Saul Abraham

Posted on January 12, 2021 by earltaylor

World War I Veteran Who Lived in Dorchester

Saul Abraham by Camille Arbogast.

Saul Abraham was born in September 1896, at 15 Sharon Street in Boston’s South End.  September 21 is the birthdate on his birth and military records, but on other documents he used September 23.

Saul’s father, David Abraham, was a cigar maker. David was born in London, England, to Dutch parents and immigrated to the United States when he was a year old. Saul’s mother, Hannah (Hamilburg), was born at 68 Broadway in South Boston to Dutch parents. Prior to her marriage, she worked as a saleslady. David and Hannah were married in Boston in 1888. They had three other children: Hyman, known as Harry, born in 1890; Jacob, known as John or Jack, in 1894; and Sadie, known as Sarah or Shirley, in 1901.

In 1902, the family moved from Saul’s birthplace to 36 Worcester Square in the South End. They relocated to Grove Hall in 1905, where they lived on Blue Hill Avenue. For the next eight years, the Boston directory listed David Abraham as residing at either 380 or 382 Blue Hill Avenue. Saul graduated from the Phillips Brooks School on Perth Street in 1911. Two years later, David died at Boston City Hospital of an intestinal ulcer hemorrhage. At the time of his death, his address was given as 15 Intervale Street.

By 1916, the Abraham sons were employed; Harry was a salesman, Jack a cigar maker, and Saul was a clerk. His lifelong career was in the wholesale shoe business. In June 1918, Morris reported on his First World War draft registration that he was employed by a shoe company at 170 Lincoln Street in Boston. By that time, his family had moved a few blocks to 17 Castlegate Road.

 Saul was inducted into the Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) on October 21, 1918. He served as a private in the 27th Company Portland CAC until the Armistice on November 11. At that time, he was transferred to Battery E of the 29th Artillery, CAC, where he remained until November 30, when he returned to the 27th Company Portland CAC. He was discharged on December 21, 1918.

In 1920, he was again living at 17 Castlegate Road with his mother, siblings, and two maternal aunts. According to a newspaper article, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1924, he lived at 549 Blue Hill Avenue and was the president of the Northeastern Shoe Company of 207 Essex Street in Boston.

On November 27, 1924, Saul married Minnie Benamor at the Hotel Somerset in Boston. Born in 1903, Minnie was also from Boston, living at 4 Nazing Street in Roxbury. Her parents were from Spain. Saul and Minnie were married by Rabbi Harry Levi of Temple Israel. After the wedding, Saul and Minnie embarked on a honeymoon to Miami and Cuba.

The couple initially lived at 266 Seaver Street in Roxbury, not far from Minnie’s family home. Their daughter, Dolores, was born in 1927. In 1930, Saul, Minnie, and Dolores moved to Brookline, where his brother Harry was already living. In their home at 325 Saint Paul Street, they employed a live-in domestic worker, Catherine Lally, a recent Irish immigrant. In 1932, they moved a short distance to 61 Babcock Street, near the corner of Devotion Street.

The Northeastern Shoe Company went into bankruptcy in 1924, and in 1926, Saul appeared in the Boston directory as the president of the Wasser-Abraham Company of 208 Essex Street. This company was dissolved in 1931. During the early 1930s, he was listed as the president of the Milton Shoe Company, also of 208 Essex Street. By the 1940s, he was the president of the Saul Abraham Shoe Company, which he ran for the rest of his career. The company offices moved from time to time, but were generally on Lincoln Street in Boston. In 1940, he earned $3,800.

In 1942, the Abrahams moved to Newton, residing at 6 Sumner Street in Newton Centre. By 1947, they were living at 288 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. In the 1950s, they returned to Brookline, first to 51 Harvard Street, and then 70 Park Terrace, where they remained for some years. In 1971, their daughter passed away. After Saul’s retirement, he and Minnie moved to Florida.

Saul died on February 8, 1994, in Hollywood, Broward County, Florida.

Sources

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

Family Trees; Ancestry.com

Boston, Brookline Directories, various years; Ancestry.com

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

“Increase in High, But Decrease in Grammar Graduates,” Boston Globe, 22 June 1911: 15; Newspapers.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.

“Minnie Benamor Becomes Bride of Saul Abraham,” Boston Globe, 28 November 1924: 2; Newspapers.com

“Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915,” Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

“Hurley v. N.J. Reilly Co’,” United States District Court, D. Massachusetts, 6 May 1926; CaseText.com

Acts Approved by the People, November 4 1930 (Chapters 427 and 428, Actso of 1930) and Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts in the Year 1931. Boston, MA Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1931: 341; Archive.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, 14 January 1971: 37; Newspapers.com

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

Deaths, Boston Globe, 11 February 1994: 34; Newspapers.com

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Morris Abraham

Posted on January 12, 2021 by earltaylor

World War I Veteran Who Lived in Dorchester

Morris Abraham by Camille Arbogast.

Morris Abraham was born on September 24, 1896, in South Boston. His parents, Thomas Melvin and Ida Emeline (Hersey), were originally from Pembroke, Maine. Morris was the youngest of their six children. His three oldest siblings were born in Maine: Jennie in 1875, Seymour in 1878, and Byron in 1885. According to Thomas Abraham’s obituary “he left Maine as a young man;” Thomas, Ida and their children were living in Boston by 1880. The rest of their children were born in Massachusetts: Amos in 1891, and Thomas in 1893. Amos died of diphtheria in 1897.

