Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Frederick James O’Brien

Posted on December 2, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Frederick James O’Brien

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: Frederick James O’Brien.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

Frederick James O’Brien, sometimes known as Fred, was born on December 31, 1892, at 59 West Sixth Street in South Boston. His father, John, immigrated from Ireland in 1865 and worked as a teamster. His mother, Elizabeth (Kane), was born in Boston. John and Elizabeth married in Boston in April 1889. Frederick had five siblings: John born in 1890, Anna in 1895, Matthew in 1897, Mary in 1898, and William in 1900.

In 1900, the family was living at 154 West Third Street in South Boston. Three years later, John O’Brien died of tuberculosis at the Free Consumption Home. By the time of John’s death, the family had moved to 40 Langdon Street in Roxbury. In 1910, they were still at 40 Langdon Street. Frederick’s mother worked as a hotel chambermaid and his brother, John, was a street concrete worker. Frederick, too, had gone to work, as a shoe cutter in a factory.

In June 1917, Frederick lived at 55 Monadnock Street in Dorchester, and was as a shoe cutter at W.H. McElwain & Company, shoe manufacturer, in Boston. A year later, Frederick’s address was 11 Fairmont Street in Dorchester. On July 3, 1918, he enlisted in the Navy at a recruiting station in Williamsport, Pennsylvania and he was made a Seaman Second class. On November 11—the Armistice—he was sent to Camp Wissahickon in Cape May, New Jersey. From there, on January 31, 1919, he was stationed in Philadelphia on a receiving ship (a ship in harbor that receives sailors before they are assigned to a crew). He remained on the receiving ship until March 4, when he was placed on inactive duty. He was honorably discharged from service on September 30, 1921.

In 1920, Frederick resided with his family at 11 Fairmont Street, once again working as a shoe cutter. His mother no longer worked outside the home. His sister Anna was a telephone operator and his brother William worked as a shipbuilder in a shipyard. The next year, the Boston directory listed Frederick at 75 Howard Street in the Uphams Corner neighborhood of Dorchester.

In September 1922, Frederick married Elizabeth Bowen. They had three sons: Frederick born in 1924, William in 1926, and Paul in 1928. During this time, they moved regularly, living at 190 Eustis in Roxbury, as well as 56 Fuller Street and 55 Whitten Street, both in Dorchester. Elizabeth died in October 1933.

The 1930 census recorded Frederick and his three sons at 55 Whitten Street, living with Frederick’s mother and two of his unmarried sisters: Anna, a telephone operator, and Mary, a medical stenographer; his brother Matthew had died in 1924. In 1931, Frederick resided at 18 Mildred Avenue in Mattapan. The next year he moved to 45 King Street in Dorchester. At the time of his wife’s death, he lived at 38 Semont Road. In 1935, he was listed at 37 Harbor View Street.

In 1937, he moved once again, this time to 57 Robinson Street. The 1940 census found Frederick, his sons, and sister Anna living there; his sister Mary had died in late 1933 and his mother in 1939. While Anna was still employed as a telephone operator and making $1,248 a year, Frederick had been unemployed for 78 weeks. He reported a yearly income of only $27 and had worked only two weeks in 1939. Their rent was $30 a month. In the directory, he was listed as a laborer.

In 1942, Frederick and Anna moved to 47 Juliette Street. On his World War II draft registration, Frederick reported he was working for the Boston Quartermaster Corps out of the Army Base on Summer Street in Boston. During the war his sons served in the armed forces, William in the Army and Paul in the Navy. Throughout the 1940s, Frederick remained at 47 Juliette Street. The Boston directory listed his occupation as inspector in 1942 and 1948, and in 1943 through 1947 as working for Boston Edison.

In March 1952, Frederick was invested as a Brother in the Pallottines, a Catholic society of apostolic life. He died two years later, on February 6, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was buried there in Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum.

Sources

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

Family Tree; Ancestry.com

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

Death record for John J, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com

Boston Directory, various years; Ancestry.com

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

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

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

Deaths, Boston Globe, 18 Oct 1933; 26

Deaths, Boston Globe, 13 May 2003; 23

“In Memory of Paul P. O’Brien 1928-2016” Briton Funeral Homes, Inc.; <https://brittonfuneralhomes.com/book-of-memories/2478931/obrien-paul/obituary.php>

Deaths, Boston Globe, 8 Feb 1954; 21

“Rev. Fred O’Brien;” FindaGrave.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Frederick James O'Brien, Monadnock Street, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biographies: John Edwin Murdock and William Stephen Murdock

Posted on December 2, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biographies: John Edwin Murdock and William Stephen Murdock

Our next biography features: John Edwin Murdock and William Stephen Murdock.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

In the illustration, John is on the left.

Brothers John Edwin and William Stephen Murdock were born at 15 Bearse Avenue in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester. John Edwin was born on December 29, 1893, and William Stephen was born on November 9, 1895. The brothers were both known by either their first or middle names at different times in their lives. Their father, John P. Murdock, was born in Canton, Massachusetts, to Irish parents; their mother, Ellen A. (Looby), was born in Dualla, Tipperary, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States in the 1870s. John P. and Ellen married in 1886 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End of Boston and settled in Dorchester. Their other children were Alice Margaret born in 1888, Francis born in 1890, Mary born in 1893, Helen born 1898 and Anna born in 1902.

In the 1890s, John P. was a teamster; Boston directories sometimes show him working at 1141 Washington Street. In 1910, the census listed his profession as a plumber, though he still appeared in the Boston directory as a teamster. He and his brother Thomas, a carpenter, owned 15 Bearse Avenue. (Though the 1900 census lists them as renting the property, the 1894 Bromley atlas shows T.C. and J.P. Murdock as owners of the property. They are recorded as owners on the 1910 census.) John P.’s large family lived in one unit of the house, and Thomas, along with their mother, and unmarried siblings, lived in the other. By 1916, Thomas had moved to Milton.

John Edwin took up his uncle’s profession, first appearing in the 1915 directory as a carpenter. This was the profession he gave when he registered for the draft in 1917, stating that he worked for T.S. Murdock (his uncle). John Edwin was drafted and inducted into the Army on June 15, 1918, and was sent to Wentworth Institute as part of a Training Detachment. On August 10, 1918, he was transferred to the Washington Barracks September Auto Replacement Draft Engineers (SARD), Company 3. On September 25, they left for France, departing from Brooklyn on the troopship Plassy. On his notecard for John Edwin Murdock, Dr. Perkins noted that John Edwin was stationed in Liverpool; the SARD Engineers built the American Rest Camp at Knotty Ash in Liverpool, England. John Edwin was promoted to Corporal in December, and Sergeant in January 1919. On May 16, 1919, he returned to the United States, sailing from Brest, France, on the USS North Carolina, one of the last transport ships to dock in Boston. He arrived on May 27 and was discharged at Camp Devens in Ayer on May 31, 1919.

William Stephen graduated from the Dorchester Evening Commercial High School in 1916 and began working as a clerk. On August 5, 1918, he was drafted and inducted into the Army. That morning, he was sent to Syracuse, New York, for military training. On his notecard for William Stephen Murdock, Dr. Perkins noted that William Stephen was later sent to Newport News, Virginia. He served in Guard and Fire Company 322, making Private First Class on September 4, and Sergeant on October 5. He did not serve overseas. On December 14, 1918, he was discharged.

