Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Dorothy Veronica Ryan

Posted on December 4, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Dorothy Veronica Ryan

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: Dorothy Veronica Ryan.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

Dorothy Veronica Ryan was born on September 6, 1899, at 43 Milton Avenue in the Cedar Grove section of Dorchester. Her father, Edward Augustine Ryan, born in Boston, was a city police officer. Her mother, Anna M. (Mahoney), known as Annie, was born in Dorchester, baptized at Saint Gregory’s Church in Lower Mills, and grew up on Washington Street. Edward and Annie were married in 1896 in Boston. They also had three sons: Edward, Jr. born in 1897, Charles in 1902, and Henry in 1906.

In 1900, Edward was promoted from reserve officer to Patrolman in Division 5, based at 21 East Dedham Street in the South End, making $1,200 a year. He became a sergeant in 1912. By 1907, the family had moved to 14 Thetford Avenue. Dorothy attended the Roger Wolcott School at the corner of Norfolk and Morton Streets. In 1917, she graduated from Dorchester High School, in what was then the school’s largest graduating class. A family photo shows Dorothy in a Red Cross nurse uniform; it is possible that she was in the Red Cross around this time.

During the First World War, Dorothy served in the United States Naval Reserve Force as a Yeoman (F) First Class. Called “Yeomanettes,” female Yeomen were officially enlisted 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.

Dorothy enrolled in the Navy on July 30, 1918. Female Yeomen joined for a four-year-term. On his notecard for Dorothy V. Ryan, Dr. Perkins noted that Dorothy served in the Charlestown Navy Yard and was a “clerk for a time in office.” 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.

There was also no official female uniform, so Dorothy probably made or purchased the outfit she wears in the Perkins collections photo. The Navy specified women wear a white or blue single breasted jacket, a skirt with a hem four inches above the ankle, and a brimmed hat. The female Yeoman was responsible for acquiring these items herself.

The female Yeomen were placed on inactive duty in July 1919. Dorothy still worked as a stenographer in the Navy Yard in 1920, according to the census; many female Yeomen were temporarily appointed to Civil Service jobs in their previous workplaces while on inactive status. Dorothy was discharged on July 19, 1920.

On July 18, 1923, she married 32-year-old Alfred Alonzo Shea, a public accountant with Wolper, Shea, and Company. Born in Boston and raised in Milton, he was a graduate of Boston University, where he studied in the College of Business Administration. During the war, he, too, served in the Navy. Initially, he was a Chief Yeoman in the coast inspection service, stationed in Bath, Maine. In October 1917, he received a commission as an Assistant Paymaster, with a rank of Ensign, and was transferred to the Charlestown Navy Yard. Alfred had also been Dorothy’s neighbor; in 1918, he lived at 27 Thetford Avenue. Dorothy and Alfred were married by Reverend Stephen P. Moran of Saint Matthew’s Church on Stanton Street. Directly following their marriage, they embarked on a honeymoon to Alberta, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego. When they returned they lived in the Back Bay, at 19 Queensbury Street.

After her marriage, Dorothy was a homemaker. She and Alfred had two children, Dorothy Anna born in 1924 and Joseph Alfred in 1932. In 1930, the family lived at 105 Russet Road in West Roxbury. They moved to East Side Parkway in Newtonville in 1933. In 1937, they purchased 57 Melrose Avenue in Needham.

Alfred died in 1951. The Melrose Avenue house was sold in 1968. By the early 1970s, both of Dorothy’s children lived in California and it is possible she moved there, as well. Dorothy died in Upland, California, on March 10, 1971. She was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury.

Sources

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

Family Tree, including family photos; Ancestry.com

Officials and Employees of the City of Boston and County of Suffolk with Their Residences, Compensation, Etc. Boston, 1907: 82; Archive.org

Seventh Annual report of the Police Commissioner for the City of Boston, Year Ending November 30 1912. Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co, State Printers, 1913; Archive.org

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

“Oliver Wendell Holmes School the Leader in Numbers,” Boston Globe, 19 June 1913: 7; Newspapers.com

“Dorchester High School Graduates Record Class,” Boston Globe, 22 June 1917; 8

“United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940,” Military Service, NARA microfilm publication 76193916 St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985; FamilySearch.org

“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>

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

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 19 July 1923: 8; Newspapers.com

“Alfred A. Shea Made an Assistant Paymaster,” Boston Globe, 16 October 1917: 5; Newspapers.com

Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com

Deed, Book 2142, page487, dated 5 May 1937, Norfolk County Registry of Deeds; NorfolkResearch.org

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

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

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 13 March 1971: 22; Newspapers.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Dorothy Veronica Ryan, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Lynwood Waldron Storer

Posted on December 4, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Lynwood Waldron Storer

Our next biography features: Lynwood Waldron Storer.

Written by Donna Albino.

Lynwood Waldron Storer was born on July 31, 1887, in New Sharon, Maine to parents Charles and Lizzie Storer, both born in Maine. Lynwood was still living in his hometown as late as 1910, according to the US Census. But shortly after the census was assembled, Lynwood must have headed for Massachusetts; he graduated from Massachusetts College of Optometry in Boston in 1916, and married Hazel Etta Appleby, an immigrant from New Brunswick, Canada, in 1917 in Waltham. Perhaps inspired by his father’s military service during the Civil War, Lynwood served as a sergeant in the medical department of the 33rd Engineers during WWI. His WWI service card lists the only Dorchester address he had during his life: 1120 Washington Street. By 1920, Lynwood and his wife Hazel were living in Roslindale, according to the US Census.

During the 1920s, the family grew by two: their son Edward Lynwood Storer was born in 1920, and their son Philip Whittemore Storer was born in 1922. For a brief time, the family lived in Belmont, but for most of the rest of their lives, the Storer family lived in Allston-Brighton and Newton.

Lynwood spent his career as an optometrist. He was a member of the Massachusetts and American Societies of Optometrists, and a trustee at his alma mater, Massachusetts College of Optometry. He was also very active in his community, serving as an officer for many years for the Allston-Brighton Kiwanis. The Boston Globe ran many articles describing events that he helped organize and facilitate for the Kiwanis in the 1930s and 1940s. Lynwood also served as a member of Ebenezer Fuller Masonic Lodge in Newtonville, and the American Legion. He was the vice president of Brighton Cooperative Bank, and deacon of Allston Congregational Church.

Lynwood’s wife Hazel passed away on April 15, 1969. They had been married for over 50 years. Seven months later, Lynwood joined her; he passed away on November 16, 1969. They are buried together in Newton Cemetery. At the time of their death, their son Edward was a doctor living in Needham, and their son Philip lived in Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania, and they had six grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Sources:

Maine Birth Records, 1715-1922. Augusta, Maine: Maine State Archives. Maine Birth Records, 1715-1922, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.

Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Marriages [1916–1970]. Volumes 76–166, 192– 207. Facsimile edition. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.

Year: 1900; Census Place: New Sharon, Franklin, Maine; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0097; FHL microfilm: 1240592

Year: 1910; Census Place: New Sharon, Franklin, Maine; Roll: T624_540; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0132; FHL microfilm: 1374553

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 23, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_740; Page: 36B; Enumeration District: 548

Year: 1930; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0266; FHL microfilm: 2340694

Year: 1940; Census Place: Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01614; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 9-409

US Army Transport Service, passenger list, 30 June 1918 on Calamares

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) * 17 Nov 1969, Mon * Page 30 (obituary)

FindAGrave memorial, Linwood Storer (1887-1969), Newton, Mass.

Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733-1990. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Storer-Grant-Gould-Warren family tree, by PhilipStorer59, Ancestry.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Lynwood Waldron Storer, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biographies: Upham Brothers and Cousin

Posted on December 4, 2019 by earltaylor

Albert Lewis Upham

Roy Davis Upham

Sumner Bruce Upham

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biographies: Upham Brothers and Cousin

Our next biography features: Upham Brothers.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

In 1916, as the United States entered the First World War, 96 Temple Street in Mattapan was home to three men who would serve in the conflict: Albert Lewis Upham, his younger brother, Sumner Bruce Upham, and their cousin, Roy Davis Upham. The Uphams were descended from an early settler of Weymouth, John Upham, who had been admitted as a freeman in the town in 1635. Their great-great grandfather, Richard Upham, a trader based in Salem, eventually helped to settle Onslow, Nova Scotia. A family history described this branch of the Upham family as “gentle in their manners, intelligent and given to the acquisition of knowledge.” In the late 19th century, members of the family immigrated from Canada back to the United States, including the fathers of Albert, Sumner, and Roy.

Albert and Sumner were born in Dorchester; Albert on January 19, 1888, and Sumner on December 22, 1895. Their parents, Annie Jane Plummer of Dorchester and Robert Upham, married in February, 1887. The couple also had a daughter, Marion Davis, born in 1889, as well as two children who died in infancy: Harold born in 1893 and Jessie born in 1905.

By 1900, Robert Upham owned 96 Temple Street. He was a foreman in a chocolate factory, probably Walter Baker Chocolate. Albert and Sumner attended the Gilbert Stuart School on Richmond Street. As a teenager, Albert competed in cross country and track races for the North Dorchester Athletic Association. By 1910, he had begun working as a surveyor for a steam railroad. In 1912, he moved for a time to Chicago, where he was a civil engineer on a viaduct project for the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad.

Roy was the son of James Monroe Upham, Robert’s brother, and Mary Belle Grant, also from Nova Scotia. They married in 1889 and settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, where James worked at the Springfield Foundry Company. Roy was born in Springfield on March 2, 1895. He had two older sisters, Irene born in 1891 and Grace born in 1893.

In May 1899, James died in Springfield of perihepatitis, a liver disease. In 1900, Mary moved the family to Dorchester, to 2209 Dorchester Avenue. In March 1902, Mary died at the Cullis Consumptives Home in Grove Hall of pulmonary phthisis, or tuberculosis. Orphaned, Roy became a pupil at the Farm and Trades School on Thompson Island in Boston Harbor. The school, founded in 1833, was known earlier as the Boston Asylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys; students lived on the island which was accessible only by boat. By the time Roy attended, in addition to farming, students were prepared for trades including woodworking and printing. He graduated from the school in 1912, reading his essay “The Geology of Our Island” during the graduation ceremony. He was also a runner, competing in the 100-meter dash for the school.

In 1916, Roy was living with his cousins at 96 Temple Street, working as a helper at a business at 168 Purchase Street in Boston. A year later, when he registered for the draft in June 1917, he was still living at 96 Temple, but was now an ink mixer for the Geo. H. Morrill Company, which made printing and lithographic inks. Also still living at 96 Temple Street, Albert was an inspector of construction for the United States Government, Naval Department, in Hingham, Massachusetts. Sumner had recently moved to St. Clair, Michigan and was a stenographer for the city’s major industry, the Diamond Crystal Salt Company.

Sumner’s draft registration serial number was pulled during the draft lottery on July 20, 1917, making him one of the initial “Ten Million Young Men Called to Uncle Sam’s Aid by Lot.” At his physical he was found “physically fit and claims no exemption.” He was inducted into the Army on November 17, 1917, and trained at Camp Custer outside of Battle Creek, Michigan. On July 22, 1918, he sailed from New York on the RMS Carmania. In France, he served with the Headquarters Company of the 102 Infantry, 26th Division, and the Headquarters Detachment of the 85th Division, attaining a rank of Regimental Sergeant Major. On March 31, 1919, he sailed from Brest, France on the USS Agamemnon, arriving in Boston on April 7. He was discharged on April 22, 1919.

Roy was drafted and inducted into the Army in Mattapan on October 5, 1917. He served with F Company, 301st Infantry until March 19, 1918, when he was transferred to Headquarters Company, 301st Infantry. On April 1, he was promoted to Private First Class. He sailed for France from New York on July 8, 1918 on the RMS Cedric. He returned to the United States on April 18, 1919, sailing from Saint-Nazaire, France, with the St Nazaire Special Casual Company 658 on the USS Kroonland. He was demobilized and discharged on May 2, 1919.

Albert enlisted in the National Army at Camp Meade, Maryland on December 3, 1917, and was assigned to G Company, 23rd Engineers. He sailed for France on March 30, 1918, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey on the USS George Washington shortly after making Private First Class. His engagements were at St-Mihiel and in the Defensive Sector. At the end of April 1919, he was transferred to C Company, Headquarters Battalion Army Service Corp. He returned to the United States with the Headquarters Detachment of the 23rd Engineers/Le Mans Casual Company, sailing from Le Mans, France on July 8, on the SS La Savoie. He was discharged on July 19, 1919.

After the war, Sumner returned to St. Clair and the Diamond Salt Company. On September 2, 1922, he married Frances Ellen Thompson, in what was “one of the prominent weddings of early fall.” A Michigan native, Frances had spent time in Massachusetts attending Pine Manor, then located in Wellesley, and Simmons School in Boston. After a honeymoon in Muskoka Lakes, Ontario, the couple lived in Nashville, Tennessee, where Sumner worked for the Ohio Salt Company. Later, he was a statistician with the Upjohn Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan, known for their easily digestible “friable pills.” Sumner and Frances purchased a home at 1444 Maple Street in Kalamazoo. They had two sons, Thompson Albert Edward born in 1928, and Jeremiah J. born in 1931.

