Dorchester Illutration 2353 Edgar L. Wood

Posted on May 20, 2018 by earltaylor

2353 Edgar L Wood

Dorchester Illustration no. 2353    Edgar L. Wood

At the Dorchester Historical Society, we are in the process of a year-long project to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of World War I. Using a collection of photographs we have of World War I Dorchester residents, we will be featuring soldiers in a number of short biographies throughout the year. Most of the collection is a series of cards and photographs of men and women who were examined by Dr. Nathaniel R. Perkins of 1122 Adams Street prior to entry into service.  At the culmination of the project, we hope to produce an online exhibit which highlights these men and their service to our country.

Edgar L. Wood

Notes from card in Perkins collection: Edgar L Wood 165 Infantry Co D 1162 Adams St Selected Nov. 6, 1917. Camp Devens, Feb. 1918. In France A.E.F. Wounded in the July drive on the Marne.  Wound in the left forearm. Base Hospital 25 France.

Edgar was 28 years old when he joined the Army in November, 1917.  A.E.F. was the American Expeditionary Forces, established July 5, 1917, in France, under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing.

Wikipedia reports: The July drive on the Marne was the second battle of the Marne, 15 July to 6 August, 1918.  This was the last major German offensive on the Western Front. The attack failed when an Allied counterattack by French and American forces, including several hundred tanks, overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties. The German defeat marked the start of the relentless Allied advance which culminated in the Armistice with Germany about 100 days later.

The 1910 census reveals that Edgar, then 21 years old, was living with his family at 1162 Adams Street, where they rented.  The family included his parents Wheelock and Margaret, both born in Canada.  His father and older brother worked as teamsters at a grain store, and Edgar was a contractor.  He had three younger sisters.  They also had a lodger who worked in the chocolate mill.  The 1920 census shows that after his return from the war Edgar became a helper on a truck at the chocolate mill.  By this time the members of the family who were living at home were his parents; his brother, who was a book binder; Edgar, and two of his sisters, one a bookkeeper and the other a comptomatic operator in a woolen office. A comptomatic appears to have been a type of adding machine.

In later years Edgar is listed in city directories as a helper.  By 1922 the family moved to Vose Street.  About 1925 he married Bertha Upham.  In 1926 Edgar move to Springfield, married and had a daughter named Jean.  He became a warehouseman for an oil refinery company.  He died on August 22, 1977.

Source Citation

Year: 1910; Census Place: Boston Ward 24, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_624; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 1631; FHL microfilm: 1374637

Source Information

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

Source Citation

Year: 1920; Census Place: Boston Ward 21, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_739; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 525; Image: 731

Source Information

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

Source Citation

Year: 1940; Census Place: Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts; Roll: T627_1711; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 22-161

Source Information

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

Source Information

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

 

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Dorchester Illustration 2352 Pauline Frederick

Posted on May 13, 2018 by earltaylor

2352 Pauline Frederick age 7

Dorchester Illustration no. 2352    Pauline Frederick, 1883-1938.

Pauline Frederick was a stage and screen actress of international reputation.  This photograph was taken when she was 7 years old.

Pauline Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libby on August 12, 1883.  She died Sept. 19, 1938.  When she was about a year old, her family moved from Boston to Dorchester.  In 1902 she began her career with a week’s engagement at the Boston Music Hall, and she soon moved to New York where she began in the chorus of “The Rogers Brothers in Harvard.”

Her beauty was legendary.  When the sculptor, Ulric Ellerhusen, was still unknown, he saw a picture of Pauline Frederick in a magazine and chose her as his model of a typical American girl.  The figure that he first created from the magazine illustration won him a prize, and he continued to use the same figure as the pattern for all his subsequent feminine models.  Thus, unbeknownst to Pauline Frederick until later, “her face and figure were molded in stone and bronze for several decades and appeared on many famous buildings, gracing memorial parks, state capitols and sculptured facades.  She was the figure of the twenty-one life-size statues on the Chapel of the University of Chicago and the model of Wonderment on the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, as well as the four fifty-foot figures on the State Capitol in Louisiana” among others.

Pauline Frederick played the role of Madame X and was known by this name as well.

 

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Dorchester Illustration 2351 Charles Willis Crowell

Posted on May 6, 2018 by earltaylor

2351 Charles Willis Crowell

Dorchester Illustration no. 2351    Charles Willis Crowell

At the Dorchester Historical Society, we are in the process of a year-long project to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of World War 1. Using a collection of photographs we have of World War 1 Dorchester residents, we will be featuring servicemen and women in a number of short biographies throughout the year. At the culmination of the project, we hope to produce an online exhibit which highlights these men and women and their service to our country.

