Albert Louis Ibach

Posted on February 2, 2021 by earltaylor

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

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Antonio Iazzetti and Alberto Iazzetti

Posted on February 2, 2021 by earltaylor

Antonio Iazzetti and Alberto Iazzetti

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Antonio Iazzetti, known as Anthony Iazetti, was born on July 12, 1896, in Torremaggiore, Foggia, Apulia, Italy. His younger brother, Alberto, or Albert, was also born in Italy on May 1, 1900. Their parents were Giovanni (known as John) and Maria (DeLila) Iazzetti. John was a baker. According to the 1910 census, the couple were parents to 15 children, seven of whom were still living at that time.Anthony and Albert’s siblings included: Theresa (known as Susie) born 1893, Celestina (known as Anna) born in 1895, Italia (known as Emma) born c1898, Clara (known as Ida or Ada) born in 1908, and Arturo (known as Arthur) born in 1916.

 The Iazzettis immigrated to the United States in the first decade of the 20th century, travelling on the Lloyd Sabaudo line’s SS Re d’Italia. According to Anthony’s immigration records, he entered the United States in 1908, while Albert stated that he arrived in 1909. They both reported that they left from Naples, Italy, and arrived in New York in late November, Anthony specifying he arrived on Thanksgiving. Their sister Clara was born in Boston in August 1908. At that time, the Iazzettis were living at 19 Pitts Street, near Bowdoin Square in Boston’s West End. By 1916, they had moved to 981 Dorchester Avenue. That March, Albert went missing. After two days, in which his mother “searched the neighborhood in which she lives, called on relatives and friends where she thought the boy might have been, [and] watched the crowds going to and from the moving picture houses,” she decided to involve the police in the search. The Boston Globe reported that “the lad was more than ordinarily bright and stood high in his class, according to his mother.” There was no coverage of Albert’s return, though he appears to have come home eventually. By 1918, the Iazzettis had moved to 1745 Dorchester Avenue, which would be occupied by members of the family for at least the next 50 years.

On June 4, 1918, Anthony enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. The next day he registered for the First World War draft. On his draft registration, he reported that he was already working for the military, employed by Captain Wheeler of Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. He may have worked as a barber at Camp Devens; on July 12, 1918, Anthony filed a petition for citizenship, stating his profession as barber. Anthony was called to duty in the Navy on July 5, 1918. He served as a Ship’s Cook, 4th class. He was initially stationed at the Naval Training Camp in Hingham, Massachusetts. On July 25, he was transferred to the Navy Rifle Range in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Anthony became an American citizen on September 5, 1918. His final Naval assignment was at the Receiving Ship in Boston, where he was stationed from September 30 until November 11, 1918. He was placed on inactive duty on July 22, 1919, and given an honorable discharge at the expiration of his enrollment on June 2, 1922.

Albert declared his intention to become an American citizen on July 24, 1918, the same day he enrolled in the Navy at the Recruiting Station in Boston. On his citizenship papers he stated that his occupation was rivet heater. He was sent to the Naval Operating Base in Norfolk, Virginia, on August 28, 1918. There he initially served as a mess attendant, third class. After 69 days, he was made a seaman 2nd class. On November 5, he was transferred to the USS Tenadores where he remained until November 11, 1918. Albert was placed on inactive duty on October 13, 1919, and honorably discharged on July 23, 1922.

After the war, Albert returned to Dorchester. In 1923, he was living at 16 Virginia Street and

working as a laborer. The next year, on February 13, he married Lillian J. Doyle in New York City. He appeared in the Boston directory in 1926 and 1927, at the family home at 1745 Dorchester Avenue. Albert and Lillian were listed in the Boston directory in the mid-1930s living at 957 Massachusetts Avenue in Roxbury; Albert was listed as an ironworker. From 1938 through 1942, Albert appeared in the directory back at 1745 Dorchester Avenue. On his World War II draft registration, filled out in February 1942, Albert reported that he lived at 215 Manhattan Avenue, Apartment 58, in the Bronx, New York City, and worked for the New York Rapid Transit Company, 159th– 8th Avenue IRT System.

On March 23, 1942, Albert enlisted in Company C, 8th Regiment, New York Guard, remaining with the unit until May 25, 1943. On November 9, 1943,he enlisted in the Navy in Boston. He was called to duty on June 19, 1944. After some time at the receiving station in Mobile, Alabama, he was transferred to the newly commissioned USS Zaniah (AG-70), a “special stores-barracks-distilling ship,” with “a distilling plant capable of producing 80,000 gallons of fresh water.” The ship had been converted to a Navy vessel at the Alabama Drydock and Shipping Company in Mobile, and, after travelling to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in October 1944, continued to be worked on through the end of the year. Albert was received aboard the Zaniah on September 10 as a seaman second class; by September 30, he had been promoted to seaman first class. On December 14, 1944, around the time work on the Zaniah was completed, Albert was transferred to the USS ARDC-3, an Auxiliary Repair Dock, Concrete. He was received on board on January 6, 1945, and remained assigned to the ARDC-3 into 1946. He was released from duty on July 25, 1946.

Albert was possibly the Albert Iazzetti who married Vera Kaisted in Manhattan on May 12, 1959. He was also possibly the Albert Iazzetti who married Olyve Ester Schooley on July 2, 1974, in Martin County, Florida. Albert died on May 16, 1979, in Lake Worth, Palm Beach County, Florida, and was buried in Lake Worth’s Pinecrest Cemetery. His headstone noted that he had served in the Navy during both World Wars.

Anthony moved to New York state after the First World War. It is probable that he was the Anthony Iazetti who married Alice Brusie in Chatham, New York, on December 22, 1919. In February 1922, a classified listing in the Chatham paper announced that “Antonio Iazetti, formerly of Albany, has taken over the barber shop in the Stanwix hotel, Chatham, and solicits patronage.” Two years later, Anthony advertised his Sanitary Barber Shop, located opposite the Boston and Albany station in Chatham, declaring that “Satisfaction and Sanitation are my methods in the Barber Business, therefore I have procured two of the best Barbers available from New York City to satisfy my patrons. We specialize in Ladies’ Bobs, Shingle, Massage, and Shampoo.” In the mid-1920s, he lived at 11 Hudson Avenue in Chatham. He may have been the Anthony Iazzetti who was listed in the Albany, New York, directory in 1928.

In 1930, Anthony was living at 23 Central Square in Chatham, lodging with the Solomon family. The head of the family, Abraham Morris Solomon, was a retail merchant. Also living in the home were Abraham’s wife, Minnie, and their two daughters, Janet and Ruth. By 1940, Minnie was divorced and living in Washington, D.C. with her mother and daughters, working as a clerk at a grocery. On October 6, 1941, Anthony married Minnie E. (Patlen) Solomon in Washington, D.C., in a civil ceremony conducted by Judge Robert E. Mattingly. They lived at 3232 Minnesota Avenue SE, in Washington, D.C. Anthony worked as a barber in the Mayflower Hotel on Connecticut Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. Later they lived in Bethesda, Maryland. Minnie died in 1987. At the end of his life, Anthony lived in Wheaton, Maryland. Anthony died on February 26, 1992. He was buried in National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia.