Sumner became ill in November 1931, suffering for two months from “malignant endocarditis (sub acute), streptococcus viridans,” or an infection of the inner lining of the heart chamber and valves. He died on January 11, 1932, at New Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo. He was buried in St. Clair’s Hillside Cemetery.

Roy married during the war. On June 7, 1918, about a month before he sailed for France, he wed Alice Constance Gordon of North Cambridge. Alice was a Red Cross worker and ambulance driver. After the war, they lived in Cambridge, where their son, Roy H., was born in 1920. They later lived with Alice’s family in the Allerton section of Hull. Alice died in August 1923, following an illness of three weeks.

After his wife’s death, Roy and his son continued to live with his in-laws in Hull. In the 1920s and 1930s, directories show Roy employed as a clerk and stenographer; on the 1930 census his occupation was reported as wool salesman. On September 9, 1936, he and his son were on the steamer New York when it collided with the steamer Romance, sinking it in outer Boston Harbor, near Graves Light.

In 1940, Roy married Mildred Leary McGrory, a widow with four children. Roy and Mildred lived at her home, 56 Chauncy Street in South Weymouth. On his World War II draft registration, Roy reported that he worked for the Norfolk Paint and Varnish Company of Norfolk Downs, North Quincy. Roy died suddenly on May 3, 1949. He was buried in St. Francis Xavier cemetery in South Weymouth.

In 1920, Albert moved to Hartford, Connecticut, then relocated to San Diego, California, where he worked as a civil engineer in the petroleum industry. In the early 1920s, he married Mary, originally from Washington, D.C., and in San Diego working for the Navy. During the war she had been a Yeoman (F) 3rd Class in the United States Naval Reserve Force. Called “Yeomanettes,” female Yeomen were enlisted in the Navy and received the same rate of pay as men. They generally served in clerical roles, though some held specialized positions.

Albert and Mary had three children: Robert, Alice, and Marjorie. In 1933, Albert and his family moved to San Anselmo, California. During this time, he was in charge of the Works Progress Administration program in Marin County. By 1943, Albert was working for Captain J.B. Lowell, United States Navy, Inspector of Naval Material in San Francisco. The Uphams moved to San Francisco in 1952.

After a long illness, Albert died in May 1969 in Fairfax, California. Some sources list his death as May 15, others as May 20. He was buried in Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael, California.

Sources

Upham, F.K. Upham Genealogy: The Descendants of John Upham of Massachusetts: Who Came from England in 1635. Albany, NY: John Munsell’s Sons Publishers, 1892; Archive.org

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

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

“Happy Pupils,” Boston Globe, 26 June 1902: 3; “6028 Graduates in Boston Elementary Schools,” Boston Globe, 24 June 1904:4; Newspapers.com

Boston, Springfield Directories, various years; Ancestry.com

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

“Maloney Lands East Boston Run,” Boston Globe, 20 April 1911: 9; “John Cook Captures Ten-Mile Race” Boston Globe. 2 July 1911: 14; “Nationals Beat M.A.A.A,” Boston Globe, 1 December 1911: 10; Newspapers.com

The Sportsman, “Live Tips and Topics,” The Boston Globe, 18 July 1912: 6; Newspapers.com

“Thompson Island Collection,” Digital Collections, Joseph P. Healy Library, UMass Boston, <https://openarchives.umb.edu/digital/collection/p15774coll3>

“Graduation Exercises Held on Lawn,” Boston Globe, 7/15/12: 2; “Water & Field Sorts,” Boston Globe, 7/5/12: 11; Newspapers.com

World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, National Archive and Records Administration; Ancestry.com

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

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

“Army Draft Is Now in Progress,” Times Herald (Port Huron MI), 20 July 1917:1;”Men Examined Today in District #2,” Times Herald (Port Huron, MI), 8 August 1917: 4; “St Clair,” The Times Herald (Port Huron, MI), 17 Nov 1917: 6; Newspapers.com

Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, Record Group 92. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C; Ancestry.com

Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Ancestry.com

“Matrimonial, Upham-Thompson,” The Times Herald (Port Huron, MI), 4 September 1922; 2; Newspapers.com

“Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis,” Wikipedia, 16 February 2019, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subacute_bacterial_endocarditis>

Death Records. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan, Ancestry.com

“Upham Services This Afternoon,” The Times Herald (Port Huron, MI), 13 January 1932; 14; Newspapers.com

Mrs. Alice G. Upham Dies in Allerton. Boston Globe. 20 August 1923: 3; Newspapers.com

“Hull,” Boston Globe, 21 September 1936: 12; Newspapers.com

“Romance (1936)” Graves Light Station <http://graveslightstation.com/shipwrecks-graves-light/romance-1936/>

Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 5 May 1949: 29; Newspapers.com

“Obituaries” Daily Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA), 24 September 1970; 4; Newspapers.com

“Yeoman (F)” Wikipedia, 13 June 2018, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeoman_(F)>

“Deaths,” The San Francisco Examiner, 22 May 1969: 53; Newspapers.com

California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics; U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014; Ancestry.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Albert Lewis Upham, Dorchester, Roy Davis Upham, Sumner Bruce Upham, Temple Street, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Leo Franklin Weisse

Posted on December 4, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Leo Franklin Weisse

Our next biography features: Leo Franklin Weisse.

Written by Donna Albino.

Leo Franklin Weisse was born on May 10, 1898 in Boston. His parents, Leopold Weisse and Ellen (Murdock) Weisse, lived on Bearse Avenue in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester. In 1900, the family was renting their home at 15 Bearse Avenue in Dorchester, and Leo had an older brother named Carl (age 5). Their father, Leopold, worked as a machinist.

By 1910, the family moved a few houses away to 43 Bearse Avenue. Leopold was working as an engineer for a regulator company, probably the Mason Regulator Company a few blocks away, and several more siblings had joined the family: Frederick, Francis, Walter, and Paul.

Disaster struck in 1916. In May, Leo’s younger brother, Walter, fell from the Lower Mills Bridge trying to fetch a half dollar he lost in the Neponset River. His young friends ran for help, but Walter drowned before adults could get to the scene. He was only 9 years old.

