Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: James Alexancer MacRae

Posted on December 7, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: James Alexancer MacRae

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: James Alexander MacRae.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

James Alexander MacRae was born on June 10, 1894, in Boston. His parents, Alexander and Agnes (Lewis) McRae, were from Prince Edward Island, Canada. Agnes worked as a dressmaker prior to their marriage in Boston in September 1893. James had two brothers: John born in 1897 and Lewis, born in 1904. He also had a sister, Mary, who died at 21 months.

Alexander was a hoisting engineer. It appears he was not always able to find steady work in his field. On the 1900 census he reported working as janitor; in 1910, he had been out of work 15 weeks. In the early part of the century, the family moved regularly. In 1895, they lived at 19 Dillon Street in the South End. Five years later, in 1900, they resided at 561 Columbus Avenue. By 1905, they had moved to 26 Kempton Street in Roxbury; two years later they were living a short distance away at 12 Kempton Street. They then moved across Huntington Avenue to 8 Wait Street, where they were living by 1910. In 1913, they relocated to Mattapan, purchasing 141 West Selden Street.

At age fifteen, in 1910, James was working as a clerk for a gas company, while still attending school. In 1916, during the Mexican Expedition, when United States forces attempted to capture Mexican revolutionary Francisco, or Pancho, Villa, James served with the 9th Massachusetts Regiment along the United States-Mexico border. By June 1917, he was back in Dorchester and working as a salesman.

During the First World War, James mustered as a Private in the 9th Massachusetts Infantry, which was later reclassified as the 101st Infantry of the 26th Division, or Yankee Division. James served in H Company. He sailed for Europe on September 7, 1917, on the USS Pastores, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey. On February 23, 1918, James took part in the 101st Infantry’s “first big raid” on German trenches, which resulted in the capture of 25 German prisoners. For his participation he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. He was also praised in General Orders on April 15, 1918; according to a Boston Globe story, he was “cited for gallantry and especially meritorious service in action against the enemy.” The Boston Post reported in March 1918, that James was a Corporal and this was the rank later used on his military issued headstone. When he returned to the United States on May 25, 1919, on the USS Freedom, he was listed as a Private First Class in the 214th Military Police Company.

James married Florence G. Duffy on October 24, 1920. Florence, who lived at 3 Standish Street in Dorchester, was a stenographer. Reverend Edward D. Maguire of Saint Angela’s Church on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan performed the service. The couple moved into the second unit at 141 West Selden Street, where they remained for the rest of James’s life. They had one son, James A., Jr.

In the early 1920s, James worked as a stationary engineer. In April 1922, he was hired by the City of Boston as a hoisting engineer, for a term of no more than six months. In June 1922, James was appointed a Boston City Patrolman, assigned to Division 19 in Mattapan. He thwarted a robbery in March 1923, going undercover as the collector of the Mattapan National Bank and arresting the three young men who were believed to be planning to rob the collector. The next month, he was commended by the Police Commissioner for “meritorious police work.” He resigned from the police force in September 1925. For the rest of the decade he sold automobiles.

James died in Mattapan on January 11, 1931. A Solemn High Mass was celebrated for him at St. Angela’s Church. He was buried in New Calvary Cemetery in Mattapan.

Sources

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

Family Tree, Ancestry.com

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

“Pancho Villa Expedition,” Wikipedia.org, last edited on 9 November 2019, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Villa_Expedition>

Sibley, Frank P. “With the Yankee Division in France” [excerpt from book], Boston Globe, 27 April 1919: 71; Newspapers.com

“France Decorates Corporal MacRae,” Boston Post, 27 March 1918:18; Newspapers.com

“New England Boys Who Won Honors Fighting in France,” Boston Globe, 9 May 1918: 4: Newspapers.com

The Book of Salutation to the Twenty-sixth (“Yankee”) Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. Boston: Committee of Welcome Appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts and the Mayor of Boston, 1919; Archive.org

Marriage Record, “Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920,”Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org

City Record, Official Publication of the City of Boston, 1922, City of Boston Printing Department, 1922; Archive.org

“Commissioner Appoints 12 New Patrolmen,” Boston Globe, 6 June 1922: 6; Newspapers.com

“Patrolmen Commended by Police Commissioner,” Boston Globe, 5 April 1923:13; Newspapers.com

