Dorchester Illustration of the Day 2429 James Patrick Stuart

Posted on November 3, 2019 by earltaylor

2429 James Patrick Stuart

Dorchester Illustration no. 2429      James Patrick Stuart

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

Our next biography features: James Patrick Stuart.

Written by Julie Wolf.

James Patrick Stuart was born in Dorchester on May 14, 1896, to Peter M. Stuart, a stonemason at the time, and Margaret McKenna. Peter had emigrated from Scotland in 1889; Margaret, the daughter of Irish immigrants, had emigrated from Canada in 1889. The family, along with his two younger sisters, Margaret and Rachel, would live at the address of James’s birth, 19 Monson Street, for close to two decades.  The family’s last name was frequently misspelled “Stewart” in various documents that appeared in the paper trail.

When James was 21 years old, he registered for the draft, employed as an iceman by the Milton Ice Company. The city directory for 1917 also shows that he worked as a chocolate maker at the Baker Chocolate Company during this year. (James’s father had been employed at the chocolate mill in 1900, when James was a baby. Baker, the nation’s first successful chocolate producer, provided work for a vast number of Dorchester residents during the early twentieth century.) Within the year, on April 26, 1918, James enlisted in the Regular Army National Guard, Enlisted Reserve Corps, at Camp Devens, a private in Company A, 302nd Infantry. On July 3 of that year, he went overseas, serving at a camp near Bordeaux for three months before transferring to Company H, 318th Infantry.

By the time James was discharged on June 9, 1919, his parents and sisters had moved to 23 (or 25) Freeland Street in Mattapan, a home his father owned, according to the 1920 census. James held a job as a grocery store clerk in 1920 before becoming a patrolman for Division 6 of the Boston Police Department from 1920 to 1922. His career as an officer ended ignominiously. Although details of the inciting incident are scant, on August 10, 1922, the Boston Globe reported that James was “finally dismissed” after being “found guilty of untruthfulness” regarding charges that stemmed from his alleged participation in a “Houghs Neck party” in Quincy.

In 1924, in Brookline, James married Boston-born Marion Teresa Conroy, like his own mother, the daughter of Irish immigrants. Following his dismissal from the police force, James had again taken work as a clerk at the chocolate mill. The next years saw several address changes within Dorchester for the couple and their sons, James, born around 1927, and Robert, born around 1931. They rented homes at 73 Ridgewood Street, possibly 107 Mt. Ida Road, 27 Selden Street, and finally 102 Bloomfield Street, where they would remain until the late 1950s.

Tragedy struck the family on June 17, 1950, when their elder son James, returning home after a dance, was killed in a head-on car crash in Pembroke that took the life of one other young man and injured approximately seven others. James was 24. Almost four years after the accident, in February 1954, Suffolk Superior Court awarded James $11,020 for his son’s death.

For most of the rest of his life, James worked as a janitor or custodian, first at Curtis Hall, currently the site of Boston Centers for Youth & Families, and then at what the Boston city directories describe as “City Buildings Division.” In 1957 or 1958, James and Marion moved from their longtime home at 102 Bloomfield to 17 Becket Street, where they lived from 1959 to at least 1963. The 1966 city directory finds James retired and living with Marion in an apartment at 10 Rockwell Street. He died in Milton on August 11, 1968, survived by his wife, their son, and his two sisters. His funeral was held in Dorchester, his home until almost the end of his life. His obituary noted that he was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Council 180 of the Lower Mills area, and a World War I veteran.

SOURCES:

“$52,256 Verdicts Awarded in 1950 Pembroke Crash.” Boston Globe, February 25, 1954: 3.

“Accidents (cont’d from Fogg Museum Official Struck Riding Bicycle, Critically Injured.” Boston Globe. June 18, 1950: 13.

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

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.

“Dorchester Man Killed in Crash.” Boston Globe, June 17, 1950: 1.

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.

FamilySearch.org. United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, database with images. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

“James P. Stuart.” Dr. Perkins WWI Photo Collection.

“Stuart Dismissed from Police Force: Final Action Follows Second Hearing: Division 6 Patrolman One of Party at Houghs Neck.” Boston Globe, August 10, 1922: 3.

“Stuart (James P.).” Boston Globe, August 13, 1968: 35.

“Stuart (Marion).” Boston Globe, July 27, 1977: 50.

“Stuart (James P.).” Boston Globe, June 18, 1950: 63.

 

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Dorchester Illustration 2428 Arthur Wellington Gross

Posted on October 27, 2019 by earltaylor

2428 William P ArthurW and Henry H Gross

Dorchester Illustration no. 2428      Arthur Wellington Gross

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: Arthur Welling Gross.

Written by Donna Albino.   Arthur is in the center of the photograph.

Arthur Wellington Gross was born on December 26, 1891 in Milton, Massachusetts, to Sylvester Gross and Ellen (Pelrine) Gross; Arthur was their first child. The family moved several times between Milton and Dorchester’s Lower Mills for a few years. By 1900, the family had settled in a rented house at 22 Baker Court in Lower Mills, and Sylvester was working as a coachman. Three more children had been born to the family: two sons named Henry and William, and a daughter named Mary. In 1908, Arthur graduated from the Gilbert Stuart School in Lower Mills.