Sources

United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; 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, 8 August 1964: 2; Newspapers.com

Naturalization Records. National Archives at Boston, Waltham, MA; Ancestry.com

1910, 1930, 1940 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com

“Young Iazzetta Missing,” Boston Globe, 30 March 1916: 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.

Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com

Index to New York City Marriages, 1866-1937. Indices prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group, and used with permission of the New York City Department of Records/Municipal Archives; Ancestry.com

New York Guard Service Cards and Enlistment Records, 1906–1918, 1940–1948. New York (State). Division of Military and Naval Affairs. New York State Archives, Albany, N.Y.; Ancestry.com

Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Ancestry.com

Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities, 01/01/1939-01/01/1949, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD; Ancestry.com

“USS Zaniah (AK-120),” Wikipedia.org, page last edited on 31 December 2019; < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Zaniah_(AK-120)>

Index to Marriages, New York City Clerk’s Office, New York, N.Y.; Ancestry.com

Florida Department of Health. Florida Marriage Index, 1927-2001. Florida Department of Health, Jacksonville, FL; Ancestry.com

State of Florida. Florida Death Index, 1877-1998. Florida: Florida Department of Health, Office of Vital Records, 1998; Ancestry.com

“Palm Beach Deaths,” Miami Herald, 19 May 1979: 136; Newspapers.com

Albert Iazzetti, FindAGrave.com

New York State Marriage Index, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY; Ancestry.com

Classified Advertisement, Chatham Courier, 2 February 1922; Hudson River Valley Heritage, news.hrvh.org

Advertisement, Chatham Courier, 8 May 1924: 13; Hudson River Valley Heritage, news.hrvh.org

“United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940,” database, citing Military Service, NARA microfilm publication (St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985), various roll numbers; FamilySearch.org

“Marriage License Applications,” Evening Star (Washington DC), 2 October 1941: D-8; ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov

Marriage Records. District of Columbia Marriages. Clerk of the Superior Court, Records Office, Washington D.C.; Ancestry.com

Death Notices, Washington Post, 28 February 1992: D4; Proquest.com

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William Patrick Hartin

Posted on February 2, 2021 by earltaylor

William Patrick Hartin

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

William Patrick Hartin was born on November 17, 1895. He was born at home, 178 Third Street in South Boston. His parents, James Thomas and Sarah (McGonagle) Hartin, were both born in Donegal, Ireland. Sarah arrived in 1888; according to family sources, her passage was sponsored by two aunts. Prior to her marriage, Sarah worked as a domestic. James, a laborer, was naturalized in 1893. James and Sarah were married in Boston in July 1892. They had 11 other children: John born in 1893, James in 1894, Joseph in 1897, Cecilia in 1899, Francis in 1900, Patrick in 1901, Anna in 1903, Thomas in 1905, Bernard in 1906, Arthur in 1908, and Mary in 1910. Bernard died of acute infectious diarrhea in 1907, at the Boston Floating Hospital.

By 1898, the Hartins were living at 35 B Street in South Boston. They moved a short distance to 182 West 3rd Street by 1900. That year, Sarah’s brother, Patrick, lived with them. In 1904, they were living in Dorchester at 1390 Dorchester Avenue. They relocated in 1908, moving around the corner to 10 Greenwich Street, rear, where they remained until 1912, when they moved up the street to 22 Greenwich.

William attended school through the first year of high school, according to the 1940 census. By 1910, he was working as an order boy at a grocery. In June 1917, he was a sheet iron worker at the Sturtevant Mill Company, located at the corner of Park and Clayton Streets (today the building is the headquarters of Feeney Brothers Utility Services). The Sturtevant Mill Company was known for their crushing and grinding machinery. Socially, William was active in the Franklin Social and Athletic Club of Fields Corner.

On October 17, 1917, William enlisted in the Army. He served in the Company D, 39th Infantry, 4th Division. The 39th Infantry was formed at Camp Syracuse, New York, where William joined the regiment. Ten days after he enlisted, the 39th Infantry left for Camp Greene, near Charlotte, North Carolina, where they trained. On March 13, 1918, William was made a corporal.

In late April 1918, the 39th Infantry began moving towards France, first traveling to Camp Mills on Long Island, New York. From there they made their way to Jersey City, New Jersey, where, on May 10, 1918, William sailed with the 39th Infantry’s First and Second Battalions on the SS Dante Alighieri. The ship reached Brest, France, on May 23. In June, the 39th Infantry trained with the British at Doudeauville in Normandy, before moving to Acy-en-Multien in Oise. There, they were attached to the Fourth French Infantry Division. William was promoted to sergeant on July 10, 1918.

From mid-July through early August, the 39th Infantry participated in the Aisne-Marne offensive, attacking in conjunction with the French army. On August 1, “while taking up new positions in the Forêt de Fère,” William’s battalion was targeted by an airplane which dropped “a string of bombs so rapidly that the separate explosions could not be distinguished. … Every company in the battalion was hit.” On the night of August 6, Company D was part of an attempt to advance across the Vesle River. After this action, the 39th Infantry was relieved, and moved to the Vesle Defensive Sector.

On September 9, now part of the American First Army, they moved to the Toulon defensive sector in Lorraine, serving as part of the reserve corps in the St. Mihiel offensive. While, “not actively engaged in the front lines,” in mid-September they were “ordered forward to close a gap in the lines.” The gap was closed before they arrived, and instead they “went into bivouac in the woods … closely supporting the front lines,” where they were “under constant shell fire.”  From September 14 through the 19, the 39th Infantry trained in Haudainville, then moved to Esnes, in preparation for participation in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

On September 26, the first day of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the First Battalion “took up positions in the front line trenches.” They advanced at 5:30 a.m., behind a rolling barrage. That day, in the vicinity of Montfaucon Hill and the villages of Cuisy and Septsarges, William was severely wounded. He survived, but the military ultimately judged that “in view of occupation he was, on date of discharge, reported 75 percent disabled,” reflecting his injury’s impact on his earning capacity. During the three-day period in which William was wounded, “the Regiment had advanced eleven kilometers on a front ranging from one to two kilometers, the first five being one mass of barbed wire. … More than one hundred men and officers had been killed and over five hundred wounded.”

William’s brothers James, Jr., and Joseph also served France during World War I. In August 1918, the Boston Globe reported William wrote home that while marching he had passed his older brother James’s regiment, the 101st Infantry, “coming from the trenches but the men were traveling so fast he failed to meet his brother.” His younger brother Joseph, who served in the 60th Infantry, was killed in action during the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

On December 20, 1918, William sailed for the United States from Saint Nazaire, France, on the USS Princess Matoika. The ship carried “sick and wounded.” William was among a group classified as “medical and surgical requiring no attention.” They arrived in Newport News, Virginia, on January 1, 1919. William was discharged at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, on May 17, 1919.

After his discharge, William lived with his family in the home his father had just purchased at 28 Ditson Street. William was listed as a student in the 1920 Boston directory; on the 1920 census no occupation is reported for him. His marriage record from June 1920 stated he was a bookkeeper.

