Joseph James Adduci
World War I Veteran
By Camille Arbogast
Joseph James Adduci was born at 15 Genesee Street in Boston’s South End on May 7, 1898, to John Battista and Christina Maria Concetta (Martuscelli) Adduci. John, a barber, and Christina were both originally from Calabria, Italy. John immigrated to the United States in the 1880s and Christina in the 1890s; they were married in Boston in 1893. They had four other children: Ann born in 1895, Fortuna in 1896, Theresa Lucy in 1900, and Frank in 1901.
In 1900, the Adducis were living at 26 Genesee Street (once part of the New York Streets neighborhood, today it is the location of the Ink Block development). Christina’s father Petro Martuscelli, a tailor, lived with them. By 1910, they had moved to Dorchester, to 84 Houghton Street. Joseph attended school through the seventh grade, according to the 1940 census.
Joseph enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force at the Boston Navy Yard on April 14, 1917. He gave as his address 28 North Monroe Terrace in Dorchester. He was called to duty on April 27, and was initially stationed at Commonwealth Pier in Boston. On July 5, he was assigned to the Enrolling Office in Boston. On September 30, he was transferred to Camp Burrage on Bumpkin Island in Boston Harbor where the Navy had a training camp. On January 1, 1918, he was stationed on the USS Aztec, where he remained until the Armistice on November 11, 1918. Joseph served as a seaman for 352 days, then as a quartermaster 3rd class for 224 days. On January 13, 1919, on the Aztec, Joseph was placed on inactive duty. He was honorably discharged on April 13, 1921.
On November 27, 1919, Joseph married Mary Annuziata Pontuso at Saint Peter’s Church on Bowdoin Street in Dorchester. Mary was a clerk, living at 42 Richfield Street. They had two sons: Joseph James, Jr., born in 1920, and George born in 1925. In 1920, they lived with Christina at 84 Houghton Street. Joseph worked in a shipyard; Mary was a file clerk at an automobile company. Also living in the house were Lucy, a department store cashier, and Frank, also working in a shipyard. In the mid-1920s, Joseph, Mary, and their sons lived at 385 Adams Street.
By 1922, Joseph was working as an electrotyper. He would work in the printing industry for almost 30 years. In 1942, he reported that his employer was the Riverside Press in Cambridge; in 1940, the census recorded he earned $1,929 a year.
At some point in the late 1920s or 1930s, it appears Joseph and Mary’s relationship ended. In the 1930s, Mary began styling herself in the Boston directory as Mrs. Mary Adduci and often had her own listing. Some years Joseph and Mary were listed at separate addresses, while in others they appeared together. It is unclear if Joseph at times reconciled with Mary and returned to live with his family, or if he was simply presented as living with them to avoid social embarrassment. In 1927, the Boston directory listed Joseph as removed to Cambridge; Mary was still listed at 310 Adams Street. Joseph and Mary appeared in the 1930 Cambridge directory living at 13 Howard Street, Cambridge. The 1930 census recorded Joseph, Mary, and their sons, at 385 Adams Street. In 1932, Joseph was living at 368 Centre Street in Dorchester. In the mid-1930s, Mary and their sons lived in Hanson, Massachusetts, while Joseph was in Cambridge at 4 Alpine Street. The 1937 Cambridge directory listed Joseph and Mary at 4 Alpine. According to the 1940 census, Joseph lived there with Margaret T. (Callahan) Murray, known as Marge, who worked in the garment industry as a stitcher of ladies clothes. Mary, meanwhile, appeared on the census at 20 Ripley Road in Dorchester. In 1942, on his Second World War draft registration, Joseph gave his address as 302 Commonwealth Avenue, the home of his brother and sister-in-law, Frank and Sally Adduci. Joseph may have been the Joseph J. Adduci living at 96 Linden Street in Allston in the mid-1940s.
On January 3, 1950, Joseph and Marge married in Carson City, Nevada. They settled in Carson City, where they lived at 1702 North Moody Street. Joseph worked in the blueprint room of the Nevada Highway department. He was very active with the American Legion.
On May 22, 1955, while at the American Legion Conference in Gardnerville, Nevada, Joseph collapsed, dying of a heart attack. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, he had “just returned from the rostrum … to open the convention. Before a local physician could be summoned or the Carson ambulance arrived with first aid, Mr. Adduci had expired.” A requiem mass was celebrated for him at Saint Thomas Catholic Church in Carson City. He was buried in Saint Michael Cemetery on Canterbury Street in Boston.
Sources
Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com
Family Trees; FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com
1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 U.S. Federal Census; 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.
“Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920,” database citing Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, MA, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org
Boston and Cambridge, MA, and Reno, NV directories, various years; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Carson City Marriage Records. Carson City Recorder’s Office, Carson City, NV; Ancestry.com
“Legion Leader Dies Suddenly,” Reno Gazette- Journal (Reno, NV), 23 May 1955: 11; Newspapers.com
Joseph James Adduci, FindAGrave.com