In 1910, the family was renting a home at 12 Millers Lane in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester. Sylvester was working as a teamster for a chocolate factory, most likely the Walter Baker Chocolate Factory, and Arthur, now 19 years old, was working as a teamster for an express company.

On June 5, 1917, Arthur registered for the draft. He was 26 years old and self-employed in the express business. He was living with his parents at 1234 Morton Street in Lower Mills. A few months later, on September 23, 1917, Arthur was inducted into the war effort. He served with Company F, 301st Infantry, known as “Boston’s Own,” until November 12, 1917.

Arthur was then transferred to Company F, 326th Infantry until April 10, 1918. The 326th Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. It was initially composed of large numbers of conscripts, or “draftees,” who had been called up for service, most of whom had no previous military experience whatsoever. In April 1918, the regiment received orders to move to Camp Upton in New York in preparation for embarkation to France.

At Camp Upton, Arthur was assigned to the 157th Depot Brigade, which received and organized recruits, provided them with uniforms, equipment, and initial military training before sending them to France to fight on the front lines. On August 31, 1918, Arthur headed to France on the SS Leviathan, an ocean liner painted in British-type “dazzle” camouflage to mislead the enemy about the ship’s course and make it more likely to evade attack. On September 18, 1918, Arthur was assigned to the HQ Company of the 161st Infantry until September 28, 1918. The 161st was not committed to combat; the personnel of the 161st were used as replacements for other units. For its service, the regiment was awarded the WWI campaign streamer without inscription.

Arthur left Brest, France with the St. Aignan Casual Company #1491 on the USS Pueblo on March 16, 1919. The American army was centered on the town of Saint-Aignan toward the close of the war, and a lot of organizational changes occurred here. A casual company was an army group composed for specific duties, drawing personnel from other types of units, for tasks like driving ambulances or ammunition trucks. Arthur’s experiences as a teamster before the war probably made him a good candidate for this type of work, and it kept him out of the trenches. Arthur arrived at Hoboken, NJ on March 27, 1919. Arthur was discharged on April 5, 1919 from Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts.

After the war, Arthur returned to his parents’ home. In the 1920 census, he was living at 1234 Morton Street in Lower Mills, working as a house painter. In 1922, Arthur lived at 343 Codman Street in the Ashmont section of Dorchester for several years, still working as a painter. He returned to his parents’ home for several years in 1926, and then moved to 21 Magdala Street, also in the Ashmont section in Dorchester in 1928. He was still at this address in 1930 when the next census was taken.

In the 1940 census, Arthur was living with his sister Mary and her husband at 36 Old Morton Street, back in Lower Mills.  The census did not list employment for Arthur, but in 1942 when Arthur registered for the WWII draft, he was working in Milton, and still living with his sister Mary and her husband at 36 Old Morton Street.

After 1942, Arthur’s path was difficult to trace. Up until 1942, when he waslisted in the Boston city directory, he was listed as Arthur W. Gross. There is an Arthur Gross (without a middle initial) living at several addresses in Dorchester throughout the 1950s, but he might not have been Arthur Wellington Gross.

Arthur Wellington Gross passed away on March 2, 1962, and was interred at Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan. An upright marble, military veteran headstone engraved with a Latin cross was requested from the U.S. War Department by the cemetery several weeks after his death, and was shipped to the cemetery in May of 1962.

Sources:

-Fold3, Boston City Directories, 1891-1897

-The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 23 Jun 1908, Tue Page 7

-Year: 1900; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Page: 2; -Enumeration District: 1531; FHL microfilm: 1240688

-Year: 1910; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_625; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 1633; FHL microfilm: 1374638

-Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 21, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_739; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 524

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

-Year: 1940; Census Place: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: m-t0627-01676; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 15-610

-Registration State: Massachusetts; Registration County: Suffolk; Roll: 1685013; Draft Board: 21

-US Army WWI Transport Service, Passenger Lists, Ship: Pueblo, Entry Number: NM-81 2060

-US Army WWI Transport Service, Passenger Lists, Ship: Leviathan, Entry Number: NM-81 2061

-worldwar1letters.wordpress.com: Camp Devens; Home of New England’s Own

 

Wikipedia, 326th Infantry Regiment (United States)

-army.togetherweserved.com, 157th Depot Brigade

Wikipedia, 161st Infantry Regiment (United States)

-Rootdig, Michael John Neill’s Genealogy Website

-Wikipedia, USS Leviathan

-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

-The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 05 Mar 1962, Mon Page 29

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

-Ancestry.com, Thayer/Baird Family Tree by JamesCallahan

 

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Dorchester Illustration 2427 William Valentine Dacey

Posted on October 20, 2019 by earltaylor

2427 William and Leonard Deacy

Dorchester Illustration no. 2427      William Valentine Dacey

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: William Valentine Dacey. Written by Camille Arbogast

In the photograph, William is on the left, and his brother Leonard is on the right.

William Valentine Dacey was born on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1896, in Chelsea to William T. and Mary E. (Cummings) Dacey. His father, William T., was born in Boston to Irish parents and his mother, Mary, was born in Charlestown(her father was from northern New England and her mother from Ireland). William had one older brother, Leonard born in 1894, and five younger siblings: Francis, known as Frank, born in 1897, Dorothy in 1899, Marion in 1901, Gertrude in 1904, and Lawrence in 1911. Three of the siblings died as children: Marion at age 10, Gertrude at 16, and Lawrence at 17.