On June 21, 1920, William married Esther M. Fleming of 18 Freeman Street, Dorchester. They were married by Reverend John H. Harrigan of Saint Ambrose Church in Fields Corner. William and Esther had two daughters: Mary born in 1920 and Clair in 1922.

The couple initially lived on Granger Street, first at number 68, then at 58. By 1925, they had moved to a few blocks to 25 Dickens Street. The next year they were living nearby at 64 Leonard Street, which they owned. It was William’s home for the rest of his life. Living with them in 1930 was Esther’s father, William Fleming, an unemployed watchman. William’s brother Francis lived next door at number 66.

In the early 1920s, William continued to be listed in the directory as a student. In 1924, he was employed as a post office sub clerk. He worked for the post office for the rest of his career. In 1940, he earned $2,100 a year. He reported in 1942 that he worked out of the Post Office at 99 Chauncey Street.

William died in Dorchester on July 3, 1945. A funeral was held at his residence and a Solemn High Mass was celebrated for him at Saint Ambrose Church. William was a member of Saint Peter’s Court Number 18, MCOF; Redberry Council No 177, Knights of Columbus; and the William L. Harris Post 196 of the American Legion.

Sources

Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com

Boston Directories, Various years; Ancestry.com

1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 17 April 1917; 9; Newspapers.com

“Boys Eager to Get Into Army,” Boston Globe, 17 October 1917: 8; 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.

The History of the 39th U.S. Infantry During the World War, NY: Press of Joseph D. McGuire, 1919; Archive.org

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

Aaronson, Franklin M. “Pensions and Compensation to Veterans and Their Dependents.” Social Security Bulletin, November 1942. <https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v5n11/v5n11p10.pdf>

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 16 August 1918; Newspapers.com

“Military Honors at Dorchester Funeral,” Boston Globe, 20 September 1921: 2; Newspapers.com

“Real Estate Transactions,” Boston Globe, 2 May 1919: 10; Newspapers.com

Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, certificate number 3358, page 259, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com

Deaths, Boston Globe, 3 July 1945: 10; Newspapers.com

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John H. Harrison

Posted on February 2, 2021 by earltaylor

John H. Harrison

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

John H. Harrison was born on June 27, 1881, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His father, Lucius Manlius Sargent Harrison, was a barber who had been born in Boston. In about 1880, Lucius married Mary Morris, known as Minnie, a Canadian who immigrated to the United States in the 1870s. In 1882 or 1883, John’s younger sister Maud was born in Minnesota. John immigrated to the United States in 1883, according to the United States census for 1910.

In the 1890s, the Harrisons lived on Coleman Street in Dorchester, first at number 39, and then, by 1894, at number 23. In 1899, they moved around the corner to 487 Quincy Street. The next year they relocated to Lower Mills, living at 91 Richmond Street. At that time, John was a clerk at a glass company. The Harrisons moved to 1065 Washington Street in 1901 and remained there through 1906. In 1905, the

Boston directory listed John living at 1065 Washington Street and working as a bookkeeper.

In 1907, a notice in The Boston Globe reported that “John Talbot has given title to Maud H. Harrison to the property on Washington st, near River st, Dorchester,” which consisted of “a frame house and 8015 square feet of land.” It is possible that the Maud H. Harrison in the notice was John’s sister, as around this time the Harrisons became the owners of 1052 Washington Street, where Mary ran a lodging house. In 1910, there were 11 lodgers living with the Harrisons at 1052 Washington Street; many of them were chocolate factory employees. Helping to run the lodging house was a housemaid named Mary Williams, a 23-year-old African-American from South Carolina.

Around 1906, John married Nora Donelan, an Irish immigrant who came to the United States in the 1890s. John does not appear in the Boston directories from 1906 through 1908, so it is possible they lived outside of the city. In 1909, John was listed in the directory as an insurance agent living at 1052 Washington Street. John and Nora’s daughter, Mary, was born at 1052 Washington Street in 1910. Mary died at three-days-old of convulsions at Saint Mary’s Infant Asylum on Jones Hill (which would later become St. Margaret’s Hospital). According to the 1910 census, Nora had given birth to another child who also died.

John entered the Army on March 25, 1918. He had most recently been employed as a chauffeur, and he may have done similar work in the military, as he served in the Motor Transport Service, later called the Motor Transport Corps, or MTC. Part of the Quartermaster Corps, the MTC was in charge of all vehicles—including not only cars and trucks, but also bicycles, motorcycles, and trailers— as well as vehicle garages, depots, and repair shops. John was a sergeant in the 450th Engineer Motor Transport Service Company, a truck company of 53 men, when he sailed overseas on the USS Great Northern, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, on August 31, 1918. He later served in the 650th and 690th Motor Transport Companies. In July 1919, John returned to the United States, sailing from Bordeaux, France, on the USS Santa Malta on July 3, and arriving in Brooklyn, New York, on July 15. He was discharged on July 24, 1919.

In 1918, while John was overseas, Nora lived in West Quincy, at 114 Hall Place. After his return, in 1920, they lived in a lodging house at 57 Rutland Street. John was an automobile mechanic. In May 1921, his father died. In 1927, John appeared in the Boston directory at 1052 Washington Street, still working as an auto mechanic. By that time, his sister Maud had joined the religious order the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, taking the name Sister Mary of Saint Sylvie. She was ordained in 1923 at St. Gregory’s Church in Lower Mills, according to family records. She lived in Sisters of the Good Shepherd convents in Newark and Morristown, New Jersey, and later at the Madonna Hall school in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

John appeared in the 1930 census living at 1052 Washington Street with his mother. Nora is not listed as part of the household. By 1936, John worked at Walter Baker Chocolate. His mother died in Morristown, New Jersey, in May 1947. It is possible he was the John H. Harrison who was listed in the Boston directory living at 53 Sydney Street in the late 1940s. At the end of his life, John lived at 1521 Washington Street.

John died on October 22, 1955. A mass was celebrated for him in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Holy Cross Cathedral in the South End. He was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery on Walk Hill Street in Mattapan. John was a member of the South End Post 105 of the American Legion.

Sources

Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com

Family Trees; Ancestry.com

1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com

“Two in Dorchester,” Boston Globe, 3 August 1908: 2; Newspapers.com

Mary Harrison births, “Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915,” State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org.

Mary Harrison death, “Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915,” State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

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

Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com

Office of the Chief of Engineers, Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers United States Army 1919, Part I. Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, 1919: 37; Books.Google.com

“Motor Transport Corps,” Wikipedia.org, last edited 19 November 2019. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Transport_Corps>

Death Notices, Boston Globe, May 15 1921; Newpapers.com

Death Notices, Boston Globe, 6 Feb 1977: 70; Newspapers.com

Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com

Death Notices, Boston Globe, 16 May 1947; 28; Newspapers.com

Death Notices, Boston Globe, 23 October 1955: 51; Newspapers.com

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Charles F. Hammond, Jr.

Posted on February 2, 2021 by earltaylor

Charles F. Hammond, Jr.

