Dorchester Illustration no. 2421 Levi Arthur LeCain
At the Dorchester Historical Society, we are in the process of a year-long project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. Using a collection of photographs we have of WWI Dorchester residents, we will be featuring servicemen in a number of short biographies throughout the year. At the culmination of the project, we hope to produce an online exhibit that highlights these men and their service to our country.
Our next biography features: Levi Arthur LeCain
Written by Julie Wolf
Levi Arthur LeCain was born on September 4, 1881, in Green River, Wyoming (then a territory), the third child of Joseph J. LeCain and Mary Amelia Cummings, both originally of Maine. A Civil War veteran, Joseph reenlisted in 1875 to fight the “Indian Wars” in Wyoming. At some point Mary joined him, and their three eldest sons were born there. Wyoming was railroad country, and “J. J. LeCain” served as Uinta County sheriff from 1882 to 1886. A 1916 Boston Globe article called him “an old Indian fighter and a former pal of ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody.” In 1886 or 1887, the family moved to Phillipsburg, Kansas, where Levi’s two younger brothers were born.
By 1900, the family was renting a home with two boarders and a relative at 384A Highland Avenue in West Somerville, Massachusetts. Both Levi, 18, and his older brother Sylvester were laundrymen. A year later Levi was a car conductor, as was his father. By 1903, Levi, his parents, and brother Leo had moved blocks away, to 410 Highland Avenue. Also living there was Caroline Mifflin, the Newfoundland native Levi married on November 25, 1903. They had four children: Edna (1904), Mildred (1907), Gertrude (1909), and Arthur (1911). The family lived there with Levi’s parents until at least 1908.
From 1910 through 1913, Levi, Caroline, and their children lived at 1156 Cambridge Street in Cambridge, where Levi’s occupation, according to the 1910 census, was “Teamster, milk wagon.” By 1915, the LeCains were renting a home in Dorchester, at 1071 Washington Street, Levi now a “driver.”
On July 3, 1916, Levi volunteered for military service at the 8th Regiment Camp at Framingham. Private LeCain was stationed with the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry Troop D in Fort Bliss, Texas, in the Mexican War (or Border War). It’s unknown whether he was home in January 1917, when 7-year-old Gertrude died from diphtheria. In July 1917 he was called up as part of the 3rd Pioneer Infantry. Stationed at South Carolina’s Camp Wadsworth, he rose to the rank of sergeant, and on August 30, 1918, set sail for France aboard the Umviea. Levi fought at Meuse-Argonne, Defensive Sector, for the war’s final year. Although his discharge record reports no injuries or disabilities, a newspaper item from the 1920s noted his “42 percent disability rating.”
After the war, Levi had several addresses in Dorchester, all on Washington Street: 1071 in 1920; 1059 in 1924; 1061 in 1925; and 1120 in 1929. Upon his return, he worked as a milk salesman for H. P. Hood & Sons at 24 Anson Street in Jamaica Plain. Levi’s work changed around 1922, when he became an “agent” for the Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals at Boston’s Angell Memorial Hospital, making headlines for his role in animal-cruelty cases.
Levi was a respected leader of the American Legion Old Dorchester Post No. 65. As commander, he oversaw the installation of a new Dorchester Boy Scout troop as well as the dedication of Neponset’s Garvey Playground, named for a soldier who died in the Argonne. Upon his retirement as commander in 1925, the Globe credited him with “[building] the post up to be one of the strongest in the state.” In November 1927, Levi ran, apparently unsuccessfully, for City Council in Ward 17, one of 22 men seeking election in Dorchester’s five wards.
At the time of his candidacy and on the 1930 census, Levi was a “purchasing agent and stable superintendent” for Hathaway Baking Company. From 1933 through 1935, Levi was president of the International Wall Texture Company at 110A Canal Street, but by 1938, he was a watchman in the Custodians Department at the South Postal Annex, with a residence of 68 Clarendon Street in Boston, no longer 1120 Washington Street, where Caroline remained; it appears they had stopped living together. In fact, Levi is absent from the 1940 census. Caroline then resided at 11 Butler Street in Dorchester, working as a live-in housekeeper for James E. Drever, a member and commander of Levi’s American Legion post. Only once more, in 1946, did Levi and Caroline share an address: 30 Bearse Avenue, Dorchester. This was still Caroline’s address in 1953, the year before Levi died.
Levi died at the Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, on June 23, 1954. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. According to his interment papers, the plot next to his was reserved for Caroline. It would go unused. When Caroline died in 1965, she was buried in Everett’s Glenwood Cemetery, in the same plot as their daughter Gertrude.
SOURCES:
“22 Council Candidates in Five Dorchester Wards.” Boston Globe, November 4, 1927: 23.
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Dorchester Atheneneum. Levi Arthur LeCain.
“Dorchester District.” Boston Globe, December 18, 1925: 11.
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Fold3. Registers of Enlistments in the United States Army, compiled 1798-1914.
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“Garvey Playground Named at Neponset: Athletic Field Is Dedicated to Soldier’s Memory.” Boston Globe, June 18, 1925: 6.
“Horses Enjoy Their Big Day: Christmas in Postoffice Sq.” Boston Globe, December 23, 1922: 1.
“Is a Cat a Beast?: Attorneys Argue Question in Dorchester Court.” Boston Globe, August 29, 1925: 16.
“LeCain.” Boston Globe, February 10, 1965: 23.
“Legends of Past Inhabit Home of Family Researcher.” Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer, January 23, 1984: 29.
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“New Scout Troop for Dorchester: Formal Installation Will Be Held Sunday.” Boston Globe, November 14, 1925: 3.
“Old Dorchester Legion to Instal [sic] Officers Tomorrow.” Boston Globe, December 5, 1927: 3.
Phillipsburg Herald, April 16, 1891: 4.
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“Says His Horse Was Not Lame, Only Awkward.” Boston Globe, April 8, 1926: 16.
“Two Months for Biting: William Campbell Sentenced for Depriving Capt. Joseph LeCain of a Little Finger.” Boston Globe, December 21, 1916: 5.
WYO4News. “The Rock Springs Massacre,” September 2, 2017.