We are so excited to be sharing our next biography for Charles Willis Crowell. After seeing our posts about World War I Dorchester veterans, Charles’s grandson, Theodore, sent us some information about his grandfather. We are happy to feature him and honor this World War I veteran!

Charles Willis Crowell

            Written by: Theodore Crowell (Charles’s grandson)

Charles was born May 21, 1897 in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia to Philip W. Crowell and Edith E. Sweet.  At the age of fourteen Charles immigrated to the United States with his brothers.  Charles lived and worked as a baker in Dorchester until joining the Army.

Charles was inducted into the Army on April 12, 1918 at the age of twenty years and eleven months.  Charles was trained at Camp Joseph E. Johnston, Florida. On June 12, 1918 in the United States District Court, South District, Jacksonville, Florida, petition was made, granted and ordered by the court that Charles WillisCrowell be admitted as a citizen of the United States of America.  Charles shipped out to France as part of the American Expeditionary Force on July 10, 1918. Charles was assigned to Motor Transport Company, 418th Regiment, Base Section 6(Marseille, France).  Charles served as a chauffeur, or today we would say truck driver.  During the war the Army was making a transition from horses to motorized transport.  Charles served in France until his return to the United States on June 2, 1919.

Charles was honorably discharged on June 6, 1919 as a private, entitled to wear one gold chevron.

Just prior to leaving for the Army Charles married Corinne Chapin of Newton, Massachusetts on April 2, 1918 in Somerville, Massachusetts.  Corinne’s parents were Halbert E. Chapin and Elizabeth Holman.  Halbert’s father was Norris E. Chapin who served with F Company, 34th Regiment Massachusetts, as part of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Charles and Corinne made their home at 52 Samoset Street during 1918, Dorchester, Massachusetts.  They raised two boys in Dorchester, Richard and Robert both graduates of Dorchester High School.  Richard served in the Army during the Korean War and Robert served in the Navy.

Charles died on January 11, 1971 at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Brockton, Massachusetts.

References:

Honorable Discharge from The United States Army, Charles W. , Enlistment Record, Inducted April 12, 1918, Camp Joseph E. Johnston, foreign service France July 10, 1918 to June 2, 1919, Motor Transport Corps. 418 Base Sec #6 (Marseille, France). Until December 19, 1918.  247th Co.124th Bn M.P.Corp until May 5, 1919. Casual to June 6, 1919.  Private 1st Class.

No. 979309, The United States Of America, Certificate of Naturalization, Department of Labor, Petition, Volume 8, Number 877, Charles Willis Crowell, Camp Joseph E. Johnston, Jacksonville, Florida.  Name, age place of residence of wife Corinne Crowell-22- Dorchester Mass.  Petition dated June 12, 1918, U.S. District Court, So. Dist. of Florida, Jacksonville.

Registry Department.-City of Boston, County of Suffolk, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, City Hall Annex.  Boston, December 13, 1920 certify that Charles W.Crowell and Corinne Chapin were married in Somerville Mass, April 2 1918, by Rev. W. M. Cassidy of Somerville.

Death Certificate, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, City Clerk’s Office, Brockton January 11, 1971.  Charles W. Crowell, WWI Veteran, place of death Veterans Administration Hospital, Brockton, Massachusetts on January 11, 1971.  Place of burial, Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston, Massachusetts.  Father Philip Crowell, Canada and mother Jeanne Sweet, Canada.

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Dorchester Illustration 2350 Clifford Burton Fletcher

Posted on April 29, 2018 by earltaylor

2350 Clifford Burton Fletcher

Dorchester Illustration no. 2350    Clifford Burton Fletcher

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 which highlights these men and their service to our country.

Our next biography features: CLIFFORD BURTON FLETCHER

Clifford B. Fletcher was born, to Willard Valentine Fletcher of Portland, Maine and Minnie C. Wetmore of New Brunswick,on February 2, 1896. The family was living on Mill Street, Dorchester and the father was listed as a stockman. There was an older brother, Roland Willard, who was born October 1, 1893 in Somerville, MA.

In the 1900 census for Boston, the mother and both boys were living on 90 Brunswick Street in Roxbury with her parents, but in the 1900 census for Somerville, perhaps taken later, the family is together in a rented home on Medford Street, Somerville. The father is a floor manager in a furniture store and the family has a servant.