John Edwin and William Stephen both returned to 15 Bearse Avenue after the war and resumed their prior careers, carpenter and clerk respectively. By this time, only their parents and siblings were living at 15 Bearse. On October 5, 1921, John Edwin married Alice Gertrude McManus of Woburn at Woburn’s Saint Charles Church. The couple moved into the other unit at 15 Bearse Ave. In 1922 and 1923 they lived at 52 Fuller Street in Dorchester, but returned to 15 Bearse Ave by 1925 and remained there for over thirty-five years. Their son William Richard was born in 1922, followed by Kenneth in 1933, and Jean in 1937. They also had a son John Edwin who was born and died in 1928.

William Stephen married Mary Eugenia Burke of Buffalo, New York, on August 23, 1927, at Our Lady of the Angels Church in Buffalo. In the late 1920s, they lived in Buffalo. By 1930, they resided in Tonawanda, New York, in a home they owned at 2829 Guide Board Road. Later they lived at 2829 Eggert Road, possibly the same road, renamed. They had five children: Mary, Patricia, William, Thomas, and Sue Ellen. William Stephen was an Insurance Adjuster in Buffalo; on his 1942 World War II draft registration his employer is the (Am) Lumbermen’s Mutual Casualty Insurance Co, 586 Ellicott Square Building, Buffalo, New York.

John Edwin changed careers in 1938, and began working as a janitor at Boston City Hall. In 1950, he came to the aid of a fellow janitor who fell into an elevator well in the City Hall Annex. The Boston Globe reported that the janitor’s “calls for aid were heard by night custodian John E. Murdock, who, with the assistance of patrolman John J. Banks, removed the injured man from the pit with a ladder.” John Edwin retired in 1964. By then he had moved to 10 Granger Street in Wollaston, Quincy. It is possible he was the J. Edwin Murdock, employee of Mary Bowditch Forbes of Churchill Lane in Milton, who, in 1962, was recognized in her will with a $2,000 bequest.

The brothers died in the same month in 1972. William Stephen died on June 8 and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Kenmore, New York. John Edwin died on June 19. His funeral mass was held at St. Ann’s Church in Wollaston. He was a member of American Legion ODP #65, which also honored him with a Post ritual.

Sources

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

Family Trees, Ancestry.com

“Mr. & Mrs. Murdock Observe Golden Wedding in Dorchester,” Boston Globe, 8 June 1936, 7; Newspapers.com

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

Boston, Quincy directory; various years; Ancestry.com

Bromley, George Washington and Walter Scott Bromley. Atlas of the city of Boston : Dorchester, Mass.: plate 34. Philadelphia : G.W. Bromley & Co. 1894, Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:m900r878k

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

Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, Record Group 92. The National Archives at College Park, Maryland; Ancestry.com

Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, Record Group 92. The National Archives at College Park, Maryland; Ancestry.com

“New England Soldiers on The North Carolina,” Boston Globe, 27 May 1919, 8; Newspapers.com

“Diplomas Awarded to Evening High Classes,” Boston Globe, 31 March 1916, 2; Newspapers.com

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 5 August 1918, 4; Newspapers.com

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

“City Hall Janitor Falls Into Elevator Well,” Boston Globe, 26 April 1950, 19; Newspapers.com

City Record: Official Chronicle of Boston Municipal Affairs, Vol 65, No 3, Saturday, January 19, 1964, 48; Archive.org

“Left in Forbes Estate Famed ‘Lincoln Cabin’ to Become Public Shrine,” Boston Globe, 23 January 1962, 4; Newpapers.com

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

Stephen Murdock, Findagrave.com

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 20 June 1972; 40; Newspapers.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester World War 1, John Edwin Murdock, Lower Mills, Uncategorized, William Stephen Murdock | Comments Off

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

Posted on December 2, 2019 by earltaylor

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

Our next biography features: Harold Bertram Stuart.

Written by Julie Wolf..

Harold Bertram Stuart was born on December 3, 1899, at 94 Armandine Street in Dorchester, to Charles Stuart, a carpenter, and Frances Dingwell, both originally of Prince Edward Island, Canada. Immigrants from the Maritime Provinces settled in large numbers in Boston around the turn of the twentieth century, many of them craftsmen facing unemployment thanks to industrialization of the Canadian lumber and fishing industries. Charles and Frances rented this home until Harold was at least 1. By 1910, they moved to 1160 Washington Street with their four sons. This was Harold’s address for more than two decades, sometimes shared with as many as three generations of Stuarts.

In 1913, Harold’s brother Warren, age 6, died at home after a bout with tonsillitis and pneumonia, and in 1917, his sister, Muriel, was born. The siblings ranged in age from infancy to adulthood. About a year after Muriel’s birth, on September 12, 1918, Harold registered for the World War I draft. A bank clerk at Boston’s National Shawmut Bank at 40 Water Street, he listed his mother as his nearest relative. On November 4, 1918, less than two months after he registered, Harold enlisted in the U.S. Army National Guard. A corporal, he was inducted at Camp Meigs, notable for its training during the Civil War of Massachusetts’s 54th, one of the first regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops sent into battle. In December, Harold entered the First Officers Training School Motor Transport Corps Training Department and was selected for Reserve for four months. Discharged on December 20, 1918, Harold saw no overseas service.

Resuming work as a bank clerk, Harold returned home to 1160 Washington Street, where, in 1920, he still lived with his parents, siblings, and a lodger named Anna Dingwell, his mother’s relation. On December 18, 1920, at the Baker Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church in Uphams Corner, Harold married 18-year-old Marguerite Foley, the daughter of Irish immigrants. The couple resided in the Stuart home, where their son, Charles Carlyle (Carl), was born on January 26, 1925. According to city directories from 1922, 1925, and 1926, Harold switched employers during this period, first working at 70 Federal Street in Boston and later at the O.C. Trust Company at 17 Court Street.

On June 15, 1927, Marguerite—called Margaret in her obituary—died at age 24 in Randolph; her funeral was held at home. Harold remarried sometime before 1930. The census for that year listed his wife, 26-year-old Myra L., as a member of the household, along with Harold’s parents, his son, and his niece Frances, whose parents lived in the same three-story building in a different apartment with address 1156 Washington Street. Harold’s second wife was born Myra Davey in 1903 in Prince Edward Island, like his parents. She immigrated to the United States in 1924.

Harold remained a bank teller through 1934. In 1935, he had a dramatic change in career. The 1935 city directory lists his occupation as “chocolate maker,” and through at least 1944 he worked for Baker Chocolate Company, a major employer in Dorchester Lower Mills and the nation’s first successful chocolate mill. (The family’s lodger, Anna Dingwell, had worked there as a “wrapper,” according to the 1920 census.) Around the same time Harold left (or lost) his bank job, he, Myra, and their son moved a few doors down to 1071 Washington Street, across the street from their church, Wesley United Methodist Church. They still lived here in 1940, with Harold a “mill hand” at a “chocolate mill” and Myra employed in “house work, private house.”

For many years, Washington Street vanished from the paper trail, with Harold and Myra’s whereabouts a mystery. In 1957, no address could be located in the city directory for Harold, now a janitor at Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, but between 1959 and 1963, he and Myra reputedly lived at 54 Norfolk Street. Confusion surrounded this address as early as 1944, however, when a broker named Harold R. Stuart was recorded as living there with his wife, Martha.

Although there was clearly a mix-up in the directory, we determined that Harold and Myra lived out their years in Dorchester. Harold died on November 28, 1972, survived by Myra, his son, and three grandsons. By the time Myra died three years later, a great-grandson had been born. In the end, it seemed members of the Stuart family had always maintained a residence on Washington Street: Myra’s funeral was held at 1156 Washington Street, next door to their first home. Harold and Myra were buried in Dorchester’s Cedar Grove Cemetery.

