Dorchester Illustration World War One Service Member biography: John Austin Campbell
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: John Austin Campbell.
Written by Camille Arbogast.
John Campbell was born on May 3, 1895. His name was initially recorded as Stanley John, but was later changed to John Austin. His father, David, immigrated from New Brunswick in 1881. David was a widower in 1888 when he married John’s mother, Lavinia, who was from Nova Scotia. David and Lavinia had five other children: Mabel, born in 1890, Marion in 1891, Martha in 1892, Ray Alexander in 1893, and David in 1907.
At the time of John’s birth, in 1895, his family lived at 48 Norfolk Street in the Codman Square neighborhood of Dorchester. By 1900, they owned 32 Magdala Street in Ashmont. John’s paternal grandmother, widow Isabelle Campbell, lived in the other apartment in the building with her two youngest sons. John’s father and his brothers were carpenters and builders.
By 1910, John’s immediate family lived at 10 Hillside Terrace. His siblings Mabel and Martha were milliners, Marion a typewriter, or secretary, and Ray a cement maker. John attended school through the eighth grade. Before the First World War, he worked as an order clerk at an S.K. Liggett Drug Store on North Street in Boston. When war was declared, he and his family still lived in the same home, though Hillside Terrace had been renamed Clermont Street in 1913.
In June 1917, John registered for the first draft; those eligible for service were given the option to enlist instead of being drafted , which offered them more choice in what capacity they served. John took advantage of this offer, deciding to enlist just before the December 20th deadline. He was directed to Fort Slocum, a recruiting station in New Rochelle, New York. The town was overrun with seven thousand men seeking to join up in the final days before the deadline. During what came to be called “Recruit Week,” men were housed all over town while they waited days to enlist, a processed slowed down by a blizzard.
On December 15, John enlisted in the Quartermaster Corps, the branch of the Army responsible for stores, supplies, and provisions. He was sent to Camp Joseph E. Johnston outside of Jacksonville, Florida on the Saint Johns River. Named for a former U.S. Army Quartermaster, in 1918, it was the largest Army Quartermaster training camp. John made Private First Class in February 1918. He remained at Camp Johnston for the duration of the war and was demobilized there in February 1919.
After the war, he returned to live with his family at 10 Clermont Street, resuming work as a drugstore order clerk. He married Viola Teresa Dahlquist of Brockton. They had three children: Marion, born in 1922, Eleanor in 1926, and Robert in 1928. They settled at 29 2nd Street in Brockton, sharing a two-family house with Viola’s mother, the building’s owner, and two of Viola’s siblings. John took up the family trade, working as a carpenter. In 1930, he was self-employed as a building carpenter. By 1940, he was a carpenter at the Walter Baker Chocolate factory.
John died in Brockton on September 3, 1968. He is buried in Brockton’s Melrose Cemetery.
Sources:
Birth records, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Family Tree, Ancestry.com
Census Records, Federal, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; Ancestry.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, National Archive and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Service Record; The Adjutant General Office, Archives-Museum Branch, Concord, MA
Otto, G.C. “Recruit Week” New Rochelle, Her Part in the Great War. New Rochelle, NY: W.C. Tindall, 1920 pages 36-55, 61; Archive.org
Kelly, Tyler. “Camp Joseph E. Johnston” Florida in World War One, University of Central Florida, 2015-2019 <https://floridawwi.cah.ucf.edu/?page_id=89>
World War II Selective Service Registration Cards, National Archives and Records Administration, Ancestry.com
Findagrave.com