By 1910, the family owned their own home at 93 Brunswick Street, Roxbury and Minnie’s mother and brother are living with them. Willard was a superintendent of a furniture store.

Clifford graduated from Phillips Brooks Grammar School in Roxbury, Mechanic Arts High School and Wentworth Institute, Boston, MA.

On June 8, 1916, Clifford, age 20 of 11 Clarkwood Street, Mattapan, enlisted in the National Guard at Boston, Mass. and became the Company Bugler on November 3, 1916. His brother Roland describes his service below.

“In June, 1916 he was elected a member of “D” Co First Corps Cadets, and after a short service with this battallion was made Company Buglerand later was promoted to Senior Bugler of the Corps. Shortly after this country entered the European Conflict, the First Corps Cadets in June 1917 finding that they would not be accepted as an Infantry Battalion volunteered in a body as an Engineer Regiment. They became in July 1917,101st U.S. Engineers, at which time my brother was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in Company. “D”. On September 24, 1917, the 101st Engineers, after a summer of hard drilling and arduous training left for overseas, going first to England, where they remained at South Hampton about two weeks and then to Havre, France. From Havre they went inland about 400 miles to the River Marne, where my brother’s Company was quartered at a small village known as Rolampont, Shortly before Christmas, 1017, while “D” Company was still stationed in Rolampont, my brother was sent alone on a special mission to Bordeaux. While performing this mission he was stricken with cerebro-spinal meningitis as the result of exposure and he died of this disease at U.S. Base Hospital No. 6, January 9, 1918. He was buried in the American Military Cemetery at Talence, his grave being No. 24 in Row 1 of Division 20.”

Do you know more about Clifford Burton Fletcher? We would love to hear from you! All material has been researched by volunteers  at the Dorchester Historical Society, so please let us know if we got something wrong or you think a piece of the story is missing!

REFERENCES:

Birth Records; FamilySearch.org

Federal Census Records, 1900, 1910; FamilySearch.org

Notes of Dr. Perkins and Clifford’s brother

Service Record; Adjutant General Office and Museum, Concord, MA

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Dorchester Illustration 2349 Swimmers Jumping Off Bridge

Posted on April 22, 2018 by earltaylor

2349 Youngsters jumping off Malibu bridge Beades Bridge

Dorchester Illustration no. 2349    Swimmers jumping off bridge

Is it spring yet?   With thoughts turning to summer and the pleasures of warmer weather, we were reminded of this photograph.  September 1, 1980, “With the temperature in the 80’s plus high humidity, youngsters cool off by jumping from the Malibu bridge, in the Dorchester section of the city.

Does anyone know who these youngsters were and where they are now?

The drawbridge was built in the late 1920s.  It was named by an Act of the Commonwealth in 1978 as the John J. Beades Bridge in memory of Senator John J. Beades of the Dorchester section of the city of Boston, who devoted his adult life to the service of the public and in particular to the needs of the people of Dorchester.

As part of the construction of the Old Colony Parkway (Morrissey Boulevard), two arms of land were made, one extending south from Savin Hill and one extending north from Commercial Point with a drawbridge to span the gap, allowing boat access to Savin Hill Bay.  Work on the land-making began in 1925, and work on the drawbridge began in 1927 with completion the following year.  The Old Colony Parkway opened in 1928.  It is 90 years old this year.

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Dorchester Illustration 2348 Leslie Moore

Posted on April 15, 2018 by earltaylor

2348 Leslie Alcott Moore

Dorchester Illustration no. 2348    Leslie Moore

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

Our next biography features: Leslie Alcott Moore.

Douglas Robinson Wynne has prepared this brief biography of his uncle.

Leslie Alcott Moore was born July 6, 1893, in Boston (Dorchester), the son of Archibald Robinson and Mary Jane (Kingston) Moore (both born in New Brunswick, CAN); brother of Raymond Wallace Moore (SGT, 156th DB), Margaret Bernice Moore, Estella Louise Moore , and Charlotte Kingston Moore.  Leslie married Bessie Amelia Sampson in 1917; his occupation was listed as Clerk.  Moore, a resident of River Street, Dorchester, enlisted in the US Naval Reserve Force on April 19, 1918 and reported for duty on May 2nd to the 2nd Naval District, Newport, RI.  On May 13th, he was transferred to USS Massachusetts, on June 14th to USS Virginia, and on September 6th to USS Nebraska.  Seaman 2nd Class Moore died on USS Nebraska on September 25th, at sea.  He was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery with full naval honors. The Dorchester Park playground on Adams Street and the Veteran’s Square at the intersection of Adams Street and Milton Avenue at the entrance to Cedar Grove Cemetery are both named in his honor.

