Nathan Bensusan and Gershan Bensusan

Posted on January 24, 2021 by earltaylor

Nathan Bensusan and Gershan Bensusan

World War I Veterans

By Camille Arbogast

Brothers Nathan and Gershan Bensusan both served in the Quartermaster Corps during the First World War. Nathan was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, on December 10, 1890. Gershan, known as George, was born in Boston on September 11, 1896.

Their father, Moses Bensusan, known as Moss, was a cigar maker who had been born in England. Their mother, Sarah (Nickelsberg or Mickelsburg) was originally from Amsterdam, Holland. Moss and Sarah married in London in 1880. Their oldest child, Elizabeth, was born in England in 1881. According to family sources, they had two other children who were born in England, Louis in 1882 and Dinah in 1884, both of whom died at under a year old. Moss, Sarah, and Elizabeth immigrated to the United States in 1885.

After their arrival in the United States, the Bensusans initially lived in New York City, where Frances was born in 1886 and Kate in 1888. By 1890, they had moved to Saratoga Springs, where Nathan was born, as well as Rachel in 1891. Frances died in 1889 and Rachel before 1900, according to family sources. The Bensusans moved to Massachusetts by 1892, where their son, Koffman (known as John Benson), was born. He was followed by Flora (known as Florence) in 1894, George, and Rachel (known as Ruth) in 1899.

In 1892, the Bensusans lived at 53 Lamartine Street in Jamaica Plain. By 1894, they had moved a short distance to 25 Armstrong Street. At the time of George’s birth in 1896, their home was 26 Mansur Street in Roslindale. Three years later they were living at 1 Buckley Avenue in Jamaica Plain. They had moved to 343 Heath Street by 1901. That year, Sarah died of appendicitis and septicemia.

Nathan attended one year of high school, according to the 1940 census. He was possibly the Nathan Bensusan who graduated from the Jefferson School on Heath Street in 1907. George attended four years of high school, according to the 1940 census.

By 1910, the Bensusans had moved to Dorchester and were living at 59 Coleman Street. Nathan, 19, was working as a shipping clerk at a clothing store. Kate and Florence were milliners; John was a newsboy. The next year, they moved to 78 Clarkson Street and Kate married. In 1912, Moses wed Bessie (Simmons) Levi, who lived at 406 Blue Hill Avenue. It was the second marriage for both. Bessie, like Sarah, was originally from Holland. The Bensusans were living at 77Kingsdale Street in 1916. By June 1917, they had moved to 263 Talbot Avenue. Nathan was working as a commercial traveler. George was in the billing department of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston.

On December 13, 1917, Nathan enlisted in the Army at Fort Slocum in New Rochelle, New York. He initially served the Provisional General Repair Shop School Section at Camp Joseph E. Johnston in Jacksonville, Florida, the largest Quartermaster Corps training camp. On March 1, 1918, Nathan was assigned to Storekeepers Company 1, also based at Camp Joseph E. Johnston. He was transferred to Detachment #2, Quartermaster Corps, in Newport News, Virginia on March 25 and promoted to private first class on August 1. Nathan was discharged on February 25, 1919.

George also joined the Army at Fort Slocum, enlisting on May 9, 1918. He was initially assigned to the Quartermaster Corps Recruit Depot at Fort Slocum. On May 17, 1918, he too, was sent to Camp Joseph E. Johnston, where he served in Company 5, Receiving Camp. On June 7, he was transferred to Training Company #8, and then on June 30, to the Quartermaster Corps Detachment at Camp Cody in Deming, New Mexico. He was made a private first class on August 1; a corporal on August 15; a sergeant on December 1; and a sergeant first class on December 31. George was demobilized at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, and discharged on January 28, 1919.

While still in the Army, Nathan married Ida Brooks in Boston on May 19, 1918. Ida, a bookkeeper, had been born in Russia and immigrated to the United States around 1897. She lived at 15 Helen Street in Dorchester. Nathan and Ida were married by Rabbi Phineas Israeli. They had three children: Albert born in 1920, Howard in 1922, and Selma, also known as Sally, born in 1925.

Nathan was a stocks and bonds salesman. In 1929, the Boston directory listed him working for the LeBoeuf Fountain Pen Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. His license to sell stocks was revoked in June 1931, due to his involvement in the sale of fraudulent stocks of the company. He was the treasurer of Friendly Products in 1932 and 1933. In 1942, Nathan reported on his World War II draft registration that he was employed by F.L. Putnam & Co., a brokerage firm located at 77 Franklin Street in Boston.

Nathan and Ida moved to Brookline, Massachusetts in the 1920s, living at 156 Coolidge Street in 1924, 395 Harvard Street in 1926, and 19 Westbourne Terrace in 1928. In 1929, they moved to 125 Park Street in Brookline, where they lived for more than ten years. In 1930, Ida’s father, Isaac, a watchmaker with his own shop, was living with them. They also employed a live-in maid, Catherine Wallace, a 28-year-old recent immigrant from Scotland. Around 1942, they moved to 132a Coolidge Street, also in Brookline. In the early 1950s, they relocated to Quincy, Massachusetts, initially living at 31 Alrick Road. At the end of Nathan’s life, they lived at 243 Marlboro Street in Quincy.

Nathan died on his 71st birthday, December 10, 1961. A service was held for him at Solomon Chapel at 420 Harvard Street in Brookline and a memorial observance was held at his late residence. He was buried in the Roxbury Mutual Cemetery in Woburn, Massachusetts. When Ida died in 1966, she was buried beside him.

George returned to 263 Talbot Avenue after the First World War and worked as a receiving clerk at a wholesale drug company. On July 25, 1920, George married Marian Edelstein. Marian had been born in Boston and lived at 6 Lincoln Road (today Landor Road) in Dorchester. They were married by Rabbi Hyman Glaser of Shari Zidek, 18 Intervale Street. In 1922, George and Marian were living at her family’s home on Lincoln Road and he was working as a paper hanger. Their daughter, Shirley, was born in 1923, followed by Phyllis in 1925. Marian died in 1925.

In March 1927, George filed for bankruptcy, owing $1,000. That year, he married Henrietta Goldman in Boston. In 1929, they lived at 38 Park Vale Avenue in Allston. The next year they moved to 217 Warren Street in Brighton. They moved again in 1932, to 100 Kilsyth Road, where they lived for at least five years. By 1940, they had moved to 14 James Street in Brookline, George’s home for the rest of his life.

After his bankruptcy, George went to work for the Sears, Roebuck and Company department store chain. He began as a salesman in 1929 at the newly opened Boston store at 201 Brookline Avenue. By 1932, he was a division head, and by 1934, the assistant manager of the Cambridge store. He earned $3,180 in 1940. That year, he was elected vice-president of the Ten Year club, comprised of retail employees who had worked for Sears for ten years or longer. George was manager of the Sears store on Moody Street in Waltham, Massachusetts by 1945. Three years later, he was kidnapped on his way home from work one evening. He was driving through Newton, Massachusetts, “when another machine forced him to the curb. Two men jumped out of the other car, rapped on Bensusan’s windows with revolvers and ordered him to ‘open up.’” One of the men told him “‘We know who you are. We know you have the keys to the store and you know the combinationof the safe. Drive back to the store, open it up, don’t try to attract attention of any cops, and nothing will happen to you.’” Back in Waltham, “they menaced” George “with revolvers,” forcing him “to open the safe and surrender $2500 in Christmas shopping receipts.” After the heist, his kidnappers deposited him “at a lonely area near Albemarle Golf Club, in Newtonville.” George “managed to flag down a passing car and the driver took him to the police station.” The Boston Globe reported that “the kidnapping and holdup was similar in detail to at least two others in the last year.” By 1951, George had left Sears and was working at the House of Television store in Kenmore Square.