On March 29, 1917, Leo joined the United States Navy on the same day that his older brother, Carl, joined the National Naval Volunteers, a reserve military organization for reservists, retirees, and volunteers. While his birth certificate lists his name as Leo Franklin Weisse, the name on his service card was Leo Francis Weisse, the name he used for the rest of his life. Leo and Carl both served on USS Kearsarge, a United States Navy ship used for coastal defense. During the Great War, USS Kearsarge was used to train Armed Guard crews and naval engineers during cruises along the Atlantic seaboard. On August 18, 1918, Kearsarge rescued 26 survivors of the Norwegian barque Nordhav, which had been sunk by U-117, a submarine in the German Navy, and brought them to Boston. Leo transferred to the District Detail Office in Boston on October 11, 1918, and was released from active duty on July 25, 1919. His honorable discharge was March 28, 1920.

In the 1920 census, Leo was living with his parents and brothers at 41 Bearse Avenue in Dorchester. Leo was a typist in an insurance office, his father Leopold was working as a master mechanic in a machine shop, his brother Carl was working as a bank clerk, and his brother Frederick was a typist in a manufacturing office.

Leo was still living with his parents in 1922, but by 1925 he had moved to Canton. In 1926, Leo married Nina Durham in Canton. By 1930, Leo and Nina had a 2-year-old daughter, Barbara. Leo’s mother passed away in 1929, so Leo’s father Leopold and Leo’s youngest brother Paul moved out of their Dorchester home on Bearse Avenue and came to live with the young family in their home in Canton. Leopold was working as a machinist in a factory, Leo was working as a bank clerk, and Paul was working as a clerk in a state home. By 1940, Leo and Nina had two more children, a daughter named Janet and a son named Leo. They were still living at the same address in Canton, and Leo’s father Leopold lived with them until he passed away in 1946.

By 1951, Leo and Nina were living in Milford, Connecticut. Leo was working as a labor investigator for the US government. Leo passed away suddenly on May 22, 1951 in Stamford, Connecticut. The cause of death was acute coronary thrombosis, the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. He was buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Canton. In 1954, his wife Nina applied for a military veteran’s headstone for his grave. A flat bronze marker with a Christian cross was installed later that year, and can be viewed in the photo of his grave at FindAGrave.com. Nina passed away in 1986, and is buried next to him.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Marriage Index, 1901-1955 and 1966-1970 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Connecticut Department of Health. Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2003.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 13; Enumeration District: 1528; FHL microfilm: 1240687

Year: 1910; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_624; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 1631; FHL microfilm: 1374637

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 21, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_739; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 525

Year: 1930; Census Place: Canton, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0034; FHL microfilm: 2340669

Year: 1940; Census Place: Canton, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01626; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 11-75

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

Wikipedia, USS Kearsarge (BB-5)

Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Ancestry.com, Sokolowski Family Tree by sokolowd

Ancestry.com, Sandra Wilcox family tree by SandiRaff

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Leo Franklin Weisse, Lower Mills, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Carl Herman Weisse

Posted on December 3, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Carl Herman Weisse

Our next biography features: Carl Herman Weisse.

Written by Donna Albino.

Carl Herman Weisse was born on June 8, 1895 in Boston. His parents, Leopold Weisse and Ellen (Murdock) Weisse, lived on Bearse Avenue in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester. The city directory did not list a house number, but according to the 1900 census, the family was renting their home at 15 Bearse Avenue in Dorchester, and Carl then had a younger brother named Leo. Carl’s father, Leopold, worked as a machinist.

By 1910, the family moved a few houses away to 43 Bearse Avenue. Leopold was working as an engineer for a regulator company, and there were several more boys in the family: Frederick, Francis, Walter, and Paul. Carl enjoyed the game of golf, and played for Dorchester High in 1911.

Disaster struck in 1916. In May, Carl’s younger brother, Walter, fell from the Lower Mills Bridge trying to fetch a half dollar that he had lost in the Neponset River. His young friends ran for help, but Walter drowned before adults could get to the scene. He was only 9 years old.

On March 29, 1917 Carl joined the war effort with the National Naval Volunteers, a reserve military organization for reservists, retirees, and volunteers. Carl served on the USS Kearsarge, a United States Navy ship used for coastal defense. During the Great War, the USS Kearsarge was used to train Armed Guard crews and naval engineers during cruises along the Atlantic seaboard. On August 18, 1918, Kearsarge rescued 26 survivors of the Norwegian barque Nordhav, which had been sunk by U-117, a submarine in the German Navy, and brought them to Boston. Carl continued to serve with the National Naval Volunteers after the war, until at least 1924.

In the 1920 census, Carl was living with his parents and brothers at 41 Bearse Avenue in Dorchester. Carl was working as a bank clerk, his father Leopold was working as a master mechanic in a machine shop, his brother Leo was a typist in an insurance office, and his brother Frederick was a typist in a manufacturing office.

On October 5, 1921, Carl married Margaret Camp in Washington, D.C. They moved to Milton and began their family. By 1930, they had five children: Carl, Jr. (age 7), Robert (age 6), twins Martin and Marie (age 4), and Laurence (age 1). Carl was working as a postal clerk. In 1940, their lives were much the same; they were still living in Milton with their children and Carl was still working as a postal clerk.

In 1942, Carl registered for the WWII draft. His draft card revealed he was six feet tall, 185 pounds, with blue eyes, gray hair and a dark complexion. Carl and his family lived in Milton for the rest of his life. In 1962, his wife Margaret was killed in a car crash in Braintree. Their daughter, Marie, was in the car with her, and was severely injured with two broken hips. Carl passed away the following year on December 19, 1963. His obituary revealed he had been a member of the Boston and Saco Valley Mineral Clubs. His son, Carl, Jr., had followed in his footsteps; he served with the Navy in WWII, and also enjoyed playing golf.

Sources:

Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. District of Columbia, Marriage Records, 1810-1953 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2014.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 13; Enumeration District: 1528; FHL microfilm: 1240687

Year: 1910; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_624; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 1631; FHL microfilm: 1374637

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 21, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_739; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 525

Year: 1930; Census Place: Milton, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Page: 18B; Enumeration District: 0067; FHL microfilm: 2340670

Year: 1940; Census Place: Milton, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01628; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 11-138

The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) for the State of Massachusetts; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System, 1926-1975; Record Group Number: 147; Series Number: M2090

Wikipedia, Naval Militia

Wikipedia, USS Kearsarge (BB-5)

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 06 Jul 1911, Thu Page 7

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 21 May 1916, Sun Page 13

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 23 Jul 1960, Sat Page 14

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 31 Oct 1962, Wed Page 25

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 20 Dec 1963, Fri Page 28

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 21 Dec 1963, Sat Page 28

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 23 Dec 1963, Mon Page 6

Ancestry.com, Sokolowski Family Tree by sololowd

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Carl Herman Weisse, Dorchester, Lower Mills, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: James Edward Walsh

Posted on December 3, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: James Edward Walsh

Our next biography features: James Edward Walsh.