“Foil Plot to Rob Collector of Bank,” Boston Globe, 10 March 1923: 1; Newspapers.com

City Record, Official Publication of the city of Boston, 1926, City of Boston Printing Department, 1926; Archive.org

Deaths, Boston Globe, 12 January 1931: 11; 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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, James Alexander MacRae, Mattapan, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Francis Elliott Lowd

Posted on December 7, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Francis Elliott Lowd

Our next biography features: Francis Elliott Lowd.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

Francis Elliott Lowd was born on December 20, 1894 at 13 Woodward Street in South Boston to Mary and Henry Lowd. Mary was a Bostonian of Irish ancestry; Henry was from New Hampshire and worked as a teamster. Francis, called Frank, was their only child. In 1900, they still lived in South Boston, at 115 O Street, in City Point. Henry was a packer at a wholesale boot and shoe company. By 1910, they had moved to Dorchester, residing at 221 Millet Street. Henry was then a furniture company shipping clerk; Mary worked as a milliner. Sometime after, they moved to 12 Standish Street, where they were living in 1917.

On March 26, a week before war was declared, Frank enlisted in the National Guard. He served in the Supply Company of the 9th Infantry, which was later re-designated the 101st Infantry Regiment and assigned to the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th Infantry Division, also known as the “Yankee” Division. In April, Frank mustered as a Wagoner, a driver of animal-drawn transport, conveying supplies, generally from depots to units. He maintained the wagons and cared for the animals that pulled the vehicles.

Frank shipped overseas with the 101st on September 7, 1917, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, sailing on the USS Pastores. The 101st were the first of the Yankee Division to arrive in France, landing in Saint-Nazaire on September 21, 1917. In August 1918, Frank was made a Private. After the war, he returned to the United States on the USS America, sailing from Brest, France, on March 28, 1919. The ship docked in Boston on April 5, and he was demobilized at Camp Devens in Ayer and Shirley, on April 25, 1919.

During the war, his parents moved to 109 Fuller Street, in the Ashmont neighborhood of Dorchester. Frank was living there on June 18, 1919 when he wed telegraph operator Mary E. Fallon of 92 Maxwell Street, Dorchester. They were married by Father Daniel Burke of St. Matthew’s Church on Stanton Street.

Frank and Mary had three children: Francis E. born in 1920, Henry L. in 1927 and Patricia in 1932. In the late 1920s and early 1930s they lived in Dorchester at 67 Whitten Street, and then at 3 King Street. In the late 1930s, they moved to Malden, to 5 Beach Street. After Frank’s father died in 1926, Frank’s mother, Mary, moved in with the family and lived with them until her death in 1944.

At the time of his marriage, Frank was employed as a government clerk. In the 1920s and 1930s, he worked as a chauffeur. He reported on the 1940 census that during the Great Depression he had been unemployed for 172 weeks and was currently a general foreman doing public emergency work. His son Francis Junior, who aspired to be a singer with an orchestra, worked as an attendant at a gas station. In 1942, Frank was working at East Point, Nahant, at the “sub-station,” possibly the submarine detection installation at the site which began operation that year.

Only three years later, Frank Lowd died on April 3, 1945. According to his obituary, he was survived by his wife, Mary (nee Fallon). His funeral was held at the home of his sister-in-law, Sue Fallon, at 92 Maxfield Street and a solemn mass celebrated at St. Matthew’s Church. He was a late member of the Malden Post of the American Legion and of the 101st Supply Division.

Sources

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

1900, 1910, 1930, 1940 Federal Census; 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.

“The duties of the US Army Wagoner” US Army Veterinary Corps Historical Preservation Group <http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gregkrenzelok/genealogy/veterinary%20corp%20in%20ww1/wagonerduties.html>

Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, The National Archives at College Park; College Park; Ancestry.com

“History of the 26th Yankee Division: A Narrative Compiled by Direction of the Commanding General by Officers of the General Staff Sections, Division Headquarters, from Field Orders, Operations Reports, and Records in Division Adjutant’s Office.” Committee of Welcome Official Programme, April 25, 1919, viewed online, Lane Memorial Library, Hampton NH

<http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/military/26thDivisionYD/26thDivisionHistory1919.html>