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.

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

Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915 [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. New England, Select United Methodist Church Records, 1787-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

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

Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

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

Berger, Chris. “Once Decrepit Old Chocolate Factory Now Sweet Rental Lofts.” Curbed, August 26, 2013.

Boston College Department of History. Global Boston. “Canadians.”

FamilySearch.org. Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915, database with images. Massachusetts Archives.

FamilySearch. Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915, database.

FamilySearch.org. United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, database with images. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

“Harold B. Stuart.” Dr. Perkins WWI Photo Collection.

“Marriage Intentions.” Boston Post. December 7, 1920: 23.

Stevens, Peter F. “Lower Mills Was Once Center of Chocolate Universe.” Dorchester Reporter, May 1, 2014.

“Stuart (Harold B.).” Boston Globe, December 1, 1972: 34.

“Stuart (Margaret).” Boston Globe, June 16, 1927: 22.

“Stuart (Myra).” Boston Globe, October 17, 1975: 41.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Harold Bertram Stuart, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Thomas Joseph Muldoon

Posted on December 2, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Thomas Joseph Muldoon

Our next biography features: Thomas Joseph Muldoon.

Written by Donna Albino.

Thomas Joseph Muldoon was born at 28 Fuller Street in Dorchester’s Ashmont section on November 22, 1893, to Patrick Muldoon and Ellen Ward. Married in Boston in 1887, Thomas’s parents had emigrated to the United States from Ireland in the early 1880s, his mother probably from Galway. Thomas was the eldest of five siblings: Margaret (1896), Mary Ellen (1898), Catherine (1901), and John Francis (1904). Only Thomas, Mary, and John survived to adulthood; Margaret died at age 1, Catherine at age 2. Thomas’s birth home would be the first of four Fuller Street addresses at which he lived for most of his life.

In 1896, when Thomas was three, the Muldoons moved to 20 Fuller Street. At this time, his father Patrick became a laborer for the Sewer Department, where he likely remained until the end of his life. The 1900 census found the family at 46 Fuller, where they stayed for another two decades. Around 1914, Thomas took a job as a stenographer and clerk for the Boston Transit Department, a position he would hold through at least 1948, the latest date available for his work. Transit was his employer on his World War I draft registration card, where he noted that he “partially” supported his parents and brother.

Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 4, 1917, at Fort Slocum, NY, and was stationed at Camp Joseph Johnston near Jacksonville, FL, starting December 15. By 1918, Camp Johnston had earned the distinction of being “the largest of all the Army’s Quartermaster mobilization and training camps,” home to the nation’s second largest rifle range and a YMCA and school available to soldiers. Promoted to corporal on August 27, 1918, then to sergeant on October 8, 1918, Thomas served in the Officer Service Company 1 in the Camp Quartermaster Corps and was discharged in St. Louis, MO, on January 9, 1919. Back home, Thomas resumed work for the Transit Department. In June, thanks to a department-wide payroll increase, his weekly salary rose from $20 to $21.92. By 1920, the Muldoons had again relocated to a new address on Fuller Street, number 3. With Thomas’s sister newly married to a police officer and living in Milton, the Muldoon household then comprised Thomas, his parents, and his younger brother, John.

For 20-plus years after the war, Thomas’s work as a stenographer for the Transit Department would take him to either 14 Cypher Street in South Boston or the seventh floor of 1 Beacon Street in Boston, with one exception: In 1920 and 1921, he worked at the Supply Department at City Hall Annex, possibly making use of knowledge acquired during his service in the QMC. In 1922, Transit’s annual report listed Thomas among its “clerical force” at the Cypher Street Stockyard, a facility that also employed ironworkers, mechanics, and other such skilled workers.

Thomas was a steadfast member of Dorchester’s Thomas J. Roberts American Legion Post (now in Hyde Park). In 1925, with monetary donations to the post’s charitable funds lagging, he was assigned to a committee dedicated to increasing fund-raising across Dorchester. (Also on the committee was Levi Lecain, another veteran profiled in this series.) In 1927, Thomas was installed as post commander, directing a vast Memorial Day celebration that incorporated all of Dorchester’s several American Legion posts. Even after his term ended, Thomas remained active in the post, managing the funds for its annual Christmas drive in 1929, which served Codman Square’s neediest families.

When the 1930 census was enumerated, the Muldoon brothers, both single, were living with their parents at 3 Fuller Street. Both Thomas and John were recorded as World War I veterans, but this seems unlikely in the case of John, who was born in 1904 and would have been just 15 at the war’s end. Their father died in 1933.

In the 1940 census, Ellen appeared as the widowed head of household of 3 Fuller Street. Thomas, age 46, continued working for the Transit Department, while John, 36, had taken a job as a laborer at the Baker Chocolate Factory. In addition, Ellen’s cousin, a 46-year-old hairdresser from Ireland named Mary J. Gannon, lived with them. She died later that year. On his registration card for World War II’s “Old Man’s Draft,” Thomas listed his brother, not his mother, as his contact.

Thomas’s mother died on October 8, 1948. After this, Thomas vanished from the paper trail until his own “sudden” death in Boston in 1960. He never married. Thomas was survived by his brother, John, who would die in 1966; their sister Mary had predeceased Thomas by just over a month. His funeral was held at the Milton Funeral Home, and, as had been done for his parents years before, Solemn High Mass of Requiem was offered for him at St. Gregory’s Church on Dorchester Avenue, a mile away from where the Muldoon family had last lived together.

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

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

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

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

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

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.

“Boston News Briefs and Personal Paragraphs: Milton.” Boston Globe, July 13, 1936.

Boston Transit Dept., Annual Report of the Transit Department, for the Year Ending January 31, 1921 (Boston: Printing Department, 1921).

City Record, vol. 14 (Boston: Printing Office, 1922), 815.

“Camp Joseph E. Johnston.” Florida in World War I.

Documents of the City of Boston for the Year 1921 in Four Volumes. Vol. II. (Boston: Printing Department, 1922), 31.

“Dorchester District.” Boston Globe, January 22, 1926: 13.

“Dorchester Vets Pay Tribute: Only One Grand Army Man Will Be in Line.” Boston Globe, May 29, 1936: 13.

“18 Dorchester G.A.R. Vets May March in Parade.” Boston Globe, May 27, 1927: 10.

“1948—Ellen Muldoon—1950.” Boston Globe, October 8, 1950: 51.

FamilySearch. Entry for Thomas J. Muldoon, “Pedigree Resource File,” database.

FamilySearch. Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915, database with images.

FamilySearch. Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001, database with images.

FamilySearch. United States Census, 1940, database.

FamilySearch. United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940, database.

“For Arlington-St Subway Station… Salaries Increased.” Boston Globe, June 19, 1919: 2.

“Gannon.” Boston Globe, May 15, 1940: 26.

“Greater Boston News Briefs and Personal Paragraphs: Dorchester District.” Boston Globe, November 27, 1929: 16.

“Inject Fresh Pep into Legion Drive.” Boston Globe, June 9, 1925: 2.

List of Authorized Abbreviations: World War I Service Discharge Cards.

“Lynes.” Boston Globe, April 2, 1960: 6.

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

“Muldoon (Catherine A.).” Boston Globe, October 8, 1903.

“Muldoon (Ellen).” Boston Globe, October 9, 1948: 13.