William T. was in the window shade and screen business. At the time of his marriage in 1894, he was a shade cutter. By 1900, he was a window shade salesman. Eventually, he became the president of the Crown Shade and Screen Company. Founded in 1905, with a showroom in Boston and a factory on Lochdale Road in Roslindale not far from Forest Hills Station, the company advertised shade cloth, “roller fly screens,” and made-to-order screens for windows, doors and porches.

When William V. was born, the family lived at 11 Auburn Street in Chelsea. By 1910, they had moved a couple of blocks over to 39 Cherry Street. The family moved within the neighborhood again in 1912 to 131 Williams Street. In his note card for William V. Dacey, Dr. Perkins noted that William graduated from Chelsea High School in 1916. During the 1916-1917 school year, William was a special student in the Boston University Business Administration program. In April 1917, his parents purchased a home at 7 Aberdeen Road in Milton.

That June, on his draft registration, William gave his address as 9 Arlington Street in Chelsea, and his occupation as a “Field Clerk of Army, Northeastern Department.” Although we are unsure of William’s connection to Dorchester or Dr. Perkins, Dr. Perkins did keep an index card entry and photograph for him. And, on that card, Dr. Perkins recorded that William enlisted in the Army on July 1, 1917. On October 18, 1917, William sailed for France with the “Field Clerks, Statistical Division,” leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the USAT Tenadores. Dr. Perkins noted that while overseas William served in “Gnrl Pershings [sic] Headquarters.” William returned to the United States on the USS Cap Finisterre, sailing from Brest, France on July 3, 1919, and arriving in Hoboken on July 13. At the time of his return, his “Rank and Arm or Staff Corps” was listed as Army Field Clerk, Adjutant General’s Department, and his Organization as General Headquarters.

After the war he lived with his family at 7 Aberdeen Road and continued as a clerk for the United States Army. On October 12, 1920, William married Bostonian Mary A. Donovan in Milton. They eventually had two children: William F., and Clare. The Boston directory for 1924 lists William living at 8 Fowle Road in Roslindale and working as a clerk, First Corps Area, South Boston. On the 1930 census, William’s occupation is recorded as army base clerk; the directory listed him as a warrant officer, USA Army base. In 1930, William and his family lived at 149 Willow Street in West Roxbury. By 1934 they had moved a short distance to 231 Manthorne Road.

On September 21, 1936, William died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. His funeral was celebrated at the Church of the Holy Name in West Roxbury and he was buried in Calvary Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and children, his mother, and three of his siblings.

Sources

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

Family Trees, Ancestry.com

Death Record for Marion Dacey, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com

Death listing for Gertrude J. Dacey, 85th Annual Town Report of Milton, Mass. for the Year Ending December 31, 1921, page 50; Archive.org

Death listing for Lawrence Dacey, Town of Milton 92nd Annual Report 1928, page 101; Archive.org

“Crown Shade and Screen Co in Its New Quarters,” Boston Globe, 25 Jan 1930, 6; Newspapers.com

Chelsea, Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com

Boston University Year Book 1916-1917, Vol 5, No 5, Part 2, Boston MA: Boston University, September 1916, page 221; books.google.com

Deed, 7 Aberdeen Road, Milton, Norfolk County Registry of Deeds; Norfolkresearch.org

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

Marriage listing, 84th Annual Town Report of Milton Mass. for the Year Ending December 31, 1920, page 64; Archive.org

“Deaths Reported,” Evening Star (Washington DC), 23 September 1936, B-13; Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

“West Roxbury District,” Boston Globe, 23 Sept 1936, 16; Newspapers.com

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 23 Sept 1936; 21; Newspapers.com

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

 

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Dorchester Illustration 2426 Percy Edward Blair

Posted on October 13, 2019 by earltaylor

2426 Percy Edward Blair

Dorchester Illustration no. 2426      Percy Edward Blair

Percy Edward Blair was born on April 17, 1898, at 778 East Fifth Street, South Boston, to Milledge and Sophia Blair. Milledge was from Hampton, New Brunswick, and immigrated to the United States in the 1880s; Sophia was born in Massachusetts. On July 1, 1897, they were married in Chelsea, where Sophia was living at the time. Percy was the oldest of their four children. His younger sibling Milledge L. was born in 1900, followed by Clarence in 1902, Florence in 1907, and Arthur in 1916.

During Percy’s childhood the family moved around South Boston. In 1903, a city directory lists them at 106 N Street, the next year they were at 110 N Street. In 1910, the family lived at 738 Fifth Street, the following year they were at 139 N Street. The family moved to Dorchester by 1913, when they resided at 6 Bearse Avenue in Lower Mills.

Milledge was a machinist; a “brass finisher,” according to directories. The 1910 census reported he was a safety valve tester at a brass factory. Eventually, he would become a foreman at the Mason Regulator Company, 1107 Adams Street in Lower Mills. The Mason Regulator Company made balanced valves, steam traps, and speed and pressure regulators.