George died in Miami Dade County, Florida, on January 25, 1969. A service was held for him at Solomon Chapel and he was buried in the Sharon Memorial Park, in Sharon, Massachusetts.

Sources

Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.

Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007; Ancestry.com,

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

Family Trees; Ancestry.com

Boston Directories, various years; 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. Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1907: 57; Archive.org

Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957. Microfilm Publication, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com

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

A War-Time Record: An Illustrated Account of the War-Time Activities of The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston During the Great War 1914-1918. Privately Printed for The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston, 1922: 65; Archive.org

“Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920,” database, citing Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, MA, United States, certificate number 2608, page 201, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

“Two Stock Selling Licenses Revoked,” Boston Globe, 19 June 1931: 21; Newspapers.com

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

“Morning Death Notices,” Boston Globe, 11 December 1961: 39; Newspapers.com

 Nathan Bensusan, FindAGrave.com

“Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920,” database, citing Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, MA, United States,, certificate number 4586, page 37, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Deaths [1916–1970]. Facsimile edition. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com

“Business Troubles,” Boston Globe, 8 March 1927: 22; Newspapers.com

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

“Trio Kidnaps, Robs Waltham Store Manager,” Boston Globe, 17 December 1948: 1; Newspapers.com

“House of Television Opens New Store at Kenmore Sq.,” Boston Globe, 11 April 1951: 37; Newspapers.com

“Late Death Notices,” Boston Globe, 27 Jan 1969: 28; Newspapers.com

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

George Bensusan; FindAGrave.com

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Walter Ernest Bauer

Posted on January 24, 2021 by earltaylor

Walter Ernest Bauer

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Walter Ernest Bauer was born on July 31, 1888, at 84 Albion Street in Roxbury. His father, John Edward Bauer, was a Bostonian of German ancestry. His mother, Emily (Trochsler), immigrated to the United States from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France in the 1860s. John and Emily were married in Boston in March 1882. They had two other children: Emily Louise born in 1884 and Theodore Edward in 1886.

At the time of Walter’s birth, his father was a bartender. In the 1890s, John was a clerk. He worked in a billiards room at 32 Boylston Street in 1900. By 1905, he was a manager at 110A Sudbury Street, a position he held into 1909. After a 13-week period of unemployment, in 1910 he was employed again, this time as a hotel waiter, which was his career for the rest of his life.

By 1900, the family had moved to Dorchester and resided at 9 Corona Street. Walter attended the Christopher Gibson School, graduating in 1904. In 1907, he graduated from the Mechanic Arts High School in Back Bay. By 1910, Walter and his family were living at 15 Stratton Street and he was a typewriter mechanic. The next year, he was working as a chauffeur. On his World War I draft registration in June 1917, he reported he was a self-employed chauffeur mechanic, claiming exemption from the draft due to physical disability.

On February 28, 1918, Walter enrolled in the United States Naval Reserve Forces, serving as an Aviation Machinists Mate, First Class. He was placed on inactive service on January 28, 1919. In 1920, he was employed as a riveter in a shipyard. He was discharged from the Navy on September 30, 1921.

While Walter was in the Navy, his brother Edward died. Edward had married in 1911 and moved to Winthrop, working as a manager at a boot and shoe company. In late September 1918, he caught influenza. It was the height of the influenza epidemic in Massachusetts; the day after Edward fell ill, the governor issued a proclamation, advocating that schools and public gathering places be closed in an attempt to halt the spread of the disease. After a 9-day illness, Edward died of influenza-related pneumonia, one of thousands to die of the illness in the Commonwealth. In Boston alone there were 4,794 casualties in 1918.

In 1920, Walter, his parents, and his sister Emily, who was a stenographer and bookkeeper, lived at 27 Bowdoin Street. His father died suddenly in 1921. In 1930, Walter, his mother, and sister were living at 50 Bowdoin Street, which they rented for $50 a month. By this time, Walter was a driver and mechanic in the post office motor vehicle service, working out of a building on A Street in South Boston. His mother died in 1937. In 1940, Walter and his sister were still living at 50 Bowdoin Street. Walter was making $2,000 a year working for the post office. Emily, now an office manager, also earned $2,000 a year. They both reported on the 1940 census that they also had income from other sources. In January 1949, Walter retired from the post office.

By 1960, Walter and Emily lived at 174A Brush Hill Road in Milton, their home for the rest of their lives.  Emily died in May 1960. Walter died in Milton on September 10, 1962, and was buried beside his family members in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain. He was a member of the William L. Harris Post 196 of the American Legion.

Sources

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

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

Annual Report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1904. Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1904: 191; Archive.org

“210 Receive Diplomas,” Boston Globe, 22 June 1907: 11; Newspapers.com

“Child Struck Down by Auto,” Boston Globe, 17 August 1911: 13; Newspapers.com

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

U.S. Veteran Master Index, NARA microfilm publication, St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985; FamilySearch.org

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

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

“Nine Retirements Announced Here in Postal Service,” Boston Globe, 30 Jan 1949: 20; Newspapers.com

Morning Death Notices, Boston Globe, 5 May 1960: 20; Newspapers.com

Death Notices, Boston Globe, 11 Sept 1962: 28; Newspapers.com

“Walter Ernest Bauer,” FindAGrave.com

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Richard Balukjian

Posted on January 24, 2021 by earltaylor

Richard Balukjian

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Richard Balukjian, known as Dick, was born to Hagop and Anna (Panosian) Balukjian in Amasia, Shirak, Armenia, on February 25, 1893. In 1910, Dick immigrated to the United States, sailing from Patras, Greece, on the White Star Line’s RMS Oceanic on August 9. Sixteen days later he arrived in New York, then immediately made his way to Boston. He may have had family in the area; his service record has a note “Acoby (Aunt),” perhaps referring to his local next of kin. By June 1917, Dick was living in Dorchester at 80 Shepton Street, working as a shoe lining cutter at the George E. Keith Shoe Company factory on A Street in South Boston. That July, Dick declared his intention to become an American citizen.

On July 20, 1918, Dick was inducted into the Army. He was one of 12,500 men drafted in Massachusetts that month. Sent to Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, he was assigned to the 151st Depot Brigade for training. On September 18, he was transferred to the Medical Detachment of the 73rd Infantry, 12th Division, serving as a private. On October 29, he became an American citizen. He was discharged on January 29, 1919, at Camp Devens.