Marriage record, Massachusetts State Vital Records; Familysearch.org

Boston City Directories; Ancestry.com

Malden City Directories; Ancestry.com

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

Walding, Richard. “ANTI-SUBMARINE INDICATOR LOOP STATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES – WW2, East Point Loop Receiving Station, Nahant, Massachusetts” <http://indicatorloops.com/eastpoint.htm>

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Frank, Fuller Street, Millet Street, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Carl Theodore Henderson

Posted on December 7, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Carl Theodore Henderson

Our next biography features: Carl Theodore Henderson.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

Carl Theodore Henderson was born on September 20, 1893, in Woodstock, New Brunswick, to Ada Maud (Honey) and Theodore Henderson. Theodore was a painter, born in St. John, New Brunswick and Ada was from Brookline, Massachusetts, also of Canadian ancestry; they were married in Brookline in 1891.

Carl immigrated to the United States when he was three months old. It is likely that Theodore had died by this time. Between 1895 and 1897, Ada lived at 12 Roberts Street in Brookline and worked as a dressmaker. It appears as though Ada and Carl were not able to live together. Carl T. Henderson appears in the 1900 Census living at 60 Sanford Street, Mattapan, with Robert and Isabella Swallow, Canadian immigrants, who had been married for 14 years and had no children of their own. On the 1910 Census, a Carl T. Henderson, a jewelry store errand boy, was reported living at 18 Medway Street in Lower Mills with Alfred and Laura Newcomb and their son, William, who was the same age as Carl. The Newcombs were also Canadian immigrants. Alfred was a carpenter and William, a grocery clerk. Also in the household was a boarder, who worked at the chocolate mill. Ada herself may have lived apart from her parents in childhood; it is possible she is the Ada Honey, age 9, who appears on the 1880 Census living at the Boston Children’s Friend Society, a home for orphaned and neglected children, at 48 Rutland Street in the South End.

By 1912, Ada was living at 21 Ruggles Street (today’s Rugdale Road) in Lower Mills, serving as a nurse to the home’s owner, Lorenzo Wallace Gurney. Carl lived at this address off and on during his life, and it is the address given on Dr. Perkin’s notecard for Carl Henderson.

On May 2, 1917, Carl enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard at the East Armory in Boston, reporting for duty that day. He served in Company C of the 9th Infantry Massachusetts National Guard, which was later reclassified as the 101st Infantry, 26th Division. According to Dr. Perkin’s notecard for Carl Henderson, Carl was assigned first to a camp in Readville, a neighborhood of Hyde Park, and then, in June, was stationed at Camp Framingham, where he was placed on guard duty.

On September 7, 1917, Carl sailed for France and in January 1918, he was made Private First Class. His engagements were Chemin-des-Dames, Toul, Argonne Forest, and Verdun. He was slightly wounded on October 26, 1918, resulting in his being classified as ten percent disabled. On March 28, 1919, he sailed from Brest, France, on the USS America, reaching Boston on April 5. He was discharged at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts on May 13, 1919.

That fall, Carl was a part of the Ashmont Novelty Orchestra, a jazz band made up of “local boys and ex-service men.” In 1920 and 1921, he appears in the Boston directory living at 21 Ruggles Place, working as a clerk. In December 1921, he was naturalized an American citizen. On his Petition for Naturalization, he gave his occupation as student; in the 1923 and 1924 yearbooks of the College of Business Administration of Boston University, Carl appears as a student in the “Special Course, Federal Board for Vocational Education, Day Division.”

In the same year he became an American citizen, Carl married Dorothy A. Callahan. They had three children: Edith, Doris, and Paul. The Boston directory shows Carl at 188 Minot Street in 1924, 52 Hillsdale Street in 1927 and at 21 Ruggles Place in 1926 and 1928. In 1930, Carl and Dorothy moved to 330 Codman Street (on a stretch of the street soon renamed Gallivan Boulevard). In 1933, they appear once again at 21 Ruggles Place, the same year Lorenzo Wallace Gurney, the home’s owner and Ada’s employer, died. They remained at 21 Ruggles Place until 1946, when they moved to 55 Sturbridge Street in Mattapan. The next year, they moved to 2183 Dorchester Avenue, where they lived for the rest of Carl’s life. Beginning in the mid-1920s, Carl is listed in directories as a salesman. By the early 1940s, he was a clerk with the Postal Service, working at the South Annex in Boston.