At the time of Morris’s birth, Thomas was a fruit packer; later he was a buyer for a produce company. His obituary stated he was an iron moulder. In 1889, he was named as the co-owner of the seized schooner Good Templar, which, it was alleged, “had violated the law in that she has transported smuggled merchandise … transporting from Maine to Boston smoked herring, dried pollock and other fish which had been smuggled into Maine from some foreign country with a view of evading the import duties to which it is subject.” The vessel’s master and co-owner was Byron E. Lurchin of Pembroke, ME, the namesake of one of Morris’s brothers. 

The family lived in South Boston at 47 L Street for much of Morris’s childhood. Thomas and Ida were members of the City Point Methodist Episcopal Church. His two oldest siblings married and moved out of the family home during Morris’s childhood: Seymour in 1898 and Jennie in 1901. In 1910, Morris graduated from South Boston’s Frederick W. Lincoln School. According to the 1940 census, Morris also attended four years of high school.

By 1916, the family had moved to Dorchester, where they lived at 8 Elder Street. That year, Ida became a member of the Baker Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, which stood at the corner of Columbia Road and Cushing Avenue. She died in May 1918. By that time, Morris was working for C.A. Browning Co., importers and wholesalers of “millinery novelties” at 30 Franklin Street, Boston.

On June 5, 1918, the day before he registered as part of the First World War’s second draft registration, Morris enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force in Boston as a seaman second class. On June 27, he was sent to Camp Hingham in Hingham, Massachusetts, for training, remaining there until the Armistice on November 11, 1918. He was placed on inactive duty on December 31, 1918, and discharged on September 30, 1921.

On July 20, 1918, during the period he was stationed at Camp Hingham, Morris married Olive Burns, a stenographer who lived at 603 East Fourth Street in South Boston. They were married by Reverend William J. Rutledge, pastor of South Boston’s South Baptist Church. Morris and Olive had five children: Donald born in 1924, Lucille in 1925, Virginia in 1927, Paul in 1928, and David in 1930.

            Early in their marriage the couple lived in South Boston, at 23 Thomas Park, and then at 524 East Broadway. Living with them in 1920 was Olive’s widowed mother, Sophie Burns, and a lodger, Edith Needham. By 1927, Morris and his family had moved to western Massachusetts. In 1930, they lived in West Springfield, at 56 Garden Street. Four years later, they relocated to 54 Alvin Street in Springfield. By 1937, they had moved to Longmeadow where they resided for more than 20 years, much of that time on Lawnwood Avenue.

In 1940, Sophie Burns was living with them again. During World War II, sons Donald and Paul served in the Navy. In 1955, Morris and his son Paul made the news when they were both elected commanders of American Legion Posts: Morris of the Albert T. Wood Post in Longmeadow and Paul of the Bowles Memorial Post in Springfield.

For much of his career, Morris worked in the bakery industry. When they lived in western Massachusetts, he was a salesman for a baking company, probably Joseph Middleby, Jr. Inc., of Boston, which he reported as his employer in 1942. Joseph Middleby, Jr. Inc. produced a variety of bakers and confectioners’ supplies, including flavorings, syrups, pastry fillings, and the Midco liquid ice cream mix. In 1940, Morris earned $2,542 a year. In the late 1950s, he worked for the Longmeadow public schools as a custodian and a school traffic officer.

Both Morris and Olive had family connections to Canada. Two of their children, Lucille and David, were born in Canada. Morris died in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, on October 1, 1974. He was buried in Green Lawn Cemetery in Gravelton, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. When Olive died in 1983 she was buried beside him.

Sources

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

Family Trees, Ancestry.com

Boston, Springfield directories, various years; Ancestry.com

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

“Thomas M. Abraham,” Boston Globe, 17 October 1930: 26; Newspapers.com

“Good Templar Libeled,” Boston Globe, 18 May 1899: 7; Newspapers.com

New England, United Methodist Church Records, 1787–1922. New England Methodist Church Commission on Archives and History, Boston School of Theology Library, Boston, MA; Ancestry.com.

“7911 Diplomas in Boston Schools,” Boston Globe, 23 June 1910: 6; Newspapers.com

Advertisement for the C.A. Browning Co., The Illustrated Milliner, February 1917: 79; 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.

Military Service, NARA microfilm publication 76193916 (St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985), FamilySearch.org

Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, MA, United States, certificate number 4069, page 28, 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

“Father and Son Head Springfield Area Posts,” North Adams Transcript (North Adams, MA) 12 May 1955: 12; Newspapers.com

Advertisements of Joseph Middleby, Jr., Inc, various years; Newspapers.com

1958 Annual Report Town of Longmeadow, Massachusetts; Archive.org

“United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011;” FamilySearch.org

Morris Abraham, FindAGrave.com

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William Henry Aborn

Posted on January 11, 2021 by earltaylor

Biography of World War 1 Veteran.