In 1920, Dick lived in a lodging house at 36 Dwight Street in the South End. He had returned to his prior occupation of shoemaker. By the late 1920s, he was living about a block away at 26 Milford Street. He had changed careers as well, now driving for Tremont Taxi. By 1938, he had moved about a mile to 151 Worcester Street where he lived through at least 1946. He reported on his World War II draft registration in 1942 that he worked for himself, driving a taxi cab, working out of the garage at 112 Worcester Street. Dick retired in 1950. By 1953, he was living at 142 West Concord Street.

Dick married Lillian May (Braley) Goss on December 23, 1953, in Norfolk, Virginia. Lillian was born in Danbury, New Hampshire. She was a widow with five children, her first husband having died in 1945. Lillian lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She and Dick settled there after their marriage, living at 23 Myrtle Avenue.

The Balukjians ran a business in Alton Bay, New Hampshire, operating “Dick’s Cottages,” sometimes also called “Dick’s Housekeeping Cottages,” or “Dick’s Distinctive Cottages,” on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee near Pumpkin Point. Built in 1953, each of the six 32×24 foot cottages featured a flush toilet, shower, kitchenette, bedroom-living room, and screened porch. The lodgings could be rented overnight or by the week and housekeeping was provided. Across the highway from the cottages, Dick and Lillian had a two-bedroom summer residence with a “commanding view” of the lake.

In early 1956, Dick was diagnosed with lung cancer in his right lung and died later that year at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire, on July 26, 1956. A funeral was held for him at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth. Dick was buried in Franklin Cemetery, in Franklin, New Hampshire. He had been a member of the Armenian Church of Boston and the Independent Taxi Operators Association.

Sources

Virginia, Marriages, 1936-2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, VA; Ancestry.com

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

“Another Large Lot of Enthusiastic Young Men Start for Camp Devens for Training,” Boston Globe, 22 July 1918: 7; Newspapers.com

1920 U.S. Federal Census; Ancestry.com

Boston 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

“Auction Sales” [advertisement], Boston Globe, 8 September 1963: 146; Newspapers.com

“Summer Cottages and Houses” [advertisement]; Boston Globe, 14 June 1953: 106; Newspapers.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

“New Hampshire Death Certificates, 1938-1959,” citing Manchester, Hillsborough, NH, New Hampshire Division of Vital Records, Concord, NH; FamilySearch.org

“Richard Balukjian,” Portsmouth Herald, 27 July 1956: 3; Newspapers.com

“Funeral Notices,” Portsmouth Herald, 27 July 1956: 3; Newspapers.com

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Thomas Bagley

Posted on January 24, 2021 by earltaylor

Thomas Bagley

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Thomas Bagley was born in County Mayo, Ireland, most likely in either Claremorris or Ballyhaunis, to Denis and Margaret (Moran) Bagley. His birthdate was alternately reported as April 24, 1889, April 10, 1891, December 5, 1891, or September 11 or 15, 1892. He had at least one sibling, Louise Julia, who immigrated to Boston around 1900 and worked as a waitress.

In March 1909, Louise and Thomas Bagley of Claremorris travelled from Queenstown, Ireland, to New York City on the Cunard Line’s RMS Campania. They were both headed for Boston, Thomas to the home of Rose Bagley at 55 Brookline Avenue, and Louise to Molly Bagley at 617 Freemount Street. Thomas was entering the United States for the first time, while Louise was returning, having entered previously.

In 1910, Thomas was living at 131 Park Row in New York City, working as a bartender. On October 7, he filed a Declaration of Intention to become a United States citizen. Two days later, he enlisted in the Army at Fort Slocum on Long Island in New Rochelle, New York, joining for three years. He was assigned to Company A of the 14th Infantry. He was discharged on October 8, 1913, at Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington. His enlistment record noted he was “retained.”

When Thomas registered for the draft in 1917, he reported that he had previously served as a private in the United States infantry for three and three-quarters years before being dishonorably discharged. It is possible Thomas re-enlisted in 1913 and deserted shortly thereafter; a Thomas Bagley, private, of Company F of the 8th (or 18th) Infantry, was tried for desertion in 1914 and sentenced to 18 months in military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.

In June 1917, Thomas was living and working in Ayer, Massachusetts, a resident of the Globe Hotel and a laborer for the Wilson and English Construction Company. He enlisted in the Army on July 27, 1917, at Fort Syracuse, located at the New York State Fairgrounds four miles outside of Syracuse, New York. When he enlisted, he reported Louise’s home at 49 Aspinwall Road in Dorchester as his residence, and named her as his next-of-kin. Thomas was assigned to Company F of the 49th Infantry, which had been organized in Syracuse in May 1917. On September 27, Thomas was made a corporal; on April 23, 1918, he was promoted to sergeant. He was transferred to Company H of the 49th Infantry on May 6. Four days later he was made a private. He was again promoted to corporal on June 18.

On July 26, 1918, Thomas sailed from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the S.S. Taormina, arriving in Brest, France, on August 7. Three days later, Thomas was again made a private. On September 12, he was transferred to Company D of the 110th Infantry, 55th Infantry Brigade, 28th Division, among the 416 replacements joining the 110th in mid-September. September 20 through 25, the 110st was in the Neuvilly sector. They participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive September 26 through October 9. The following month, they served in the Thiaucourt sector, where they remained until the Armistice on November 11, 1918.  

After the cessation of hostilities, the 110th moved to Briey, where, as part of the Army of Occupation, they created inventories of and guarded “abandoned supplies, ammunition dumps, pioneer parks, camps, etc. of the German army in its operation on the Verdun front.”  In January 1919, the regiment moved to the Colombey-Les-Belle area, then in March to Le Mans, and finally in mid-April to Saint Nazaire. On April 29, 1919, Thomas sailed from Saint Nazaire on the USS Edgar F. Luckenbach. Arriving in Philadelphia on May 11, 1919, he was sent to Camp Dix near Trenton, New Jersey, for demobilization. He was discharged on May 23, 1919.

On July 21, 1919, Thomas re-enlisted in the Army. He remained in the military until March 15, 1935. At one time he was stationed in Marfa, Texas. He may be the Thomas Bagley who in 1930 was stationed at Fort Crook in Bellevue, Nebraska. In 1942, he was living in Los Angeles and reported on his World War II draft registration that he was unemployed. Not much is known about his life after his service during World War I.

Thomas died in Los Angeles on October 11, 1961. A Requiem Mass was celebrated for him at Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church in Long Beach, California. He was buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.

Sources

Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.

“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

Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, National Archives, Washington, D.C; Ancestry.com

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


Naturalization Records. National Archives at New York City, New York, New York; “Index to Petitions for Naturalizations Filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts in New York City, 1792-1906,” Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC; Ancestry.com

Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780s-1917, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com

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

“Fort News,” Leavenworth Post (Leavenworth, KS), 11 Sept 1914: 5; Newspapers.com

Returns from U.S. Military Posts, 1800-1916; (National Archives Microfilm Publication), Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com

Goldenberg, Richard. “Central New York mobilized troops at NYS Fairgrounds in WWI,” National Guard. 22 May 2018; nationalguard.mil

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

History of the 110th Infantry, (10th PA) of the 28th Division, USA, 1917-1919. PA: Association of the 110th Infantry, 1920; Archive.org

1930 U.S. Federal Census; Ancestry.com

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

State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics; Ancestry.com

“Death Notices,” Independent (Long Beach, CA) 14 October 1961: 19; Newspapers.com

National Cemetery Administration. Nationwide Gravesite Locator; Ancestry.com

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Marion Frances Backer

Posted on January 24, 2021 by earltaylor

Marion Frances Backer

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Marion Frances Backer was born on July 17, 1898, at 79 Salem Street in Boston’s North End. Her parents, Rebecca (Levin), known as Lena, and Gabriel Backer, had immigrated from Russia. Gabriel and Lena had five other children, the oldest three of whom were also born in Russia: Harry born in 1888; Grace in 1890; Ida in 1891; Jennie, known as Jeanette, in 1899; and Rose, known as Rosamond, in 1904. Gabriel came to the United States first, arriving in New York in 1893. Lena and their older children joined him in the late 1890s.

