Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Hollis Watson Ewart
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: Hollis Watson Ewart.
Written by Camille Arbogast.
Hollis Watson Ewart was born on December 7, 1895, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His parents, Samuel L. and Alice L. (King) Ewart, were from New Brunswick, Canada. They married in January 1889, in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick. Hollis had four siblings: Elton born in 1891, Clarence in 1894, Laura in 1898, and Gertrude in 1903. In 1900, the family lived at 27 Bailey Street in Everett and Samuel was a laborer in a coke works.
By 1904, Samuel and Alice’s marriage had ended. Alice was listed as Samuel’s widow in the Boston directory, but on the census her marital status was reported as divorced. It appears Samuel returned to New Brunswick, where he died in 1930.
Alice and the children moved to Dorchester, living in 1904 at 1009 Washington Street in Lower Mills. By 1910, they resided at 19 Wesley Avenue. The next year they moved to 1132 Washington Street and then, in 1912, to 14 Huntoon Street, where they remained through the end of the First World War. By 1917, Hollis was working as a printer for Anchor Linotype Printing Company of 144 High Street in Boston, which advertised that it specialized in printing “school magazines” and “college papers.”
On his notecard for Hollis Ewart, Dr. Perkins noted that Hollis was drafted and inducted into the Army on October 5, 1917, and was sent to Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. He was assigned to Company F of the 301st Infantry. Before he departed for France, his sister-in-law Ellen (married to his brother Clarence) snapped a picture of him on the steps of 14 Huntoon Street; this is the photograph in the Perkins collection. On July 6, 1918, Private Hollis Ewart sailed for France on the RMS Cedric, leaving from New York City. According to Dr. Perkins’ notes, Hollis was eventually transferred to Company D, 110th Infantry, 28th Division. By the time he returned to the United States on October 28, 1919, he was a Private First Class and serving in the 285th Military Police Corps. He was discharged on November 1, 1919.
In 1920, he lived with his family at 300 Central Avenue in Milton. He returned to the printing industry, working as a pressman. In the early 1920s, he lived in Milton, but by 1925, he had returned to Dorchester, living at 86 Astoria Street in Mattapan and working as a printer at 6 Oakland Place. In 1926, he moved to 629 River Street where he remained through the end of the decade.
By 1930, his mother and sister Gertrude had moved to Weymouth. Hollis followed and by 1935 lived at 44 Wachusett Road in North Weymouth, lodging in the home of George and Mathilda Roulston. His mother died in 1938. During the Depression, Hollis was out of work for 17 weeks. By 1940, he was doing public emergency work, an outdoor laborer employed trimming trees. The next year he appeared in the Weymouth directory as a laundry worker. By 1942, he was employed by the Bethlehem Steel Company, at Fore River in Quincy and still boarded with the Roulstons. By the early 1950s, Hollis had moved to 51 Independence Avenue in Quincy and was a state employee.
On December 11, 1954, Hollis married Helen Margaret (Topf) Whitcher. Margaret was born in Hyde Park in 1910. She was a widow with two adult children, living in Dedham. Hollis and Helen were married in West Dover at the West Dover Church by the Reverend Walter R. Kraft. By the late 1960s, they lived at 63 Garfield Road in Dedham.
Hollis died on June 7, 1969, and was buried in Brookdale Cemetery in Dedham. He was survived by his wife, three siblings, two stepchildren, and five grandchildren.
Sources
Birth Record, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Family Tree; Ancestry.com
Federal Census 1900, 1910, 1920, 1940; Ancestry.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Anchor Linotype advertisements: The Tech, November 23, 1925 <http://tech.mit.edu/V45/PDF/V45-N56.pdf>; A Handbook of American Private Schools, 1923, Books.google.com
Lists of Outgoing & Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, The National Archives at College Park, Maryland; Ancestry.com
Boston directory, various years; Ancestry.com
1921, 1923 Annual Town Reports of Milton, Archive.org
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Marriage Record, Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records; Ancestry.com
Deaths, Boston Globe, 9 June 1969: 34; Newspapers.com
Hollis Ewart, Findagrave.com