Carl died on January 18, 1951, in Dorchester, and was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery. He was a member of the Old Dorchester Post of the American Legion, and he was survived by his wife and three children.

Sources

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

Boston University, Syllabus Yearbook,1923, pg 99; Ancestry.com

Family Tree, Ancestry.com

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

Brookline Directories, various years; collection Brookline Historical Society

Census Records, Federal, 1880,1900, 1910, 1930; Ancestry.com

Boston Directories, various years; Ancestry.com

Atlas of the City of Boston, Dorchester: from Actual Surveys and Official Plans, Plates 34 & 35. Philadelphia: G.W. Bromley and Co., 1933, c1934. 1933; Library of Congress, loc.gov

Service Record; The Adjutant General Office, Archives-Museum Branch, Concord, MA

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 3 September 1919: 4; Newspapers.com

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 19 Jan 1951: 22; Newspapers.com

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 13 June 1960: 26; Newspapers.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Carl Theodore Henderson, Dorchester, Mattapan, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Lincoln Hayes

Posted on December 7, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Lincoln Hayes

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Fields Corner, Lincoln Hayes, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Cecil Gardner Harris

Posted on December 7, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Cecil Gardner Harris

Our next biography features: Cedil Gardner Harris.

Written by Debbie Fox.

Cecil Gardner Harris was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on December 31, 1895, to parents, Ezra and Grace (Robinson), living at 45 Rockwell Street in Dorchester. His father, Ezra, was born in 1860 in Margaretville, Nova Scotia, to English Canadian parents, and came to the United States in 1880; he had become a naturalized citizen by 1900. Grace D. Robinson, his mother, was from Chelsea, Massachusetts.

At the time of Cecil’s birth, the Harris family consisted of Jeanette (1881), Edith (1885), Charles (1887), and Leroy (1893). The home at 45 Rockwell Street. was owned with a mortgage. By 1910, three more children had been added to the household: Vernon(1901, Mildred (1903), and Grace (1905).

On June 5, 1917, Cecil filled out a draft registration card. His address and date of birth are consistent with all other documents recorded about him to this point. He described himself as medium height and weight with brown eyes and black hair. He enlisted on December 28, 1917, in the Naval Reserve Force and was discharged on September 5, 1918.

Marriage records show that on June 4, 1923, Cecil married Ellen L. Broderick of 55 Virginia St in Dorchester. Sadly, the 1930 census has him back at 45 Rockwell Street, as a widower. In the house at this time were: Cecil, his parents, sisters Jeanette Gould, a widow, Grace and her husband Lester E. MacNeil (sometimes listed as Edward L.) and their daughter Joan, and nephew Arthur Harris.

By the 1940 census Cecil’s parents were both gone. His father in 1936, and his mother sometime before that. He was listed as head of household. The family of Daniel MacNeil, his wife and three children were also living at 45 Rockwell Street;perhaps some of Grace’s in-laws had moved in..

In 1942, Cecil was required to register for another draft, this time for World War II; he was 46. He listed his sister, Jeanette, as his contact person and his place of occupation as Ezra S. Harris & Sons, 168 Kneeland St., Boston. Further search in a 1916 Boston City Directory showed a listing for Ezra S. Harris & Son (Charles) at 157 Kneeland St. Apparently the trucking/ teamster/ chauffeur business that occupied most of the male members of the Harris family was their own business from at least 1916 to 1942.

Cecil Gardner Harris died in North Weymouth, Massachusetts on January 24, 1963 he was 68. He was predeceased by his wife Helen but survived by sisters Jeanette, Mildred, Grace and brothers Roy and Vernon. Donations were requested for the Dorchester Temple Baptist Church.

Sources:

FamilySearch.org. U.S. Federal Census Records. 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, database with images. Washington, D.C.; National Archives and Records Administration.

FamilySearch.org. Massachusetts Vital Records. 1911, 1915, database with images.

FamilySearch.org. World War I Draft Card No. 70. Washington D.C.; National Archives and Records Administration.

FamilySearch.org. World War I Master Index. Military Division of the Adjunct General’s Office Massachusetts National Guard.

FamilySearch.org. World War II Draft Card, Serial Number 1707. Selective Service System Group No. 147.

National Archives and Records Administration. 1942.