Gabriel was a tailor. In the early 20th century he was a co-owner of a men’s pants business, the Central Pants Manufacturing Company of 20 North Washington Street, Boston. This company went into bankruptcy in 1903. Later, he was a partner in Backer and Mann. In 1916, he went into business with his son, forming the clothing company Backer and Son. After the First World War, he was the president of the Central Clothing Company.

In 1900, the Backers lived at 15 Spring Street in Boston’s West End(located north of Massachusetts General Hospital, Spring Street and the surrounding neighborhood was replaced by a different streetscape during the West End urban renewal project.) In 1902, they were back in the North End at 37 North Margin Street. They moved to Cambridge around 1906, living first at 266 Western Avenue, then moving to 270 Western Avenue in 1910. Marion graduated from Cambridge’s Webster School in February 1912. In August 1913, the Cambridge Chronicle reported Marion played shortstop with the Cambridge Mill Pond girls’ baseball team. Around this time the family moved to Dorchester; Gabriel purchased 66-68 Fowler Street in 1912, appearing in the Boston directory at the address in 1913.

On August 28, 1918, Marion enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force at the Navy recruiting station in Boston. Marion served 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. Marion was probably a stenographer, her occupation after the war.

She was assigned to duty on a receiving ship in Boston from September 25, 1918, until November 11, 1918. Marion probably lived at home during her service, as the Navy did not have female barracks and women had to make their own living arrangements. Placed on inactive duty on July 31, 1919, Marion was honorably discharged on December 31, 1919. Many female Yeomen were appointed to Civil Service jobs in their previous workplaces and this seems to have been the case for Marion, as she was still a stenographer with the Navy in 1920. She was possibly the Marion F. Backer who appeared in the Washington, D.C. directory in 1921, working as a stenographer.

In September 1924, Marion married Harry Nathan Stone in his hometown of Malden, Massachusetts. In the early 1920s, Harry had served in Battery A of the 1st Field Artillery. Their son, Earl Ross Stone, was born in Dorchester on March 21, 1925. It appears Marion and Harry’s relationship ended by 1930. That year, the census recorded Marion and Earl living at 41 Gleason Street, Dorchester, with her parents and sister Jeannette. It is possible that Marion’s husband was the Harry Nathan Stone of Evans Street, Dorchester, who in September 1930 was arrested for robbing an acquaintance. Harry died in 1958. For the rest of her life, Marion sometimes used her maiden name, and at others her married name.

In the early 1930s, Marion worked as a government stenographer at 8 Court Square in Boston. Around 1933, her parents moved to 46 Bicknell Street, while Marion and Earl remained at 41 Gleason Street. Marion was a clerk in the US Post Office building in Boston in the mid-1930s.After her father’s death in 1934, Marion lived at 42 Gleason Street for a year, then at 43 Gleason, before moving to Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1937. There she made her home at 353 Russett Road in South Brookline. In 1940, she began working for the U.S. Naturalization Service as an examiner. Her son, Earl, reported on his 1942 World War II draft registration that he and Marion were living at the Hotel Canterbury, 14 Charlesgate West, in the Fenway. Earl served in the Navy from 1943 through 1946. By 1956, Marion lived at 1470 Beacon Street in Brookline. She lived in Brookline for the rest of her life.

Marion appears to have enjoyed travel. At the end of 1935, she travelled to Hamilton, Bermuda on the Furness Bermuda Line’s Monarch of Bermuda. At the same time the next year, she took a cruise on the United Fruit Company’s ship, Veragua. In 1959, she visited Paris, traveling by plane.

Marion died in Boston on November 29, 1984. She was buried in Beth El Cemetery in West Roxbury, where a graveside funeral service was held for her. 

Sources

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

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

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

Boston, Cambridge, Washington DC directories, various years; Ancestry.com

“Copartnership Notices,” Boston Post, 15 Feb 1902: 11; Newspapers.com

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

“Grammar Graduated,” Boston Globe, 24 June 1912: 6; Newspapers.com

“Playgrounds Close Successful Season,” Cambridge Chronicle, 30 August 1913: 4; Cambridge Public Library

Real Estate Transactions, Boston Globe, 9 November 1912: 13; Newspapers.com

“Wants City Enjoined in Dorchester,” Boston Globe, 28 August 1934: 19; 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.

“World War I era Yeomen (F),” Naval History and Heritage Command,

<https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/people—special-topics/women-in-the-navy/world-war-i-era-yeomen–f–.htm>l

Patch, Nathaniel. “The Story of the Female Yeomen during the First World War,” Prologue Magazine, Fall 2006, Vol. 38, No. 3, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration,

<https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/yeoman-f.html>

“Local Lines,” Boston Globe, 21 Sept 1924: 55; Newspapers.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

Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Marriages, 1916–1970, Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Ma; Ancestry.com.

“Robbed on Ride, Says Salesman,” Boston Globe, 23 October 1930: 18; Newspapers.com

“Harry N. Stone Bound Over On Robbery Charge,” Boston Globe, 24 October 1930: 29

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

Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957. of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com

Selected Passenger and Crew Lists and Manifests. The National Archives at Washington, D.C., Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 – 2004; Ancestry.com

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

Deaths, Boston Globe, 1 December 1984: 17; Newspapers.com

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Clarence Fulton Ashe

Posted on January 24, 2021 by earltaylor

Clarence Fulton Ashe

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Clarence Fulton Ashe was born on July 27, 1890, in Saint John, New Brunswick, to Annibel Meribah (Steeves), known as Annie, and John Wilkinson Ashe. John and Annie married in New Brunswick in May 1888. They also had a younger child, Ella Pearl, known as Pearl, born in Massachusetts in 1895.

The 1890 Canadian census recorded a four-month-old Clarence and his mother living with her parents in Hammond, New Brunswick. The next year, Clarence immigrated to the United States, sailing from Saint John on the New Brunswick and arriving in Boston on May 1, 1891. Initially, the Ashes lived at the rear of 15 Temple Street in Lower Mills. By 1895, they had moved to River Street, where they resided first at 116 and then at 113 ½. In the 1890s, John was a carpenter. Around 1900, he began working as a chocolate maker at a chocolate factory, (probably Walter Baker Chocolate), his job for the rest of his career. In 1900, the Ashes were living at 58 Idaho Street.

In 1905, Clarence graduated from the Gilbert Stuart School on Richmond Street in Lower Mills. According to the 1940 census, Clarence attended school through the 8th grade, though there is a note on his World War I draft registration that he attended two years of high school in Boston. For nine years Clarence was a member of a church Boys’ Brigade, a club which combined religious and social activities with military drill. 