William Henry Aborn

William Henry Aborn was born on November 29, 1887, in Richmond, Virginia. His father, William Hallet Aborn, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the son of a hatter who had a shop on Washington Street in Boston. William Hallet attended the Boston Latin School, graduating in 1863. In 1872, he married his first wife in Boston; she died in Boston five years later. In Richmond, he was a tobacco merchant. William, Jr.’s mother, Helen Fay (Patteson). Aborn was a native of Richmond. William Hallet and Helen married in Manchester, Virginia, just outside of Richmond, in October 1878. They had three other children: Samuel born in 1883, Katherine in 1886, and Ruth in 1891. 

By 1895, the family had relocated to Dorchester and William Hallet was in the sugar business. The Aborns initially lived at 406 Codman Street (now Gallivan Boulevard), William Jr.’s paternal grandparents’ home. His grandfather died in 1898 and his grandmother in 1905. William attended the Gilbert Stuart School in Lower Mills, graduating in 1902. He also attended one year of high school, according to the 1940 census. By 1905, the family had moved to 63 Van Winkle Street. Five years later, they resided at 63 Weyanoke Street. William was working by 1910, employed as a clerk by the First National Bank of Boston at 70 Federal Street. The First National Bank was the product of a 1903 merger between the Massachusetts Bank, founded in 1784, the only bank in Boston until 1792, and First National Bank, founded in 1859 as the Safety Fund Bank. William worked for the bank for his entire career.

By 1915, the Aborns had moved to 9 Shenandoah Street. Two years later, in 1917, they moved again a couple of blocks away, to 9 Fairfax Street. Though his father, now 72, was listed in the Boston directory as a salesman, William reported on his 1917 draft registration that he was the “chief support” of his father and mother.

William was inducted into the Army on September 20, 1917, and sent to Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, for training. He was assigned to Battery C of the 302nd Field Artillery of the 76th Division. On July 16, 1918, he departed from the Boston and Albany Pier in Boston, sailing for Europe on the HTM Port Lincoln. After arriving in Liverpool, the regiment traveled overland across England to Southampton, where they crossed the channel to Le Havre, France, on the U.S. Charles. The regiment was initially billeted in Bordeaux, in the town of Pont de la Maye. On September 5, the regiment moved to Camp de Souge for additional training at the Field Artillery School. While there, the regiment suffered an influenza outbreak, had to go into quarantine, and lost some men to the illness. In late October, they received orders to move to Rupt-en-Woëvre, near Saint-Mihiel. At midnight on November 6, gun Number 1 of Battery C “fired the first shot of the Regiment at the Hun.” According to the regimental history it was “… the first shot, not only of the Regiment, but the first shot ever fired at the Germans by American-made Field Artillery.” While in Rupt-en-Woëvre, “the fire carried on by the Regiment was entirely of a harassing nature.” On November 9, the regiment took part in a raid into the Woëvre Plain. After the Armistice, the 302nd Field Artillery remained in Rupt-en-Woëvre for the rest of the year. In the new year, they returned to Camp Souge where they were visited by General Pershing in February. On April 13, Battery C sailed on the USS Santa Rosa, departing from Pauillac, France. When the ship arrived in Boston on April 26, it was met by “steamers carrying friends and relatives, who showered the returning troops with doughnuts and candy.” William was discharged at Camp Devens on April 30, 1919. By that time, he had attained a rank of corporal.

In 1920, William was again living at 9 Fairfax Street. The next year, the family moved to 65 Rogers Avenue in West Somerville, Massachusetts. William’s sisters were also still living in the family home. According to the 1920 census, Ruth was also a bank clerk, while Katherine was a secretary at a hardware business. During the 1920s, Katherine worked for the Harvard Alumni Association. In 1927, she married the superintendent of the reading room at Harvard’s Widener Library. By that time the family had moved to 29 Lowden Avenue in West Somerville. Their mother, Helen, died in January 1934; their father died that November. Ruth and William remained at 29 Lowden Avenue after their parents’ death.

On August 31, 1941, William married Ella Louise Dimock, a 29 year old bank clerk. Born in Roslindale, Ella lived in Westwood, Massachusetts. They were married by the Reverend Edwin P. Booth. After their marriage, Ella and William lived at 29 Lowden Avenue. By 1943, they had moved to 29 Carroll Avenue in the Islington section of Westwood. At the end of his life, William lived on Cape Cod, in West Dennis and then South Yarmouth.

William died in South Yarmouth on October 29, 1968. He was cremated at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown, Massachusetts. His funeral was held at the cemetery’s Bigelow Chapel.

Sources

Virginia, Births, 1721–2015. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, VA; Ancestry.com

Family tree; Ancestry.com

Clark’s Boston Blue Book, various years; Archive.org

1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 United States Federal Census; Ancestry.com

“Gilbert Stuart School,” Boston Globe, 26 June 1902: 3; Newspapers.com

Cabell, James Branch. The Majors and Their Marriages: With Collateral Accounts of the Allied Families of Aston, Ballard, Christian, Dancy, Hartwell, Hubbard, Macon, Marable, Mason, Patteson, Piersey, Seawell, Stephens, Waddill, and Others. Richmond, VA: The WC Hill Printing Co, 1915; Books.Google.com

Hower, Ralph M. ed. “A History of Boston’s Oldest Bank,” Bulletin of the Business Historical Society. Baker Library, Boston, MA. December 1937: 101-104; JSTOR.org

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

302 Field Artillery Association. The 302nd Field Artillery United States Army. Cambridge, MA: The Cosmos Press, 1919; Archive.org

“C.A. Mahady to Marry Miss Katherine Aborn.” Boston Globe, 6 April 1927: 4; Newspapers.com

Marriage Record, Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook); Ancestry.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, 31 October 1968: 21; Newspapers.com

William Henry Aborn; FindAGrave.com

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Abraham Albert Abelson

Posted on January 11, 2021 by earltaylor

Biography of World War 1 Veteran who lived in Dorchester.