Percy attended school through the eighth grade. He then worked as a clerk in Boston. On November 5, 1916, Percy enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard. He reported for duty on July 15, 1917,  and mustered as a Private on August 3. He initially served in the 11th Company Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) of the National Guard. The CAC manned coastal and harbor fixed artillery instillations and minefields. During the war, the CAC also was responsible for all manned heavy artillery. On December 18, 1917, Percy began serving in 23rd Company CAC at Fort Andrews on Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor. As of April 6, 1918, he served with 26th Company CAC (the re-designation of the 11th Company he served in originally), also at Fort Andrews. Three days later, he was promoted to Private First Class; in May he made Corporal. On August 7, he was transferred to Camp Eustis, Virginia, to serve with the 57th Ammunition Train CAC. On October 21, 1918, he departed for France, on the USS Aoelus, along with the 45th Artillery CAC, under the command of Captain K.S. Stevenson. In his notecard for Percy Blair, Dr. Perkins noted that Percy was in Battery E. He served overseas until January 23, 1919, when he sailed from Bordeaux on the USS Siboney. He was discharged on February 12, 1919.

After his discharge from the service, he returned to live with his family. In 1920, they lived at 87 Richmond Street, Dorchester, and Percy worked as a machinist in a car shop. His brother Clarence was an optician in an optical shop, as was their boarder, Mrs. Devidia M. Patterson. A maternal uncle, James Charles Hooton, was also part of the household. In 1925, his parents purchased 96 Wrentham Street, Dorchester, and Percy lived with them there. By 1925, Percy was working as a cable splicer for the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company; he stayed with the telephone company for forty years.

In 1929, Percy married Beatrice Moran. Initially they lived with Percy’s parents at 96 Wrentham Street in Dorchester. But, in 1931, they moved to the Wollaston area of Quincy. The next year they purchased a home in the Montclair neighborhood of Quincy, at 39 Bowdoin Street. Their son, Robert, was born in 1936. In 1943, they moved to 125 Elliot Avenue, North Quincy. Percy retired in the mid-1960s: in the 1963 directory no occupation is given; in 1965 he is listed as retired. Around this time, his son, Robert, working as a mason, returned to live with his parents. In November 1970, Robert, now an accountant, married Judith Ann Reid of Quincy.

Percy died on January 1, 1973, at Quincy City Hospital. A Mason since 1927 and a member of the Macedonia Lodge, a Masonic service was held for him. He is buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Dorchester.

Sources

Birth Certificate, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic

Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com

Family Tree, Ancestry.com

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

Boston directories, various years, Ancestry.com

Milledge Blair draft registration, 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 Passengers 1917-1938 & Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1891-1943, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Ancestry.com

“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 2 Jan 1973: 32; newspapers.com

“Deaths,” Quincy Sun, 11 Jan 1973: 8; Archive.org

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

 

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Oct. 20, 2019 Old House Dos and Don’ts: Preserving, Restoring and Updating Your Older Home

Posted on October 13, 2019 by earltaylor

Old house postcard frontRegardless of the age of your old house, thoughtful informed repairs and alterations can preserve its historical and architectural character, while suiting it for present-day living.  Learn what to think about when considering changes; your questions will be welcome.

Speaker: Sally Zimmerman, Senior Preservation, Services Manager, Historic New England.

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Dorchester Illustration 2425 Robert Chamblet Hooper

Posted on October 6, 2019 by earltaylor

2425 Robert Chamblett Hooper from Hooper genealogy

Dorchester Illustration no. 2425      Robert Chamblet Hooper

In the 19th century many sea captains had a Dorchester connection.  Recently we posted some comments about Enoch Train.  Today we see another captain.

Captain Robert Chamblet Hooper (1805-1869)

Robert Chamblet Hooper was born in Marblehead into a wealthy merchant family.  He attended Phillips Academy, Andover, and entered the class of 1822 at Harvard at 13 years of age.   After his second year at Harvard, he took a vacation aboard one of his father’s vessels, the brig Union.  after visiting Gibraltar, Marseilles, Nice and other ports, he decided to obtain the remainder of his education at sea and traveled to Europe, the West Indies and south America until he was qualified as a captain and business manager of freights.

At the age of 20 he took the ship Walga to Russia.  After that successful voyage, he was entrusted with a very large ship, the Arbella, of 400 tons.  He retired from the sailing life and established himself as a merchant in Boston. He owned, bought and sold ships and other craft.  He imported sugar and other commodities and even owned a share of Central Wharf and the whole of Constitution Wharf.

In 1845 he built a home in Dorchester and called it Oakland.

The following is from an article by Anthony Sammarco that appeared in the Dorchester Community News, January 11, 1991.

The land in Dorchester was composed of slight hills and valleys, with a superb view of Boston from the summit.  It was chosen, according to Gertrude Hooper, his granddaughter, “so the sun would not blind him on the drive home from his Boston office.”  He built a large and architecturally significant villa he named “Oakland,” and he entertained lavishly.  He was probably among the most wealth residents of ningteenth-century Dorchester.

In 1869, the last year the town published a Taxable Valuation, his house alone was appraised at $40,000.  The 20-acre estate was bounded by Dudley Street and Hartford Street.  The Hooper Family retained ownership of Oakland after his death in the same year, but subdivided the estate over the next four decades.

Lingard Street was first known as Hooper Street in honor of the family.  Robin Hood Street, Chamblett Street and Half Moon Street were laid out through the Hooper Estate, and substantial houses were built by well-to-do families.  The aspects that had attracted Hooper to build in Dorchester were the same as those that attracted others in the early “Street Car Suburb” period:  gentle slopes, outcroppings of puddingstone, superb views of Boston to the north and the Blue Hills to the south, and beautiful old oak trees.