By 1910, the Ashes had moved to 1198 Adams Street. Clarence was working, in 1910 employed as an entry clerk at a wholesale dry goods establishment; as a chocolate maker in 1912; and as a telephone operator by 1915. On December 25, 1915, his sister Pearl, a stenographer, married. She and her husband lived with Clarence and his parents at 1198 Adams Street. Pearl died in July 1916. In February 1917, Clarence declared his intention to become an American citizen. That June he had a new job as a traveling salesman for the General Chemical Company of 25 Broad Street, New York City.

On November 5, 1917, at the Staff Reserve Corps headquarters at 775 Boylston Street in Boston, Clarence enlisted in the Enlisted Reserve Corps, Aviation Section, Signal Corps. Days after Clarence enlisted, his mother died. Clarence was called to active duty on January 17, 1918. He studied at the U.S. Army School of Military Aeronautics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. At the ground school, students received “preliminary training in military aeronautics” while also developing their “soldierly qualities.” At the end of their studies, students had to prove proficiency in subjects including: military studies, gunnery, engines, observation, signaling and radio, as well as in such “aids to flight” as map reading and meteorology. After graduating from the school, students were recommended “for transfer to flying schools or flying squadrons.” Clarence was transferred to a Cadet Squad. On September 3, 1918, he accepted a commission as a 2nd lieutenant, stationed at Taylor Field, near Montgomery, Alabama. He was discharged on December 31, 1918.

On July 23, 1919, Clarence married Margaree Anna Carmichael. Born in Roxbury, Margaree was a title examiner. Clarence and Margaree were married by Reverend David Nicholson. The couple had two children: Charles Fulton born in 1922 and Anna Pearl born in 1924.

Clarence and Margaree initially lived with her family at 46 Vine Street in Roxbury. In 1920, Clarence was a collector for the soap manufacturer Dennison, S.A. Co. of 69 Canal Street in Boston. By 1922, Clarence and Margaree had moved a few blocks to 112 Warren Street. Around 1925, Clarence moved to Weymouth; according to his United States Veterans Administration Master Index, he lived at 6 Pine Circle in South Weymouth. By 1929, he was back in Dorchester, living in his father’s home at 12 Myrtlebank Avenue. It is likely that by this time Clarence and Margaree had divorced; Clarence was reported as divorced on the 1930 census. That year, Clarence and his son Charles were lodgers at 9 Helena Road, the home of Thomas and Bertha Adair. Clarence was a credit manager at a rubber tire company. He remained at 9 Helena until 1936, when he moved to 24 Saranac Street. Clarence then returned to 12 Myrtlebank Avenue, living with his father and stepmother. In the late 1930s, Clarence was a salesman.

By 1941, Clarence had married for a second time, wedding Marion G. (Wainwright) Foster. Marion had been born in Dorchester. Her father was the owner of the Wainwright Garage on Minot Street. She, too, had been married before. Clarence and Marion lived at 1968 Dorchester Avenue. On his Second World War draft registration Clarence reported he worked for the Walworth Manufacturing Company. 1940s Boston directories listed him as a store manager.

Clarence died suddenly on October 23, 1945. According to family sources he died of heart failure. A requiem mass was held for him at Saint Gregory’s church in Lower Mills. He had been a commander of the Old Dorchester Post No 65, American Legion.

Sources

Declaration, National Archives at Boston: Waltham, MA; Ancestry.com

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

1891 Census, Library and Archives Canada; bac-lac.gc.ca

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

Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com

37th Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Schools of the City of Boston, March 1905. Boston: Municipal Printing Office: 184; 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.

“Adds 10 Pounds to His Weight,” Boston Globe, 6 November 1917: 8; Newspapers.com

Benson, Charles Beverley. History of the United States Army School of Military Aeronautics at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., May 1917 to December 1918. The School, 1918; Archive.org

“Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920,” database, FamilySearch.org

Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733–1990. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; Archive.org

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

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

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 11 September 1937: 8; 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, 24 October 1945: 18

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Nicola Albascente

Posted on January 24, 2021 by earltaylor

Nicola Albascente

World War I Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

Nicola Albascente, also known as Nick or Nicholas, was born in Manhattan, New York, to Maria (Bella) and Pietro Albascente. On official documents, he reported his birthdate as August 24, 1893, though his birth record stated he was born on August 26. He had at least two siblings: Catherine born in 1879, and John in 1881. His older siblings were born in Armento, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy, and immigrated to the United States in 1885. Members of the family used differing spellings of their last name, including Albacento and Albascenti.

Not much is known about Nick’s childhood. He attended school through the first grade, according to the 1940 census. In 1911, a Nicolo Albascente sailed on the White Star Line’s S.S. Romanic, embarking at Naples, Italy, and arriving in Boston on November 22. By the early 1900s, Nick’s brother and sister were living in Boston’s South End. John lived at 29 Seneca Street; Catherine, her husband, Joseph Angerami, and their children lived nearby on Oswego Street. (Today the neighborhood is the location of the Ink Block development.) In 1912, Catherine died of valvular heart disease, which she had suffered from for four years.

In June 1917, Nick was living at 5 Oneida Street with Catherine’s daughter Antonetta, known as Nellie, and her husband Joseph Ierardi. Nick was a harness maker with James Forgie, 17 Merchants Row, Boston. When he was inducted into the Army a little over a year later, on September 6, 1918, Nick gave his address as 15-A Norwell Street, Dorchester, and named Joseph Ierardi as his next of kin.

Nick initially served as private in the 105th Company, 26th Battalion, at Camp Syracuse in New York. On October 21, he was transferred to the Salvage Company, Quartermaster Corps, at Camp Devens, in Ayer, Massachusetts. He remained at Camp Devens for the remainder of his service. According to his entry in the Veterans Administration Master Index, Nick served as a cook in the 2nd Detachment Demobilization Group. He was discharged on July 12, 1919.

Nick returned to the South End and in 1920 was living with the Ierardis at 85 Seneca Street. He worked as a boot black at a street stand. By 1922, Nick and the Ierardis had moved a short distance to an apartment on the third floor of 17 Oswego Street, where Nick ran a variety store in the basement of the building. Two years later he had a new job, employed as a “chief engineer” in the Publicity Building at 44 Bromfield Street in Boston. He remained at this occupation for the next 15 years. On the 1930 census his profession was described as “janitor, apartment.” Nick moved a few blocks to 11 Waltham Street in 1925. He relocated to Dorchester in 1927, residing at 257 Washington Street, where he lived with another branch of the Ierardi family. He moved to 267 Washington Street in 1933.

In the early 1940s, Nick ran a grocery at 251 Washington Street and lived at number 255 with his relatives, the Morottos. In 1942, he was working at the Watertown Arsenal where he was employed through 1945. In the 1950s, he was listed in the Boston directory as a laborer with the U.S. Public Building Service and General Services Administration. He had retired by the mid-1960s. In the 1970s, he moved to Dedham, Massachusetts.

Nick died on April 29, 1977. His funeral was held at Saint Mary of the Assumption Church in Dedham and he was buried in Saint Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury.