Abraham Albert Abelson, known as Albert, was born on May 10, 1892, in Boston. His parents, Herman and Bessie (Sarafsky) Abelson were from Kovno, Lithuania. They immigrated to the United States around 1885. Herman and Bessie had five other children: Rebecca born in 1890; Harry in c1895; Nathan in 1898; Sarah, known as Sadie, in 1901, and Milton Isadore in 1908. There is also a birth record for a child born to Herman and Bessie Abelson on June 26, 1893; on the 1900 census a child with this birthdate is identified as Abel Abelson.

The Boston directories list a number of occupations for Herman. In the 1890s, he was listed as a clerk. At the turn of the century, he was a bookkeeper, then appeared as a peddler by the middle of the decade. The 1910 census reported he was a commercial traveler selling “fancy crackers.”  In 1911, he ran a variety store at 140 Chelsea Street in East Boston. Two years later, he began appearing in the directory as a commercial traveler. He was a bread salesman, according to the 1920 census.

The Abelsons moved regularly. At the time of Albert’s birth, his family lived in the North End at 29 Fleet Street; by 1894, they lived at 26 Fleet Street. They then relocated to East Boston, by 1899 residing at 202 Bremen Street. They remained in East Boston for 15 years. In 1900, they lived at 279 Chelsea Street. By 1903, they had moved to 155 Havre Street. The next year they moved again, to 6 Saxon Court, and then in 1905, to 200 Marion Street. They moved around on Marion Street over the next couple years, to number 221 in 1906, and to 253 in 1907. In 1909, the directory listed them at 312 Bremen Street, which the 1910 census reported that they owned. In 1912, they appeared in the Boston directory at 326 Chelsea Street. During this time, Albert’s sister, Rebecca, married and left home.

In 1914, the family moved to Jamaica Plain, initially living at 5 Lena Park. Albert was employed by this time. He had begun his working life as early as 1910, when the census reported he was an elevator operator in an office building. In 1914, he was listed as a clerk, his occupation for the next few years. In 1916, Albert appeared in the directory back in East Boston, boarding at 724 Saratoga Street, while his father lived at 37 Lena Park. The family had been forced to move in 1915 after a fire destroyed the apartment they were renting.  In 1917, all of the Abelsons moved to  Dorchester at 35 Lorne Street.

On June 5, 1917, Albert enrolled in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. The same day, he registered for the draft, reporting on his registration that he was “waiting to be called to the Naval Reserves,” and giving the Charlestown Navy Yard as his place of employment. On June 26, 1917, he was assigned to a receiving ship in Boston. On August 17, he was transferred to the USS America, a former German liner which was being converted into an American troopship. In October 1917, the America began carrying soldiers to France. Albert served on the USS America until July 1, 1918. After a week on a receiving ship in New York, he was assigned to the recently chartered and commissioned USS Tivives. The refrigerator ship was part of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and during the summer of 1918, transported beef and military equipment to France. Albert remained on the Tivives about two months, before again being placed on a receiving ship in New York. He was on the receiving ship on November 11, 1918, when the Armistice was declared. On December 24, he was placed on inactive duty at the Naval Overseas Transpiration Service, New York. At that time, he had attained a rank of seaman. He was honorably discharged on June 4, 1921. 

While Albert was in the Navy, his family moved to 48 Hansborough Street and in 1918, his brother Nathan died during the influenza pandemic. After being placed on inactive duty, Albert joined his family at 48 Hansborough Street, working as an egg salesman. His youngest siblings, Sadie and Milton, also lived at home. Sadie worked in a shoelace factory. Milton was still attending school; he eventually became a lawyer and, subsequently, an Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts. In 1923, the family moved a short distance to 43 Fabyan Street. After that, Albert is not listed in the Boston directory for the rest of the decade.

On July 7, 1928, Albert married Estelle Harris in New York City. Born in Joliette, Quebec, Estelle was a recent immigrant. The couple had two daughters: June and Barbara. They initially lived in New York; June was born there in 1929, Barbara five years later in 1936.

By 1931, Albert had returned to Massachusetts and was living at 5 Mount Hood Road in Brighton. That year, Estelle became an American citizen. Albert’s father, Harry, died in 1932; according to his obituary in the Jewish Advocate, he was well known in orthodox circles all around Boston. By 1933, Abert and Estelle had moved to 129 Chiswick Road in Brighton where Albert was an automobile salesman. In 1942, he reported on his World War II draft registration that he was unemployed. By 1957, Albert and Estelle lived in Brookline. They had moved to Miami Beach, Florida by 1968.

