Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Abraham Marks Alpers
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: Abraham Marks Alpers.
Written by Camille Arbogast.
Abraham Marks Alpers was born on May 15, 1895, at the Boston Lying-in Hospital. His mother Mary Marks, had been born in Boston to German parents and worked as a saleswoman in her late teens. In 1894, at age 19, she married Barnett Hartstein, a 26-year-old Hungarian peddler and Abraham’s birth father. Mary sought a divorce from Barnett in 1898 on the grounds of desertion, telling the judge, “Barnett played on her love to get possession” of her $400 savings, “and after he secured the lion’s share he went away.” In 1899, she married wool salesman Gedalya Alperovich, known after his immigration to the United States as George J. Alpers. George had been born in Russia, immigrated to Boston in the 1890s, and became a citizen in 1899, shortly before his marriage. Mary and George had at least five children together. At some point, Abraham’s birth record was amended, changing his last name to Alpers and naming George as his father.
In 1900, the family lived at 7 Williams Terrace in Roxbury. That year, 11-year-old Millie Stone lodged with the family. By 1910, they resided at 17 Cranston Terrace in Jamaica Plain. By 1917, they had moved to Dorchester, living at 165 Callender Street. In June that year, Abraham reported on his World War I draft registration that he was a steamfitter helper at the roundhouse gas storage building on Southampton Street in South Boston.
In the latter half of 1917 those likely to be drafted still had the option to enlist instead, which offered them a choice in the capacity in which they served. Abraham, like many others, waited until the last minute to enlist, going to the Boston recruiting office on the final day it accepted enlistments, December 13, 1917. The Boston Globe reported “rooms, hallways, backstairs and the elevator were a jostling mass,” filled with men hoping to join up before the deadline. Abraham was forwarded to Fort Slocum, a recruiting station in New Rochelle, New York. The town, too, was overrun. During what came to be called “Recruit Week,” seven thousand men were housed all over town while they waited to enlist.
In Boston, Abraham expressed his preference to join the Quartermaster Corps. On December 14, at Fort Slocum he was assigned to Wagon Company Number 5 of the 23rd Engineers. On March 30, 1918, he sailed overseas, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the USS George Washington. On July 3, 1918, he was made a Private First Class. Abraham was present at the engagements at Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. He sailed home from Brest, France, on the USS Cap Finisterre on June 1, 1919, arriving in the United States on June 11. From there he was sent to Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, where he was discharged on June 19, 1919.
After the war, Abraham returned to his family, now living at 169 Callender Street, and worked as a clerk and salesman for the Central Woolen Company in their office at 67 Chauncey Street. In 1922, the family moved a few blocks away to 19 Wilcock Street. On June 25 of that year, Abraham married Sarah L. Segal of 55 Nightingale Street, Dorchester. Sarah had been born in Russia. They were married by Rabbi Erwin Wolkowich of Temple Ohabei Shalom, 11 Union Park Street in the South End. Abraham and Sarah had two children, Josephine and Stanley.
By 1924, Abraham and Sarah lived at 1111 Blue Hill Avenue. In 1930, their rent was $50 a month. They lived on Blue Hill Avenue for ten years, then moved to 53 Westmore Road in Mattapan. In 1936, they moved a short distance to 45 Westmore Road.
In 1937, after over fifteen years as a wool salesman, Abraham appeared in the Boston directory as an insurance agent. In 1939, the directory specified he was an agent with Metropolitan Life Insurance. That year, Abraham was “charged on five indictments with the larceny of $396 from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; with nine counts of forgery of names of persons insured by the company; with the larceny of 10 insurance policies and with forgery and uttering to injure and defraud.” Abraham was “alleged to have stolen policies from company clients he collected from, forged their names to applications for surrenders of policies and then collected the cash surrender value of the policies.” Abraham pled “guilty to charges of stealing 10 insurance policies, larceny of $396 from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and forgery and uttering.” His sentence was a year in the House of Correction.
In 1941, Abraham and Sarah moved to 56 Deering Road. The Boston directory listed Abraham as a salesman, but in 1942, he reported on his World War II draft form that he was unemployed. In 1951, they moved to 4 Astoria Street.
Abraham died suddenly on May 27, 1952. A little over a year later, on June 7, 1953, a memorial was placed for him at Chevra Kadusha Cemetery in Woburn.
Sources
Birth and Marriage Records, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org
Family Tree; Ancestry.com
“Married Life Not So Congenial,” Boston Globe, 3 October 1898: 12, “Married Life Not So Congenial,” Boston Globe, 4 October 1898: 8; Newspapers.com
US Federal Census, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930; Ancestry.com
War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
“United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940,” NARA microfilm publication (St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985); FamilySearch.org
“He Enters Navy to Get Action,” Boston Globe, 13 Dec 1917: 9; Newspapers.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
“Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915,” Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, State Archives, Boston: FamilySearch.org
Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com
“West Roxbury,” Boston Globe, 25 March 1939: 5, “Agent Being Tried in Insurance Fraud,” Boston Globe, 17 May 1939: 11, “Insurance Agent Given Year in Policy Thefts,” Boston Globe, 18 May 1939: 7; Newspapers.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“Morning Death Notices,” Boston Globe, 28 May 1952: 29; Newspapers.com
[notice] Boston Globe, 5 June 1953: 21; Newspapers.com