World War I Veteran

Charles was born in Roxbury on June 15, 1893, the oldest child of Charles F. and Elizabeth F. Hammond.  Charles, the father, was employed as a bank cashier.  By 1900 the family was living on Millet Street in Dorchester.  Charles, Jr., had a sister, Hazel M., and a brother, Clarence O. Hammond.

Charles, Jr., graduated from the Oliver Wendell Holmes School, which was within walking distance of his home. He played baseball with the Standish Club and Intercity League and was well known in the western part of Dorchester.

He went on to work for the Shoe and Leather Exchange for five years, then went to work for the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy. He enlisted on August 17, 1917, in the Massachusetts National Guard, which was in Federal Service by that time.  He was assigned to the Artillery and went to Europe with the American Expeditionary Force on September 9, 1917.  He died at Coetquidan of disease on October 9, 1917, and his family was notified within days afterward.  His mother hS received a letter from him on September 24th in which he said he was enjoying good health, and the telegram announcing his death was the first the family knew of the affliction.

The local American Legion post #78 was named for him, and in 1919 St. Leo’s Church presented a banner with a portrait of Charles F. Hammond, Jr., to the post.  The Boston Globe reported on September 24, 1919, that the banner ” which will be on exhibition in the window of the A. Shuman Co. store today and tomorrow was designed and painted by C. F. Shea.  It is of silk, heavily fringed, embodying the National red, white and blue, with a portrait of the hero for whom the post is named, surrounded by the Post’s name and number.”

In 1921 a City of Boston square was named for him at Bradshaw and Esmond Streets.

Sources:

1900 and 1910 Federal Census on Ancestry.com

Birth Record on Ancestry.com

Boston Globe October 16, 1917; September 24, 1919; July 22, 1919.

https://www.cityofboston.gov/veterans/herosquares/

Death Record on Ancestry.com with data from Soldiers of the Great War compiled by W. M. Haulsee. (Washington, 1920)

The Gold Star Record of Massachusetts. Edited by Eben Putnam.  (Boston, 1929)

Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard

World War I draft card on Ancestry.com

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Francis William Coffey

Posted on February 1, 2021 by earltaylor

Francis William Coffey

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Francis William Coffey, known as Frank, was born on August 24, 1888, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Jeremiah and Mary (Kelley) Coffey. Jeremiah was also born in Montreal. He first came to the United States in September 1868, entering through Burlington, Vermont, where Mary was born. They were married in Canada in 1872. Jeremiah and Mary had seven other children: Elizabeth born in 1873, Charles Patrick born in 1874, John in 1876, Jeremiah, Jr., in 1881, Agnes in 1884, Thomas in 1886, and Helen, known as Nellie, in 1891. According to an article in the Boston Globe, Jeremiah was “for many years prominent in Canadian athletic circles, being at one time captain of the Shamrock lacrosse champions of Canada.”

The Coffeys had moved to the United States by 1891, when Nellie was born in Massachusetts. They resided in Cambridge, where Jeremiah was a boiler maker with a shop on 6th Street. During Frank’s childhood, the family moved around the Cambridgeport neighborhood. Their homes included:18 Blanche Street, where they lived in 1893; 32 State Street in 1896; 55 Pleasant Street in 1900; 55 Pearl Street in 1901; 496 Green Street in 1906; and 50 Western Avenue in 1907.

Frank’s mother, Mary, died of Bright’s disease in 1894. In 1900, the census reported that his father, Jeremiah, had been out of work for five months. Many of Frank’s older siblings were working by that time: Elizabeth was a laundry marker, John a bartender, Jeremiah, Jr., a cracker packer, and Agnes a candy maker. Frank was still attending school in 1900; he graduated from Saint Mary’s Parochial School in Cambridge. Charles Patrick, an employee of the National Biscuit Company, died of tuberculosis in 1903. Frank may have been the Coffey boy from Cambridge who, with a 16-year-old friend from Pleasant Street, boarded “a westbound freight on the Boston Albany railroad” and made it as far as Indianapolis. Jeremiah, Sr., died of stomach cancer in 1908. Three years later, John died of tuberculosis.

In the years following his father’s death, Frank’s whereabouts are somewhat speculative. The Cambridge directory listed a Frank W. Coffey at 408 Putnam Street in 1909. In 1910, a 21-year-old Frank Coffey was living on Goddard Avenue in Brookline, Massachusetts, while employed by a private family as a groom. A Francis W. Coffey appeared in the Somerville, Massachusetts, directory from 1910 through 1912 at 72 Prentiss Street. By 1914, Frank was working as a teamster and boarding at 15 Hallet Street in Neponset. This was the address he gave when he enlisted and reported for duty in the Massachusetts National Guard on June 4, 1917.

Frank served in Company E of the 9th Infantry of the Massachusetts National Guard, which was stationed at Camp Framingham, an existing National Guard summer training ground and state armory. In August 1917, the regiment was reorganized as the 101st Infantry, part of the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th Division, or Yankee Division.

The 101st Infantry sailed for France on September 7, 1917, on the USS Pastores, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey and arriving in Saint-Nazaire, France, on September 21, 1917. The 26th Division went to the front in the Chemin des Dames sector in early February 1918. They moved to the Toul-Boucq sector in early April. After a few days in the Champagne-Marne defensive sector in early July, they participated in the Aisne-Marne offensive from July 18 through 25.

On September 12 and 13, the 101st took part in the Saint Mihiel offensive, attempting to capture ground that had been held by the Germans since September 1914. Captain John W. Hyatt described the conditions of the battle in A History of the Yankee Division: There was “heavy fighting over the most terrible terrain. This was filled with concrete pill boxes and machine-gun nests, and the woods were full of barbed wire. There were scores of ravines running perpendicular to our attack, so that it was necessary for the men to fight over each one. The ground was covered with bushes about 5 or 6 feet tall, with few trees, and barbed wire interwoven.”

During the battle, Frank was mortally wounded. Most sources report he died of his wounds on September 13. A note in The Gold Star Record of Massachusetts gives an alternate date of September 24 and the additional information “of gunshot wound,” citing as the source “Casualties, 26th Division.”  Frank was buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Department de la Meuse, Lorraine, France. A high mass was celebrated in his honor at Blessed Sacrament Church in Cambridge on May 13, 1919.