Albert died at age 81 on February 17, 1974, in Miami Beach, Florida. Memorial observances were held at his daughter, Barbara’s,home in Newton. Survivors included his wife, his two daughters, six grandchildren, and his brother, Harry.  He was buried in the Sharon Memorial Park in Sharon, Massachusetts. When Estelle died in 1986, she was buried beside him.

Sources

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

Family Trees, Ancestry.com

Boston Directories, various years; Ancestry.com

1900, 1910, 1930, 1940 US Federal Census; 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.

“USS America (ID-3006),” Wikipedia.org; last edited 9 June 2020 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_America_(ID-3006)>

“SS Tivives (1911),” Wikipedia.org, last edited 14 March 2020  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Tivives_(1911)>

Nathan W. Abelson, FindAGrave.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

Naturalization Records, National Archives at Boston, Waltham, Massachusetts. ARC Title: Petitions and Records of Naturalization; Ancestry.com

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, 27 Jan 1957: 45; Newspapers.com

Morning Death Notices, Boston Globe, 16 April 1968: 43; Newspapers.com

“Fire Drives Out Families,”, Boston Globe, 27 October 1915: 13; Newspapers.com

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

Deaths, Boston Globe, 19 February 1974: 34; Newspapers.com

Albert Abelson; FindAGrave.com

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Dorchester Illustration no. 2492 Dorchester Yacht Club

Posted on January 10, 2021 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2492   Dorchester Yacht Club

The Dorchester Yacht Club was originally organized in 1870.

Photograph published in the Boston Herald, May 24, 1956. 

Caption: “Blame it on the Tide.  This is the way the Dorchester Yacht Club building looked at high tide yesterday when it was found that the new foundation was 14 inches too high for the building.  The contractors had to float the barge and clubhouse back to deeper water and start jacking the building up higher.  They will make a new attempt today.  Building was moved across Savin Hill Bay in Boston from its old site to make room for the new Southeast Expressway.”

The Dorchester Yacht Club was formerly located on Freeport Street next to the Power House of the Boston Elevated Railway Company, a brick building that now is home to  Yale Electric Company  An on-ramp to the Southeast Expressway, opposite the end of Mill Street, occupies the property where the Dorchester Yacht Club was located.

The Dorchester Yacht Club building was moved to a location close to Savin Hill Beach and can be seen by Expressway traffic.

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Dorchester Illustration 2491 This Is the Toast

Posted on January 3, 2021 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2491   This Is the Toast

Today’s illustration is a postcard sent by Mabel from the post office called Mattapan Station, August 28, 1913.  The sentiment expressed is one that we want to share with all of you at the beginning of 2021.

Postcard.  Postmarked at Mattapan Station.  Caption on front is a poem: This the Toast that I Offer, My Dear; Good Luck to You, Always, Good Health and Good Cheer. Good Cheer Series no. 434. Postmarked Aug 28, 1913 Mattapan Station.  Written by Mabel.

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Dorchester Illustration 2490 Harold Grant Mitten

Posted on December 27, 2020 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2490   Harold Grant Mitten

At the Dorchester Historical Society, we have been in the process of a two-year-long project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I.  Starting with a collection of photographs we have of WWI Dorchester residents, we have featured service men and women in a number of short biographies throughout the months. The biographies are posted in the Society’s blog.

Harold Grant Mitten

Harold Grant Mitten was born at home, at 37 Folsom Street in Dorchester, on August 2, 1895, to George A. and Nellie Frances (Weeks) Mitten. George was born in Quebec, Canada, the son of William Andrew and Catharine (Grant) Mitten. He immigrated with his family to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in the mid-1860’s. George later moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, and lived with Mitten relatives before moving to Boston with his brother where they started their business, in 1883. Nellie was born in Lowell to Serlo Bartlett and Mary E. (McLaughlin) Weeks. George and Nellie were married in Lowell in 1891. They had seven other children, all born in Boston: William in 1891, Olive in 1893, twins Ethel and Irene in 1896, Dorothy in 1902, and twins Madeline and Evelyn in 1909. Olive died in 1894. William, like Harold, served in World War I.

George was a provisions dealer, co-owning with his brother, John, the Mitten Brothers store at 1351 Washington Street in the South End. They advertised “Provisions, Poultry, Game in season, Fruits, Vegetables and Canned Goods of all descriptions … The most fastidious buyer will find meats, or other articles suited to his needs at this establishment.”

By 1898, the Mittens were living at 30 Folsom Street, which they owned. According to the 1900 census, the family employed a live-in maid, Mary Mahoney, a twenty-five-year-old recent Irish immigrant. By 1910, the Mittens had moved a short distance to 12 Chamblett Street. That June, Harold graduated from the Phillips Brooks School on Perth Street.

On June 5, 1917, Harold registered for the draft. He was 21-years-old, medium build, “tall” height (5’9”) with brown eyes and brown hair. He reported that he was employed as a machinist, working for the William Hall Company of Wollaston, Massachusetts. The William Hall Company were makers of “cutters, dies, jigs, etc.” According to their advertisement in Machinery magazine in March 1917, they had “one of the busiest cutter departments in the East … Hall makes, and hardens correctly, high-grade cutters of every description, including cutters made to your own designs.”

