Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: George Andrew Holst
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: George Andrew Holst.
Written by Carmille Arbogast.
George Andrew Holst was born March 1, 1888, at 85 Condor Street in East Boston. His parents, John Oscar and Augusta Mathilda (Svanson), were Swedish immigrants. John was a machinist. Married in Boston in November 1882, they had four other children: Albert born in 1883, Victoria in 1885, Esther in 1895, and Florence in 1897.
In 1898, Augusta died of empyema, or a build-up of fluid in the pleural cavity around the lungs, a condition often associated with pneumonia. Later that year, John remarried, wedding Mina Droulet Stone. They had six children: Grace born in 1900, Olga in 1901, Alice in 1904, Lorimer in 1906, Douglas in 1908, and John Oscar Junior in 1910. In 1900, the family lived on Waldo Street in Dedham. By 1910, they had moved to 19 Ericsson Street in the Port Norfolk section of Dorchester. By that time, George was working as a machinist, his life-long career.
On June 26, 1912, George married Marion Edith DeLappe of 544 Ashmont Street. Marion was a clerk. They were married by the Reverend Winthrop Peabody of All Saints Church in Peabody Square. The couple moved in with her parents, carpenter John and his wife, Mary. On July 26, 1913, George and Marion had a daughter, Mildred Edith, born at the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital. Mildred died of broncho-pneumonia less than a year later in January 1914, and was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery.
In 1917, George, Marion, and her parents lived at 16 Tolman Street in the Neponset neighborhood of Dorchester. George was working for the Coffin Valve Manufacturing Company, which specialized in fire hydrants. On his draft registration, George claimed exemption from service on the grounds that Marion was financially dependent upon him. He also stated he had served in the Massachusetts Militia for three years as a mechanic. On his notecard for George Holst, Dr. Perkins noted that George was selected in the draft, but given an exemption. In 1917, George enlisted in the Navy as a Mechanic First Class and was stationed at the United States Experimental Station in New London, Connecticut.
In 1920, George was again living on Tolman street with Marion and her parents. By 1930, he had purchased a home on Main Street in Millis. His in-laws, along with one of their married daughters, her husband, and their son, rented the other unit in the building. At this time, George was a production assistant in a locomotive shop. In the early 1940s, he worked for Mason Neilan Valve Company on Medway Street in Dorchester.
Marion died in January 1941. She was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery. The next year, George married again, marrying widow Stella L. (Rankin) Coldwell in Millis. Stella died in 1954 and was buried in Millis’s Prospect Hill cemetery, beside her first husband. George married for a third time to Laura B. Curtis and they lived together at 222 Sherman Street in Canton. Laura died suddenly in July 1966.
George died in Cambridge on March 14, 1977. He was a longtime member of the Charles River Masonic Lodge.
Sources
Birth Record, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Family Tree; Ancestry.com
U.S. Federal Census 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930; Ancestry.com
Marriage Record, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Birth record for Mildred Holst: Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Death record for Mildred Holst; New England Historic Genealogical Society; Boston, Massachusetts; Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911; Ancestry.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com.
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Deaths, Boston Globe, 8 January 1941: 9; Newspapers.com
Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Marriages [1916–1970]. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Stella Rankin Coldwell/Holst, FindaGrave.com
Death Notices, Boston Globe, 13 July 1966: 26; Newspapers.com
Deaths, Boston Globe, 16 March 1977: 57; Newspapers.com
Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733–1990. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com