Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: Leo Vincent Bennett
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: Leo Vincent Bennett.
Written by Camille Arbogast.
Leo Vincent Bennett was born January 18, 1897, at 2209 Dorchester Avenue. He was the youngest child of Harriet and Simon Bennett, both Canadian immigrants. He had seven older siblings: Nellie, Annie, Mary, Edward, Alice, Agnes, and Charles.
In 1900, the family lived at 1059 Washington Street in the Lower Mills section of Dorchester. His father and oldest sister worked in the nearby chocolate factory, most likely the Walter Baker Chocolate Factory. By 1910, the family had moved across the street to 1062 Washington Street. Leo was in school, but his older siblings were then employed: Annie was a hotel waitress; Agnes, a railroad office telegraph operator; Charles, a grocery clerk. Nellie worked as a dressmaker from home, along with Mary and Alice.
In his first year of high school, older boys convinced Leo he was sought by the police for trespassing on a Lower Mills farm. His only option, they told him, was to run away with them, which he did, leaving school and disappearing. He was gone long enough for his parents to worry and for an article to run in the Globe with his photo and a description of the outfit he was last seen wearing: blue serge suit, corduroy trousers, and red sweater. He eventually returned home, graduated from Dorchester High School, and became a telegraph operator. He worked for Western Union, a position that enabled him to spend a summer in Bar Harbor, working at the telegraph office there. Later he was a telegrapher in the Boston office of Brown Brothers and Co., a private banking firm.
In June 1918, he registered for the second draft. At the end of August, he was drafted and inducted into the Army at the Local Board 21, Dorchester’s draft board. He was sent to the 156 Depot Brigade in South Carolina, to be trained before being assigned to a regular unit. According to paperwork submitted for his veteran headstone, he served in the Billeting & Supply Company, 2nd Detachment. In December 1918, he made Corporal; in May 1919 he was promoted to Sergeant.
He was discharged in July 1919 and returned to his job with Brown Brothers, while attending Suffolk Law School at night. In October 1919, Leo wed Catherine Coffin Sheridan. They were married by Father James V. Cronin of St. Catherine’s Church in Somerville. The couple lived for a time in Watertown. Their daughter Catherine Leona was born in 1921, followed by Leo in 1924. By then, they had moved to Dorchester, first at 9 Fairmont Street, then 93 Mora Street, up the road from 1062 Washington Street, where his family still lived.
In 1927, Leo passed the bar exam and opened his own law practice. He and Catherine bought a home in Quincy, 72 Edwin Street, close to Quincy Bay. He joined the Quincy American Legion and was elected 3rd Vice Commander. He ran for councilor of Ward 6, but in a crowded field, he did not win.
By 1933, Leo and his children were living with his sister Agnes, who then owned 1062 Washington Street. Catherine appears to have died. Leo’s law career seems to have been put aside. He went back to work as a telegraph operator, eventually working at the Post Office. In 1940, he was a postal sub-clerk. He became a carrier clerk and was active with the Post Office Clerks’ Association.
In 1943, at the young age of 43, he was stricken at work and died at Boston City Hospital His obituary lists him as a post office clerk and a veteran of World War I. He was a member of the Post Office Clerks Association, the William L. Harris Post of the American Legion, and the Dorchester Lower Mills Council of the Knights of Columbus. He was survived by a daughter, Mrs. John Gibbons, and a son Leo, Jr. serving in the U.S. Navy in Norfolk, Virginia. His funeral was held at St. Gregory’s Church, and he is buried in Milton Cemetery.
Sources
Birth Record, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 Federal Census; Ancestry.com
“Dorchester Boy Gone” Boston Sunday Globe, 23 April 1911: 8; newspapers.com
“Dorchester District,” Boston Evening Globe, 23 June 1915: 4; newspaperarchive.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
Marriage Record, Massachusetts State Vital Records; Familysearch.org
“Atlantic World War Vet Passes Bar Examination” Boston Globe, 14 Sept 1927: 8; newspapers.com
“Quincy Legion Post Officers Installed” Boston Globe, 3 October 1929: 12; newspapers.com
“One Precinct Holds Up Count,” Boston Globe, 13 November 1929: 4; newspapapers.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“Leo V. Bennett” Boston Globe, 26 June 1943: 9; newspapers.com
Boston City Directories, Ancestry.com