The Hooper family had built and moved to a townhouse on Beacon Street in the Back Bay, but they held ownership of Oakland until 1911.

Then the house and the immediate land surrounding it was sold to the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.  The house was adapted for use as the rectory of Saint Paul’s priests.  In the 1930s, the stone church of Saint Paul’s was designed and built by Maginnis & Walsh, the architects of the archdiocese.  The rectory was used until the late 1970s, when it was demolished and a smaller building was erected on the same site chosen by Hooper over a century before.  The gentle slopes, the panoramic views, and the picturesque aspect of the area remain to this day, but the former estate of Robert Chamblett Hooper is no more.

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The Dorchester Historical Society’s historic houses are open on different dates.  The Lemuel Clap House (1712 and remodeled 1765) at 199 Boston Street is open on the third Saturday of each month.  The James Blake House, 735 Columbia Road (1661) and the William Clap House, 195 Boston Street (1806) are open on the third Sunday of each month.  Open hours are 11 am to 4 pm.

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Dorchester Illustration 2424 David Herbert Copson

Posted on September 29, 2019 by earltaylor

2424 David H Copson

Dorchester Illustration no. 2424      David Herbert Copson

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: David Herbert Copson

Written by Donna Albino

Note: The photo on the left is definitely of David Herbert Copson.  The photo on the right is probably of him as well.  If you have any knowledge of the Copson family, please let us know more information.

David Herbert Copson was born on November 9, 1895, in Watertown, Massachusetts. His parents were William Arthur Copson, an immigrant from England, and Rose Ann (Norton) Copson. The family was living in Cambridge by 1897, when David’s brother William was born, and the 1900 census listed their address as 12 Leonard Ave in Cambridge, bordering Inman and Harvard Squares. David’s sister Catherine was born in Cambridge in 1903, but by 1910 the family had relocated to 120 Brown Street in Roslindale. His father was a traveling salesman who sold crackers.

David registered for the draft on June 5, 1917, and his address was listed as 1173 Adams Street, Dorchester on his draft card. His parents, however, still lived in Roslindale. His draft card listed him as single, but he did marry Alvina Webb in 1917, and Alvina’s parents lived at the Adams Street address in the Lower Mills section of Dorchester. Their son, David, was born on June 16, 1918, so the young family may have chosen to live with Alvina’s parents in order to have help with the child while David joined the war effort.

David enlisted in the Great War on July 22, 1918. He was assigned to headquarters, 36th US Infantry Division of the US Army. The unit was sent to Europe in July 1918 and conducted major operations in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. In October, the unit participated in heavy combat near the village of St. Etienne.  David was discharged from service on March 21, 1919 as part of the demobilization effort at the end of the war.

David rejoined his wife and son in Dorchester after the war. In the 1920 census, David, Alvina, and their son David were still living with Alvina’s parents and their six minor children at 1173 Adams Street. David was working as a stock clerk in a machine shop.

On September 28, 1927, at the age of 32, David was admitted to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Togus, Maine. The facility was established as the eastern branch of the National Asylum to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled during service in the Union forces of the American Civil War  and expanded when WWI produced a new veteran population. David’s disability was listed as chronic myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle most often due to a viral infection. His admission form at the hospital revealed that David was then divorced, and living with his parents in Roslindale.

David was discharged from the asylum on June 30, 1928. He passed away in 1929. David’s son was also a veteran; he served as captain of a patrol torpedo (PT) boat in the Philippines during WWII and afterward, went on to live a very accomplished life. He was a PhD graduate of MIT, and worked as a researcher at Raytheon and a professor at the University of Puerto Rico. He passed away in 1999.

Sources:

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

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: Cambridge Ward 2, Middlesex, Massachusetts; Page: 1; Enumeration District: 0696; FHL microfilm: 1240656

Year: 1910; Census Place: Boston Ward 23, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_624; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 1615; FHL microfilm: 1374637

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 21, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_739; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 525

Registration State: Massachusetts; Registration County: Suffolk; Roll: 1685013; Draft Board: 21

Ancestry.com. U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Wikipedia, 36th Infantry Division (United States)

Wikipedia, Myocarditis

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 08 Jun 1999, Tue page 70

Ancestry, Michaud Family Tree by vmichaud176

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Dorchester Illustration 2423 Christos John Alexander

Posted on September 22, 2019 by earltaylor

2423 Christos John Alexander

Dorchester Illustration no. 2423      Christos John Alexander

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: Christos John Alexander        Written by Julie Wolf

Christos John Alexander was born to Ionnis Alexandropou and Ekaterini Oikonomopolou in Stemnitsa, Greece. Spellings of the Greek names vary across documents, as does Christos’s birthdate, which appears as May 22, August 30, and September 26, 1889; January 12, 1890; and “about 1890.” Despite inconsistencies, errors, and his absence from census records, corroborating details gleaned from city directories, immigration, travel, and military files, and family members’ data allowed us to plot Christos’s course through life.