Written by Donna Albino.

James Edward Walsh was born in Boston on December 12, 1896. His parents, Michael Walsh and Mary (Donlan) Walsh, were Irish immigrants living at 32 Huntoon Street in the Lower Mills section of Dorchester. Michael Walsh worked in a chocolate mill, most likely the Walter Baker Chocolate Factory, and Mary stayed at home with their five children.

In June 1917, when he was 20 years old, James enlisted in the war effort with the National Guard. He enlisted with Company E 9^th Infantry from Boston, which was redesignated as the 101^st Infantry Regiment after the United States joined the Allied Powers in the Great War. The regiment mustered in its new form in August 1917 in Framingham, Massachusetts, and arrived in France in September. It was the first Army National Guard unit of the American Expeditionary Force to arrive in France, and was also the first National Guard unit to enter frontline combat. Alongside the French Army, the 101^st made a raid into German lines in February 1918, marking the first time an American unit had launched a raid in the war.

The 101^st Regiment engaged the Germans in numerous battles along the Western Front, and James took an active part in all the big drives of his regiment, including four listed on James’s service card: Champagne-Marne (July 1918), Aisne-Marne (July-August 1918), St. Mihiel (September 1918), and Meuse-Argonne (October-November 1918). James was commended for gallant conduct and bravery displayed on Sept 13, 1918, while attacking a machine gun nest under heavy enemy fire in the St. Mihiel sector. James sent the citation home in a letter to his mother, who framed it for prominent display in the family living room. James served with his regiment until the last shot was fired in the war, and he came out of it with no injuries. His regiment was mustered out of service in April 1919 at Camp Devens in Massachusetts, and James was discharged shortly after

James returned to his parents’ home after the war, but only for a brief time. In 1921, he married Irish immigrant Delia Theresa McEvoy in Boston. By 1930, they had four children in a rented home at 60 Burt Street in the Ashmont section of Dorchester, and James was working as an electrician in building construction. By 1940, James had become a servicer of oil burners, and the family lived at 61 Lithgow Street in the Codman Square section of Dorchester.

James was an active member of American Legion Post 102 and Dorchester Lower Mills Council, Knights of Columbus. He passed away on February 13, 1959 in Belmont, Massachusetts, and is interred at New Calvary Cemetery in Mattapan, Massachusetts.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Marriage Index, 1901-1955 and 1966-1970 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 10; Enumeration District: 1528; FHL microfilm: 1240687

Year: 1910; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_624; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 1631; FHL microfilm: 1374637

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 21, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_739; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 525

Year: 1930; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 0463; FHL microfilm: 2340689

Year: 1940; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01675; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 15-580

Wikipedia, 101st Infantry Regiment (United States) in WWI

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 06 Feb 1919, Thu page 9

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 15 Feb 1959, Sun page 46

Walsh Family Tree, compiled by David Bristol, Ancestry.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, James Edward Walsh, Lower Mills, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Frank Marden Taylor

Posted on December 3, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Frank Marden Taylor

Our next biography features: Frank Marden Taylor.

Written by Donna Albino.

Frank Marden Taylor was born on September 4, 1888, in Mattapan. His father, John Taylor, was born in Prince Edward Island, Canada. He immigrated to the United States in 1850, when he was about 8 years old, and was working as a grocer when Frank was born. His mother, Annette Jerusha (Marden) Taylor, was born in Nashua, New Hampshire. Frank was the first son of the family; he had two older sisters.

In 1900, the family was living in a rented home at 46 River Street in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester. His father was working as a cabinet maker, and Frank’s oldest sister, Bertha, was working as a bookkeeper. Frank’s paternal grandmother was a widow, and she lived with them. By 1910, the family had moved two blocks away to 32 Temple Street. Frank was 21 years old, and working in an oil store. His father was retired, and his older sister Bertha was working in a grocery store.

In 1916, Frank was initiated as a Mason and was affiliated with a lodge in Hyde Park. On June 5, 1917, Frank registered for the war draft. His draft card revealed he was a man of medium height and build, with black hair and brown eyes. Frank was working as a brass moulder for American Tool and Machine Company in Hyde Park at the time he registered for the draft. On June 8, 1918 Frank married Mildred Evelyn Tibbetts, a young woman from Maine, in Everett, Massachusetts.

Shortly after getting married, Frank joined the war effort on August 30, 1918 and was sent to Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York on Long Island, a port of embarkation of the United States Army during World War I. The camp housed troops as they awaited ships for deployment overseas. Frank was assigned to the 152nd Depot Brigade, the garrison unit that received and organized new recruits, provided them with uniforms, equipment and initial military training, and then sent them to France to fight on the front lines. Composer Irving Berlin was a member of the 152nd Depot Brigade, and he wrote the musical revue “Yip Yip Yaphank,” including the song “Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” while at Camp Upton in 1918. Frank received an honorable discharge on December 3, 1918.

In 1920, Frank and his wife Mildred were living in a rented house at 1420 River Street in Hyde Park. Frank was still working as a brass moulder, probably still at American Tool and Machine Company in Hyde Park. They had a college student boarding with them, probably to help with expenses.

By 1930, Frank and Mildred had moved to 58 Corey Street in Everett, and had two children, a boy and a girl. Frank was working as a stereotyper for a newspaper, a career he would have for the rest of his life. In the days of set movable type, printing involved placing individual letters into a block that laid out the text for a single page. A stereotyper created the solid plates of type metal that newspapers used to print each page of their papers before replacing the plates with computers in the 1980s.

Sometime between 1934 and 1938, Frank and Mildred moved next door to 60 Corey Street in Everett. Mildred’s mother moved into their previous home at 58 Corey Street. On April 26, 1942, Frank registered for the WWII war draft. He was working for the Christian Science Monitor at the time, and his card noted that his hair was gray, and he had a scar on his left hand. Frank and Mildred lived at 60 Corey Street until at least 1948, and Frank worked for several more newspapers in that time, including The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald Traveller.