Sources

Gabriel Drouin, comp. Baptism Record, Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin; Ancestry.com

US Veterans Administration Master Index, Military Service, NARA microfilm publication, St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985; FamilySearch.org

Naturalization Records. National Archives at Boston, Waltham, Ma; Ancestry.com

“Cambridge,” Boston Globe, 9 Dec 1897:3; Newspapers.com

Family Trees, Ancestry.com

Cambridge & Boston Directories, various years; Ancestry.com

Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com

1900, 1910 US Federal census; Ancestry.com

“John J. Graham Missing,” Cambridge Chronicle. 24 October 1903: 1; Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge.dlconsulting.com

Putnam, Eben, ed. The Gold Star Record of Massachusetts, Volume II. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1929; Archive.org

Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, The National Archives at College Park, MD; Ancestry.com

Battle Participation of Organizations of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, Belgium and Italy 1917-1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920; Archive.org

Benwell, Harry A. History of the Yankee Division. Boston: The Cornhill Company, 1919; Archive.org

“Casualty List Has 635 Names,” Boston Post, 25 October 1918: 14; Newspapers.com

“Eastern Massachusetts Men in Casualty List,” Boston Globe, 27 October 1918: 2; Newspapers.com

Died, Cambridge Chronicle, 17 May 1919: 3; Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge.dlconsulting.com

“Francis W. Coffey.” American Battle Monuments Commission. ABMC.gov

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Sophia Theresa Cody

Posted on February 1, 2021 by earltaylor

Sophia Theresa Cody

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Sophia Theresa Cody was born on March 10, 1895, at 220 Centre Street in Roxbury. Her parents, John and Mary (McCallogue or McCalogue) Cody were Irish immigrants who married in Boston in June 1881. Sophia was a twin; her sister Grace died at a little over a year old of meningitis after a four-week bout with pertussis. Sophia had six other siblings: Joseph (also known as J.J.) born in 1882, Thomas in 1884, Ellen in 1886, Mary in 1888, Ellen in 1890, and James in 1892. Three of her siblings died as small children: Thomas in 1885 of croup, Ellen in 1889 of diphtheria, and the second Ellen in 1891 of cholera infantum.

John Cody held a number of jobs: In 1895, he was a milk dealer, in 1900, a fruit dealer, and in 1910, a bakery wagon driver. In 1899, John bought two lots totaling about 9,000 square feet on Willow Street in Dorchester. According to the Boston Globe, John already owned adjoining land; the Codys had been living on Willow Court since at least 1897. In 1900, he sold “Three old frame stables and about 12,227 square feet of land on Willow ct” to Grace McCallogue, probably Mary Cody’s relation, who bought “for improvement on private terms.” In August 1918, Grace sold John the “frame building” at 76-78 Willow Court.  During this time, Sophia and her family lived at 6 Willow Court, then 76 Willow Court.

On July 25, 1918, Sophia enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force as a Yeoman (F), or a female Yeoman. Sometimes called “Yeomanettes” or “Yeowomen,” female Yeomen were officially enrolled in the Navy and received the same rate of pay as men. The Naval Act of 1916 included a line permitting the enlistment of “all persons who may be capable of performing special useful service for coastal defense.” The non-gendered language was interpreted to include women and they were recruited beginning in March 1917. By the end of the war there were over 11,000 female Yeomen. They most often served in clerical roles, though some held specialized positions.

Prior to enlisting, Sophia was a telephone operator at the South Boston exchange.  With her switchboard experience, she was assigned to District Communication Superintendent, 1st Naval District, on July 30. She was initially attached to the medical office in the Little Building, and then was later transferred to one of the Navy Yard offices, where she ran “the big telephone switchboard.”

Sophia probably lived at home during her service, as the Navy did not have female barracks and women had to make their own living arrangements. Generally, they were assigned work in their home communities. There was also no officially-issued female uniform, and the women were responsible for acquiring the single-breasted jacket, long skirt, and brimmed hat they were required to wear.

On August 28, there was an influenza outbreak on a Navy receiving ship in Boston. From the receiving ship, the disease quickly spread to other navy sites, sweeping through Commonwealth Pier and filling the Chelsea Naval Hospital. Almost 21,000 sailors in the Boston area had caught the illness by mid-September. Sophia, working at the Naval Yard in the midst of the outbreak and most likely traveling between home and work daily, caught the virus.

As it was for so many other young people, for Sophia, the 1918 influenza was fatal. On October 13, 1918, she died at home, at 78 Willow Court, of lobar pneumonia caused by the influenza. She was “the second of the yeowomen forces to die since the epidemic began.”

A mass of high requiem was held for Sophia at Saint Margaret’s Church on Columbia Road. Her naval funeral was “the first military funeral of a woman held in [Boston],” according to the Boston Globe. The service featured “bluejacket body bearers, and an official escort and firing party.” A bugler played Taps “and three volleys [were] fired at the grave.” Six of Sophia’s fellow yeowomen served as her pallbearers. She was buried in the Cody family plot in Mount Benedict Cemetery in West Roxbury.

Sources

Birth Record, Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook); Ancestry.com

Family Tree; FamilySearch.org

Death Record, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com

1900, 1910 U.S. Federal Census; Ancestry.com

“Real Estate Matters,” Boston Globe, 15 December 1899: 12; Newpapers.com

“Real Estate Matters,” Boston Globe, 2 March 1900: 12; Newpapers.com

“Real Estate Matters,” Boston Globe, 2 August 1918: 6; Newspapers.com

“Death of Miss Sophia T. Cody, Yeowoman, U.S.N.,” Boston Globe, 14 October 1918: 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.

“Boston, Massachusetts,” Influenza Encyclopedia. University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine. <https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-boston.html>

“Yeowoman died from Grippe,” Boston Globe, 14 October 1918: 5; Newspapers.com

“Miss Cody’s Funeral to be Held Tomorrow Morning,” Boston Globe, 16 October 1918: 10; Newspapers.com

“Yeowoman is Buried with Naval Honors,” Boston Globe, 17 October 1918: 14; Newspapers.com

Officers and Enlisted Men of the United States Navy Who Lost Their Lives During the World War, From April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920; 184; Archive.org

Gold Star Record of Massachusetts; Archive.org

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Roger Fiske Chapin

Posted on February 1, 2021 by earltaylor

Roger Fiske Chapin

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Roger Fiske Chapin was born at 6 Arundel Park (now known as Rundel Park) in the Ashmont neighborhood of Dorchester on August 23, 1892, to Charles Taft and Annie Mary (Wood) Chapin. Charles was the owner of the Chapin Coal Company, “dealers in hard and soft coal and wood,” based at Liverpool Wharf on Atlantic Avenue in Boston. He had been born in Dorchester; Annie was originally from Newburgh, New York. They married in Newburgh in 1882. They had five other children: Aida born in 1883, Arthur in 1885, Gerard in 1888, Marjorie in 1890, and Constance (also known as Christine) in 1895. Roger’s great aunt, Harriet Fiske, also lived with the family. During Roger’s childhood, there were also live-in servants at 6 Arundel Park; in 1900 the Chapins employed two maids and in 1910, one.

In 1907, Roger graduated from the Henry L. Pierce School, located on Washington Street and Welles Avenue. At Dorchester High School, he was a lieutenant in the First Battalion, Company A, of the Boston School Cadets. He also played on the football team for two years. Roger graduated from Dorchester High in June 1911. From 1911 to 1914, he served in 1st Squadron Massachusetts Cavalry of the Massachusetts National Guard. He also worked in the wholesale lumber industry, employed by the Pope Lumber Company of Dorchester. In 1915, his father died of prostate cancer.

On May 14, 1917, Roger enlisted at the Officers’ Training Camp in Plattsburg, New York. He was transferred to the Air Service in June and attended ground school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then was sent to Mineola, New York, on Long Island, for preliminary flying. Roger entered the Enlisted Reserve Corps on August 14, and was assigned to the Air Service detachment at Mineola. On September 27, he was transferred to Cadet Detachment, Garden City, Long Island, New York.