Harold was drafted and inducted into the army in Boston on September 8, 1917. He was initially assigned to Company D, 301st Infantry, 76th Division. Ten days later he was attached to Headquarters Company, 102nd Field Artillery, 26th Division, or Yankee Division. Almost immediately he left for France, sailing from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the USCT Finland on September 22, and arriving in Saint Nazaire on October 5. He was made a private first class on November 2 and promoted to corporal on December 6.  According to family sources, he was a radio operator. His engagements included the Aisne-Marne offensive, July 18 through August 4; the Saint Mihiel offensive September 12 through 16; and the Meuse-Argonne offensive October 18 through November 11. Harold returned home in the spring of 1919, sailing on March 31 from Brest, France, on the USS Mongolia, and arriving in Boston on April 10. He was discharged at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, on April 28, 1919.

After the war, Harold lived with his family on Chamblett Street. On October 12, 1922, he married Agnes Louise Wellbrock of 223 Boston Street, daughter of August Conrad and Elizabeth Theresa (Ahlert) Wellbrock. They were married at Holy Trinity Church in Boston by Reverend Henry J. Nelles. Harold and Agnes had four children, George A. (1925-1991), Mary Elizabeth (1925-2005), David Vincent (1930-2002), and Harold Wellbrock (1932-1944).

Various Wellbrock family members had lived at 221 and 223 Boston Street since about 1890. Harold and Agnes purchased 223 Boston Street from her family and lived there for the rest of their lives. In 1930, Agnes’s brothers Edward and Leo, and her uncle, Clemens, lived with the Mittens. Harold broadcast his 20-watt amateur radio station, W1AHH, from the home in the late 1920s.

Harold worked for the Boston Police Department for over 40 years. He was appointed to the force on December 6, 1919, shortly after the Boston Police Strike of September 1919.  Early in his career he was assigned to night duty at the Fields Corner Station; in 1926 he was transferred to day duty. Two years later, he was promoted from patrolman to sergeant, and transferred from Dorchester to Charlestown. In Charlestown, Harold was the commander of a newly formed “liquor squad.” He was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to Division 4 in the South End in 1932. Harold’s police experiences sometimes made for good newspaper copy; in 1941, a story about Harold being asked to mediate a dispute over an arranged marriage was covered by the Associated Press and ran in newspapers all over the country. In April 1948, Harold was transferred to the Harbor Division. That November, he rescued a boy on Thompson Island suffering from appendicitis, rushing him to the mainland for treatment, Harold’s police boat, the William H. McShane, making “the 3 mile run in record time.”  In 1953, Harold, again in command of the police boat, assisted during a three-alarm fire at 88 Commercial Wharf. Two years later, he was transferred once again, this time to the city prison. He was appointed Keeper of the Lockup on April 1, 1960. Harold retired from the Boston Police Department on November 15, 1961.

According to his family, Harold loved fixing up old bikes for the children in the Boston Street neighborhood. He owned an old black Raleigh bike that he rode around everywhere in Dorchester. And, his grandchildren would always know he was visiting when they came home from school if his bike was tied up to one of the trees in their backyard. He also had a lifelong passion for playing the violin.

Agnes died in 1972. Harold died in Boston on February 20, 1989, age 93, after a short illness. Mass was said for him at Saint Margaret’s Church, Dorchester, and he was buried at Calvary Cemetery on American Legion Highway. He had been a member of the Boston Police Relief Association.

Sources:

Family Sources; Jennifer Mitten

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

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

Leading Business Men of Back Bay, South End, Boston Highlands, Jamaica Plain and Dorchester. Boston, MA Mercantile Publishing Company, 1888: 61; Books.Google.com


Census Records, Federal, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, Ancestry.com

“7911 Diplomas in Boston Schools,” Boston Globe, 23 June 1910: 5; Newspapers.com

Advertisement, Machinery. March 1917, New York: Industrial Press: 165; Books.Google.Com

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

Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940. Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives at St. Louis, St. Louis, MO; FamilySearch.org

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

LaBranche, Ernest E. An American Battery in France. Worcester, MA: Belisle Printing & Publishing Company, 1923: Archive.org

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

“Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915,” database  citing Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

Amateur Radio Stations of the United States. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1928: 3; Archive.org

Record of the Police Commissioner January 1, 1921, to December 31, 1921, City of Boston, Volume 58: 1480; Archive.org


“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 28 July 1926: 9; Newspapers.com

“Shakeup Orders Give Police Jolt,” Boston Globe, 4 July 1928: 4; Newspapers.com

“Bunker Hill District,” Boston Globe, 3 September 1929: 10; Newspapers.com

“Bunker Hill District,” Boston Globe, 23 November 1932: 7; Newspapers.com

“New Police Division 4 Officially Opened,” Boston Globe, 27 February 1933: 5; Newspapers.com

Associated Press, “Officer Tells Gypsies Settle Fight at Home,” Fitchburg Sentinel, 26 March 1941: 2; Newspapers.com

“60 Boston Police Officers Are Transferred,” Boston Globe, 15 April 1948: 1; Newspapers.com

“Appendicitis Victim Taken From Island,” Boston Globe, 18 November 1948: 3 Newspapers.com

“Fires Menace Beach, Wharf; $150,000 Loss,” Boston Globe, 4 August 1953: 1 Newspapers.com

“Sullivan Promotes 4 Boston Officers,” Boston Globe, 15 September 1955: 3; Newspapers.com