Frank passed away on September 8, 1956 in Medford, just a few days after his 68th birthday. While he had been associated with several Masonic lodges in Hyde Park and Medford during his life, the Fourth Estate Masonic lodge in Boston had a service for Frank a few days after his death. Fourth Estate was known as the first newspapermen’s lodge in the United States. Frank was buried at Glenwood Cemetery in Everett. His wife Mildred requested a military veteran’s marker for his grave, and an upright marble headstone was delivered in November of 1956.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Marriage Index, 1901-1955 and 1966-1970 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 1531; FHL microfilm: 1240688

Year: 1910; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_625; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 1633; FHL microfilm: 1374638

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_740; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 580

Year: 1930; Census Place: Everett, Middlesex, Massachusetts; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0226; FHL microfilm: 2340653

Year: 1940; Census Place: Everett, Middlesex, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01605; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 9-143

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Wkipedia, Stereotype (printing)

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Wikipedia, 152nd Depot Brigade (United States)

Wikipedia, Camp Upton

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Mason Membership Cards, 1733-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

MasonicGenealogy.com, Fourth Estate

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 11 Sep 1956, Tue Page 20

Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Ancestry.com, Stearns Family Tree by martsfamily0

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Frank Marden Taylor, Lower Mills, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Reuben Swan

Posted on December 3, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Reuben Swan

Our next biography features: Reuben Swan.

Written by Julie Wolf.

Reuben Swan was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on November 24, 1891, the second child of Willie Gardner Swan and Mabel Durell Swan. He had three siblings: his older sister, Mary, died of diphtheria in 1889, not yet 2; a younger brother, Durelle; and a younger sister, Florence. From birth, Reuben and his family lived at 1099 Washington Street in Dorchester, the home of his grandfather, Reuben Swan, and his step-grandmother, Hannah (Hattie). The Swans (several of whom shared the name Reuben) were a prominent family with long roots in Dorchester, and in Massachusetts itself. The family’s original immigrant ancestor, Reuben’s fifth great-grandfather John Swan, arrived in Watertown from England sometime before 1640. Reuben’s great-grandfather, also Reuben, was the first Swan to settle in Dorchester. Born in West Cambridge in 1778, he relocated to Dorchester Lower Falls after his marriage in 1804 and became a grain dealer. According to a genealogy of Massachusetts families, John Quincy Adams was one of his most loyal customers. The business must have stayed in the family through the generations, because the 1910 census lists Reuben’s father Willie G.’s occupation as “grain dealer.” Another relative, Reuben’s great-granduncle William Henry Swan, was a selectman in Dorchester during the 1800s.

Reuben studied civil engineering at Tufts College. While there, he participated in the Chess Club and as a senior was elected to head the wrestling team. In 1915, he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

A civil engineer at Brookline Town Hall since college graduation, Reuben registered for the World War I draft on June 5, 1917. Unmarried and still living at 1099 Washington Street, he was of medium height and build, with blue eyes and brown hair. On April 23, 1918, he was initiated into the Macedonian Lodge of Masons in Milton, and just three days later, he enlisted. On July 6, 1918, Private Reuben Swan shipped out of New York aboard the Cedric with Company E of “Boston’s Own” 301st Infantry, 76th Division. He served with this company, primarily New Englanders, until August 28, 1918. Once in France, the 76th was converted to a depot division, at which point the newly arrived troops were trained and released as replacements for those on the front. Until February 28, 1919, Reuben was with the Provisional Company Headquarters Detachment 3d Depot Division. He served in France for just over a year as part of the American Expeditionary Forces and returned home from Marseille on July 16, 1919, honorably discharged on July 23 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts.

While Reuben was serving overseas, his mother, Mabel, age 59, died of gallstones and acute pancreatitis on April 14, 1919; we do not know if he was informed. Back at home in Dorchester, Reuben became an instructor of civil engineering at Tufts. When the 1920 census was recorded on January 8, Reuben and his widowed father, Willie, were still living at 1099 Washington Street. On October 2 of that year, Willie remarried, moving with his new wife, Mary Tucker, to 1079 Adams Street in Dorchester. Reuben continued to share the address.

On December 9, 1920, tragedy struck. The reasons or circumstances are unknown to us, but Reuben, on a month-long leave of absence from Tufts, was hospitalized at Wellesley’s Channing Sanitarium. It was there that he died by suicide, of a “Hemorrhage from cutting of throat.” His remains were cremated at the Massachusetts Crematory in Forest Hills, and his funeral service was held at his father’s home. Reuben Swan, age 29, was buried in the Dorchester South Burying Ground, in the family plot that contains some 40 Swan relations. His father would be buried beside him upon his death in 1940.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2004.

Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006.

Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2002.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Mason Membership Cards, 1733-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2005.

“Camp Devens: Home of New England’s Own.” Soldiers’ Mail: Letters Home from a Yankee Doughboy 1916-1919.

Cutter, William Richard, and William Frederick Adams. Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts, vol. 3 (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1910), 1398-1402.

Dr. Perkins WWI Photo Collection, Photo Record: Reuben Swan.

FamilySearch.org. Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920, database with images.

FindAGrave.com. Swan. Dorchester South Burying Ground.

Hutnik, Joseph J. We Ripened Fast: The Unofficial History of the Seventy-Sixth Infantry Division, Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Otto Lembeck, 1946.

Lerwill, Leonard L., Department of the Army, Pamphlet No. 20-211, The Personnel Replacement System in the United States Army (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1954).

“Order of Battle.” New River Notes.

“Swan.” Boston Globe, December 13, 1920: 12.

“Swan to Head Wrestling Team.” Boston Globe, November 15, 1914: 15.

“Tufts College Professors Organize a Round Table Society.” Boston Globe, March 12, 1914: 12.

“Tufts Engineering Instructor Dies.” Boston Globe, December 12, 1920: 21.

“Tufts’ New President Awards 222 Degrees at Commencement.” Boston Globe, June 16, 1915: 2.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Lower Mills, Reuben Swan, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Humphrey Joseph Sullivan

Posted on December 3, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Humphrey Joseph Sullivan

Our next biography features: Humphrey Joseph Sullivan.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

Humphrey Joseph Sullivan was born January 31, 1884, at 5 Putnam Street in Charlestown. His parents were Bostonians of Irish descent who married in 1880. Five of their children died in infancy or young childhood. In addition to Humphrey, seven children survived to adulthood: Estelle born in 1881, John in 1885, Mary in 1888, Eugene in 1890, Maurice in 1894, Sylvester in 1900, and Catherine in 1906.

Living with the Sullivans at 5 Putnam Street was Humphrey’s maternal grandfather, John Farrell, a Navy veteran, who had been a Man-O’-War’s-man during the Seminole and Mexican Wars and who was awarded two Medals of Honor for “Gallant Conduct.” After 20 years’ service at sea, he was appointed Ship Keeper at the Charlestown Navy Yard, where he remained for 30 years. A profile of John Farrell, written when he was 91, noted that the grandchildren he lived with “contribute greatly to his happiness in his declining years.”