Roger sailed for France on November 14, 1917, departing from New York on the RMS Aurania. He received further pilot training at the 3d Aviation Instruction Centre in Issoudun. On February 1, 1918 he was commissioned as first lieutenant and called into active service. In March 1918, he began two month’s study of day bombardment in Clermont-Ferrand. He then served with a French Bombing Squadron, Escadrille Breguet Number 127 (Groupe de Bombardment 5), based at Plessis Bellville, where he first teamed with his observer, Clair Laird, of Algona, Iowa. They participated in the Chateau-Thierry offensive in July and at the Fismes-Soissons-Mondidier Front in August, making several flights over enemy lines. A fellow pilot, Charles Peck wrote of these flights, “‘Chap’ had had a number of nasty combats in which he showed fine skill and a cool head to have escaped what seemed inevitable to be shot down.” For his service with Escadrille Breguet 127,Roger was awarded the Croix de Guerre; his citation noted that he was an “excellent pilot, always volunteering for dangerous missions,” and that his bombings “caused considerable losses to the enemy.” In mid-August, Roger was transferred to Headquarters, Air Service, in Milan, Italy.

On September 2, Roger and Clair were assigned to the American Day Bombing Squadron Number 11, which flew Liberty-engine de Havilland DH4 planes. With Squadron 11, they participated in the Saint-Mihiel offensive. On September 18, their targets were in La Chaussee. On the return from their mission, the squadron was spotted by German planes and attacked. Six men were killed, and four, including Roger and Clair, were taken prisoner.

Clair recounted their ordeal for a newspaper article which ran in February 1919. “Roger Chapin and I were in the lead. … We did our bombing and had started home when we were attacked by about fifteen Fokkers from the front.  … One machine got right under our plane and the rattling of their guns sounded like the explosion of a bunch of firecrackers. … Our tank was shot to pieces and it is a miracle that the explosive bullets did not set the gasoline on fire. Our motor, getting little gas, was practically useless and Chapin was forced to leave formation … We had lost a great deal of altitude. Anti air craft guns opened on us from the ground and continued shooting at us until we crashed. Our motor was giving us little aid and Chapin was forced to keep it in a continual glide. … Getting closer to the ground ‘Chape’ attempted to pull up over some telegraph wires but the motor failed again and crashed into the wires. … The plane was lying upside down with Chapin hanging from a leg hooked under the rudder bar. I thought he was dead but after unfastening his clothing and rubbing his face and hands he began moaning and finally came to. … He is a big man and it was some job to get him down.” As Clair was extracting Roger from the wreckage, they were surrounded by Germans. Clair estimated “There must have been two or three hundred about by this time and they were all laughing as though they considered it a great joke.”

Roger and Clair had come down about an hour’s walk behind enemy lines. They were marched to a village where they were questioned by a German officer who had lived for a time in the United States and spoke English. Locked in a cellar overnight, the next morning they were fed “black coffee, made out of chestnuts, no milk or sugar, some black, sour, soggy bread and a jam, which they told us was a coal tar product, although it did not taste bad then.” They were taken to Joeuf, near Metz, where they were held for five days of questioning. Then they were moved to Karlsruhe, then to Landshut, in Bavaria, and finally to Villingen, near the Swiss border. In another newspaper interview given in 1938, Clair spoke about their experience in the prison, remembering, “’I think we were well treated— all the aviators were well treated. Of course, if we’d have had to eat the German food, we’d probably have starved, but the Red Cross had headquarters at Berne, Switzerland, and they made arrangements to give us food, under German supervision … It was a three-section camp and our only recreation was volley ball or walking. … The barracks were of wood and pretty cold.”

Roger and Clair were released on November 28, 1918, and exchanged through Switzerland. Roger returned to the United States on the USS Kroonland, sailing from Saint Nazaire, France, on March 12, 1919, and arriving in Newport News, Virginia, on March 24. Roger was discharged on April 11, 1919, in Mineola. On his service record, he was reported five percent disabled.

In 1920, Roger was again living at 6 Arundel Park, with his mother, great aunt, and siblings Aida, Arthur, and Christine. His great aunt died in April 1920. Roger resumed working in the wholesale lumber industry, employed by Carlyle Patterson and Company, 170 Summer Street, Boston. He was active with the Aero Club of Massachusetts.

In 1927, Roger married Frances L. Glover in Boston. Frances had grown up around the corner from Roger, at 79 Beaumont Street. In April 1930, Roger, Frances, and their 8-month-old son, Roger, Jr., were renting part of 6 Arundel Park from his mother, who also lived in the house. The next year, they moved to 44 Beaumont Street. That August, Frances died suddenly. After Frances’s death, Roger moved back to 6 Arundel Park.

Roger remarried in 1938, wedding Eva Jeanette (Vanderburgh) Shaw on June 10. In 1940, Roger, Eva, and Roger, Jr., lived at 34 West Main Street in Niantic, Connecticut. Residing with them was a lodger, Joseph Schmidt, a German immigrant who had a landscaping business. Roger worked for Holbrook Lumber Company of Springfield. Every year, on September 18, he wrote to Clair Laird.

Roger died on June 19, 1968, in New London, Connecticut. A few months later, the surviving members of his squadron met in Philadelphia to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their September 18 capture.

Sources

Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 U.S. Federal Census; Ancestry.com

Documents of the School Committee of the City of Boston for the Year 1907; HathiTrust.org

“Roster of Brigade,” Boston Globe, 10 November 1910: 13; Newspapers.com

“Class Day at Dorchester High School,” Boston Globe, 22 June 1911: 10; Newspapers.com

“Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924,” database, citing Boston, MA, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

“Welcome to Veterans,” The Lumberman’s Review, Vol XXVIII.-No 329, January 1920: 15; Books.Google.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.

New England Aviators 1914-1918: Their Portraits and Their Records, Vol I. Boston and NY: Houghton Mifflin Company [Cambridge: Riverside Press], 1919; Archive.org

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

Peck, Charles. Allen Peck’s WWI Letters Home 1917-1919: US Army WWI Pilot Assigned to France. NY: iUniverse, Inc., 2005: 217; Books.Google.com

Guttman, John. “Slaughter in the Sky,” Aviation History, 1 November 2004 [accessed via EbscoHost]

Kramer, Jean. “Clair Laird- Prisoner of War,” Kossuth County History Buff, 29 November 2017; KossuthHistoryBuff.blogspot.com

Owens, Hebert G. “A Young Flyer in A German Prison Camp,” Des Moines Tribune, 11 November 1938: 1; Newspapers.com

“Table Gossip,” Boston Globe, 28 December 1919: 56; 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, Boston, MA: Ancestry.com

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 15 August 1931: 8; Newspapers.com

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 14 August 1931: 8; Newspapers.com

“Eva Vanderburgh Weds Roger Chapin,” Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield,MA), 20 June 1938: 9; Newspapers.com

Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com

Connecticut Department of Health. Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2001. Hartford, CT, USA: Connecticut Department of Health; Ancestry.com

Gammack, Gordon. “Gordon Gammack,” Des Moines Tribune, 14 Oct 1968; 1; Newspapers.com

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Charles Russell Cavanagh

Posted on February 1, 2021 by earltaylor

Charles Russell Cavanagh

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Charles Russell Cavanagh, known as Russell, was born on January 2, 1899, at 13 River Street in Lower Mills, to Charles R. and Elizabeth G. (Herman) Cavanagh. Both parents were born in Boston. Charles’s family came to Dorchester in 1883, when they moved from the South End to Lower Mills. Elizabeth and Charles were married in 1897 in Dorchester.  Russell had an older sister, Gertrude, born in 1897, and a younger brother, Lewis, born in 1900.