The following is transcribed from a newspaper article, the original of which is cropped too closely to be attributed:

“The funeral of Leslie A. Moore of 84 River Street, another of Dorchester’s young men to die while in the service of his country, was held at Cedar Grove Cemetery.  The Rev. Alfred Skinner of the First M. E. Church and the Rev. A. A. Rideout, pastor of the Blaney Memorial Church and Grand Chaplain of the I. O. O. F., conducted the services.  The Odd Fellows’ ritual was said by the Rev. Mr. Rideout and a large delegation of lodge members was present.  Moore was born in the Lower Mills section, July 6, 1893, and was married but a short time.  He enlisted in the Navy last April and was assigned to the U.S.S. Virginia.  Later he was transferred to the Nebraska, on which ship he died after a short illness on Sept. 25.  Impressive military services were held, with a firing squad and a bugler, who sounded taps.  Previous to his enlisting he was employed in the Boston office of the Walter Baker Co. Ltd. for nine years.  He was a member of the First M. E. Church, and of the Dorchester Lodge No. 158, I. O. O. F., and Macedonian Lodge, A. F. and A. Masons.  Besides his wife, Mrs. Bessie Moore, he is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Archie Moore, one brother and three sisters.  Official cause of death: Spanish Influenza.”

As a closing note, Leslie’s mother (my grandmother) went to become very active in the Gold Star Mothers organization.

Sources:

The Gold Star Record of Massachusetts

  1. S. Navy Casualty Books, 1776-1941

Massachusetts Marriage Index, 1901-1955 and 1966-1770

  1. S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Massachusetts Mason Membership Cards, 1733-1990

1900 and 1910 United States Federal Census

Massachusetts Birth Records, 1840-1915

Notes from Dr. Perkins collection

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Dorchester Illustration 2347 James Barnie

Posted on April 8, 2018 by earltaylor

2347 James Barnie

Dorchester Illustration no. 2347   James Barnie

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

Our next biography features: James M. Barnie

The Barnie family recently donated a wonderful collection of family papers to the Dorchester Historical Society and the collection documents, among other things, the life of James Barnie. James was another Dorchester resident who sacrificed his life in the service of his country during World War I. Using some of the personal papers in this collection, we are able to memorialize the life of another World War I serviceman in our project.

James Barnie was born in Leith, Scotland to parents Alexander and Mary (Mainland) Barnie. He immigrated to the United States as a young boy, when he was five years old, and settled in Milton, Massachusetts with his family. He had two sisters, Helen and Mary, and a younger brother, Alexander, who died as a young boy, from diphtheria.

On June 3, 1908, James married a Dorchester girl, Miss Eva Pihlkrantz, and moved with her to her family home in Dorchester. The young Barnie family lived at 15 Centre Court with Eva’s father, Lars, and her sister, Wilhemina. By 1909, they are a family of three, with the addition of a son named James. In the 1910 United States Census, James is listed as a painter and Eva as staying at home with her infant son. Their second son, Ralph Everett, was born in 1911.

James enlisted as a private in the United States Army in October 1917. He served overseas with Company A of the 6th Engineers from December 1917 until he was killed in action on October 20, 2018. While overseas, he was involved in a number of military engagements, including Chateau-Thierry, the second battle of the Marne, and at Verdun.

Although James’ story ends in 1918, his wife Eva, took part in an interesting opportunity that was offered by the United States government in order to honor veterans of World War I. In 1930, the United States War Department organized the “Pilgrimage for War Mothers and Widows,” also known as “Gold Star Pilgrimages.” These pilgrimages were government-funded and organized by the War Department in order to honor the mothers and widows of United States servicemen who lost their lives on the battlefields of Europe during World War I. Eva Barnie, James’s widow, was invited to attend one such pilgrimage and left for France on July 2, 1930, from New York. While she was in France, she visited cemeteries dedicated to American soldiers and was able to visit James’s grave at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France. Information about her pilgrimage and other Barnie family information can be found in the Barnie family papers at the Dorchester Historical Society.

Do you have a comment or more information about James Barnie or about other Dorchester residents who served in World War I ?