Between 1890 and 1924, 400,000-plus Greek immigrants came to the United States, primarily young men intending to earn money and return home. A 1911 naturalization document had Christos “Alexandra” of 127 “South” Avenue, Dorchester, arriving aboard the Francesca “around September 18, 1906.” However, a November 17, 1907, Francesca manifest includes a Christos Alexandropoulos, final destination 18 Lansing Street, Boston—Christos’s parents’ or sister Angeliki’s address on her 1907 marriage record. Elsewhere his arrival date appears as 1905.

Christos’s World War I draft card, filed in 1917, lists his address as 127 Southern Avenue, which he possibly shared with his mother, listed as a dependent. Of medium height and build, with brown eyes and “dark” hair, he was a fruit dealer at 30 Commercial Street, Boston, and claimed “rheumatism in knee and back” as an exemption from service. The exemption wasn’t granted, and on December 7, 1917, he enlisted at the Boston (now Charleston) Navy Yard. Over 267 days, he had four different postings as a mess attendant, 1st class: Receiving Ship in Boston (December 31, 1917-March 4, 1918); Headquarters Boston, Section Boston (March 4-7); Receiving Ship Boston (March 27-April 18); and finally, the Chelsea Naval Hospital (April 18-August 31, 1918, the date of his discharge). The card notes an unspecified “physical disability.”

Another naturalization document, dated 1924, shows Christos living at 6 Lyndhurst Street; he would become naturalized on June 21, 1926. In 1935, he was back on Southern Avenue, now at 111. His registration with the Selective Service as part of 1942’s “Old Man’s Draft” reveals yet another address: 34 Rosedale Street. He had aged, described as bald and wearing glasses, with a scar on the back of his neck. He identified the “person who will always know where you are” as his brother-in-law Kostas Karalekas, also of 34 Rosedale Street and formerly of 111 Southern. It seems the men lived and worked together from early on: in the 1910 census, Kostas identified himself as a “fruit dealer, employer,” Christos’s occupation as well.

Christos’s was a life in transit. According to his wife Antigoni’s 1949 naturalization petition, she and Christos married in Athens, not America, on November 29, 1936, and had a son, John, born in Greece on May 1, 1940. These dates indicate multiple voyages for Christos, as naturalized citizens were prohibited from living abroad for this length of time. On August 3, 1940, he arrived alone in New York aboard the Exmoor, returning to 34 Rosedale Street, his address per the 1942 and 1943 Boston city directories.

Christos vanished from the directories until 1951, but Antigoni’s immigration paperwork placed him at 17 Norfolk Street in Dorchester from at least 1946. In 1951, Antigoni and Christos, an “exporter,” still lived there.

On her visa, Antigoni had declared her “plans to reside permanently” here, but on August 30, 1952, Christos, 62, and his family sailed for Greece aboard the aptly named Homeland. At some point Christos came back, only to return to Greece in August 1954 aboard the Nea Hellas, with “the expectation of staying for a year.” On both legs of this sojourn, Christos again reported his address as 34 Rosedale Street. Apparently he gave up the Norfolk address after Antigoni’s departure. We confirmed one more voyage in 1958, when Christos and John, now 18, returned to America aboard the Olympia.

Perhaps no document reveals more about Christos’s life than the one filed upon his death: a State Department Report of the Death of an American Citizen. Christos died of a cerebral hemorrhage on December 30, 1972, nearly 83, in Athens’s Timios Stavros Clinic. His last known American address was in Lexington, Massachusetts, but when he died, Christos was “residing abroad with relatives”—likely Antigoni, who lived in New Smyrni, Athens. Around this time, their son lived in Poughkeepsie, New York, an employee at Vassar College.

In all his years in Dorchester, Christos never lived outside a quarter-mile radius of Codman Square, yet he and his family spent decades with an ocean between them. As was the case with so many of his countrymen, Christos appears to have come to America always intending to return home. In death, he did. Christos John Alexander was buried in the First Cemetery of Athens, in his homeland of Greece.

SOURCES:

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

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

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1798-1950 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Ancestry.com. Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

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

Ancestry.com. U.S., Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1914-1966 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Ancestry.com. U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.

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., 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.

FamilySearch.org. Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915.

FamilySearch.org. “Vermont, St. Albans Canadian Border Crossings, 1895-1954,” database with images.

Guide to the Vassar College Biographical FIles, 1900-1983.

“Karalekas.” Boston Globe, August 26, 1949: 27.

Neighborhood of Dorchester, Boston Planning and Development Agency.

New England Historic Genealogical Society. Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915.

New England Historical Society. “How the Greek Immigrants Came to New England,” 2018.

 

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Dorchester Illustration 2422 Enoch Train

Posted on September 15, 2019 by earltaylor

2422 Enoch Train

Dorchester Illustration no. 2422      Enoch Train

The digital image of the portrait of Enoch Train was recently provided by a family descendant.  The illustration of his house is from a period after he had sold the property.

Enoch Train purchased land on the south side of Centre Street in 1840 and in 1846, comprising more than 7 acres.  As the property was subdivided, the portion with the main house was later owned by Charles Whitten, a property developer, and later still by the Charles J. Douglas Sanatoriuim before being purchased by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston.  The 1933 map shows that the Seraphic Institute was housed there; now it is the St. Joseph Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

The following comes from Some Ships of the Clipper Ship Era: Their Builders, Owners, and Captains. (Boston: State Street Trust Company, 1913).