“Muldoon (Margaret).” Boston Globe, June 10, 1897.

“Muldoon (Patrick).” Boston Globe, January 27, 1933: 31.

“Muldoon (Thomas J.).” Boston Globe, May 30, 1960: 50.

Officials and Employees of the City of Boston and County of Suffolk with Their Residences, Compensation, Etc., 1920 (Boston: Printing Department, 1920), 220, 335.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Fuller Street, Thomas Joseph Muldoon, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biographies: Arthur Clarence McIntosh, George Edward McIntosh, James Albert McIntosh

Posted on December 2, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biographies: Arthur Clarence McIntosh, George Edward McIntosh, James Albert McIntosh

Our next biography features: Arthur Clarence McIntosh, George Edward McIntosh, James Albert McIntosh.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

We have a photo of only George Edward McIntosh.

Three McIntosh brothers served in World War I: Arthur Clarence, born May 9, 1894, George Edward born February 24, 1897, and James Albert born April 3, 1900. Their father, Arthur Franklin McIntosh, was born in Dorchester; in childhood he lived on Cedar Street. As an adult, he worked for plate glass manufacturers in Boston, including as a glass cutter at 61 Portland Street, and later as a superintendent at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. In January 1893, he married Annie Marie (Elliott) of Charlestown, who worked as book folder before her marriage. In addition to Arthur, George, and James, they had four other children: Annie born in 1895, Robert in 1907, Edith in 1909, and Franklin in 1912.

At the time of Arthur’s birth, the family resided at 10 Buttonwood Street. They were living at 864 Dorchester Avenue by when George was born. A year later, they moved to Avondale Place. When James was born, they were at 1069 Washington Street; seven years later they were just up the street at number 1071. In 1910, they lived at 24 Idaho Street and in 1912 at 19 Grant Place. By 1914, they had purchased 6 Monson Street in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester.

George was the first to join military service. On his notecard for George E. McIntosh, Dr. Perkins noted that George wanted to enlist and attempted to do so “several times, rejected each time as underweight.” Eventually, he made his way to Fort Warren on Georges Island in Boston Harbor, the headquarters of the Coast Defenses of Boston. There, he was accepted, enlisting on December 13, 1917. He trained at Fort Warren, remaining there until September 18, 1918. On September 23, he sailed overseas, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the USS Mongolia. According to Dr. Perkins’s notes, George arrived in France on October 6, 1918. He was a private in the Fort Warren September Automatic Replacement Draft, Unit 3, Coast Artillery Corps (CAC), serving in Battery D, Tractor Artillery Replacement Battalion. In late January 1919, he returned home on the RMS Cedric, as part of Headquarters Company, 44th Artillery, CAC, sailing from Brest, France, and reaching New York on February 4, 1919. George was discharged on February 15, 1919.

Next to join the service was the oldest brother, Arthur. At the time of the first draft registration in June 1917, he reported that he was self-employed as an electrical contractor, working out of 45 India Street in Boston; the Boston directory lists this address for Brown and Company, electricians. He was a graduate of the Mechanic Arts High School, as well as the Franklin Union (now the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology), where he later taught. He enrolled in the Navy on March 28, 1918. On his notecard for Arthur C. McIntosh, Dr. Perkins noted that Arthur was a “Chief Electrician” at the “Naval Experimental Station New London [Connecticut]. … stationed at the Marine Ironworks, New London.” Arthur was later a chief petty officer, according to his obituary. He was discharged on January 29, 1919.

James, also a graduate of the Mechanic Arts High School, enrolled at the Boston Navy Yard, in Charlestown, on May 13, 1918, as a Seaman Second Class. He was sent to the Naval Training Station at Newport, Rhode Island on May 21, and remained there until June 14. For three months, he was stationed at the Second Naval District Patrol Section Base. On September 13, he was transferred to the Receiving Barracks, New London, where he remained until the Armistice. On his notecard for James A. McIntosh, Dr. Perkins noted James was in the “Production Section” at New London, Connecticut. James was placed on Inactive Duty from the Naval Experimental Station in New London on April 18, 1919, and was honorably discharged on September 30, 1921, due to lack of funds.

In 1917, Arthur had married Margaret J. Watson of Dorchester. By July 1919, they were living at 90 Argyle Road in East Braintree, and he was working as an electrician. In Braintree, he served as the founding scout master of Boy Scout Troop 7. By 1920, he and Margaret had a daughter, Edna.

Also living at 90 Argyle Road in January 1920, was his brother James and his wife. James had married Margaret B. Wilkie on November 24, 1919, in Rhode Island. The couple did not remain long at 90 Argyle Road, moving to Milton by February, when their son James, Jr. was born. In 1920, James was a machinist in a shipyard. Six years later, he began working as a clerk at Walter Baker Chocolate, where he remained for the rest of his career.

After the war, George returned to 6 Monson Street. He was a clerk at the Walter Baker Chocolate Co., where, he too, worked for the rest of his career, later as a bookkeeper, accountant, and, eventually, assistant head of the order and billing department. In 1922, George married Mary Elizabeth Murphy, a Boston telephone operator, in a ceremony in Nashua, New Hampshire. They had two children: Gertrude and John. In 1924, they lived at 26 Homefield Avenue in Hyde Park, then returned to Dorchester, living in 1927 at 54 Semont Road, and in 1928 at 102 Glenrose Road. In 1931, they moved to 9 Rector Road, where they lived through the early 1970s.

By 1924, Arthur and his family were living in Quincy, in a home they owned at 47 Vershire Street. Arthur was an electrical instructor; it was probably at this time that he taught at the Franklin Union. In 1930, he and his family moved to Walpole, where Arthur began working at the L.F. Fales Machine Company at East and Elm Streets. He remained with the company for the rest of his life, eventually becoming the president. In 1940, he was making $8,000 a year. By that time, Arthur owned 8 Prospect Street in Walpole, valued at $7,500. In 1942, the family lived at 8 Lake Avenue, Walpole.

James remained in Milton, living on Essex Street. By 1930, his brother-in-law, David Wilkie, had joined the household. A civil engineer, David was out of work, performing odd jobs when he could. David was still unemployed in 1940. James’s steady work at Walter Baker brought in a salary of $2,000 a year. His son, James, Jr., a college student, worked 28 weeks in a boarding house, earning $300. In 1958, James’s wife Margaret died. In the early 1960s, he remarried, wedding Mary Eisenahuaer. James died on February 11, 1973, at the Milton Hospital after a long illness. He was buried in the Milton Cemetery.

In 1975, George’s wife Mary died. By then, they had moved from 9 Rector Road, their home for 40 years, and were living at 74 Georgetowne Place in Hyde Park. George had retired in the early 1960s. By 1979, he lived on O’Neill Drive in Dedham. It was there that he died of a heart attack on April 19, 1979. He was buried Knollwood Memorial Park in Canton. He was a past commander of World War I Veterans Barracks of Boston, as well as a member of the Odd Fellows of Dorchester; the Jacob Jones Post, Veterans of a Foreign War, Dedham; and the Dedham American Legion.

Arthur died on April 17, 1980, at Norwood Hospital after a long illness. His wife Mary died a month later. They are interred in the Rural Cemetery in Walpole. Arthur was a member of the Azure Masonic Lodge.

