Samuel Adler
World War I Veteran
By Camille Arbogast
Samuel Adler was born at the Boston Lying-In Hospital at 24 McLean Street, Boston, on June 13, 1901. His parents, Joseph and Natalie (Nollman) Adler were from Russia. According to family sources, Nellie was from Kamnetz-Podolsk (today’s Ukraine). Their eldest son, Morris, was born in 1899, in Austria. Joseph, Nellie, and Morris immigrated to the United States around 1900. Samuel had four younger siblings: Harry born in 1902; Wolf, who also went by William, in 1905; Goodman, also known as George, in 1907; and Edith in 1909. At the time of Samuel’s birth, the Adlers lived at 22 Hale Street in the West End. By 1908, they had moved a few blocks to 5 Parkman Street.
Joseph was a carpenter and a member of the Carpenters’ Union 954. He died on the job in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1908, while working on 175-183 Winnisimmet Street. The building had been largely destroyed in the recent Great Chelsea Fire, with only one wall remaining. When openings were cut in the bottom of the wall for new floor girders, the wall collapsed, killing Joseph along with seven others. In one of the Boston Globe articles about the accident it was noted, “The families of the unfortunate men are left in very straitened circumstances, and it is the intention of the unions of which the men were members to formulate plans for their relief and aid at once.”
After Joseph’s death, the Adler family was separated. By 1910, Samuel and Morris were living with a foster family, the Tannenbans, in Northampton, Massachusetts. Their foster father was a baker and one of their three foster siblings, 16-year-old Clara, was a spinner at the silk mill. Samuel’s younger brothers, Harry and Goodman, were sent to live with a family in Westford, Massachusetts. Youngest sibling Edith, who was born after her father’s death, was also taken in by a family in Westford.
Samuel attended school through the seventh grade. In 1916, his mother Nellie died of pulmonary tuberculosis. That year, Samuel appeared in the Boston directory residing at 45 McLean Street. He enrolled in the Navy the next year, on March 24, 1917. At that time, he reported his address as 23 Lorne Street in Dorchester, the home of his uncle David Nollman, a junk peddler, with a wife, Ida, and their four children.
Samuel joined the Navy before the United States declared war on Germany on April 16, 1917. He possibly lied about his age, as his military records give his birth date as June 13, 1898. He enrolled at the Boston Navy Yard (now known as the Charlestown Navy Yard) and was initially stationed on the USS Virginia. On May 29, 1917, he was sent to a receiving ship in Boston to await transfer. On August 9, he was assigned to the USS Michigan for one day, then transferred to the USS Illinois where he remained until September 21, 1917. According to his service record, he was next stationed on the USS Antigone on September 21, 1918, though the year is possibly a typo. He remained on the Antigone until the Armistice, November 11, 1918. He was placed on inactive duty on September 8, 1919, and discharged on March 23, 1921, having attained a rank of Fireman 2nd Class.
In 1920, Samuel and his brother Harry were living in the household of their uncle David Nollman at 23 Lorne Street. Wolf lived with another Nollman uncle, Hyman, at 38 Floyd Street, while Goodman was a ward of the Home for Destitute Jewish Children on Harvard Street in Dorchester. Morris appears to have been an inmate in the Suffolk County Jail.
On December 25, 1921, Samuel wed Matilda Bennett in Chelsea. They were married by Rabbi Meyer Rabinowitz. Matilda, known as Tillie, was a bookkeeper. Samuel and Matilda had two sons, Edward and Norman.
Initially, Samuel and Matilda lived with her parents, Simon, a real estate broker, and Henrietta, at 16 Murray Street in Chelsea. In 1932, they moved to Malden, where they made their home first at 155 Linden Avenue, and then, by 1935, at 42 Starbird Street. Around 1960, they moved to 39 Glenrock Avenue, Malden. At the time of his marriage, Samuel was a butcher. He later had his own grocery business, the Oak Grove Market of 5A Grove Street, Malden.
Samuel died on February 19, 1966. Services were held for him at Malden’s Temple Tifereth Israel and a memorial week was observed at his late residence. Samuel was buried in the Lebanon Tiferth Israel Cemetery in Peabody. He was a member of the Everett C. Benton Masonic Lodge in Chelsea.
Sources
“Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915,” Massachusetts Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org
Family Tree; Ancestry.com
“Eight Dead, 13 Injured,” Boston Globe, 26 August 1908: 1; Newspapers.com
“Three Victims Buried,” Boston Globe, 26 August 1908: 7; Newspapers.com
“Search Abandoned,” Boston Globe, 27 August 1908: 4; Newspapers.com
1910, 1920, 1930 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com
Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
US Veterans Administration Master Index, Military Service, NARA microfilm publication, Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985; FamilySearch.org
Marriage Record, Chelsea, Suffolk, MA, State Archives, Boston, MA; FamilySearch.org
Boston, Chelsea, Malden directories, various years; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Deaths, Boston Globe, 20 Feb 1966: 66; Newspapers.com
Samuel Adler, FindAGrave.com
Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards 1733–1990. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com