Newspapers.com. The Boston Globe, January 25, 1963.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Cecil Gardner Harris, Dorchester, Rockwell Street, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Harold Bertram Golding

Posted on December 7, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Harold Bertram Golding

Our next biography features: Harold Bertram Golding.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

Harold Bertram Golding was born in St. John, New Brunswick, on March 28, 1898, the son of machinist George Edgar Golding and his wife, Lena. Harold’s sister, Myrtle, was born two years later. The family immigrated to the United States around 1902. They settled in Dorchester, at 24 Mountain Avenue, where Harold’s youngest sister Edith was born in 1908. Harold graduated from Dorchester High School.

By 1917, the family had moved to 54 Rockwell Street. On May 25, at age 19, Harold enlisted at Fort Slocum in New Rochelle, New York. He served in Company C, 6th Engineers. Shortly before enlisting, he began the process of becoming an American citizen.

On December 4, 1917, he sailed for France from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the USS George Washington. He participated in engagements at Aisne-Marne, Champagne-Marne, and Saint-Mihiel. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in October 1918, he distinguished himself at Bois de Clair Chenes. His Recommendation for Divisional Citation noted, “Pvt, 1st Class, Golding rendered faithful and efficient service as a runner to the front line, continuing this work ten days after his company had been relieved from the front line as Infantry. He constantly exposed himself and was undeterred by heavy shell and the machine gun fire from enemy snipers.” On November 11, 1918, he was made a Corporal.

He returned to the United States in August, 1919, sailing from Brest on the USS Manchuria, and arriving in Hoboken on August 25. On September 2, 1919 he was naturalized as an American citizen; he was discharged the next day.

In 1920, his family resided at 83 Standard Street in Mattapan. Harold entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and graduated with the class of 1923. While a student, he co-authored the dissertation “Erosion Test on Valve and Turbine Metals.”

In the late 1920s, Harold and his parents left Dorchester. After a short time in West Roxbury, they purchased a home in Dedham. In 1930, Harold was working as a mechanical engineer at a surgical instruments manufacturer; his father worked there, too, as a machinist. The manufacturer was probably International Equipment Company, where Harold reported working in 1940. He continued with the company for the rest of his life, eventually becoming the vice-president. Located in Brighton, International Equipment was well known for its centrifuges. In 1950, Harold contributed the chapter “Centrifuging,” in Volume III of the textbook Techniques of Organic Chemistry.

Harold was an active member of the Boston Skating Club, serving in many roles, including treasurer and head of the Equipment Committee. In 1953, Harold travelled to Central America with a friend from the club, George Blodgett. Both men were pilots, and they flew in Blodgett’s Cessna 180 airplane. Their ultimate destination was Lima, Peru. On July 17, they traveled from Guatemala City to Managua, Nicaragua, to refuel their plane. They then departed for San Jose, Costa Rica, but their plane never arrived. The Nicaraguan Air Force conducted an extensive search for the downed plane for three days but never found the plane. The President of Nicaragua, Anastacio Somoza, even personally conducted some of the search.. By March,1954, any hope of finding Harold and George was abandoned and a memorial service for both men was held at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge.

Sources

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Index to County Birth Registers; archives.gnb.ca

Government of Canada, 1901 Census, Ottawa, ON: Library and Archives Canada, 1901; bac-lac.gc.ca

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

Birth record for Edith Golding, Birth Certificate, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com

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

Service Record; The Adjutant General Office, Archives-Museum Branch, Concord, MA

The History of the 6th Engineers by Its Men. NY: Knickerbocker Press, 1920, pg 222; google books

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

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Technique 1924, page 68; technique.mit.edu/archive/

Golding, Harold B. “Centrifuging,” Technique of Organic Chemistry, Vol III. NY: Intersciences Publishers, Inc, 1950, pgs vii, 143-170

Boston Directories, various years; Ancestry.com

“Plane Wreck Sighted in Panama Spurs Hope for Cambridge Men” Boston Globe. 29 July 1953: 13

“Search Pushed for Bay Staters Lost on Plane” Boston Globe. 30 July 1953:9

“Memorial to be Held Saturday for Blodgett, Golding” Boston Globe. 17 March 1954: 23

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Harold Bertram Golding, Mountain Avenue, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Harold Bertram Golding

Posted on December 6, 2019 by earltaylor