Sources

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

Family Trees; Ancestry.com

U.S. Federal Census, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; Ancestry.com

Boston, Braintree, Quincy Directories, various years; Ancestry.com

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

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

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

Fort Warren, Wikipedia.org <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Warren_(Massachusetts)>

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

“Several Mechanic Arts Seniors Wear Khaki,” Boston Globe, 22 Jun 1917: 8; Newspapers.com

“Braintree,” Boston Globe, 2 July 1919: 4; Newspapers.com

Marriage Records, George McIntosh & John McIntosh: New England Historical Genealogical Society; New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire; Ancestry.com

Rhode Island, Marriage Index, 1851-1920; Ancestry.com

“U.S. Will Still Be Best Fed, Asserts General Foods Head,” Boston Globe, 24 Dec 1941: 19; Newspapers.com

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

Deaths, Boston Globe, 31 July 1958: 29; Newspapers.com

“J.A. McIntosh,” Boston Globe, 13 February 1973: 41; Newspapers.com

Death Notices, Boston Globe, 1 Oct 1975: 63; Newspapers.com

“George McIntosh, 82,” Boston Globe, 22 April 1979: 95; Newspapers.com

“Arthur C. McIntosh, 85,” Boston Globe, 18 April 1980: 39; Newspapers.com

Arthur McIntosh, George McIntosh, FindAGrave.com

Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733–1990. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Arthur Clarence McIntosh, Dorchester, George Edward McIntosh, James Albert McIntosh, Lower Mills, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration 2433 Baker Chocolate Recipe Pamphlets

Posted on December 1, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2433 Baker Chocolate Recipe Pamphlets

Promotional cookbooklets are well-known today. They are a special category of cookbook publishing in which a company distributes recipes that uses its own products. With a product code snipped from the package and nominal handling fee, Knox Gelatine will send a pamphlet of recipes using its product, Durkee-Mower will send a pamphlet with recipes using Marshmallow Fluff, and Cuisinart will send recipes using its food processor. Although in the 21st century this phenomenon may be waning as companies set up websites that distribute the recipes more efficiently, the publishing of promotional cookbooklets has been popular for nearly 200 years. In the early to mid 19th century, almanacs carried recipes — especially almanacs published by the patent medicine companies. In the second half of the century, the practice was in full-swing.

This period also saw the proliferation of cookbook publishing and the beginning of the cookbook author as minor celebrity. Cookbook authors opened schools of cookery and began to lecture for fundraising and for the promotion of efficiency and scientific methods. Fannie Farmer, for example, is cited for introducing the practice of level measurements in cooking. Many authors endorsed the products of local companies and created recipes for them. Mary Lincoln, a principal teacher of the Boston Cooking School, wrote the recipes for a pamphlet published by the White Mountain Freezer company, a New Hampshire manufacturer of ice cream freezers. Fannie Farmer, another head of the Boston Cooking School, wrote the recipes for the Rumford Cook Book, a publication of the Rumford Chemical Works, a manufacturer of baking powder in Rhode Island. Janet McKenzie Hill, yet another principal of the Boston Cooking School, wrote Worcester Recipes for the Worcester Salt Company.

The first known recipe pamphlet issued by Walter Baker & Co. was entitled An Account of the Manufacture and Use of Cocoa and Chocolate and was published in 1876. The next was Chocolate Receipts, which was published about 1880. In addition to publishing recipes, Baker extols the nutritional value of chocolate and cites many experts. Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, a German physician, is quoted: “I recommend good chocolate to nervous, excitable persons; also to the weak, debilitated and infirm; to children and women. I have obtained excellent results from it in many cases of chronic deseases of the digestive organs.” The first teacher of the Boston Cooking School, Maria Parloa, wrote many of the recipes for Walter Baker & Co.’s 1899 pamphlet, Choice Recipes. She was a well-known cookbook author and teacher. The Appledore Cook Book, her first, was published in 1872. Though little is known of her early life, she attended the Maine Central Institute when she was 28 years old. The Appledore Cook Book, published the next year, tells us that she had worked as a cook in private families and had worked as a pastry chef in several New Hampshire hotels. She went into teaching in Mandarin, Florida, where she gave her first lecture on cooking to raise money for the purchase of an organ for the local Sunday School. Encouraged by her success, she opened a cooking school in 1877 on Tremont Street in Boston. In 1879 she agreed to teach at the Boston Cooking School, a project of the Women’s Education Association. Over the years she published Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book and Marketing Guide (1881) and Practical Cookery (1884) as well as writing many articles for the Ladies’ Home Journal, of which she was a part owner.

Like her other cookbooks, Choice Recipes went through many editions. The 1899 and 1901 editions were written by Miss Parloa and Elizabeth K. Burr of the Domestic Science Department of the YWCA of Boston. The 1902 edition was written by Miss Parloa and other teachers, lecturers and writers. In 1912 the publication was called Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes by Miss Parloa with a second section “Home Made Candy Recipes” by Mrs. Janet McKenzie Hill. Miss Parloa had died in 1909, and by 1925 the pamphlet was entitled Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes by Celebrated Cooks, still with Mrs. Hill’s section on “Home Made Candy Recipes.” Although the title page went through these changes, the cover-title continued as Choice Recipes throughout the many years of publication. Another Baker pamphlet was Delicious Cold Drinks and Desserts for Hot Weather, published in 1917.

In 1927 the Postum Cereal Co. acquired Walter Baker & Co., and in 1928 Walter Baker & Co. issued two cook booklets with no authors listed: Famous Recipes for Baker’s Chocolate and Breakfast Cocoa; and Perfect Chocolates of Your Own Making. The Secrets of Dipping with Baker’s DOT Chocolate. [Could DOT mean Dorchester?] General Foods was formed in 1929 through a merger of Postum and Clarence Birdseye’s firm, and in 1929 General Foods issued Chocolate Cookery. In 1931 they issued Best Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes and in 1932 Baker’s Best Chocolate Recipes. Other pamphlets were issued such as Famous Chocolate Recipes (1936); Chocolate Candies You Can Make (1936); Baker’s Sampler Book of Famous Chocolate Recipes (1936); My Party Book of Tested Chocolate Recipes (1938); and Baker’s Favorite Chocolate Recipes (1945).

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Baker Chocolate, Cookbooks, Dorchester, Maria Parloa, Recipe Pamphlets, Uncategorized, Walter Baker | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Francis Aloysius McDermott

Posted on November 29, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Francis Aloysius McDermott

Our next biography features: Francis Aloysius McDermott.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

Francis Aloysius McDermott, known as Frank, was born June 20, 1888, in Mattapan at 10 Eagle Mill Place (today’s Riverway shopping center). His father, James F., born in Dorchester to Irish parents, was a blacksmith. His mother, Frances (Kelty), known as Fannie, was born in Boston and also had Irish ancestry; she worked a domestic before her marriage. Married in 1887 in Hyde Park, they had nine other children: James born in 1890, John in 1891, Arthur in 1894, Clement in 1896, Mary in 1897, Frances in 1899, George in 1903, Raymond in 1905, and Alice in 1906. Two of the children died in childhood: Clement died suddenly in 1905 of intestinal indigestion, and Raymond in 1906 of pneumonia, a complication of measles.

In 1900, the family lived at 28 Mount Hope Street. By 1910, Frank, his father, and his brother Arthur were living at 55 River Street, the home of Frank’s grandfather Bryan McDermott and aunt Mary McDermott. Frank’s mother died in 1916.