Sources

“New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909,” database, citing Manhattan, New York Municipal Archives, New York; Family Search.org

“Morning Death Notices,” Boston Globe, 14 February 1967: 32; Newspapers.com

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

Book Indexes to Boston Passenger Lists, 1899-1940. Microfilm, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com

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

Veterans Administration Master Index, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1773 – 2007. National Archives at St. Louis, MI; Ancestry.com

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

“Street Gas Perils Score in Apartment,” Boston Globe, 25 December 1922: 4

Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com

United States 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, 30 April 1977: 25; Ancestry.com

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Harry Joseph Akins and Charles Jeremiah Akins

Posted on January 24, 2021 by earltaylor

Harry Joseph Akins and Charles Jeremiah Akins

World War I  Veterans

By Camille Arbogast

During the First World War, brothers Harry Joseph and Charles Jeremiah Akins both served overseas as part of the 26th Division. They were born in Waterbury, Connecticut, to John and Mary (Sullivan) Akins; Harry on April 26, 1895, and Charles on September 26, 1896. Their siblings included Francis Xavier born in 1900, Helen in 1910, Benedict Gregory in 1914, and Margaret Mary in 1919, as well as four siblings who died before 1910.

The Akins were living in Jersey City, New Jersey, by 1910. John, a New Jersey native, worked as a japaner at a button works. Harry, while still attending school, was an errand boy at a grocery store. Around 1913, the family moved to Dorchester, where they lived at 80 Wrentham Street in the Ashmont neighborhood. The 1916 Boston directory listed John as a button maker and Harry as a steamfitter.

During the Mexican Expedition of 1916, Harry and Charles enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard. Harry joined up at the guard’s summer training ground in Framingham, Massachusetts, on June 27. He served with Troop D, 1st Separate Squad Cavalry, also known as the Roxbury Horse Guards. Charles had some difficulty initially being accepted for service. An article in the Boston Globe reported, “since the Militia was first mobilized at the Framingham camp two weeks ago the boy has persistently sought to have his name set down on the rolls of the regiment. He accompanied the [Massachusetts] 9th [Regiment] to its camp and stayed there patiently, petitioning the authorities daily to be taken in.” On July4, he visited “the recruiting station in the 9th Regiment Armory on East Newton st,” where he put “forth his need for a pair of shoes and his desire to shoot Mexicans as his reasons for desiring to enlist. Akins … bore prima facie evidence that he was sadly in need of a new outfit. In the blank on the enrollment petition reserved for ‘occupation’ Akins wrote ‘unemployed.’ The bellicose enthusiasm and physical strength of the lad counted much in his favor, however, and if he passes the doctor’s requirements he will be sent to Framingham Wednesday morning.” According to his service record, Charles entered the Massachusetts National Guard on July 8. It seems he added a year to his age in order to enlist, as his military records use a birth year of 1895. Both Troop D and the 9th Massachusetts served along the Mexican border.

Guardsmen were called for service again on March 20, 1917, shortly before President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. Charles reported for duty on March 25, 1917, and mustered as a private in Company C of the 9th Regiment of the Massachusetts National Guard on April 4, 1917. War was declared two days later. Harry reported for duty on July 25, 1917, and on July 31 mustered as a private in Troop D, 1st Squad Cavalry, Massachusetts National Guard. According to an article in the Boston Globe, “When the call came to go to France, Harry told his mother he was going, saying if he did not get into action at once he would never wear the uniform again.” In August 1917, the Massachusetts National Guard units were reorganized; the 9th Massachusetts became the 101st Infantry, and Troop D of the 1st Squad Cavalry became Company D of the 102nd Machine Gun Battalion. Both units were part of the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th Division, or Yankee Division.

On September 7, 1917, Charles sailed for France with Company C on the USAT Tenadores, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey. Harry sailed from Hoboken on the USACT Antilles on September 22. After further training at Neufchateau, France, the 26th Division went to the front in early February 1918, in the Chemin des Dames defensive sector. In early April, they moved to the Toul-Boucq defensive sector.

On April 20, Harry was at Seicheprey, on the Saint Mihiel salient, when the Germans attacked. According to The History of the Yankee Division, they were “German ‘Sturntruppen,’ or Hindenberg’s Traveling Circus … These were a body of picked shock troops, who traveled from place to place, along the German line and delivered raids at regular intervals. After a heavy bombardment they came over, about 400 in number, with about 2,500 Germans following.” General Clarence Ransom Edwards described the attack, “The Germans swept down into the middle of the town. They overran our machine guns … Three of our machine-gun crews were found sitting on their machines with their heads down. Only one man got away alive.” Harry was killed in action that day.

Mary Akins shared some of her feelings about her son’s death when, in the spring of 1919, a parade was held in Boston to honor the 26th Division. There was discussion of including caskets in the parade, and in March 1919 Mary wrote to voice her objection. “Every man and woman, boy or girl, that has loved ones sleeping in France will miss them from the parade and our hearts are broken going out to see this parade and we don’t want to see those coffins. When the coffins come over with the dead heroes, we then will watch and march to their last burying place in the United States … I have my dearly beloved boy over there, but his spirit will be with us on the day of the big parade. I watched him march away from Framingham that beautiful evening, Sept 21, 1917, never to return again, and I think my heart went with him as he told me, ‘Mother, don’t cry now.’ I told him I wouldn’t and didn’t, for his sake. I have one real boy with Co C, 101st Infantry— God bless him! and send him and all our boys safe home to their own home town. A proud mother but with a heart wound that will never heal.”

On March 30, 1922, Harry’s body was returned to the United States on the USAT Cambrai. His remains were initially delivered to his parents, who then lived at 18 Shepard Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On April 15, his body was moved to the Council Chamber in Cambridge City Hall where, along with the bodies of two other Cambridge soldiers, it lay in state with an honor guard provided by the Cambridge Post of the American Legion. The next day, Harry’s body was carried to Saint Peter’s Catholic Church in Cambridge, where a service was held in his honor. The caskets of the three soldiers were then “borne on gun caissons” and escorted by a cavalry troop and men from the Cambridge and Old Dorchester posts of the American Legion to the soldier’s lot in the Cambridge Cemetery for burial. As his parents had moved to Cambridge since his death, Harry was honored in that city, but Dorchester also considered him a local hero, and it was noted Harry “is the first ‘gold star’ man of St Mark’s Parish.” A service was held for him at Saint Mark’s on April 16, as well.

Charles remained with the 101st Infantry through the end of the war. On July 10, 1918, the 101st entered the Pas Fini defensive sector at Chateau Thierry. They were part of the Champagne Marne defensive July 15 through 18, then the Aisne-Marne offensive July 18 through 25. September 12 through 16, the 101st fought in the Saint Mihiel offensive. During that time, Charles was made a mechanic. They were stationed in the Troyon defensive sector September 17 through October 8, and participated in the Meuse Argonne offensive October 18 until the Armistice on November 11. On December 1, 1918, Charles was again made a private.

