Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Hugh White
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: Hugh White.
Hugh White (sometimes spelled Whyte) was born on October 28, 1888, in County Galway, Ireland. On his notecard for Hugh White, Dr. Perkins noted that Hugh graduated from the Irish National School in Kilkerrin. It is possible that Hugh was the Hugh Whyte who appears on the 1901 Irish census as a thirteen-year-old apprentice living in the household of John Halney, shopkeeper, in Carrowleana, Shankhill, County Galway, in the Kilkerrin area. The Halney household included six young men who appear on the census as apprentices, servants, and shop assistants.
According to Dr. Perkins’s notecard, Hugh arrived in the United States in 1914. It is possible he was the Hugh Whyte, hailing from Kilkerrin, who arrived in New York on March 22, 1914, aboard the White Star Line’s RMS Cederic. A Hugh White, born in Ireland and having only been in the United States for one year, appears in the 1915 New York census lodging at 34 Troy Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, and working at Montgomery and Ward. In 1917, Hugh was in Dorchester, living at 2096 Dorchester Avenue. He was a salesman at the R.H. White Company, a department store on Washington Street in Boston.
In June, when he filled out his draft registration at Dorchester’s draft board, Local Board 21, he reported that he was not sure exactly how old he was—he thought he might be 30—but had “sent for birth records.” Later documents, presumably filled out after he received his birth records, show that he was a year younger than he guessed. Hugh claimed an exemption from the draft, as his mother and sister were partially dependent on him for support.
By the time he was drafted and inducted into the Army on August 30, 1918, he had moved back to Brooklyn, boarding at 1362 Bergen Street, a boarding house run by Bridget Kilagallen. Hugh was sent to Camp Upton on Long Island, and assigned to the 152 Depot Brigade for training. On his notecard for Hugh White, Dr. Perkins noted that Hugh was in the camp medical detachment. He was still in the 152 Depot Brigade when the Armistice was declared. Hugh was naturalized an American citizen while at Camp Upton in 1918, probably shortly before his discharge on December 4, 1918.
In 1920, Hugh was again living at 1362 Bergen Street, working as a retail grocery clerk. On August 11, 1921, he married Mary K. Jennings, also an Irish immigrant, from County Mayo. They had four children: Dorothy, twins Kathleen and Hugh, Jr., and Evelyn.
In 1925, they were living at 150 Rogers Avenue, Brooklyn, and Hugh was working as a foreman. By 1928, they had moved about a mile away, to the garden-entrance row house they purchased at 13 Miami Court. In 1930, the home was valued at $8,000; it’s worth had dropped almost by half by 1940. By that time, Hugh was a clerk for the Public Works Administration, a New Deal program, making $780 a year. Two years later, when he registered for the World War II draft, he was employed by Spellman and Company of 58-62 Third Avenue, New York. In 1952, his wife Mary died suddenly. Hugh died on September 26, 1962.
Sources
1901, Census of Ireland; National Archives of Ireland; Census.nationalarchives.ie
New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line], Year: 1914; Arrival: New York, New York; Ancestry.com
New York State population census schedules,1915, 1925. Albany, New York: New York State Archives.; Ancestry.com
United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.; Ancestry.com
New York State Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917–1919. Adjutant General’s Office. Series B0808. New York State Archives, Albany, New York; Ancestry.com
US Federal Census 1920, 1930, 1940; Ancestry.com
Index to Marriages, New York City Clerk’s Office, New York, New York; Ancestry.com
“Luke Andrew Jennings,” Times Union (Brooklyn, NY), 29 May 1928; 24; Newspapers.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Deaths, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 14 June 1952; 5; Newspapapers.com
New York State Department of Health. Genealogical Research Death Index. Albany, New York; Ancestry.com