Humphrey’s father, Eugene S. Sullivan, was the Master Plumber of the Charlestown Navy Yard. In the late 1880s, Eugene was appointed superintendent of the Mystic Water Works in Medford, a position which paid as much as $2,500 a year. The Water Works was a political career as well as a professional one, and Eugene was active in the local Democrat party. In 1900, due to changes in the water system, he was laid off. That year, the census reported he was a real estate broker. His career in the Water Department was not yet over; in early 1902, Mayor Patrick Collins appointed him the Boston Water Commissioner, with a salary of $5,000 a year. He served until January 1906, when he resigned upon the election of John. F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald as mayor.

While his father was Water Commissioner, Humphrey attended Harvard College. He was a student at Harvard through his sophomore year, the fall of 1902 until the spring of 1904. He transferred to Boston University and graduated with a “Bachelor of Laws” (LLB) in 1907.

That year, his family moved to 41 Tremlett Street in Dorchester. After leaving the Water Department, his father was involved in a number of business ventures, including serving as the president of the James Flynn Architectural Iron Works Company of 60 and 62 Devonshire Street, Boston, manufacturers of “architectural iron.” In 1910, the family moved to 15 Wyoming Street in Roxbury. By 1911, they were back in Dorchester, having purchased 15 Englewood Street.

After college, Humphrey lived with his family. In 1909, he appeared in the Boston directory as a reporter. In 1910, the year his family moved to Roxbury and Humphrey moved to Oklahoma City. A 1911 newspaper article found him in Ardmore, Oklahoma, on the job as the publicity agent of the Pioneer Telephone Company. In December 1912, he was hired as the publicity agent of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and lived in Saint Louis, Missouri. The company’s female telephone operators attempted to organize the next year, and Humphrey, as Southwestern Bell’s mouthpiece, had to explain the company’s actions to reporters. Asked about the firing of union employees, Sullivan told a reporter, “Many of the girls have become so enthusiastic over the union that they have neglected their duty as operators” and were fired due to incompetency.

In the summer of 1917, Humphrey helped to organize a battalion made up entirely of Bell Telephone employees from Missouri, Kansas and Texas, the 10th Reserve Telegraph Battalion (later the 412th Telegraph Battalion), Signal Corps. The battalion was “comprised of practical telegraph men” and was “quipped to construct and operate telegraph and telephone lines.” Southwestern Bell promised that men would be given a leave of absence “for such periods as may be necessary to comply with the orders of the Secretary of War, either for active service or for instruction,” and during that time they would receive full pay and retain eligibility to benefits. On July 17, the battalion began thirteen weeks of training in Leon Springs, outside of San Antonio, Texas. Four days later, Humphrey was commissioned a First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the battalion and assigned to General Headquarters. He sailed overseas on January 11, 1918, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey and arriving in Liverpool, England. The battalion was in camp in Winchester, England, until January 26, when they travelled to France, landing at Le Havre.

After training in southern France, they built the main telegraph system from the American General Headquarters at Chaumont to Dijon, along the road to Bordeaux. A letter Humphrey wrote to his boss at Southwestern Bell reached the St. Louis newspapers, which published his humorous tale of St. Louis boys trying to improve their French language skills during lessons in the homes of pretty French girls. Humphrey also wrote of “banging along a slush-covered road in a side car;” of his realization that nearly all Frenchmen, no matter how old or infirm, were in uniform; and his observation that Frenchwomen were left do everything else, including plowing fields, driving oxen, and working as freight handlers for the United States Army.

In late April, the battalion was attached to the British Second and Fourth Army, then fighting in Amiens. In June 1918, Humphrey was transferred “to the photographic section of the Army,” and was attached to the 3rd Army Corps. During the summer, he was slightly gassed during an attack and spent time in a hospital recovering. His engagements included the Soissons Front, Aisne Defensive (Chateau-Thierry), and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. After the Armistice, he was with the Army of Occupation in Germany. He returned to the United States on April 25, 1919, sailing from Brest, France, on the USS Cap Finisterre. The ship arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey, on May 5. Humphrey was discharged later that month in Washington, D.C.

After the war, Humphrey returned to St. Louis. His 1921 Harvard Class report stated he was a real estate broker. By 1922, he was head of the American Legion’s news service, and the personal representative of the Legion’s commander. In this role, Humphrey advocated on behalf of disabled veterans. In a Letter to the Editor, he wrote about “a real man, a real patriot, … at home among the people who for one reason or another, good or bad, saw no fighting. He has been told that he is entitled to the eternal gratitude of these his countrymen. Well, just now he’s interested in getting another leg.” Bureaucracy, red tape, and incompetency kept this veteran from the treatment he needed. At an American Legion conference in San Francisco, Humphrey blasted General Sawyer, President Harding’s personal physician and head of the Federal Board of Hospitalization, for “attempting to economize at the expense of the wounded ex-service men,” and for delays in building new hospitals for veterans that had been approved by Congress. Humphrey remained active in the American Legion for many years.

Around 1924, he married Elizabeth Druce, who had been born in Colorado in 1894 to Scottish parents. Humphrey and Elizabeth had two children, Humphrey Junior born in 1925 and Stewart in 1929. They settled in the Chicago area and Humphrey continued to work in public relations and real estate. In 1940, the census reported he was an appraiser for Cook County, making $3,802 a year. In 1942, he reported that his employer was the U.S. Savings and Loan League in Chicago. It is possible that he was the Humphrey Sullivan of Chicago who, in the 1950s, was the Assistant to the Director of the Illinois State Agency of Civil Defense, and who frequently spoke about Civil Defense at community meetings in the Chicago area.

Humphrey Sullivan died on March 26, 1960. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and sons.