Sources:

American Battle Monuments Commission. “Women and World War I Commemoration: The Gold Star Mothers and Widows Pilgrimages, 1930-33.” Women and World War I Commemoration: The Gold Star Mothers and Widows Pilgrimages, 1930-33 | American Battle Monuments Commission, American Battle Monuments Commission, 23 Mar. 2015, www.abmc.gov/news-events/news/women-and-world-war-i-commemoration-gold-star-mothers-and-widows-pilgrimages-1930#.Wr1Kyi7waUk.

Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

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

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

Ancestry.com. WWI, WWII, and Korean War Casualty Listings [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Barnie family papers, Dorchester Historical Society, Boston, MA.

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Dorchester Illustration 2346 Adams Street School, Cedar Grove

Posted on April 1, 2018 by earltaylor

2346 Adams Street School from 1902 Report of the School Committee

Dorchester Illustration no. 2346    Adams Street School, Cedar Grove    

 Today’s illustration has been provided by the Boston City Archives.

Have you ever wondered if an earlier building may have been located on your lot before your house was built?

Next to Cedar Grove Gardens there is a little street called Joanne Terrace with houses that were built during the period from 1950 to 1960.  The 1933 atlas shows that the tract of land that contains 903 and 907 Adams Street plus 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 10 Joanne Terrace was a vacant rectangular parcel owned by the City of Boston.

The 1882 through 1918 atlases show that there was a primary school here, named at first the Codman School and later the Adams Street School.  That is the subject of today’s illustration.  The 1904 atlas shows the footprints of the two buildings seen in the illustration, but the earlier and later atlases do not.   My guess is that the reason the illustration appeared in the 1902 School Committee Report was due to the construction of the small building at the right, which served some temporary purpose.

The earlier story of the site is a bit macabre.  The land appears to have been vacant until Daniel Pierce constructed a cabinet shop and other buildings there in the early 19th century.   The 1850 map has a symbol for a factory at this location.  Furniture dealers Abraham and John Kimball bought the property from Pierce in 1865, but they sold to John McBride in 1867.  John McBride’s heirs sold the property the same year to George McBride.  George operated a Cotton Drying Works in the buildings, probably after refitting them for the operation of the business.

The description of the property used by the business was that there were seven wooden buildings.  The main building was one and a half stories high in the form of a “T”.  The top was 50 feet  by 39 feet, where bales were opened, the sorting was done and the cotton was placed on racks to dry.  The heat necessary for the drying process was supplied by 10,000 feet of one-inch steam pipes laid between the floors.  When the factory was busy, it employed as many as thirty to forty people.

On March 3, 1870, the Boston Post reported that a fire the day before had destroyed the Neponset Drying Works burning six women employees to death.  Three men were at work on the lower floor, and the six women were sorting on the second.  No cause was ever determined for the fire.   “Of course all the efforts which could possibly be made were instantly put forward to rescue the women; but the majority of them must have been suffocated before the fire was discovered.  Only one was visible after that time, and she quickly disappeared as the devouring flames, finding the best of fuel in the well dried wood, swept through the windows, encircled the roof and passed on to the drying house, which fed an easy prey to the strong body of blaze behind it. Nothing could be done for the unfortunate women; the heat repelled all advances, and small need was there of an attempt, for there was  not a single chance of finding life in the building after the flames appeared at the windows. A half hour had elapsed and the burning pile was mostly consumed before the fire engines made an appearance.”

Robert Vose, the coroner, convened a jury of inquest.  The verdict was death by fire, &c., cause unknown. The women who died were Ellen Dunn aged 25 (no residence indicated), Margaret Kennedy aged 34 (North Quincy), Mary Hurley aged 45 (Neponset), Bridget Martin aged 25 (North Quincy), Bridget Martin aged 38 (Cambridge), and Margaret Cunniff aged 30 (Glover’s Corner).  The remains were transferred to Cedar Grove Cemetery from which they were later taken to be buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in West Quincy.  There is no marker.

The City of Boston purchased the lot from George McBride in September 1872 for $6,669.  It is probable the school building was constructed in the later 1870s.

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Dorchester Illustration 2345 James A. McDonald

Posted on March 25, 2018 by earltaylor

2345 James McDonald

Dorchester Illusration 2345 James McDonald

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

Our next biography features: James A. McDonald

James Archibald McDonald was born on June 8, 1893 in Boston to immigrant parents Archibald and Delia (Dervan) McDonald. Archibald was from Nova Scotia and Delia was from Ireland. At the time of his birth, his parents were living on Huntoon Street in the Lower Mills section of Dorchester. His father’s occupation was listed as “watchman.”

