World War I Veteran Who Lived in Dorchester
Morris Abraham by Camille Arbogast.
Morris Abraham was born on September 24, 1896, in South Boston. His parents, Thomas Melvin and Ida Emeline (Hersey), were originally from Pembroke, Maine. Morris was the youngest of their six children. His three oldest siblings were born in Maine: Jennie in 1875, Seymour in 1878, and Byron in 1885. According to Thomas Abraham’s obituary “he left Maine as a young man;” Thomas, Ida and their children were living in Boston by 1880. The rest of their children were born in Massachusetts: Amos in 1891, and Thomas in 1893. Amos died of diphtheria in 1897.
At the time of Morris’s birth, Thomas was a fruit packer; later he was a buyer for a produce company. His obituary stated he was an iron moulder. In 1889, he was named as the co-owner of the seized schooner Good Templar, which, it was alleged, “had violated the law in that she has transported smuggled merchandise … transporting from Maine to Boston smoked herring, dried pollock and other fish which had been smuggled into Maine from some foreign country with a view of evading the import duties to which it is subject.” The vessel’s master and co-owner was Byron E. Lurchin of Pembroke, ME, the namesake of one of Morris’s brothers.
The family lived in South Boston at 47 L Street for much of Morris’s childhood. Thomas and Ida were members of the City Point Methodist Episcopal Church. His two oldest siblings married and moved out of the family home during Morris’s childhood: Seymour in 1898 and Jennie in 1901. In 1910, Morris graduated from South Boston’s Frederick W. Lincoln School. According to the 1940 census, Morris also attended four years of high school.
By 1916, the family had moved to Dorchester, where they lived at 8 Elder Street. That year, Ida became a member of the Baker Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, which stood at the corner of Columbia Road and Cushing Avenue. She died in May 1918. By that time, Morris was working for C.A. Browning Co., importers and wholesalers of “millinery novelties” at 30 Franklin Street, Boston.
On June 5, 1918, the day before he registered as part of the First World War’s second draft registration, Morris enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force in Boston as a seaman second class. On June 27, he was sent to Camp Hingham in Hingham, Massachusetts, for training, remaining there until the Armistice on November 11, 1918. He was placed on inactive duty on December 31, 1918, and discharged on September 30, 1921.
On July 20, 1918, during the period he was stationed at Camp Hingham, Morris married Olive Burns, a stenographer who lived at 603 East Fourth Street in South Boston. They were married by Reverend William J. Rutledge, pastor of South Boston’s South Baptist Church. Morris and Olive had five children: Donald born in 1924, Lucille in 1925, Virginia in 1927, Paul in 1928, and David in 1930.
Early in their marriage the couple lived in South Boston, at 23 Thomas Park, and then at 524 East Broadway. Living with them in 1920 was Olive’s widowed mother, Sophie Burns, and a lodger, Edith Needham. By 1927, Morris and his family had moved to western Massachusetts. In 1930, they lived in West Springfield, at 56 Garden Street. Four years later, they relocated to 54 Alvin Street in Springfield. By 1937, they had moved to Longmeadow where they resided for more than 20 years, much of that time on Lawnwood Avenue.
In 1940, Sophie Burns was living with them again. During World War II, sons Donald and Paul served in the Navy. In 1955, Morris and his son Paul made the news when they were both elected commanders of American Legion Posts: Morris of the Albert T. Wood Post in Longmeadow and Paul of the Bowles Memorial Post in Springfield.
For much of his career, Morris worked in the bakery industry. When they lived in western Massachusetts, he was a salesman for a baking company, probably Joseph Middleby, Jr. Inc., of Boston, which he reported as his employer in 1942. Joseph Middleby, Jr. Inc. produced a variety of bakers and confectioners’ supplies, including flavorings, syrups, pastry fillings, and the Midco liquid ice cream mix. In 1940, Morris earned $2,542 a year. In the late 1950s, he worked for the Longmeadow public schools as a custodian and a school traffic officer.
Both Morris and Olive had family connections to Canada. Two of their children, Lucille and David, were born in Canada. Morris died in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, on October 1, 1974. He was buried in Green Lawn Cemetery in Gravelton, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. When Olive died in 1983 she was buried beside him.
Sources
Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com
Family Trees, Ancestry.com
Boston, Springfield directories, various years; Ancestry.com
1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com
“Thomas M. Abraham,” Boston Globe, 17 October 1930: 26; Newspapers.com
“Good Templar Libeled,” Boston Globe, 18 May 1899: 7; Newspapers.com
New England, United Methodist Church Records, 1787–1922. New England Methodist Church Commission on Archives and History, Boston School of Theology Library, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com.
“7911 Diplomas in Boston Schools,” Boston Globe, 23 June 1910: 6; Newspapers.com
Advertisement for the C.A. Browning Co., The Illustrated Milliner, February 1917: 79; Books.Google.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
Military Service, NARA microfilm publication 76193916 (St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985), FamilySearch.org
Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, MA, United States, certificate number 4069, page 28, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“Father and Son Head Springfield Area Posts,” North Adams Transcript (North Adams, MA) 12 May 1955: 12; Newspapers.com
Advertisements of Joseph Middleby, Jr., Inc, various years; Newspapers.com
1958 Annual Report Town of Longmeadow, Massachusetts; Archive.org
“United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011;” FamilySearch.org
Morris Abraham, FindAGrave.com