Report of Proceedings of the City Council of Boston for the Year Commencing January 4, 1960, and Ending December 27, 1960. Boston: Administrative Services Department Printing Section, 1961: 69; Archive.org

City Record, Volume 53, Number 46, November 18, 1961, Boston, MA; 883; Archive.org

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 10 September 1972: 73; Newspapers.com

Deaths, Boston Globe, 21 February 1989: 18; Newspapers.com

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Dorchester Illustration 2489 Happy Holidays

Posted on December 20, 2020 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2489 Happy Holidays

Dorchester Fudge
 
1 package (8 squares) Bakers semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup marshmallow topping
1/2 cup chopped nuts*  
1/4 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk

Place chocolate in a bowl with marshmallow topping, nuts, butter and vanilla, set aside.

Combine sugar and milk in 2-quart saucepan.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a full rolling boil.  Keep at full rolling boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. 

Carefully pour boiling sugar syrup over chocolate mixture and stir until chocolate is melted. 

Pour into buttered 8-inch square pan. 

Chill until firm, about 1 hour.  Cut into squares. Makes 1 1/2 pounds or about 3 dozen pieces.
 
*or use 1 cup Baker’s Angel Flake coconut
 

Give the gift of history this holiday season:

Membership categories for the Dorchester Historical Society

Individual Membership           $  25.00           Student/Senior Membership   $  15.00

Family/Dual Membership        $  35.00           Corporate Membership           $150.00

Sustaining Membership           $100.00           Life Membership                     $500.00

You can join or renew at

https://www.dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org/membership

Or, send us a note with your check to Dorchester Historical Society, 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA  02125

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Dorchester Illustration 2488 First Parish Church in 1743

Posted on December 13, 2020 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2488   First Parish Church in 1743

In 1630, on the eve of the ship Mary and John sailing from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the First Parish Church congregation was formed.  

After their arrival in early June of 1630, the new settlers built houses for themselves and a meeting house for worship.  The first building was located near the intersection of Pleasant, Pond and Cottage Streets, and it was replaced by a new building in 1645 at the same location. This meeting house was moved by oxen to Meeting-House Hill, to a location on the east side of Winter Street, in 1670. In 1678 a new larger meeting house was built on the northwest corner of Church and Winter Streets.

In 1743 a new meeting-house was built on what is now the Town Common. The eastern entrance was about where the Soldiers Monument now stands. The building was 68 feet long, 46 feet wide, 104 feet to the top of the weathervane.  This is the building pictured in today’s image.

The building was enlarged in 1795, and then replaced in 1816 in the location where the current First Parish Church now stands.  The 1816 church last until 1896,when it burned and was replaced the following year by the building we know today.

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Dorchester Illustration World War 1 Veterans Emmanuele and Salvatore Abbruzzese

Posted on December 6, 2020 by earltaylor

At the Dorchester Historical Society, we are in the process of a year-long project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. Using a collection of photographs we have of WWI Dorchester residents, we will be featuring servicemen in a number of short biographies throughout the year. At the culmination of the project, we hope to produce an online exhibit that highlights these men and their service to our country.

Emmanuele (sometimes spelled Emanuele) Abbruzzese was born March 8, 1891. His brother Salvatore was born May 3, 1894. Both were born in Forenza, a town in the province of Potenza, Basilicata, in southern Italy. Their parents were Rocco and Maria L. (Andretta) Abbruzzese. They had at least two brothers: Antonio, born in 1885, and Domenico, born in 1888.

On June 21, 1906, Emmanuele sailed from Naples, Italy, on the White Star Line’s SS Romanic, arriving in Boston on July 4. Emmanuele, who had attended school through the seventh grade, could read and write. He carried on his person ten dollars.

Emmanuele’s passage was paid by his brother, Antonio, who had been living in the United States since 1900. Domenico was also in Boston, having arrived in 1904. In 1906, the Boston directory listed Antonio and Domenico working at 3 Stoughton Street, in Upham’s Corner, Dorchester, and living at 5 Stoughton Street. Antonio married Carmela Corbo in 1909 and they eventually had four children. Both Antonio and Domenico became naturalized American citizens in 1910.

Salvatore arrived in Boston in 1911, sailing on the SS Romanic from Naples on August 26, and arriving in Boston on September 5, 1911. Salvatore had also attended school through the seventh grade and was literate. He carried $50 and paid his own passage.

The brothers lived together from 1910 through 1912 at 99 Endicott Street in the North End. Domenico moved to Weymouth in 1912, where he married Margherta E. Corba. In 1913, Salvatore, Antonio, and Antonio’s family moved to 21 Hecla Street in Dorchester. Emmanuele went back to Italy for a year, returning to Boston in 1914 and joining the household at 21 Hecla Street.

The Abbruzzese brothers were barbers. Emmanuele and Salvatore declared this their profession when they entered the United States. All four brothers appear in the Boston directories as barbers, their life-long occupation. Domenico had a barbershop in Jackson Square, Weymouth, for over 50 years. It seems likely that Antonio was the co-proprietor of a shop near Haymarket Square, “Ciambelli and Abbruzzee.” Emmanuele and Salvatore also worked at this shop; Emmanuele from 1912 until 1914 and Salvatore from 1912 until 1917. In 1915, Emmanuele began working at a barbershop at 1238 Dorchester Avenue where he remained until 1917.