Frank was still living at 55 River Street in 1917 when he registered for the draft. By then, he was a wire expert working for the wholesale electrical supply house Pettingill-Andrews Company at 489 Atlantic Avenue in Boston. He was drafted and inducted into the National Army on March 26, 1918 and assigned to E Company, 37th Engineers, who specialized in electrical and mechanical work. The 37th Engineers trained at Fort Myer, outside of Washington, D.C. On June 1, 1918, Frank was made a Corporal.

On June 30, after enjoying coffee, cake, and cigarettes dispensed by the Red Cross, the 37th Engineers boarded the HMS Mauretania in New York City, headed for Europe. The ship carried them to Liverpool, England, where they took a train to Southampton, then boarded the very small, very crowded channel boat Antrim to Cherbourg, France. Taking a train to their ultimate destination, they passed through Paris. Seeing the Eiffel Tower was so exciting, one man fell out of the open car while looking at it. This first journey ended in Neufchateau where, according to the company history, the men mainly did “stevedore work.”

In late July, during the Chateau Thierry engagement, E Company was attached to the Chief Engineers office and handled the electrical and mechanical requirements of the First Army. Their projects included overhauling a chateau to be used as headquarters, constructing a pier on the river for the evacuation of wounded by boat, repairing power lines damaged by shell fire, and installing electric plants. On August 16, a German bombing squadron attack dropped 19 bombs amongst their pup tents. Most of the bombs were “troop bombs” which exploded before hitting the ground, spraying shrapnel. Four men were killed and 12 seriously wounded.

On August 30, 1918, Frank was promoted to Sergeant. During the St-Mihiel engagement, his platoon was sent to Dieulouard, where Frank was put in charge of the company’s tool storeroom. In Dieulouard, the Platoon was constantly under heavy shell fire, and airplanes battled overhead daily. As the company history described it, “Shells had made living above ground almost unbearable, & the men were forced to seek shelter in dugouts, not particularly conducive to machine shop work.”

In mid-September the company moved to Clermont-en-Argonne in the Meuse-Argonne sector to prepare for the next major engagement. After the main drive was over, E Company followed in the battle’s wake, installing and operating pumps and electrical stations, and salvaging electrical and mechanical items abandoned by the retreating Germans. On October 1, Frank was promoted to Supply Sergeant.

After the Armistice, most of the company moved to Verdun, working as an advanced unit for railroad construction, preparing the right of way for track laying, inspecting track and structures, and making temporary repairs. At the end of November, E Company drove a train to Coblenz, Germany, performing reconnaissance ahead of the arrival of the Third Army into Germany. In December, they were called back to France, to serve guard duty in Lorraine. Finally, in March, E Company sailed for the United States, leaving from St-Nazaire, sailing on the USS Princess Matoika. They reached the United States on March 20. Frank was discharged on April 4, 1919.

On July 16, 1919, Frank married Julia Sarah Lewis, a school teacher from Newton. Frank and Julia were married at St. Patrick’s Church in Watertown by Father Richard Splaine. They moved in with Julia’s family at 173 California Street in Newton. Julia’s father, George, a British immigrant, worked as a dyer at the Lewando’s French Dying and Cleansing plant in Watertown. Frank continued with his pre-war career, as a wire expert. Their son, Francis G., was born in 1920.

Frank and Julia bought their own house in Watertown, at 18 California Park. Frank was involved with the Watertown American Legion and served as Post Commander in 1938. In the early 1930s, Frank was a travelling salesman, selling electrical items. In January 1936, he was in the running for a Civil Service job as a storekeeper at the Worcester State Hospital. By 1940, he was the Storekeeper at the State Prison Colony, in Norfolk, Massachusetts, making $2,500 a year. By that time, he and his family were again residing at 173 California Street in Newton. Julia’s widowed father lived with them until his death in 1941. During World War II, his son Francis piloted a dive bomber in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, for which he was awarded an Air Medal.

Frank died on September 23, 1952. A funeral was held at his home on California Street and a Solemn High Mass of Requiem was celebrated at St. Patrick’s Church in Watertown. Frank was buried in St. Patrick’s cemetery in Watertown.

Sources

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

Eagle Place: Atlas of Dorchester, West Roxbury and Brighton, City of Boston, 1899, Leventhal Map Collection, Boston Public Library; Collections.leventhalmap.org

Family Trees, Ancestry.com

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

Deaths, Boston Post, 26 April 1916, 22; Newspapers.com

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

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

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

Brown, H.C. History of E Company, 37th U.S. Engineers. Boston: George H. Ellis Co, 1919; Hathitrust.org

“McDermott-Lewis,” Boston Globe, 17 July 1919, 6; Newspapers.com

“Watertown A.L. to Hear Defense Address,” Boston Globe, 14 March 1938, 4; Newspapers.com

“17 on Civil Service Have Job Prospects,” Boston Globe, 1 Jan 1936, 9; Newspapers.com

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

“Newton Marine Corps Flyer is Awarded Air Medal,” Boston Globe, 10 Nov1943, 36; Newspapers.com

“Deaths,” Newton Graphic, 2 Oct 1952, 8; Archive.org

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Francis Aloysius McDermott, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Francis Masterson.

Posted on November 29, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Francis Masterson.

Our next biography features: Francis Masterson.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

In the photograph Francis is on the left.

Francis Masterson, known as Frank, was born in County Cavan, Ireland, on April 12, 1887, to John Masterson, a farmer, and his wife, Mary (Burns). Their eleven other children included: James, Patrick, Michael, Julia, John, Bridget, and Katie. In 1901, they lived in Drumhart, County Cavan, in a four-room house with brick walls and a non-thatched roof on a farm with a few outbuildings: cow house, piggery, and barn. By 1901, Frank no longer attended school; the Irish census recorded his occupation as a “farmer’s son,” meaning he worked on the family’s land.

On April 5, 1908, Frank sailed from Queenstown on the White Star Line’s S.S. Cymric, arriving in Boston on April 14. His brother James, already living in Dorchester at 12 Huntoon Street, paid Frank’s passage. In July, Frank filed his intention to become an American citizen. On his intention papers, he described himself as a farmer. In 1910, he lived at 12 Huntoon Street in Lower Mills, boarding with his older brothers James and Patrick in the household of Patrick Blessington. At this time, Frank was a laborer in the chocolate mill, probably Walter Baker Chocolate. By 1913, he lived at 17 Lonsdale Street and was a conductor on the electric street railway. He took his oath of citizenship on February 2, 1914. His citizenship petition was witnessed by brother Patrick Masterson and Michael Murphy, a gardener from Milton.

In June 1917, Frank was living at 277 Codman Street (present-day Gallivan Boulevard) and still working as a conductor for the Boston Elevated Railway Company. On his notecard for F. Masterson, Dr. Perkins noted that Frank served with A Company, 301st Ammunition Train. The 301st Ammunition Train was part of the 76th Division, or the Liberty Bell Division, organized in September 1918, and largely comprised of draftees from New England. The Division trained at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. On July 14, 1918, Frank sailed overseas from Montreal, Canada, with the 301st Ammunition Train on the SS Ajana. He returned from France in February 1919, sailing from Brest, on the USS Kansas with B Company, 116th Ammunition Train, arriving in Hoboken, New Jersey, on February 23, 1919.

Before he left for France, Frank married Bridget Kelly. During the war, she lived at 15 Johnson Place in Mattapan, and they resided there together after Frank’s return. Initially, he went back to his job as a street car conductor. In 1922, he is listed as a student in the Boston directory. That year, Bridget purchased property in Milton from Thomas and Annie Kelley. She and Frank settled at 74 Central Avenue in Milton, where Frank lived for the rest of his life.

