fitch Terrace in Randolph, Massachusetts. Joseph died in Randolph on March 11, 1969. A High Mass of Requiem was celebrated for him at Randolph’s Saint Mary Catholic Church. Joseph was buried in Saint Michael Cemetery on Canterbury Street in Boston. Joseph had been a member of the Thomas J. Roberts Post Number 78 of the American Legion. When Vita died in 1983 she was buried beside him.
Sources
Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
“Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920,” database citing Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, MA, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org
Naturalization Records. National Archives at Boston, Waltham, MA; Ancestry.com
1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Melvin J. Adduci, National Cemetery Administration. Nationwide Gravesite Locator; Ancestry.com
“Leopold Morse Co. Founded in 1852 Observes 100th Anniversary This Week,” Boston Globe, 8 June 1952: 75; Newspapers.com
“Morning Death Notices,” Boston Globe, 12 March 1969: 45; Newspapers.com
Joseph Louis Adduci, FindAGrave. com