John Charles Adams
World War I Veteran
By Camille Arbogast
John Charles Adams, known as Jack, was born on September 27, 1890 or 1891, in Boston. His parents were John C. and Mary (Hays) Adams, according to his death certificate. Not much is known about Jack’s childhood. He attended two years of high school, according to the 1940 census.
On November 1, 1913, Jack enlisted in the Army at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At that time, he stated his residence was Dorchester. He initially served as a private in Company K, 3rd Battalion Engineers. On December 24, 1915, he was transferred to the 3rd Battalion’s Company L. He was transferred again on June 24, 1916, this time to Company H, 2nd Battalion Engineers. He joined Company C, 8th Engineers on April 4, 1918. When his term of service expired on June 9, 1919, he re-enlisted. In December 1919, he was among the candidates to be sent to a horticultural and agricultural school at Fort Clark, near Bracketville, Texas. He was discharged in June 1920 at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. At that time, he was a bugler.
Around the time of his discharge from the Army, Jack married Mable Alice Long, who had been born in Yoakum, Texas. According to the 1930 census, Jack married at age 22 and Mable at 16. They had six children: Wesley born in 1920, John in 1923, Dewey in 1925, Mary in 1927, Patrick in 1931, and James born after 1940.
The Adams family appear to have moved between El Paso and the Los Angeles, California, area somewhat regularly. In 1923, they were living in Bell, California, and Jack was a plumber. In 1927, they were back in El Paso, and Jack was a truck driver. By the late 1920s, they had returned to California, living at 711 East 109 Place in Los Angeles, which they rented for $15 a month. The 1930 census recorded that they had a housekeeper, Mollie Rodgers, a 58-year-old woman from Arkansas. Jack worked as a clerk for a motor company. The next year, in April 1931, a letter written by a Jack Adams appeared in the aid column of the Los Angeles Evening Post; the writer’s contact address was 707 East 110th Street, just one block from the home on 109th Place. The letter read, “I have a wife and five children, and am compelled to ask someone’s aid in securing employment. Have local experience as stock clerk, truck driver, plumber’s helper and stockman. Will be grateful for anything.” Four months later, in August, Jack entered the Sawtelle Veterans home, the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers located in Sawtelle, California (today the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center), to receive treatment for chronic bronchitis and an old spinal injury. By 1937, Jack was living in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles and working for the city’s Department of Playgrounds; three years later, on the 1940 census, it was reported that he earned $1,500 a year as a caretaker for L.A. Playground and Recreation. By 1940, Jack and his family had returned to their former neighborhood inLos Angeles, living at 139 East 112th Street, along with two lodgers: James Ward and Helen Stark. The family had moved to Glendale, California, by 1942, and Jack worked forthe United States Engineering Department at 4550 Brazil Street in Los Angeles. Jack and Mable moved back to El Paso at the end of the decade and Jack was a driver for the Railway Express Company.
Jack died of lung cancer on July 31, 1951, at Saint Joseph’s Sanatorium in El Paso. A service was held for him by Bishop Willard Whipple. He was buried with full military honors in the Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso.
Sources
Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, TX; 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.
Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917 – 9/16/1940, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1773 – 2007. National Archives at St. Louis, St. Louis, MO; FamilySearch.org
National Cemetery Administration. Nationwide Gravesite Locator; Ancestry.com
“Farm School for Men at Ft. Bliss is Now Planned,” El Paso Times, 2 December 1919: 10; Newspapers.com
El Paso, TX and Los Angeles, CA directories, various years; Ancestry.com
1930, 1940 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com
“Aid Column,” Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, 14 April 1931: 8; Newspapers.com
Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 (National Archives Microfilm Publication); Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II, Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“Comings and Goings of El Paso People,” El Paso Times, 23 April 1946: 6; Newspapers.com
“Jack C. Adams,” El Paso Times, 2 August 1951: 19; Newspapers.com
John C. Adams; FindAGrave.com