In the mid-1920s, Frank was a bookkeeper. In 1929, he appeared in the Milton Directory as an operator. During the 1930s, Milton directories list him a watchman. The 1940 census reported his occupation as a guard watchman at the Charlestown Navy Yard. In 1942, on his World War II draft registration, he reported that he was retired, though the 1945 directory continued to list him as a watchman.

Frank died on January 28, 1946, in Milton. A Solemn High Mass of Requiem was celebrated for him at St. Gregory’s Church in Dorchester and he was buried in the Milton Cemetery. Frank was a member of St. Gregory’s Court, Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters; Old Dorchester Post American Legion; Disabled American Veterans, Navy Yard Chapter 17; and Division Number 20 Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Sources

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

1901, 1911 Irish Census, National Archives of Ireland, Dublin; http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie

Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1891-1943, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com

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

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

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

Boston & Milton Directories, various years; Ancestry.com

Deed, Norfolk Registry of Deeds; www.norfolkresearch.org

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

Deaths, Boston Globe, 29 Jan 1946: 27; Newspapers.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Francis Masterson, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Ralph Russell Martin

Posted on November 29, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Ralph Russell Martin

Our next biography features: Ralph Russell Martin

Written by Donna Albino.

Ralph Russell Martin (another source records his name as Ralph Robinson Martin) was born on November 3, 1891, in Milton, Massachusetts. His parents were John R. Martin and Martha (Farnum) Martin, both born in Dorchester, and Ralph was their fourth son. The Martin family lived in Milton until at least 1897, but by 1900, they were living in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester at 1057 Washington Street. The family had seven children, and two wage earners in the family. Ralph’s father, John, worked as a mill hand in a chocolate factory, most likely the Walter Baker Chocolate Company, and Ralph’s older brother Harry was 17 years old and working as a day laborer. There was also a 74-year-old boarder, William Merrill, living with the family, perhaps to help with expenses.

By 1910, the family was living in Dorchester at 90 Butler Street. Ralph’s father John was still working at the chocolate mill. Ralph’s older brothers, John, William, and Charles were working as an iron worker, a roofer, and a mechanic for a steel ceiling company, respectively. The family now had ten children living in their rented home. Ralph was 18 years old, but unemployed.

On July 31, 1915, Ralph married Margaret Fraser Hynes in Quincy, where his wife lived at the time of their marriage. He was 23 years old, and she was about 17 years old. In 1917, Ralph registered for the war draft as Ralph Russell Martin; He listed himself as married, and gave his occupation as nurse, but he was unemployed; perhaps he was tending someone in the family. Ralph joined the war effort as a member of the American Expeditionary Forces of Dorchester, according to his service record. The American Expeditionary Forces was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The AEF was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing. It fought alongside French Army, British Army, Canadian Army, and Australian Army units against the German Empire. A minority of the AEF troops also fought alongside Italian Army units in that same year against the Austro-Hungarian Army. The AEF helped the French Army on the Western Front during the Aisne Offensive (at the Battle of Château-Thierry and Battle of Belleau Wood) in the summer of 1918 and fought its major actions in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the latter part of 1918.

Ralph was also listed as a sergeant in the 151st Depot Brigade. The 151st Depot Brigade was a training and receiving formation of the United States Army during World War I, located at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. The role of depot brigades was to receive and organize recruits, provide them with uniforms, equipment and initial military training, and then send them to France to fight on the front lines. The depot brigades also received soldiers returning home at the end of the war and completed their out processing and discharges. Depot brigades were often organized, reorganized, and inactivated as requirements to receive and train troops rose and fell, and later ebbed and flowed during post-war demobilization.

After the war ended, Ralph returned to his parents’ home in Dorchester, where he was listed as single in the 1920 census. He was working as a house painter. His wife Margaret is not in the census anywhere in the Boston area or in New Jersey, where she was born. However, she appears with Ralph in the 1930 census, where they were listed as renting a home in the St. Marks area of Dorchester at 62B Wrentham Street. Ralph was working as a health inspector for the city of Boston.

Starting around 1923, Ralph and his older brother Charles were members of the Yankee Yacht Club of Swampscott, and the Milton Yacht Club. They owned several boats that they raced, and they often competed for the same club and in the same races. Charles won most of the races when they competed together, but Ralph sometimes was able to win against his brother. They both usually finished in the top three, leading their clubs to victory.

Unfortunately, boating was not always a source of joy for the Martins. Ralph and his wife had been living, since the fall of 1925, in a 35-foot cabin motorboat, the Wanza, which has been put on props at the Town Landing in Milton. On May 1, 1926, Ralph and Margaret planned to get the boat ready for its summer cruise. While Ralph was outside, preparing to launch the boat, Margaret was inside the cabin, preparing dinner on the coal stove. One of the props which held the boat up collapsed, and Margaret was thrown into the companionway as the boat listed to one side. The hot stove went the other way, but the coals fell upon her, burning her and igniting her clothing. Ralph and another member of the Milton Yacht Club managed to extinguish the flames that were burning her clothing. Volunteers from the Milton Yacht Club started a bucket brigade, and the fire on the boat was extinguished with little damage. Ralph was burned about the hands and face in rescuing his wife. Margaret was taken to Milton Hospital suffering from severe burns on her body, face and hands. Despite this tragedy, Ralph continued to race boats with his brother until at least 1933.

In the 1940 census, Ralph and his wife Margaret had moved to 89 Central Avenue in Milton. Margaret’s nephew, William Heusser, age 20, was living with them; they had no children of their own. In 1942, Ralph registered for the WWII draft under the name Ralph Robinson Martin. He was still working as a health inspector for the city of Boston. His card described him as 5’4.5” tall, 125 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a light complexion.

On October 3, 1950, Ralph passed away in Hyannis, Massachusetts. He was buried with Margaret’s parents, Peter and Annie Hynes, in Jordan Cemetery in Waterford, Connecticut. Margaret passed away in 1961 and was buried next to him.

Sources:

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

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

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Marriage 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.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 22; Enumeration District: 1535; FHL microfilm: 1240688

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

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 21, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_739; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 525

Year: 1930; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 29B; Enumeration District: 0443; FHL microfilm: 2340688

Year: 1940; Census Place: Milton, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01628; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 11-127

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.

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

Ancestry.com, Bennett Family Tree by Joshua Bennett

Wikipedia, American Expeditionary Forces

Wikipedia, 152d Depot Brigade (United States)

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 21 Jan 1923, Sun Page 29

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 15 Jun 1924, Sun Page 55

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 03 May 1926, Mon Page 6

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 02 Jul 1928, Mon Page 18

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 20 Aug 1928, Mon Page 11

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 08 Sep 1930, Mon Page 11

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 27 Jul 1931, Mon Page 8

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 17 Jul 1933, Mon Page 9

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Ralph Russell Martin, St. Marks uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biographies: John Frederick Martin and Irving Martin

Posted on November 29, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biographies: John Frederick Martin and Irving Martin

Our next biography features: John Frederick Martin and Irving Martin.

Written by Camille Arbogast.

Brothers John Frederick and Irving Martin were sons of Martha (Farnum) and John Robinson Martin. Both parents had been born in Dorchester and were married in 1883. John F. was born on July 26, 1885, in Milton and Irving was born on November 30, 1898, in Dorchester. John F. and Irving had nine siblings who lived beyond early childhood: Harry born in 1883, William in 1887, Charles in 1889, Ralph in 1891, Eunice in 1894, Marion Lillian in 1895, Ethel in 1900, Ernest in 1902 and Bertram in 1908. Martha had seven other pregnancies; at least five infants died at under a year, most died of digestive troubles or bronchitis, and at least one was stillborn.

