Hyman Abrams
World War I Veteran Who Lived in Dorchester
Written by Camille Arbogast
Hyman Abrams was born on December 25, 1890, at 81 Prince Street in Boston’s North End. His parents, Simon, a tailor, and Rosa (Kaplan), were from Russia. They each immigrated in the late 1880s. Hyman had six younger siblings: Henry born in 1892, Bessie in 1893, Fannie (known as Frances or Fay) in 1895, Reuben (known as Robert) in 1897, Nathan (known as Nathaniel) in 1899, and Louis in 1902.
Hyman grew up in the North End. During the early to mid-1890s, his family lived on Prince Street. By 1897, they had relocated to 15 Margaret Street, where they remained through the turn of the century. By 1902, they had moved a few blocks to 157 Salem Street. They were back on Prince Street, at number 94, in 1910. By that time Hyman was employed, working as a salesman at a hardware store. According to the 1940 census, Hyman attended school through the seventh grade. The next year, they returned to Salem Street, to number 111. They were still living there in July 1913, when Bessie married. The Abrams moved to Dorchester in 1914, living at 32 Stanwood Street.
On March 3, 1916, Hyman was married in Boston. On the marriage record, his wife gave her name as Katherine E. Salter. She was born Katherine E. Doughty in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and spent her early childhood in South Manchester, Connecticut. Katherine was her parents’ only surviving child and it appears her father died not long after she was born. Eventually, Katherine and her mother, Elizabeth, moved to Boston, where Elizabeth was a waitress. In 1897, Elizabeth remarried, wedding Harry N. Salter, a cook originally from Barre, Vermont, who had also been married previously. In 1901, Salter was charged with larceny and sentenced to eight months in the House of Corrections. Elizabeth Salter later appeared in the Boston directory as a widow. In 1906, Katherine married Frank L. Fernald, a shipper, born in Liverpool, England. They had two daughters, Ruth and Marion. The 1910 census recorded Katherine and her daughters living with Elizabeth on Harrison Avenue; Frank was not part of the household. By that time, Katherine was working as a waitress. In 1916, when marrying Hyman, Katherine did not use her married nor her birth name, instead giving her stepfather’s last name. The marriage record also stated that the marriage was her first.
When Hyman registered for the draft in June 1917, he gave his address as 32 Stanwood Street, his parents’ home. He was a clerk at the 222 Clarendon Street location of the Wadsworth Howland Company, which was known for its Bay State paint line. The Wadsworth Howland shops were also general hardware stores, selling “a complete line of builders’ hardware, mechanics’ tools, cutlery, artists’ materials, and automobile supplies,” and provided advice on “color schemes for exterior painting, as well as attractive interior decorative combinations.” On his draft registration, Hyman claimed his mother and father as dependents, reporting he was their sole support. In October 1917, his father died.
Hyman was drafted and inducted into the Army on May 29, 1918. He initially served in the Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, Field Artillery Replacement Depot at Camp Jackson, near Columbia, South Carolina. On July 8, he was transferred to the 1st Battery, Camp Jackson July Automatic Replacement Draft. Two weeks later he sailed for France, departing from New York City on July 22, on the USS Harrisburg. On August 9, he was assigned to the 4th Battery, Field Artillery Replacement Regiment, 41st Division. On August 27, he was sent to Battery F of the 121st Field Artillery, 32nd Division, joining them on the eve of the division’s participation in the Oise-Aisne offensive. Hyman also took part in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, which began in late September and ran through the Armistice. On February 18, 1919, Hyman was transferred once again, this time to Battery E of the 147th Field Artillery. On May 1, he sailed for the United States, departing from Brest, France, on the USS Kansas, and arriving in Philadelphia on May 13. He was sent to Camp Dix, New Jersey, where he was part of Discharge Unit 2. He was discharged on May 24, 1919.
It appears that Hyman’s marriage to Katherine did not last long. When he went overseas, it was his mother, not his wife, who was listed as his next of kin. On the 1920 census Hyman appeared living with his mother and siblings at 32 Stanwood Street, his marital status: single. The 1940 census reported he was divorced. Katherine seems to have eventually reconciled with her first husband. The 1930 census recorded them living together with their two daughters at 5 Emrose Terrace, Dorchester.
After the war, Hyman was a salesman at the South End Hardware Company, located at 1095 Washington Street. In 1925, he moved, along with his family, about a half-mile to 4 Holbern Park. For a few years in the mid to late 1920s, no occupation was listed for Hyman in the Boston directory. At the end of the decade, he began working for the U.S. Postal Service, his occupation for the rest of his career. He was a laborer at the South Postal Annex on Atlantic Avenue, and, later, a mail handler.
By 1929, he and his family had moved to 141 Homestead Street. In 1930, the census reported Hyman living there with his mother, siblings Frances and Louis, as well as two lodgers: Frieda Rosenberg, 20, a clerk at a dry goods store, and Selma Rosenberg, 19, a typist employed at a department store. His mother died in August 1930.
In 1933, Hyman appeared in the Boston directory living at 206 West Brookline Street. Three years later, he moved to 37 Brookledge Street, the home of his sister Bessie. The next year he moved again, to 151 Warren Street. By 1940, he was a lodger at 152 Ruthven Street, where he remained until the mid-1950s, when he returned to 37 Brookledge Street. According to the directory, he was back at 152 Ruthven in 1957, then at 32 Brookledge Street in 1958. Hyman did not appear in the Boston directory from 1959 until 1965. His sister Fay’s obituary in 1967 reported Hyman lived in Brighton. He may have been the Hyman Abrams who in 1966 was living at 1501 Commonwealth Avenue, which was the Commonwealth Nursing Home. He was still living in Brighton in 1973 when Bessie died.
Hyman died at the Boston Veterans Hospital in Jamaica Plain on July 27, 1980. He was buried in the Custom Tailors Cemetery on Baker Street in West Roxbury.
Sources
Birth and Marriage Records, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com
Boston and Manchester, CT Directories, various years; Ancestry.com
1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com
Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, MA, certificate number 1174, page 91, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org
“How Mr Salter Did It.” Boston Globe, 26 October 1901: 11; Newspapers.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“New Store,” Newton Graphic, 22 June 1917:4; Archive.org
Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
Lists of Outgoing and Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, The National Archives at College Park, MD; Ancestry.com.
Joint War History Commissions of Michigan and Wisconsin. The 32nd Division in the World War 1917-1919. Madison, WI: Wisconsin War History Commission, 1920: Archive.org
Naturalization Records, National Archives at Boston, Waltham, MA. National Archives at Boston; Waltham, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Deaths, Boston Globe, 31 July 1967: 22; Newspapers.com
National Center for Health Statistics. Volume of the Directory of Nursing Home Facilities: Northeast, 1975; Books.Google.com
Deaths, Boston Globe, 3 August 1973: 30; Newspapers.com
Deaths, Boston Globe, 29 July 1980: 18; Newspapers.com
Simon Abrams, Rose Abrams, Hyman Abrams; FindAGrave.com