Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Lincoln Hayes
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.
Our next biography features: Lincoln Hayes.
Written by Camille Arbogast.
Lincoln Hayes was born on April 21, 1894, at 30 Parsons Street in Brighton. His mother, Harriet (Lincoln), known as Hattie or Abbie, was born in Charlestown. His father, Andrew Wayland Hayes, who was born in Maine, was a lawyer. They were married in 1879 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Lincoln’s older sister Helena was born in Revere in 1885. Andrew died shortly before Lincoln’s birth, dying on February 13, 1894, after a seven-day bout of double pneumonia.
By 1900, Lincoln, his mother, and sister were living at 261 Park Street in the Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester. Living with them, was Lincoln’s 86-year-old great-aunt, Elizabeth Rand. There was also a boarder who was a railroad conductor. In 1910, they resided at 23 Thornley Street in Jones Hill. Elizabeth Rand was no longer in the household, but they now had two other boarders, both female bookkeepers. Hattie and Helena were working, Hattie as a dressmaker and Helena as a department store saleslady. In 1917, the family lived at 47 Larchmont Street, back in Fields Corner. By then, Lincoln was working as a salesman with Brown-Wales Company, which sold iron, steel, tin-plate, metals, and plumbing supplies.
Lincoln registered for the draft on June 5, 1917. Two days later, he enrolled in the Navy at the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown as a Seaman, 2nd Class. In July, he was stationed on a receiving ship in Boston. In September, he was assigned to the USS Salem; he remained there until the Armistice. The USS Salem was on anti-submarine duty, serving as the flagship for convoys of submarine chasers and performing anti-submarine patrols. In January 1919, Lincoln was placed on inactive duty and when his enrollment expired on June 6, 1921, he was given an honorable discharge. By the end of his service, he achieved a rank of Fireman Second Class.
While he was in the Navy, in February 1918, his mother died. After the war, he lived with his sister. In 1920, they boarded at 667 Dudley Street, in the household of Emma Corning, an assistant buyer in a department store. Helena was still working as a department store saleslady. Eventually she would become a missionary, serving in Africa. In 1920, Lincoln was also associated with the address 6 Humphrey Place, Dorchester, the address given for him when his marriage intention ran in The Boston Globe.
In June 1920, Lincoln married Katherine M. Fischer, 19, of 15 Elder Street, Dorchester. In 1928, they purchased a home at 53 Merrill Road, Watertown, near the Oakley Country Club. The couple lived here for the rest of Lincoln’s life.
After the war, Lincoln returned to his previous line of employment, working as a steel salesman at an iron and steel company. He remained in metal sales for the entirety of his career, working as a manufacturer’s representative. He travelled for work; his occupation on the 1930 census is “commercial traveler.” Passenger lists show him sailing in 1936 from Bermuda to New York, in 1939 from Havana, Cuba, to New York, and in 1940 from Havana to Miami. By 1940, he was in sheet and roll copper sales, working for the New Haven Copper Company.
Lincoln died in 1960 on April 28, 1960. He was survived by his wife, Katherine, and his sister, Helena.
Sources
Birth Certificate, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Family Tree, Ancestry.com
1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 Federal Census; Ancestry.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, National Archive and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Service Card, Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
Boston Directory, Boston, MA: Sampson & Murdock, 1922; 1233
Selective Service Registration Card, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“USS Salem (CL-3)” Wikipedia.org <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Salem_(CL-3)>
“Marriage Intentions,” Boston Globe, 2 June 1920; 20
Boston and Watertown Directories, Various Years; Ancestry.com
Passenger Lists, Ancestry.com
Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007; Ancestry.com