Charles did not participate in the spring 1919 parade in Boston for the 26th Division. Though he appeared on the transport list of USS America along with the rest of Company C, 101st Infantry, he did not sail with them on March 28, 1919. His name was scratched out on the passenger list; he had been “transferred to Belgian Camp, Le Mans.” On May 24, 1919, Charles was transferred to Company M, 321st Infantry. He returned to the United States in June 1919, sailing from Saint Nazaire, France, on the USS Manchuria. He was demobilized at Camp Devens and discharged on June 27, 1919.

On August 31, 1919, at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Cambridge, Charles married Marie Elizabeth Schindler, a waitress from Roslindale. Charles and Marie moved in with his family at 18 Shepard Street in Cambridge and he worked as a pipefitter. In the mid-1920s, he lived at 65 Hammond Street in Cambridge. He may have been the Charles J. Akins, sprinkler fitter, living at 140 Grove Street in West Roxbury in 1929. By 1940, he had moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he continued to work as a pipefitter. For a time in 1942, his brother Francis lived with him at 307 East Hamburg Street in Baltimore, where Charles was a boarder. That year, Charles reported on his World War II draft registration that he worked at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in the Curtis Bay area of Baltimore. He later married Gertrude Mae (Moore) Johnson of Baltimore, who had two children from previous marriages. At the end of his life he lived in Arbutus, Maryland, outside of Baltimore. Charles died on October 25, 1978. He was buried in Meadowridge Memorial Park Cemetery in Elkridge, Maryland. He had been a member of Steamfitters Local Union Number 430 and the Morrell Park Post 137, American Legion.

Sources

Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.

Putnam, Eben, ed. The Gold Star Record of Massachusetts. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1929: 454; Archive.org

“Cambridge,” Boston Globe 1 April 1922: 4; Newspaper.com

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

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

“Six New England Men Give Up Lives,” Boston Globe, 27 April 1918:2; Newspapers.com

Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com

“Persistence Wins Chance,” Boston Globe, 4 July 1916: 8; Newspapers.com

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

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

“26th Division to March 5 1/2 Miles,” Boston Globe, 28 March 1919: 10; Newspapers.com

“Bay State Heroes Back to Homeland,” Boston Globe, 30 March 1922: 13; Newspapers.com

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 14 April 1922: 26; Newspapers.com

“Honors for Three Cambridge Vets,” Boston Globe, 17 April 1922: 9; Newspapers.com

“Two Heroes to be Buried at Cambridge,” Boston Globe, 14 April 1922: 2; Newspapers.com

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 17 April 1922: 4; Newspapers.com

“Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920,” database, citing Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, MA, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.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

“Death Notices,” Baltimore Sun, 28 October 1978:23; Newspapers.com

“Charles J. Akins,” BillionGraves.com

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William Frederick Akerman

Posted on January 23, 2021 by earltaylor

William Frederick Akerman

World War I  Veteran

By Camille Arbogast

William Frederick Akerman, sometimes known as Fred, was born on May 26, 1888, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Isabella (Watkins) and Joseph W. Akerman. Joseph and Isabella had married in Portsmouth in 1868. They had four additional children: Joseph born in 1872, Grace in 1875, Clara in 1880, and Lucy in 1884. The Akermans owned a property along Spinney Road between Middle Road and Islington Street, on the outskirts of Portsmouth.

Joseph, a farmer, was 34 years older than Isabella and was 75 when William was born. Joseph died of heart failure in 1890. In 1892, Isabella remarried; her second husband, William Mitchell, was a Canadian, originally from Bridgeton, Nova Scotia. Isabella and William had a son, George, born in 1892. William attended school through the eighth grade, according to the 1940 census. In 1907, he was employed as a clerk. He was also a member of Portsmouth’s Franklin Pierce Veteran Firemen’s Association, a fire brigade and social organization.

On May 25, 1907, William married Vivian J. Grover in Portsmouth. Vivian was the daughter of a paperhanger. On their wedding day, they were celebrated by the fireman’s association. According to the Portsmouth Herald, 50 of the organization’s members, “headed by the Eagle drum corps and plenty of red fire” arrived at William’s home, where they engaged in “songs, recitations, and different varieties of amusement.” In 1908, William and Vivian lived at 22 Maplewood Avenue in Portsmouth; by 1910, they had moved to 140 Maplewood Avenue.

William and Vivian were divorced on December 20, 1911. Vivian sought the divorce on the grounds of “extreme cruelty.” Vivian married again in April 1912; her second marriage ended in divorce in 1928, again due to “extreme cruelty,” though she and her second husband appear to have later reconciled and were living together in 1940.

In 1912, William moved to Milton, Massachusetts, where he lived at 40 Maple Street and worked as a clerk at 1157 Washington Street in Dorchester. From July 6, 1912, until January 5, 1915, William served as a fireman 1st class in the U. S. Navy. By 1917, he had returned to 40 Maple Street in Milton. He was a packer at the Mason Regulator Company, which made balanced valves, steam traps, and speed and pressure regulators. William worked for the company for the rest of his career. On his First World War draft registration, in June 1917, he claimed he was “doing government work;” a Navy photograph from this era shows “testing apparatus and material for Navy Department” in the assembly room at the Mason Regulator Company. By early 1918, William had moved to 5 Taylor Terrace in Mattapan.

On February 15, 1918, William enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force at the Boston Navy Yard as an engineman 2nd class.  Before he was called to service, on May 31, 1918, he wed for a second time, marrying Ruth Wilhelmina Gustafson at the Salem Lutheran Church in Quincy, Massachusetts. Ruth was born in Boston and was living in Milton at the time of her marriage. On June 4, William was sent to the Naval Training Camp in Hingham, Massachusetts. He was transferred to the Navy’s training Camp on Bumpkin Island in Boston Harbor on June 25, and then to the Rifle Range at Wakefield, Massachusetts, on July 8. While William was in the Navy, in September 1918, his mother died of influenza. That month, William was assigned to the “Machine Shop Boston Section Base Boston,” where he remained until the Armistice on November 11, 1918. William was placed on inactive duty on January 25, 1919, at the Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island. He was honorably discharged due to lack of funds on September 30, 1921.

After being placed on inactive duty, William returned to 5 Taylor Terrace, and the Mason Regulator Company, where he was employed as a machinist. William’s wife Ruth was living with her parents at 9 Linden Street. She died there on January 15, 1924.

On May 29, 1925, William married Marjorie (Hawes) Hutchinson. Marjorie had been married before and had a five-year-old daughter, Lydia. William and Marjorie were married at Marjorie’s home, 9 Taylor Terrace, by Warner P. Lander, a clergyman from Milton. William, Marjorie, and Lydia lived at 5 Taylor Terrace; their rent in 1930 was $30 a month. They moved to 52 Old Morton Street in 1931, then to 32 Sanford Street in 1933. By 1940, they were living at 178 Eliot Street in Milton. Lydia, 20, was working as a clerk in the chocolate factory, making $780 a year. William earned $1,500 annually at the Mason Regulator Company. In 1942, William and Marjorie lived at 27 Huntoon Street. By 1951, they had moved to North Easton, Massachusetts, where they lived at 210 Washington Street. Marjorie died on March 25, 1961. William moved to Brockton, Massachusetts where he lived until his death on May 20, 1979.