Charles, a doctor, probably delivered Russell, as he signed the birth record. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, he performed residencies at Boston City Hospital and Carney Hospital before going into general practice in Dorchester. Charles’s father, George H. Cavanagh, as well as his grandfather William, had been in the pile driving business; his father’s company worked on the Boston Art Museum, the Boston Public Library, the Youths Companion building, and New Old South Church, among other projects. George Cavanagh also served in the Civil War, first with the Boston Light Artillery, then with the First Massachusetts Cavalry and finally with the 6th New York Horse Battery.

Elizabeth’s father, Conrad J. Herman, was born in France to Bavarian German parents and immigrated to the United States in 1848. In 1900, he was employed as a fireman at a mill. That year, Conrad, along with his wife, Frances, who was from Maine, and their son, Frederick, a commission clerk, lived at 13 River Street with Charles, Elizabeth, and their children. By 1910, Russell’s immediate family had moved to another house in Lower Mills at 19 Richmond Street, which they had purchased. Russell attended the Gilbert Stuart School and two years of high school.

In 1917, Russell enlisted in the National Guard at the Commonwealth Armory, joining the 1st Regiment Field Artillery. He reported for duty on July 25, and was sent to Boxford for training. In August, the 1st Regiment Field Artillery was drafted into federal service and became the 101st Field Artillery, 51st Field Artillery Brigade, which was part of the 26th Division, or Yankee Division. It appears Russell initially served in Battery C, but by the time the 101st left Boxford on September 7, he had transferred to the Supply Company and was a Private First Class. On September 9, 1917, he sailed from New York City on the SS Adriatic. The 101st arrived in England on September 23, and two days later were in France. After receiving further training, the 26th Division spent the spring of 1918 in Woevre, north of Toul. In July they were part of the Chateau Thierry offensive; in September the Saint-Mihiel offensive. They were then sent to the front north of Verdun. In October they were involved in action east of Meuse. When the Armistice was declared on November 11, they were near Damvillers. In April 1919, Russell, along with the 101st Field Artillery, returned to the United States, sailing from Brest on the transport ship USS Mongolia. By that time, he had been promoted to Sergeant.

Two thousand people met the USS Mongolia when it docked in Boston on April 10. The Boston Globe headline declared “Had to Drive Relatives of Heroes Off Pier with Bayonets.” Due to the size of the ship, it had to dock at high tide, which was early in the morning. “The army and navy officials in charge … would have been glad to … delay the docking of the ship until 9 a.m., in order to accommodate the thousands who desired to welcome the home-coming brigade, but neither the army nor the navy has yet been able to regulate the tide,” the paper reported. As the ship approached Commonwealth Pier, it “was literally covered with olive drab coated soldier boys, who clung like swarming bees to every strand of the big ship’s rigging and gear.” After the ship had docked, hot doughnuts, oranges, bananas, cigarettes, and newspapers were hurled at the ship for the men to catch. Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge went aboard to welcome the men back to New England. According to the Globe coverage, family members and friends swarmed the pier, broke through ropes, and mobbed the gangplank, delaying debarkation for two hours. Finally, after 10 a.m., the men were taken by train to Camp Devens in Ayer to be demobilized. Russell was discharged on April 29, 1919.

In 1920, Russell was living at 19 Richmond Street and working as a leather sorter. His father had recently passed away, dying suddenly on Christmas Day in 1919. His siblings were still living in the family home: Gertrude was a teacher and Lewis was a student. Russell’s mother, and his grandparents, Conrad and Frances, were also part of the household. Conrad continued to work as a fireman, now with the railroad.

On March 13, 1922, Russell married stenographer Florence M. Matz of 2038 Dorchester Avenue. They were married by Reverend Francis X. Dolan at Saint Gregory’s Church. In 1929, Russell’s sister, Gertrude, married Edward B. Matz, Florence’s older brother.

Russell and Florence had five children: Charles Russell, Edward, Robert, Ann, and Elizabeth. Edward died on Christmas Eve in 1930, at six years old. During World War II, Charles served in the Naval Reserve and Robert was in the Army.

Russell and Florence initially lived in Quincy at 48 Whiton Avenue. By 1925, they had moved to Weymouth, living first at 70 Evans Street, then, by 1940, at 158 Park Avenue. They were reported residents of Milton and Chilmark in 1958. At the end of Russell’s life, they lived at 30 Longwood Road, Milton.

Russell spent his career in the leather industry, working as a salesman after his marriage. In 1940, the census reported he earned $5,000 a year. In the 1950s, Russell was employed by F. C. Donovan, Inc., of Boston. He served as president of his professional organization, the Boot and Shoe Club.

Russell died in Milton on May 26, 1962. A Solemn High Mass of Requiem was held for him at Saint

Mary of the Hills Church in Milton. 

Sources

Birth Record, “Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915” database; FamilySearch.org

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

Gillespie, C. Bancroft, ed. Illustrated History of South Boston. South Boston, MA: Inquirer Publishing Company, 1900; Archive.org

US Federal Census, 1900- 1940; Ancestry.com

“Boston Public School Graduates Number 8769,” Boston Globe, 19 June 1913: 6; Newspapers.com

Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, The National Archives at College Park, Maryland; Ancestry.com

“United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940” database, FamilySearch.org

A Short History and Photographic Record of the 101st U.S. Field Artillery 1917. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1918; Archive.org

“Names of New England Heroes Who Came on Transport Mongolia,” Boston Globe, 10 April 1919: 10; Newpapers.com

Hennessy, M.E. “Had to Drive Relatives of Heroes Off Pier with Bayonets,” Boston Globe, 10 April 1919: 1; Newspapers.com

“Debarkation Delayed Hours,” Boston Globe, 10 April 1919: 1; Newspapers.com

“Funeral in Dorchester of Dr. Charles R. Cavanagh,” Boston Globe, 28 Dec 1919: 17; Newspapers.com

Marriage Record, “Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915″ database; FamilySearch.org

Death Notices, Boston Globe, 25 Dec 1930: 30; Newspapers.com

Sherman, Marjorie W. “Society,” Boston Globe, 3 April 1958: 5; Newspapers.com

Deaths, Boston Globe, 28 May 1962; 18; Newspapers.com

“Boot and Shoe Club Memorial,” Boston Globe, 15 November 1962: 8; Newspapers.com

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Patrick Canavan and John Canavan

Posted on February 1, 2021 by earltaylor

Patrick Canavan and John Canavan

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Brothers Patrick and John Canavan were born in South Boston; Patrick Joseph on March 6, 1892, and John Michael on August 23, 1895. Their parents, Thomas R. and Hanora (Nee), known as Hannah, were both born in Ireland, each immigrating to the United States in the early 1880s. They married in Boston in 1886; according to their marriage record, it was Hannah’s second marriage. Thomas and Hannah had seven other children: Mary born in 1887, Richard in 1891, Margaret in 1893, Hanora in 1896, Joanna in 1899, Thomas, Jr., in 1901, and Anthony in 1903. Two of their children died in early childhood: Richard in 1891 of cholera infantum and Hanora in 1901 of pneumonia.

