Max Abrams
World War I Veteran Who Lived in Dorchester
Written by Camille Arbogast
Max Abrams was born in Boston on April 9, 1890. His parents, Philip and Mary (Perlman), were born in Russia. Philip immigrated in 1883; Mary in the late 1880s. Philip was a street peddler. They were married in Boston in 1889. Max had three younger siblings: Aleck born in 1892, Anna 1894, and Dora in 1896. Dora died of meningitis in 1901.
During Max’s youth, the family lived in Boston’s West End. His birth record noted that he was born at 71 Brighton, most likely the Brighton Street in the West End. In the early 1890s, the Abrams moved to 22 Minot Street, again, most likely on the Minot Street in the West End. Philip worked nearby, first on Chambers Street, then on Leverett Street. For a time, he was part of a concern, “Abrams & Bean,” who were retail dealers of boots and shoes at 30 Leverett Street. In 1896, the Abrams resided at 78 Leverett Street; in 1900 they moved to 80 Leverett. That year, two boarders lived with the family: Max, a 24-year-old shoemaker and Bessie, a 22-year-old dressmaker who were both were recent immigrants from Russia. In 1901, the family relocated to Poplar Street, where they lived first at number 26, then at number 24. They remained at 24 Poplar for at least 8 years. (All of these streets were located between Massachusetts General Hospital and North Station. They were replaced with a completely different streetscape during the West End urban renewal project.) In 1912, the Abrams family moved to 48 Hampden Street in Roxbury. The next year they moved again, this time to Dorchester, to 237 Quincy Street.
Max attended school through the eighth grade, according to the 1940 census. He was employed as early as 1910, when he appeared on the census as a burnisher in a factory. Beginning in 1912, he was listed in the Boston directory as a “razor maker.” On his World War I draft registration in June 1917, he reported that he worked as a lathe hand for the Gillette Safety Razor Company in South Boston. Founded as the American Safety Razor Company by King Gillette in 1901, the company pioneered the disposable blade safety razor.
On his registration, Max listed his mother as a dependent, offering this as a reason for exemption from the draft. He later claimed an additional exemption on “physical grounds.” He submitted no affidavits to support this claim, and his exemption was denied in late August 1917.
On September 7, 1917, Max was drafted and inducted into the Army. The next day he was sent to Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. His sendoff, along with that of one of his Dorchester neighbors, was covered in the Boston Globe: “Stanley F. O’Kane of 40 Blakeville st and Max Abrams of 237 Quincy st, Division 18’s second quota to go to Ayer, were given a reception and send-off by residents and friends in the Meeting House Hill section yesterday afternoon. Both young men are well known and their departure from the corner of Hamilton and Bowdoin sts was made among cheers. They were taken to the North Station in an automobile by Representative Charles A. Winchester and J. Frank Doherty, chairman of the local board.” On September 11, Max was assigned to “Boston’s Own Regiment,” the 301st Infantry. He served in the 301st Machine Gun Company for about a month. On October 12, 1917, he was transferred to Company A of the 302nd Machine Gun Battalion. He was transferred again on February 5, 1918, this time to Company I, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Brigade, 5th Division.
On April 16, 1918, he sailed from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the USS Maui. It was the Maui’s first crossing as a transport ship, and it was not without incident: the loss of the port engine on April 20 caused the ship to fall behind its convoy. The Maui arrived in St. Nazaire, France, at the end of April. The 5th Division trained first in Bar-sur-Aube and then in Epinal. From June 14 until July 15, the division was in Alsace, in the Anould defensive sector. From there, they were sent to Lorraine, to the St. Die defensive sector, where they remained until August 23. On September 3, Max was transferred to the Headquarters Detachment, Quartermaster Corps, 5th Division, where he remained until his discharge. On September 10 and 11, the 5th Division was in the Villers-en-Haye sector. The division participated in the Saint-Mihiel offensive September 12 through 16. October 5 through the Armistice, they participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. On March 5, 1919, Max was made a Sergeant. He returned to the United States in July, sailing from Brest, France, on the USS Agamemnon, arriving in Hoboken on the 21st. He was discharged on July 31, 1919, at Camp Devens.
After the war, Max lived with his family. In 1920, their home was at 17 Monroe Street in Roxbury. Max was a wholesale fur salesman working at 175 Tremont Street in Boston. During the mid-1920s, Max did not appear in the Boston directory. In 1927, he was listed residing at 100 Seaver Street, his family’s current home, and working as an insurance agent.
Max married Isabel (sometimes spelled Isabelle) Somberg in Boston in 1927. They had one child, a daughter, Marilyn. In the late 1920s, the Boston directory listed Max as a salesman in a bank at 80 Federal Street. In 1929, Max and Isabel lived at 70 Glenville Avenue in Allston. The next year they moved to Brighton, to 15 Lothian Road. Max did not appear in the Boston directory in 1935. In 1936, he was listed as an investigator living at 1871 Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton, his residence for the rest of his life. After this entry, no profession is given for Max in the directory, though he continued to appear living at 1871 Commonwealth Avenue. The 1940 census recorded he was a laborer making $800 a year, and that in 1939 he had worked only 26 weeks. In 1942, on his Second World War draft registration, he reported he was employed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at 353 Washington Street in Brighton.
Max died in Boston on May 27, 1954. A memorial week was observed at his late residence. An interment service was held at Sharon Memorial Park, where he was buried in the Mount Moriah section. When Isabelle died in 1960, she was buried beside him.
Sources
Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com
Family trees; Ancestry.com
Naturalization Records. National Archives at Boston, Waltham, MA; Ancestry.com
Boston Directories, various years; Ancestry.com
1900, 10 20 30 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Ancestry.com
“Number of Claims for Exemptions Denied,” Boston Globe, 29 August 1917: 2; Newspapers.com
“More Dorchester Men Leave for Ayer Camp,” Boston Globe, 8 September 1917: 10; Newspapers.com
“Recruits Assigned to 301st Infantry,” Boston Globe, 11 September 1917: 2; Newspapers.com
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 & Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, The National Archives at College Park, MD; Ancestry.com
Hennerich, W.E., et al, compliers. Being the ‘Log’ of the U.S.S. Maui in the World War. Brooklyn Eagle Press; Archive.org
Battle Participation of Organizations of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, Belgium and Italy 1917-1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920; Archive.org
American Battle Monuments Commission. 5th Division Summary of Operations in the World War. United States Government Printing Office, 1944; HathiTrust.org
Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Marriages [1916–1970], Facsimile edition. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Evening Death Notices, Boston Globe, 27 May 1954: 35; Newspapers.com
Advertisement Sharon Memorial Park, Boston Globe, 28 May 1954: 25; Newspapers.com
Max Abrams, Isabelle Abrams; FindAGrave.com