Sophia Theresa Cody
World War I Veteran
By Camille Arbogast
Sophia Theresa Cody was born on March 10, 1895, at 220 Centre Street in Roxbury. Her parents, John and Mary (McCallogue or McCalogue) Cody were Irish immigrants who married in Boston in June 1881. Sophia was a twin; her sister Grace died at a little over a year old of meningitis after a four-week bout with pertussis. Sophia had six other siblings: Joseph (also known as J.J.) born in 1882, Thomas in 1884, Ellen in 1886, Mary in 1888, Ellen in 1890, and James in 1892. Three of her siblings died as small children: Thomas in 1885 of croup, Ellen in 1889 of diphtheria, and the second Ellen in 1891 of cholera infantum.
John Cody held a number of jobs: In 1895, he was a milk dealer, in 1900, a fruit dealer, and in 1910, a bakery wagon driver. In 1899, John bought two lots totaling about 9,000 square feet on Willow Street in Dorchester. According to the Boston Globe, John already owned adjoining land; the Codys had been living on Willow Court since at least 1897. In 1900, he sold “Three old frame stables and about 12,227 square feet of land on Willow ct” to Grace McCallogue, probably Mary Cody’s relation, who bought “for improvement on private terms.” In August 1918, Grace sold John the “frame building” at 76-78 Willow Court. During this time, Sophia and her family lived at 6 Willow Court, then 76 Willow Court.
On July 25, 1918, Sophia enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force as a Yeoman (F), or a female Yeoman. Sometimes called “Yeomanettes” or “Yeowomen,” female Yeomen were officially enrolled in the Navy and received the same rate of pay as men. The Naval Act of 1916 included a line permitting the enlistment of “all persons who may be capable of performing special useful service for coastal defense.” The non-gendered language was interpreted to include women and they were recruited beginning in March 1917. By the end of the war there were over 11,000 female Yeomen. They most often served in clerical roles, though some held specialized positions.
Prior to enlisting, Sophia was a telephone operator at the South Boston exchange. With her switchboard experience, she was assigned to District Communication Superintendent, 1st Naval District, on July 30. She was initially attached to the medical office in the Little Building, and then was later transferred to one of the Navy Yard offices, where she ran “the big telephone switchboard.”
Sophia probably lived at home during her service, as the Navy did not have female barracks and women had to make their own living arrangements. Generally, they were assigned work in their home communities. There was also no officially-issued female uniform, and the women were responsible for acquiring the single-breasted jacket, long skirt, and brimmed hat they were required to wear.
On August 28, there was an influenza outbreak on a Navy receiving ship in Boston. From the receiving ship, the disease quickly spread to other navy sites, sweeping through Commonwealth Pier and filling the Chelsea Naval Hospital. Almost 21,000 sailors in the Boston area had caught the illness by mid-September. Sophia, working at the Naval Yard in the midst of the outbreak and most likely traveling between home and work daily, caught the virus.
As it was for so many other young people, for Sophia, the 1918 influenza was fatal. On October 13, 1918, she died at home, at 78 Willow Court, of lobar pneumonia caused by the influenza. She was “the second of the yeowomen forces to die since the epidemic began.”
A mass of high requiem was held for Sophia at Saint Margaret’s Church on Columbia Road. Her naval funeral was “the first military funeral of a woman held in [Boston],” according to the Boston Globe. The service featured “bluejacket body bearers, and an official escort and firing party.” A bugler played Taps “and three volleys [were] fired at the grave.” Six of Sophia’s fellow yeowomen served as her pallbearers. She was buried in the Cody family plot in Mount Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury.
Sources
Birth Record, Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook); Ancestry.com
Family Tree; FamilySearch.org
Death Record, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
1900, 1910 U.S. Federal Census; Ancestry.com
“Real Estate Matters,” Boston Globe, 15 December 1899: 12; Newpapers.com
“Real Estate Matters,” Boston Globe, 2 March 1900: 12; Newpapers.com
“Real Estate Matters,” Boston Globe, 2 August 1918: 6; Newspapers.com
“Death of Miss Sophia T. Cody, Yeowoman, U.S.N.,” Boston Globe, 14 October 1918: 2; Newspapers.com
Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
“Boston, Massachusetts,” Influenza Encyclopedia. University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine. <https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-boston.html>
“Yeowoman died from Grippe,” Boston Globe, 14 October 1918: 5; Newspapers.com
“Miss Cody’s Funeral to be Held Tomorrow Morning,” Boston Globe, 16 October 1918: 10; Newspapers.com
“Yeowoman is Buried with Naval Honors,” Boston Globe, 17 October 1918: 14; Newspapers.com
Officers and Enlisted Men of the United States Navy Who Lost Their Lives During the World War, From April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920; 184; Archive.org
Gold Star Record of Massachusetts; Archive.org