Sources

New Hampshire Registrar of Vital Statistics, “Index to births, early to 1900.” New Hampshire Registrar of Vital Statistics, Concord, NH; Ancestry.com

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

Beers, F.W. Map of the City of Portsmouth New Hampshire, 1876; LeventhalMap.org

“New Hampshire, Death and Disinterment Records, 1754–1947.” New England Historical Genealogical Society, citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, NH; Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, “Death Records, 1654–1947. Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, NH; Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, “Marriage Records.” New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord; Ancestry.com

1880, 1900, 1920, 1930, 1940 US Federal Censuses; Ancestry.com

“New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659–1947,” New England Historical Genealogical Society, citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, NH; Ancestry.com

“Forgot to Bring the Handtub,” Portsmouth Herald, 25 May 1907: 9; Newspapers.com

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

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

Curtiss Photographers, “NH 115112 Mason Regulator Company,” photograph, c1910-1919, Naval History and Heritage Command,

<https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-115000/NH-115112.html>

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Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths/Burials (Swedish Churches), Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN; Ancestry.com

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James Augustus Aicardi and Beatrice Marie Aicardi

Posted on January 23, 2021 by earltaylor

James Augustus Aicardi and Beatrice Marie Aicardi

World War Veterans

By Camille Arbogast

Siblings James Augustus and Beatrice Marie Aicardi were born at 285 Broadway in South Boston. Beatrice was born on July 2, 1893, and James on October 10, 1896. Their parents, Giacomo, known as James, and Angelina (Guinasso) Aicardi, were both born in Italy. Angelina immigrated to Boston when she was about a year old. Originally from Porto Maurizio in Liguria, James, Sr. came to the United States in the early 1880s, when he was about 15 years old. He initially settled in Brockton, Massachusetts. James, Sr. and Angelina were married in Boston in 1886. They had four other children: Frank born in 1887, Catherine in 1892, Leonard in 1898, and a second Catherine in 1901. Leonard died at 7 months of pneumonia; the first Catherine also died of pneumonia at age 2.

In the 1890s, the family lived at 285 Broadway in South Boston, where James, Sr. had a fruit store. By 1902, the Aicardis resided around the corner at 164 ½ Silver Street, though James, Sr.’s store remained at 285 Broadway. That year, older brother Frank ran away because his parents were upset with his “smoking cigarettes and reading cheap novels every spare moment.” He made it as far as Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he was spotted by a police officer. He eventually returned home, because in 1905 Frank was fined $10 for “playing dice on the Lord’s day.” James and Beatrice attended school in South Boston, James graduating from the Lincoln School in 1904 and Beatrice from the Norcross School in 1907.

In 1913, James, Sr. and Angelina founded the Aicardi Food Products Company. I-Car-De Mayonnaise, their signature product, was advertised as “positively different!” Their factory was located at 93 Stoughton Street in Dorchester. In 1915, the Aicardis moved to Dorchester, and lived at 124 Adams Street.

During the First World War, both Beatrice and James served in the military. Beatrice was a female Yeoman in the US Naval Reserve Force. Called “Yeomanettes,” 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. Beatrice enrolled in the Navy at the Boston Enrolling Office on June 4, 1918. She served in the Boston Navy Yard (today known as the Charlestown Navy Yard) from August 28, 1918, until the Armistice on November 11, 1918. She 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. Beatrice was included in a group photograph, “Panorama of Yeowomen before Drill,” taken at the Boston Navy Yard on December 16, 1918. The women wore long dark skirts, dark single-breasted jackets, and brimmed hats, the attire specified by the Navy for Yeowomen. There was no officially-issued female uniform, and the women were responsible for acquiring the required items themselves. Beatrice was placed on inactive duty on June 26, 1919, and discharged on June 4, 1920.

At the time of the second draft in June 1918, James was working for the United States Quartermaster Department, at Warehouse G, on Commonwealth Pier in Boston. He was inducted into the Army on August 17, 1918, and initially served in Company 13, 4th Training Battalion, 151st Depot Brigade. In October 1918, he was transferred to the Cantonment Headquarters Detachment. He was made a Corporal on December 5. James was discharged from Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, on March 14, 1919.

On October 10, 1920, James married Bertha V. Batts, a brush factory worker. They were married by Father William B. Whalen of St. Monica’s Church on Dorchester Street in South Boston. The couple had three children: Bertha born in 1921, James in 1926, and Donald in 1928. Initially, James and Bertha lived with his parents, who, by 1920, were living at 66 Romsey Street. In 1923, James and Bertha moved to 3 Pearl Street, then the next year to 15 Sumner Street. James worked for the family business.

In 1923, James, Sr. and Angelina moved to 91 Stoughton Street, where they remained until 1927, when they returned to South Boston, purchasing 1726 Columbia Road. In 1927, Beatrice married Thomas F. Keating. Thomas, who had also grown up in South Boston, was a salesman at a wholesale leather company and a World War I veteran. Later, Thomas was active in Boston politics. In July 1927, James, Sr. died. In 1930, Beatrice and Thomas were living at 1726 Columbia Road. Angelina, the owner of the building, lived in another unit. James and his family were next door at number 1724. 

James died on December 19, 1936. According to an article in the Boston Globe, an employee found him on the floor of his office. The family physician pronounced him dead, telling reporters that James suffered from heart attacks and had probably died of one. A solemn high mass of requiem was celebrated for him at South Boston’s Gate of Heaven Church and he was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Roslindale. He was given full military honors at his funeral.

In 1940, Beatrice, Thomas, and Angelia still lived at 1726 Columbia Road. It appears the I-Car-De mayonnaise factory closed in 1944. By 1954, Beatrice and Thomas were listed in the Boston Directory living at 1728 Columbia Road. Angelina died in 1956. In the early 1960s, Beatrice and Thomas moved to an apartment at 1800 Columbia Road. Thomas died in 1981.

Beatrice died on January 18, 1984. Her funeral mass was held at St. Brigid Church in South Boston.

Sources

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“Frank Aicardi Missing,” Boston Globe, 20 May 1902: 14; Newspapers.com.

“South Boston,” Boston Globe, 9 Nov 1905: 20; Newspapers.com

Annual Report of the School Committee of the City of Boston 1904, Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1904: 210; Archive.org

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Taylor, Earl. “Dorchester Illustration 2263 I-CAR-DE Mayonnaise,” Dorchester Historical Society blog, 21 August 2016; DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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<https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/people—special-topics/women-in-the-navy/world-war-i-era-yeomen–f–.html>

Patch, Nathaniel. “The Story of the Female Yeomen during the First World War,” Prologue Magazine, Fall 2006, Vol. 38, No. 3, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration,

<https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/yeoman-f.html>

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“James A. Aicardi Sr of South Boston Dead,” Boston Globe, 22 July 1927: 3; Newspapers.com

“James Aicardi Dies Suddenly,” Boston Globe, 19 December 1936: 2; Newspapers.com

“Military Funeral For James Aicardi,” Boston Globe, 22 Dec 1936: 7; Newspapers.com

“Mrs. Angelina Aicardi,” Boston Globe, 8 March 1956: 13; Newspapers.com

“Thomas Keating, 83,” Boston Globe, 1 December 1981: 24; Newspapers.com

Death notices, Boston Globe, 21 Jan 1984: 31; Newspapers.com

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