Enoch Train was the foremost among the merchant ship-owners of his day, and at one time owned the largest number of ships of any firm in Boston, thirty or more of his vessels plying between this port and Liverpool. Having been brought up in the hide and leather store of his uncle, Samuel Train, his earliest ventures after he went into shipping on his own account were in the Russian and South American trades, importing principally hides.

A few years later, in 1844, he established the well-known Train line of packets to Liverpool, the first ship built being the “Joshua Bates,” named after the American partner of Baring Brothers at that time. This vessel was built for him at Newburyport by the celebrated ship-builder, Donald McKay. Mr. Train was so much pleased with this first vessel and with the skill of the builder that on the day she was launched he said to McKay, “You must come to Boston; we need you, and if you want any financial assistance in establishing a shipyard let me know, the amount and you shall have it.”

The rest is too well known to repeat. In rapid succession were launched the “Anglo Saxon;” “Anglo American,” “Washington Irving,” ”Ocean Monarch,” “Parliament,” “Star of the Empire,” “Chariot of Fame,” “Staffordshire,” “Cathedral,” and “John Eliot Thayer.” The “Staffordshire ” was lost at sea not far from this coast and many passengers were lost. It is stated that there were so few boats and panic-stricken people clung so desperately to the gunwales of the rowboats that one of the officers was obliged to chop off their fingers with a hatchet in order to save even a few of the passengers.

Another ship, the ”Ocean Monarch,” was bullied at sea with a loss of four hundred lives, and George Francis Train, a representative of the firm, in an account of his life, describes the pathetic scene he witnessed when the news was first announced in Boston. It was customary for the captain of each inward-bound vessel as she approached her dock to shout from the rail the latest news. On this occasion the “Persia” under Captain Judkins was about to dock, and hundreds of people were waiting to hear tidings of some friend or vessel. The captain shouted the sad fate of the “Ocean Monarch'” and within a few minutes the announcement was made in the Merchants Exchange.

The Train firm on another occasion believed the “Gov. Davis,” which ran on their Boston, New Orleans, Liverpool triangular route, had also been burned at sea, as word was received that “The ‘Gov. Davis’ is burned up.” While those in the counting-house were grieving over their losses of friends and cargo, another message was handed to them, changing the message to “The ‘Gov. Davis’ is bound up.” The vessel was safe in Boston Harbour and there was great rejoicing in the Train office. Another ship belonging to the firm, called “Break of Day,” came into Boston Harbour on a winter’s day without a spar standing. “The Chariot of Fame” was Train’s favorite vessel, her master being Captain Knowles. She had a reading-room on her quarter-deck for cabin passengers, a great luxury in those days.

Donald McKay also built for Mr. Train the “Flying Cloud,” “Empress of the Seas,” “Plymouth Rock,” which was half-owned by George B. Upton, and the “Lightning.” Some of Train’s captains were Caldwell, Thayer, Murdock, Brown, Richardson, Howard, and Knowles.

In 1855 the Boston & European Steamship Company was incorporated, with Enoch Train; George B. Upton, Donald McKay, Andrew T. Hall, and James M. Beebe as sponsors, “for the purpose of navigating the ocean by steam.” The plan was to build a splendid line of steamers, rivalling in every respect the well-known Collins line of New York, the English port to be Milford Haven in Wales.

“There is a vast difference,” he said, “between steam and sailing vessels,” and steam would not interfere with his regular business, the transportation of coarse and weighty commodities, and passengers who could not afford the luxury of steam passage. A large committee was appointed, but the panic of 1857 put a stop to all plans.

Frederic W. Thayer, a partner at one time of Mr. Train, established an office in Liverpool. Later he and Mr. George Warren formed a partnership under the name of Thayer & Warren, succeeding to the business of Enoch Train & Co.  At a still later date the name was changed again to the well-known firm of Warren & Co. This latter firm still flies the Train private signal, a red ground with a white diamond, and was one of the first houses to appreciate the commercial importance of iron screw steamers.

Enoch Train at first had his counting-house at 37 Lewis Wharf, and later, about 1852, he bought Constitution Wharf for the use of his ships, moving his private office to State Street.

The naming of Train Street appears to come from Enoch Train.  He owned property bordering on Adams Street, stretching to Tenean Creek.

 

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Dorchester Illustration 2421 Levi Arthur LeCain

Posted on September 8, 2019 by earltaylor

2421 Levi Arthur LeCain

Dorchester Illustration no. 2421      Levi Arthur LeCain

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: Levi Arthur LeCain

Written by Julie Wolf

Levi Arthur LeCain was born on September 4, 1881, in Green River, Wyoming (then a territory), the third child of Joseph J. LeCain and Mary Amelia Cummings, both originally of Maine. A Civil War veteran, Joseph reenlisted in 1875 to fight the “Indian Wars” in Wyoming. At some point Mary joined him, and their three eldest sons were born there. Wyoming was railroad country, and “J. J. LeCain” served as Uinta County sheriff from 1882 to 1886. A 1916 Boston Globe article called him “an old Indian fighter and a former pal of ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody.” In 1886 or 1887, the family moved to Phillipsburg, Kansas, where Levi’s two younger brothers were born.

