Albert Louis Ibach
World War I Veteran
By Camille Arbogast
Albert Louis Ibach was born on June 27, 1895, at 58 Saint Alphonsus Street in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston. His father, Charles Ibach, was a hatter. He was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States in the 1880s. Albert’s mother, Catherine Theresa (Fernekees), who went by Theresa, was born on Bird Street in Uphams Corner, and was of German and French descent. Charles and Theresa were married in 1892; it was Charles’s second marriage. They had three other children: Florence born in 1893, William in 1897, and Theresa in 1901. Charles also had three children from his previous marriage: Charles born in 1886 and Fredrick in 1887, as well as a daughter, Caroline, born in 1887, who died at under a year of meningitis.
In 1900, the family was living at 84 Dacia Street in Dorchester and Charles had been out of work for about a year. The Boston directory listed them living at 43 Danube Street in 1907. That November, Charles died of pulmonary tuberculosis, the same disease that claimed his first wife. By the time of Charles’s death, the Ibachs had moved again to 54A Mattapan Street. Albert graduated from 9th grade at the Leo XIII parochial school, located beside Saint Thomas Aquinas church in Jamaica Plain, in 1909. The next year, the Ibachs were living at 8 Fifield Street. Albert was working as a typewriter repairer, employed by a typewriter company. His sister Florence was a clerk in a department store.
In June 1917, Albert registered for the First World War draft. Living at 53 Hamilton Street, he was a salesman with the American Multigraph Sales Company, which sold multigraphs, an office correspondence printing machine. On the draft registration form, Albert stated that his mother was his dependent and claimed exemption from the draft on that ground. Albert enlisted in the Quartermaster Corps in December 1917. The day before he left Boston, his mother threw a farewell party for him, which was covered briefly in The Boston Globe. “20 intimate friends were present, and an entire soldier’s outfit was presented to him. … An entertainment consisting of vocal and instrumental selections was given. Miss Florence Iback [sic] and another brother, William, gave a piano-violin duet.”
Albert entered the army on December 12, 1917, at Fort Slocum, New York. He initially served in the Provisional Field Remount Company 3. On February 10, 1918, he was transferred to Training Company 1, at Camp Joseph E. Johnston in Jacksonville, Florida, the largest Quartermaster Corps training center. He was made a sergeant first class in April. On May 2, he sailed from Hoboken, New Jersey on the USS Great Northern with the Camp Johnston Detachment of Non-Commissioned Officers. He was transferred to Quartermaster Corps, Army Post Office 705, on May 25. Albert served overseas until June 13, 1919, when he sailed from Bordeaux, France, on the USS Radnor, arriving in Philadelphia on June 27. He was discharged on June 30, 1919.
Albert returned to his family home at 53 Hamilton Street and to his job as a multigraph salesman. By 1922, he and a partner, George Nelson, founded the Progressive Multigraphing and Printing Company, originally located at 21 Bromfield Street in Boston. Albert worked at the business for the rest of his life. By 1923, the Ibachs had moved to 30 Barry Street.
Albert married Mary E. Gorvette in Boston in 1923. They had two daughters: Maria and Jean. The couple settled on Longfellow Road, initially living at number 21. By 1933, they had purchased 38 Longfellow Road. During World War II, Albert and his brother William, along with their wives and children, raised money for the Greater Boston United War Fund Victory Campaign, participating in the Red Feather fund drive; Albert and Marie as donation solicitors and Mary as the Bowdoin district secretary. Albert was an active member of Saint Peter’s Church in Dorchester. He served as a head usher and as a president of the church’s Holy Name Society, as well as being a member of the church’s bowling club. He was also a charter member of the Francis G. Kane post of the American Legion. At the end of his life, Albert lived at 33 Longfellow Street.
Albert died on December 11, 1958, at Boston City Hospital. A Solemn High Mass of Requiem was held for him at Saint Peter’s Church. Mary continued as an employee at Progressive Multigraphing after Albert’s death. She died in 1987.
Sources
Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook); Ancestry.com
Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com
Family Tree; Ancestry.com
1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 U.S. Federal Census; Ancestry.com
“Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924,” database, citing Boston, MA, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org
“Leo XIII School,” Boston Globe, 21 June 1909: 2; Newpspapers.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.
Lists of Incoming & Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, The National Archives at College Park, MD; Ancestry.com
“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 11 December 1917: 4; Newspapers.com
Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Marriages [1916–1970]. Volumes 76–166, 192– 207. Facsimile edition. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“Red Feather War Fund Drive Hits $4,669,114 Mark,” Boston Globe, 13 October 1945: 3; Newspapers.com
“Albert L. Ibach,” Boston Globe, 12 December 1958: 27; Newspapers.com
“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 26 August 1987: 42; Newspapers.com