Salvatore was inducted into the Army on June 22, 1918, and sent to Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts for training. Salvatore served in Company 16, 4th Battalion, 151 Depot Brigade until August 23, 1918, when he was transferred to Company L of the 56th Infantry. While at Camp Devens, on October 29, 1918, Salvatore became an American citizen. Salvatore was discharged a month later, on November 30, 1918.

 “Another Large Lot of Enthusiastic Young Men Start for Camp Devens for Training” announced the headline of a Boston Globe article about the group of draftees of which Emmanuele was a member. Inducted into the Army on July 20, 1918, he was initially assigned to Company 13, 4th Training Battalion, 151st Depot Brigade. On August 21, he was transferred to a Development Battalion, or a unit which conducted “intensive training with a view to developing unfit men for duty.” Among those who would be considered unfit were “soldiers who have not sufficient knowledge of the English language to enable them properly to perform their duties.” These men would be assigned to a Development Battalion that offered combined military training and English instruction. Emmanuele was first placed in Company E, 2nd Development Battalion, then Company K, 3rd Development Battalion, both part of the 151st Depot Brigade. Emmanuele was promoted to private first class on December 14. He may have worked at the Camp Devens Base Hospital, an assignment listed on his Veterans Administration Master Index entry. In September 1918, Emmanuele was naturalized as an American citizen. He was discharged from Camp Devens on June 2, 1919, “by reason of dependent relatives.”

Boston directories list Emmanuele and Salvatore residing at 21 Hecla Street with Antonio in the early 1920s. On October 5, 1921, Salvatore married Esther Santoianni in Boston. Born in Italy, Esther lived with her parents in Dorchester and worked as a tailoress. Salvatore and Esther had one child, a daughter, Marie. For the early years of their marriage, Salvatore continued to be listed in directories as residing at 21 Hecla Street; probably he and Esther lived with Antonio and his family. In 1926, Antonio moved to 18 Agawam Street, Dorchester. The next year, Salvatore and Esther appeared at 183 Hancock Street, Dorchester. By 1930, the couple owned 102 Lake Street in Arlington, where they remained for the next ten years. Esther’s brother Anthony, a packing clerk, lived with them in 1930. By 1941, Salvatore and Esther had moved to 109 Melrose Street, Arlington. At the end of Salvatore’s life, they lived at 59 Chandler Street, Arlington.

In 1924, Emmanuele was listed in the Boston directory living at 9 Yarmouth Street in the South End. From the mid-1920s through the early 1930s, he did not appear in the Boston directory. In 1932, Emmanuele worked at Williams Beauty Salon and resided at 77 Audubon Road in Boston.

By 1934, he had moved to 77 Park Drive along the Fens.

Emmanuele married on December 27, 1934, in Weymouth. His wife, Marion (Egan) Johnson, had been married previously. At age 15, she wed an express man and had a daughter, Marjorie. After that relationship ended, Marion and Marjorie lived with Marion’s parents in South Boston. Marion worked in a department store. In 1925, she was arrested for “the larceny of $360,” stolen over six months by incorrectly entering sales into the cash register and pocketing small discrepancies. She pled guilty and agreed to “make restitution.” In 1930, she was a supervisor at a razor factory, perhaps the Gillette Company. Marion and Emmanuele had two sons, William and Frederick.

In 1935, Emmanuele and Marion lived at 128 Train Street in Dorchester, where they remained for the rest of the decade. In 1940, they moved to 578 Somerville Avenue in Somerville, which they rented for $35 a month. In 1942, on his World War II draft registration, Emmanuele reported he was self-employed, working at 26 West Street in Boston. By the 1960s, Emmanuele and Marion moved to 89 Beach Street in Green Harbor, a community in Duxbury and Marshfield. Emmanuele had retired by 1970.

Salvatore died in Arlington on January 19, 1965. A Solemn High Mass of Requiem was held for him at St. Camillus Church in Arlington and he was buried in Arlington’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Emmanuele died in Waltham on November 12, 1978. A funeral mass was celebrated for him at St. Bernard’s Church in West Newton and he was buried in Winslow Cemetery in Marshfield.

 Sources

Passenger Lists, Naturalization Records, National Archives and Records Administration; FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com

Boston Directory, various years; Ancestry.com

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

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

US Veterans Administration Master Index, Military Service, NARA microfilm publication; FamilySearch.org

United States War Department. “General Orders, Number 45, May 9, 1918: Organization, functions, etc. of Development Battalions,” Extracts from General orders and bulletins, War Department, May 1918. With list of paragraphs of Army regulations and other regulations and manuals of the War Department that have been changed since January 1, 1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1918; Archive.org

“Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915,” State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

The Annual Report of the Town of Weymouth, For the Year Ending December 31, 1934; Archive.org

“Convicted of Store Thefts,” Boston Globe, 5 June 1925: 36; Newspapers.com

1930, 1940 United States 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

Death Notices, Boston Globe, 21 January 1965: 32; Newspapers.com

Salvatore Abbruzzese, FindAGrave.com

Death Notices, Boston Globe, 13 November 1978; Newspapers.com

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