Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Francis Elliott Lowd
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: Francis Elliott Lowd.
Written by Camille Arbogast.
Francis Elliott Lowd was born on December 20, 1894 at 13 Woodward Street in South Boston to Mary and Henry Lowd. Mary was a Bostonian of Irish ancestry; Henry was from New Hampshire and worked as a teamster. Francis, called Frank, was their only child. In 1900, they still lived in South Boston, at 115 O Street, in City Point. Henry was a packer at a wholesale boot and shoe company. By 1910, they had moved to Dorchester, residing at 221 Millet Street. Henry was then a furniture company shipping clerk; Mary worked as a milliner. Sometime after, they moved to 12 Standish Street, where they were living in 1917.
On March 26, a week before war was declared, Frank enlisted in the National Guard. He served in the Supply Company of the 9th Infantry, which was later re-designated the 101st Infantry Regiment and assigned to the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th Infantry Division, also known as the “Yankee” Division. In April, Frank mustered as a Wagoner, a driver of animal-drawn transport, conveying supplies, generally from depots to units. He maintained the wagons and cared for the animals that pulled the vehicles.
Frank shipped overseas with the 101st on September 7, 1917, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, sailing on the USS Pastores. The 101st were the first of the Yankee Division to arrive in France, landing in Saint-Nazaire on September 21, 1917. In August 1918, Frank was made a Private. After the war, he returned to the United States on the USS America, sailing from Brest, France, on March 28, 1919. The ship docked in Boston on April 5, and he was demobilized at Camp Devens in Ayer and Shirley, on April 25, 1919.
During the war, his parents moved to 109 Fuller Street, in the Ashmont neighborhood of Dorchester. Frank was living there on June 18, 1919 when he wed telegraph operator Mary E. Fallon of 92 Maxwell Street, Dorchester. They were married by Father Daniel Burke of St. Matthew’s Church on Stanton Street.
Frank and Mary had three children: Francis E. born in 1920, Henry L. in 1927 and Patricia in 1932. In the late 1920s and early 1930s they lived in Dorchester at 67 Whitten Street, and then at 3 King Street. In the late 1930s, they moved to Malden, to 5 Beach Street. After Frank’s father died in 1926, Frank’s mother, Mary, moved in with the family and lived with them until her death in 1944.
At the time of his marriage, Frank was employed as a government clerk. In the 1920s and 1930s, he worked as a chauffeur. He reported on the 1940 census that during the Great Depression he had been unemployed for 172 weeks and was currently a general foreman doing public emergency work. His son Francis Junior, who aspired to be a singer with an orchestra, worked as an attendant at a gas station. In 1942, Frank was working at East Point, Nahant, at the “sub-station,” possibly the submarine detection installation at the site which began operation that year.
Only three years later, Frank Lowd died on April 3, 1945. According to his obituary, he was survived by his wife, Mary (nee Fallon). His funeral was held at the home of his sister-in-law, Sue Fallon, at 92 Maxfield Street and a solemn mass celebrated at St. Matthew’s Church. He was a late member of the Malden Post of the American Legion and of the 101st Supply Division.
Sources
Birth Certificate, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
1900, 1910, 1930, 1940 Federal Census; Ancestry.com
Service Card, Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
“The duties of the US Army Wagoner” US Army Veterinary Corps Historical Preservation Group <http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gregkrenzelok/genealogy/veterinary%20corp%20in%20ww1/wagonerduties.html>
Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, The National Archives at College Park; College Park; Ancestry.com
“History of the 26th Yankee Division: A Narrative Compiled by Direction of the Commanding General by Officers of the General Staff Sections, Division Headquarters, from Field Orders, Operations Reports, and Records in Division Adjutant’s Office.” Committee of Welcome Official Programme, April 25, 1919, viewed online, Lane Memorial Library, Hampton NH
<http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/military/26thDivisionYD/26thDivisionHistory1919.html>
Marriage record, Massachusetts State Vital Records; Familysearch.org
Boston City Directories; Ancestry.com
Malden City Directories; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Card, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Walding, Richard. “ANTI-SUBMARINE INDICATOR LOOP STATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES – WW2, East Point Loop Receiving Station, Nahant, Massachusetts” <http://indicatorloops.com/eastpoint.htm>