Sources

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

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

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

“Hero’s Record,” Boston Globe, 26 February 1901, 6; Newspapers.com

“Funeral Services for Eugene S. Sullivan,” Boston Globe, 31 August 1925, 10; Newspapers.com

“To Fill Place,” Boston Globe, 15 March 1902, 1; Newspapers.com

“Department Shaken,” Boston Globe, 28 June 1895, 7; Newspapers.com

“116 More Men Dropped from the Water Department.” Boston Globe, 10 May 1900, 1; Newspapers.com

The University Council, ed. Boston University Year Book, Vol XXXIII. Boston: University Offices, 1906, 27; Books.Google.com

Secretary’s First Report, Harvard Class of 1906. Cambridge, MA: University Press, 1907; Archive.org

Harvard Alumni Association, Harvard University Directory, Cambridge: Harvard University, 1910; 654; Books.Google.com

“The Man on the Street,” The Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, OK), 8 Jan 1911, 7; Newspapers.com

“Hires Phone Press Agent,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 Dec 1912, 7; Newspapers.com

“Bell Phone Men Fired at Railway Exchange Building,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, 9 May 1913, 1; Newspapers.com

Harvard College Class of 1906 Secretary’s Third Report. Cambridge, MA: Crimson Printing Co., 1916; Books.Google.com

Mead, Frederick S., ed. Harvard´s Military Record in the World War, Boston: MA: Harvard Alumni Association, 1921, 922; Ancestry.com

“70 St. Louisans in Signal Unit Start for Texas Tonight,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, 19 July 1917, 4; 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, Maryland; Ancestry.com

“Highly Exciting Lessons in French Told of in Letter from St. Louisan.” St Louis Post-Dispatch, 14 May 1918, 3; Newspapers.com

“Lieutenant Sullivan Gassed,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, 12 Sept 1918, 10; Newspapers.com

“64 St. Louisans Among Arrivals at Newport News,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 March 1919, 5; Newspapers.com

Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Vol 22, Boston, MA: Harvard Alumni Association, September 25, 1919, 694; Books.Google.com

Class of 1906 15th Anniversary Report (No 4); Cambridge, MA: University Press, 1921, 324; Ancestry.com

Letter to Editor, St Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 April 1920, 20; Newspapers.com

United Press, “Charges Made at Meeting of Disabled Veterans,” Freeport Journal-Standard (Freeport, IL) 29 June 1922, 3; Newspapers.com

20th Anniversary Report Harvard College Class of 1906 (No 5), University Press, 1926; 285; Ancestry.com

United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com

Letter to the Editor, The Decatur Herald (Decatur, IL) 30 May 1954, 8; Newspapers.com

Interment Control Forms, 1928–1962. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, The National Archives at College Park, College Park, Maryland. Ancestry.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Humphrey Joseph Sullivan, Tremlett Street, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Herbert Warren Stuart

Posted on December 3, 2019 by earltaylor

Our next biography features: Herbert Warren Stuart.

Written by Donna Albino.

Herbert Warren Stuart was born on July 19, 1897, in South Boston to James and Mary (Chapman) Stuart. His parents had one other child, a daughter named Theresa who was two years old. The family had been living at 181 West Sixth Street in South Boston at the time of Herbert’s birth , but by 1900 they had moved to 28 Ellet Street in the Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester. James was a printing pressman for a newspaper.

By 1910, the family had moved less than two miles away to 28 Locust Street in Dorchester and had seven children in the family. Herbert, who enlisted in the war effort on July 17, 1917, just two days before he turned 20 years old, spent the first year of his service in Company D, 101st Infantry Massachusetts National Guard.

Originally, the 101st Regiment was known as the 9th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the “Fighting Ninth.” The 9th Massachusetts had been protecting the Mexico-United States border near El Paso, Texas, when the United States joined the Great War. In order to prepare the regiment for service, it was redesignated the 101st Infantry Regiment, and assigned to the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th Infantry Division, more commonly known as the “Yankee Division.” The regiment mustered in its new form in August, 1917, in Framingham and arrived in France in September. It was the first Army National Guard unit of the American Expeditionary Force to arrive in France, and was also the first National Guard unit to enter frontline combat. Alongside the French Army, the 101st made a raid into German lines in February, 1918, marking the first time an American unit had launched a raid in the war. Herbert fought in numerous battles along the Western Front until he was severely wounded in the battle of Champagne-Marne on July 15, 1918. After he regained his health, he returned to Company D, 101st Infantry in January, 1919, and served with them until the regiment was mustered out of service in April, 1919 at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe reported on April 6, 1919, that Company D, 101st Infantry had returned to Boston, and Herbert’s name was among those on the list.

Herbert’s parents had moved next door to 30 Locust Street in Dorchester, and Herbert returned to live with them after the war. His father was still working as a printing pressman, his brother, Paul, was a shop machinist, and his sister, Esther, was packing candy for a shop. The family had added two more children since the 1910 census, a boy and a girl.

Herbert got into some trouble right after he returned to Dorchester from Camp Devens. On May 20, 1919, Herbert was arrested and charged with throwing stones at lanterns used on excavation work. He was fined $15 the next morning in court. It was his only mischievous act on record; Herbert went on to take classes at Boston University, and graduated with the class of 1921. On October 17, 1921, The Boston Globe printed his wedding announcement; he and Mary Chapman were married on October 26, 1921.

By 1930, Herbert and Mary were living at 19 Paisley Park in the Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester. Herbert was working as a government clerk, and they had four sons and a daughter, all under 8 years of age. Mary’s mother and three of Mary’s siblings also lived with them, bringing in two more incomes and more help caring for the five young children. By 1940, Herbert and his family moved to 3 Clermont Street in the Ashmont neighborhood of Dorchester. The five children were all of school age, and Mary’s mother and siblings no longer lived with them. Herbert was working as a postal clerk.

Herbert was active with the 101st Infantry Veterans Association, and the American Legion. In 1937, the 101st Infantry Veterans Association held a 20th anniversary observance of the Battle of St Mihiel in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Herbert served on the committee that arranged the outdoor fete. Herbert’s patriotism and desire to serve his country ran in the family; in 1945, The Boston Globe noted that Herbert, wounded veteran of WWI, had three brothers and three sons who had joined the armed forces for the second World War.

Herbert passed away on January 4, 1963. He and his wife Mary still lived in the home at 3 Clermont Street in Dorchester where they lived in 1940. His obituary didn’t mention where he was buried, but when Mary died in 1988, her obituary mentioned she is buried at Blue Hills Cemetery. It is likely that Herbert is buried there, too.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Index, 1860-1970 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Boston Ward 20, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 5; Enumeration District: 1456; FHL microfilm: 1240686

Year: 1910; Census Place: Boston Ward 16, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_620; Page: 17A; Enumeration District: 1494; FHL microfilm: 1374633

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 11, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_734; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 300

Year: 1930; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 0453; FHL microfilm: 2340689

Year: 1940; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01676; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 15-599

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

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

Wikipedia, United States Campaigns in World War I, Champagne-Marne

Wikipedia, 101st Infantry Regiment (United States)

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 06 Apr 1919, Sun Page 15

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 21 May 1919, Wed Page 6

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 17 Oct 1921, Mon Page 5

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 26 Jul 1937, Mon Page 7

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 19 Sep 1945, Wed Page 4

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 07 Jan 1963, Mon Page 24

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 18 Oct 1988, Tue Page 30

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Fields Corner, Herbert Warren Stuart, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

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