It is unclear what happened to James’s father, Archibald, as he does not appear in any other records with James and Delia. Although all of the census records indicate that Delia was a widow, we were unable to confirm any death records for him. However, it is clear that Delia raised her son in Dorchester, moving around to different streets in the neighborhood. In 1910, we find them on Cedar Street; Delia is not working but already, at 16, James is working as a roofer. By the time James enlisted in 1917, he is living with his mother on River Street – not too far away from his previous address.

James enlisted in the National Guard at the East Armory in February of 1917 when he was almost 24 years old. He served in the 101st Infantry Regiment in the Massachusetts Army National Guard during his entire service. James left for overseas duty on November 13, 1917 and would not return to the United States until April 1919. While in Europe, he took part in many engagements; including: Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Chemin des Dames, Toul-Boucq, Pas Fini, Rupt, and Troyon. His index card in our collection indicates that hew the champion boxer of the regiment. He was honorably discharged with the rank of private on April 28, 1919 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts.

When he returned from service, James moved back in with his mother in Dorchester; living now on Washington Street in the Lower Mills neighborhood. His occupation is again listed as “roofer.” In 1924, James married Mary Margaret Casey and they moved, with his mother, to the Fields Corner section of Dorchester – to Linden Street. Soon after, their first daughter, Gertrude was born in 1925. They would go on to have five more children: Theresa in 1927, Barbara in 1930, James in 1938, and Martin in 1939.

It looks like the McDonalds moved around the Lower Mills area but seemed to have settled down on Hopkins Place. On the 1940 census, James is listed as working as a roofer for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the subway. The WPA employed thousands of mostly unskilled men to work on various public works projects and was one of the programs in President Roosevelt’s New Deal agency. However, by 1953, from City Directories it appears as though James has retired from roofing and began working as a chauffeur.

James passed away on June 29, 1979 while still a resident of Mattapan. At the time of his death, according to his obituary, he was the grandfather to 35 grandchildren and great-grandfather to 10 great-grandchildren. He was a member of the Y.D. Club No. 290, A.L. Teamsters Union Local No. 25 and WWI Veterans Barracks 2620. He is buried in Saint Joseph’s Cemetery in West Roxbury, MA.

 

Sources:

Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

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

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

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

“James A. McDonald” obituary, Boston Globe, 1 Jul 1979.

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

 

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Dorchester Illustration 2344 Nahum Capen

Posted on March 18, 2018 by earltaylor

2344 Nahum Capen 1859

Dorchester Illustration no. 2344    Nahum Capen    

Nahum Capen was a publisher and writer, tireless student of natural science and of politics, counsellor of statesmen and authors, Postmaster of Boston, 1857-61, and the originator of important improvements in the postal service.  Capen lived at the top of Mt. Ida (Ronan Park).

Today’s illustration is an engraving published in Ballou’s Pictorial in 1859 along with an article about Capen.

Capen intended to go into medicine and began to study with Dr. Robert Capen, his brother, but ill health prevented him from continuing.  At the age of nineteen he re-wrote Plutarch’s Lives, and his interest in literature led to joining the publishing and book-selling firm of Marsh, Capen & Lyon.  Capen saw the genius of Hawthorne and published the author’s first work.  The works of many well-known authors were published under his tenure.

In 1837 Mr. Capen wrote letters favoring an international copyright law (his own firm being the first, it is said, to pay a premium to foreign authors); and in 1844 he sent Congress an eloquent memorial advocating the passage of such a law.

After a trip to Europe, Capen, out of a wish to elevate the standard of education in this country, prepared plans for a preliminary school to be succeeded by a university.  The interest which he manifested in the cause of education induced the Board of Education of Massachusetts to select Capen’s firm to publish the School Library, becoming ultimately 37 volumes approved for the use of schools.

President Buchanan appointed Capen Postmaster at Boston in 1857 in recognition of his eminent services to his party.  Many improvements in the postal service date their origin from his official term, and were adopted at his suggestion.  He is given credit for more improvements than had been adopted during the century up to that time, among them being the street letter boxes, stations of delivery in large cities, and free delivery.

Capen wrote three out of four projected volumes of The History of Democracy; or Political Progress historically illustrated from the Earliest to the Latest Period.   The first volume of 700 pages was published in 1874, and volumes two and three were in manuscript form at his death in 1886.

He was also a believer in phrenology, a pseudo-science that has now been totally debunked as bonehead science.  Phrenology is based on the belief that the shape of one’s skull indicates one’s character and mental ability.

 

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