Dorchester Illustration no. 2157
Joseph A. Hartin died in France in 1918 during WW I . He volunteered for a dangerous mission and was killed 5 days before the Armistice was signed. Awarded the Légion d’Honneur medal from the French government, he was given full military honors at burial after his body was exhumed from France.
Dedicated in 1919, Joseph A. Hartin Square is in Fields Corner at the intersection of Adams Street and Dorchester Avenue.
His family home was at 28 Ditson Street, Meeting House Hill. The woman standing in front of the caisson in the photo is his mother. She grieved long and hard for him even though she had twelve other children. She refused to go to the dedication of a square in his name but one daugher who was 15 at the time did go. Another daughter who was only 10 stayed at home and said her mother sat in the parlor and cried all day.
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