At the time of his marriage, their father John Robinson was a blacksmith. On John F.’s birth record, his father’s occupation was reported as quarryman, while the Milton directory for that year listed John Robinson as an employee of H.P. Kidder, an investment banker and resident of the town. By 1898, John Robinson worked for Walter Baker Chocolate, his employer for many years. He generally worked as a mill hand or chocolate maker, and also worked for a time as a night watchman at the factory.

In 1885, the family lived on Pierce Street in East Milton. By 1897, they resided off Squantum Street in East Milton. In 1900, the family rented 1057 Washington Street in Lower Mills. They moved to 90 Butler Street, near the Neponset River, by 1903, and remained there for at least 40 years. Their brother, Charles, died of tuberculosis in 1910, when he was 21.

In May 1916, Irving ran away from home with a few friends: Bert Foster, John Driscoll, and Everett Kellaway. They skipped school, telling their friends they were headed for Florida, and set out with very little money. Their mothers missed them when they did not come home for lunch, and began to worry when they did not return from dinner. The boys, meanwhile, made it as far as Buzzards Bay. From there, they sent postcards to their mothers. “Don’t worry,” they wrote, “we will write when we get a job.” They returned home after about a week.

Less than a year after this adventure, on January 24, 1917, Irving enlisted in the Coast Artillery Corps (CAC). This was before the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917. The CAC provided coastal defense, manning coastal and harbor fixed artillery installations and minefields. Many thought the coast would be the first active front in the United States and joined the CAC hoping for immediate action. When the 55th Artillery was organized from eight existing Coast Defense companies in December 1917, Irving’s CAC company became Battery B, 55th Artillery, Coast Artillery Corps, 31st Heavy Artillery Brigade. Battery B was stationed at Fort Andrews on Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor.

The 55th sailed for France on March 25, 1918, leaving from New York on the ocean liner RMS Mauretania. In France, they trained in Clermont Ferrand in the Auvergne region. On the battlefield, the CAC was responsible for manned heavy artillery. Battery B named their artillery guns “Madeline,” “Lt. Reed,” “Roaring Bertha,” and “Boston Baby,” christening them with champagne. In August, they participated in the Aisne-Marne offensive, attached to the Sixth French Army. In September, they were part of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, operating as part of the U.S. First Army and in action for all 47 continuous days of the engagement. When the Armistice was signed, Battery B found they had fired 7,170 rounds, the most of any battalion in the 55th. CAC Artillery units were prioritized for early return to the United States, so they could resume defending the coast. After almost a month in the overcrowded Camp Pontazen in Brest, France, they sailed on January 10, 1919, travelling on the HMS Cretic. They arrived in New York on January 22. From there, the 55th went to Camp Mills, Mineola, Long Island for delousing, then performed a short stint as Coast Defense on Long Island Sound around New London, Connecticut. On February 11, 1919, Irving was discharged. The 55th was strongly identified with Boston, and when the soldiers returned to the city, a band received them at South Station and a reception was held for them on the Common.

John entered the Army on September 5, 1917. He had been working for about ten years by that time, first as a boilermaker, and later as a painter for Shay Brothers of 86 Warren Street, Boston. In the Army, he was sent to the 151st Depot Brigade for training at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, before serving as a Private in Company D, 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Brigade, 5th Division. On April 16, 1918, he sailed for Europe on the USS Calamares, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey. The 5th Division participated in the engagements at Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. After the Armistice, the division was part of the Army of Occupation in Belgium and Luxembourg. John returned home earlier than most of the 60th Infantry, traveling to the United States with a casual company which sailed from Bordeaux on December 25, 1918, on the S.S. Pastores. He was discharged on March 12, 1919.

After the war, John and Irving returned to 90 Butler Street. On January 16, 1922, John married Mary A. (Cavanagh) Monynihan, a widow with two children who lived in Mattapan. Before her first marriage in 1911, she had worked as a housekeeper. She had two children, John J. born in 1913 and Marguerite in 1914. Her first husband died in 1915. John and Mary were married by Reverend Francis J. Ryan, of St. Angela’s Church on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan. John and Mary would go on to have two children together: John A. and Joseph Martin.

At the time of his marriage, John was a student. Later, he resumed work as a painter. In 1923, John and Mary purchased 40 Dyer Avenue in Milton, where John lived for the rest of his life. He began working as a custodian at the Massachusetts School of Art, then located at 364 Brookline Avenue in the Fenway, in 1937. In 1940, he earned $1150. John died on August 2, 1954, of kidney and heart disease. A Mass of High Requiem was held for him at Milton’s St. Mary of the Hills Church and he was buried in Milton. John was a member of the Milton Post, Number 114 American Legion.

Irving was married on November 5, 1925, wedding Violet Augusta Bickerton, a Canadian immigrant living at 47 Sturbridge Street in Dorchester. Born in Joggins Mines, Nova Scotia, Violet came to the United States in 1909. They were married by Reverend Eugene Dinsmore Dolloff of the Blaney Memorial Baptist Church in Dorchester. They had one son, Irving E. Martin born in 1927.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Irving worked as a roofer and house painter. The 1930 census reported he was unemployed and no occupation was listed for him in the Boston directory during the 1930s. By 1926, Irving and Violet lived at 1256 Morton Street. In 1929, they moved to 902 Adams Street. The 1930 census reported they lived at 866 North Main Street, in Randolph. By 1934, they were back in Dorchester, at 14 River Street. By 1935, they moved to at 47 Cook Terrace (later renamed Cookson Terrace) in Mattapan. Early on New Year’s Day 1940, Irving was hit by a car in Quincy. His car had run out of gas and he was headed to a gas station, walking along Willard Street in West Quincy, when Boston University graduate student John B. York struck him. Another driver took Irving to the Quincy City Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Irving was buried in the Milton Cemetery.

Sources

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

Births Registered in the City of Boston 1898, Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001; FamilySearch.org

Boston & Milton directories, various years, Ancestry.com

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

“Warm Welcome from Their Fathers on Return,” Boston Globe, 3 May 1916: 20; Newspapers.com

“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 9 May 1916: 4; 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

Cutler, Frederick Morse. The 55th Artillery (CAC) in the American Expeditionary Forces, France, 1918. Worcester, MA: Commonwealth Press, 1920; Archive.org

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

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

“United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940:” FamilySearch.org

The Official History of the Fifth Division, U. S. A. Washington, DC: Society of the Fifth Division, 1919; Archive.org

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

Deed, 40 Dyer Ave, Milton, MA, May 1923, Norfolk County Registry of Deeds, Book 1555, page 124; NorfolkResearch.org

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

Certificate of death, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Town of Milton, via Norfolk Country Registry of Deeds, Book 2395, page 183, recorded August 31, 1954; NorfolkResearch.org

Deaths, Boston Globe, 4 August 1954: 31; Newspapers.com

“Massachusetts, United States Naturalization Records, 1871-1991,” National Archives and Records Administration; FamilySearch.org

Deaths, Boston Globe, 2 Jan 1940: 25; Newspaper.com

“B.U. Graduate Student Fined After Fatality,” Boston Globe, 12 June 1940: 6; Newspapers.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, Irving Martin, John Frederick Martin, Uncategorized, World War 1 | Comments Off

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