At the time of Patrick’s and John’s births, the family lived on Bowen Street in South Boston and Thomas was a street paver. By 1899, they had moved to Dorchester, where they lived on Dorchester Avenue, first at 528, then, by 1906, at 526. By that time, Thomas worked for the Goodyear Machine Company in the South End. On the morning of January 9, 1906, he played with his children, put on his coat, and left for work. He never returned. Hannah “made a most thorough search” for her husband, checking with everyone who knew him and calling at all the hospitals. On February 27, she asked for police assistance, telling the officers that if Thomas “failed to return very soon she didn’t know what would become of her.” On May 1, Thomas’s drowned body was found in Boston Harbor, near White Spirit Wharf on Commercial Street in the North End.

By 1910, the Canavans had moved to 337 Dorchester Street. Hannah was working outside the home as an office cleaner. The older children were also employed: Patrick, 18, as a salesman at a grocery and Margaret in an ink factory. The younger children, including John, still attended school. Six years later they lived at 867 Dorchester Avenue.

On June 24, 1916, John enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard, serving in Company I of the 9th Infantry. Shortly before John enlisted, President Wilson had called up the National Guard. The United States was in the midst of the Mexican Expedition, the attempt to capture the Mexican revolutionary Francisco Villa, known as Pancho Villa. In the summer and fall of 1916, John was stationed near El Paso, Texas, where the National Guard was protecting the southern border.

Guardsmen were called for service again on March 20, 1917. John reported for duty on March 26, and mustered as a private on March 30. On April 1, he was promoted to private first class. The next day, President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany; war was declared on April 6. The 9th Infantry of the Massachusetts National Guard was stationed at Camp Framingham, an existing National Guard summer training ground and state armory. In August 1917, the regiment was reorganized as the 101st Infantry, part of the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th Division, or Yankee Division. John was promoted again in August, this time to corporal.

The 101st Infantry sailed for France on September 7, 1917, on the USS Pastores, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, and arriving in Saint-Nazaire on September 21, 1917. On November 3, John was made a private. The 26th Division went to the front in early February 1918, in the Chemin des Dames sector. In early April, they moved to the Toul-Boucq sector, where, on April 20, John was wounded slightly. After a few days in the Champagne-Marne defensive sector in early July, they participated in the Aisne-Marne offensive July 18 through 25. In August 1918, John was again made a private first class. From September 12 through 16, the 101st fought in the Saint Mihiel offensive.

While John was serving overseas, Patrick was a shipper for C.B. Smith and Brother of 38-40 Stilling Street in South Boston, supporting his mother and two youngest siblings; Hannah died in August 1917. On May 31, 1918, Patrick enrolled in the United Naval Reserve Force at the recruiting station in Boston. He was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service in Boston on June 4, serving as a storekeeper, second class. As a storekeeper, he was responsible for maintaining “ship or company military supply stores,” including handling “purchasing, procurement, shipping and receiving, and issuing … anything else obtained through the Naval Supply System.” A notice in the Boston Globe stated that Patrick “had been doing some overseas duty,” though this is not reflected in his service record. Another notice stated he was stationed on Commonwealth Pier.

On August 28, 1918, there was an influenza outbreak on a Naval receiving ship in Boston. From the receiving ship, the disease quickly spread to other Navy sites, sweeping through Commonwealth Pier and filling the Chelsea Naval Hospital. Almost 21,000 Navy personnel in the Boston area had caught the illness by mid-September.

On September 28, 1918, Patrick died at home, of lobar pneumonia almost certainly caused by influenza. A funeral service was held for him at his home and a high requiem mass was celebrated at Saint Margaret’s Church on Columbia Road (today’s Blessed Mother Teresa Church). He had been a member of the Dorchester Lower Mills Council, Knights of Columbus; the Edward Everett Court of Foresters; and the Saint Margaret’s Ushers’ Club.

At the time of Patrick’s death, John was in the Troyon sector. From there, in mid-October, the 26th Division moved to an area near Verdun, as part of the Meuse-Argonne offensive. On October 23, an attack was begun “on the Bois d’Haumont, the Bois des Chênes, and the Bois d’Ormont.” John was mortally wounded during the fighting on October 23-24. On November 7, he died of these wounds received in action. He was reported Wounded Severely on December 10, 1918; a month later his status was changed to Killed in Action. 

In September and November 1918, first anniversary masses were celebrated for the repose of the souls of Patrick and John. In October 1918, “a month’s mind mass for the repose of the soul” of Patrick was also held. The intersection of Dorchester Avenue, Mount Vernon Street and Roseclair Street in Dorchester was named for John and Patrick Canavan in 1920. In July 1921, their sister held a funeral for John at her home, 103 Westville Street, and a requiem service was held for John at Saint Margaret’s Church. John was also honored with a motor cortege and military funeral.

Sources

Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

1900, 1910 U.S. Federal Census; Ancestry.com

“Husband Left Home Jan 9.” Boston Globe, 27 Feb 1906: 9; Newspapers.com

 “Floating in Harbor,” Boston Globe, 1 May 1906: 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.

“101st Infantry Regiment (United States),” Wikipedia.org. Last edited 28 April 2020.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101st_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)>

“Camp Framingham,” Wikipedia.org. Last edited 14 July 2020. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Framingham>

Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, The National Archives at College Park, MD; Ancestry.com

World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com

Battle Participation of Organizations of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, Belgium and Italy 1917-1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920; Archive.org

Benwell, Harry A. History of the Yankee Division. Boston: The Cornhill Company, 1919; Archive.org

Deaths, Boston Globe, 17 August 1917: 4; Newspapers.com

“Storekeeper,” Wikipedia.org, last edited 23 January 2020, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storekeeper>

“Boston, Massachusetts,” Influenza Encyclopedia. University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine. <https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-boston.html>

Officers and Enlisted Men of the United States Navy Who Lost Their Lives During the World War, From April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920; Ancestry.com

Putnam, Eben, ed. Report of the Commission on Massachusetts’ Part in the World War: The Gold Star Record of Massachusetts, Vol II. Boston: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1929; Archive.org

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 30 September 1918; 10

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 1 Oct 1918: 9

“Canavan,” Boston Post, 28 October 1918: 12

“New England List of 249 Casualties,” Boston Globe, 10 December 1918

“Total Casualties In New England 42,” Boston Globe, 10 Jan 1919: 9

“In Memoriam,” Boston Globe, 29 September 1919; 2

“In Memoriam,” Boston Globe, 6 Nov 1919: 18

“Naming of Canavan Square,” Report of Proceedings of the City Council of Boston, 30 August 1920: 179; Books.Google.com

Deaths, Boston Globe, 18 July 1921: 10

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 18 July 1921: 12

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