By 1900, the family was renting a home with two boarders and a relative at 384A Highland Avenue in West Somerville, Massachusetts. Both Levi, 18, and his older brother Sylvester were laundrymen. A year later Levi was a car conductor, as was his father. By 1903, Levi, his parents, and brother Leo had moved blocks away, to 410 Highland Avenue. Also living there was Caroline Mifflin, the Newfoundland native Levi married on November 25, 1903. They had four children: Edna (1904), Mildred (1907), Gertrude (1909), and Arthur (1911). The family lived there with Levi’s parents until at least 1908.

From 1910 through 1913, Levi, Caroline, and their children lived at 1156 Cambridge Street in Cambridge, where Levi’s occupation, according to the 1910 census, was “Teamster, milk wagon.” By 1915, the LeCains were renting a home in Dorchester, at 1071 Washington Street, Levi now a “driver.”

On July 3, 1916, Levi volunteered for military service at the 8th Regiment Camp at Framingham. Private LeCain was stationed with the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry Troop D in Fort Bliss, Texas, in the Mexican War (or Border War). It’s unknown whether he was home in January 1917, when 7-year-old Gertrude died from diphtheria. In July 1917 he was called up as part of the 3rd Pioneer Infantry. Stationed at South Carolina’s Camp Wadsworth, he rose to the rank of sergeant, and on August 30, 1918, set sail for France aboard the Umviea. Levi fought at Meuse-Argonne, Defensive Sector, for the war’s final year. Although his discharge record reports no injuries or disabilities, a newspaper item from the 1920s noted his “42 percent disability rating.”

After the war, Levi had several addresses in Dorchester, all on Washington Street: 1071 in 1920; 1059 in 1924; 1061 in 1925; and 1120 in 1929. Upon his return, he worked as a milk salesman for H. P. Hood & Sons at 24 Anson Street in Jamaica Plain. Levi’s work changed around 1922, when he became an “agent” for the Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals at Boston’s Angell Memorial Hospital, making headlines for his role in animal-cruelty cases.

Levi was a respected leader of the American Legion Old Dorchester Post No. 65. As commander, he oversaw the installation of a new Dorchester Boy Scout troop as well as the dedication of Neponset’s Garvey Playground, named for a soldier who died in the Argonne. Upon his retirement as commander in 1925, the Globe credited him with “[building] the post up to be one of the strongest in the state.” In November 1927, Levi ran, apparently unsuccessfully, for City Council in Ward 17, one of 22 men seeking election in Dorchester’s five wards.

At the time of his candidacy and on the 1930 census, Levi was a “purchasing agent and stable superintendent” for Hathaway Baking Company. From 1933 through 1935, Levi was president of the International Wall Texture Company at 110A Canal Street, but by 1938, he was a watchman in the Custodians Department at the South Postal Annex, with a residence of 68 Clarendon Street in Boston, no longer 1120 Washington Street, where Caroline remained; it appears they had stopped living together. In fact, Levi is absent from the 1940 census. Caroline then   resided at 11 Butler Street in Dorchester, working as a live-in housekeeper for James E. Drever, a member and commander of Levi’s American Legion post. Only once more, in 1946, did Levi and Caroline share an address: 30 Bearse Avenue, Dorchester. This was still Caroline’s address in 1953, the year before Levi died.

Levi died at the Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, on June 23, 1954. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. According to his interment papers, the plot next to his was reserved for Caroline. It would go unused. When Caroline died in 1965, she was buried in Everett’s Glenwood Cemetery, in the same plot as their daughter Gertrude.

SOURCES:

“22 Council Candidates in Five Dorchester Wards.” Boston Globe, November 4, 1927: 23.

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

Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

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

Ancestry.com. U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Dorchester Atheneneum. Levi Arthur LeCain.

“Dorchester District.” Boston Globe, December 18, 1925: 11.

“Dorchester District.” Boston Globe, August 16, 1927: 8.

Find a Grave. Levi Arthur LeCain.

Fold3. Registers of Enlistments in the United States Army, compiled 1798-1914.

“Further History of Evanston, Wyoming.” WyomingGenealogy.com.

“Garvey Playground Named at Neponset: Athletic Field Is Dedicated to Soldier’s Memory.” Boston Globe, June 18, 1925: 6.

“Horses Enjoy Their Big Day: Christmas in Postoffice Sq.” Boston Globe, December 23, 1922: 1.

“Is a Cat a Beast?: Attorneys Argue Question in Dorchester Court.” Boston Globe, August 29, 1925: 16.

“LeCain.” Boston Globe, February 10, 1965: 23.

“Legends of Past Inhabit Home of Family Researcher.” Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer, January 23, 1984: 29.

Military Sites in Wyoming 1700-1920, Historic Context.

National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2000.

“New Scout Troop for Dorchester: Formal Installation Will Be Held Sunday.” Boston Globe, November 14, 1925: 3.

“Old Dorchester Legion to Instal [sic] Officers Tomorrow.” Boston Globe, December 5, 1927: 3.

Phillipsburg Herald, April 16, 1891: 4.

Rea, Tom. “The Rock Springs Massacre,” WyoHistory.org, November 8, 2014.

“Says His Horse Was Not Lame, Only Awkward.” Boston Globe, April 8, 1926: 16.

“Two Months for Biting: William Campbell Sentenced for Depriving Capt. Joseph LeCain of a Little Finger.” Boston Globe, December 21, 1916: 5.

WYO4News. “The Rock Springs Massacre,” September 2, 2017.

 

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