Walter Ernest Bauer
World War I Veteran
By Camille Arbogast
Walter Ernest Bauer was born on July 31, 1888, at 84 Albion Street in Roxbury. His father, John Edward Bauer, was a Bostonian of German ancestry. His mother, Emily (Trochsler), immigrated to the United States from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France in the 1860s. John and Emily were married in Boston in March 1882. They had two other children: Emily Louise born in 1884 and Theodore Edward in 1886.
At the time of Walter’s birth, his father was a bartender. In the 1890s, John was a clerk. He worked in a billiards room at 32 Boylston Street in 1900. By 1905, he was a manager at 110A Sudbury Street, a position he held into 1909. After a 13-week period of unemployment, in 1910 he was employed again, this time as a hotel waiter, which was his career for the rest of his life.
By 1900, the family had moved to Dorchester and resided at 9 Corona Street. Walter attended the Christopher Gibson School, graduating in 1904. In 1907, he graduated from the Mechanic Arts High School in Back Bay. By 1910, Walter and his family were living at 15 Stratton Street and he was a typewriter mechanic. The next year, he was working as a chauffeur. On his World War I draft registration in June 1917, he reported he was a self-employed chauffeur mechanic, claiming exemption from the draft due to physical disability.
On February 28, 1918, Walter enrolled in the United States Naval Reserve Forces, serving as an Aviation Machinists Mate, First Class. He was placed on inactive service on January 28, 1919. In 1920, he was employed as a riveter in a shipyard. He was discharged from the Navy on September 30, 1921.
While Walter was in the Navy, his brother Edward died. Edward had married in 1911 and moved to Winthrop, working as a manager at a boot and shoe company. In late September 1918, he caught influenza. It was the height of the influenza epidemic in Massachusetts; the day after Edward fell ill, the governor issued a proclamation, advocating that schools and public gathering places be closed in an attempt to halt the spread of the disease. After a 9-day illness, Edward died of influenza-related pneumonia, one of thousands to die of the illness in the Commonwealth. In Boston alone there were 4,794 casualties in 1918.
In 1920, Walter, his parents, and his sister Emily, who was a stenographer and bookkeeper, lived at 27 Bowdoin Street. His father died suddenly in 1921. In 1930, Walter, his mother, and sister were living at 50 Bowdoin Street, which they rented for $50 a month. By this time, Walter was a driver and mechanic in the post office motor vehicle service, working out of a building on A Street in South Boston. His mother died in 1937. In 1940, Walter and his sister were still living at 50 Bowdoin Street. Walter was making $2,000 a year working for the post office. Emily, now an office manager, also earned $2,000 a year. They both reported on the 1940 census that they also had income from other sources. In January 1949, Walter retired from the post office.
By 1960, Walter and Emily lived at 174A Brush Hill Road in Milton, their home for the rest of their lives. Emily died in May 1960. Walter died in Milton on September 10, 1962, and was buried beside his family members in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain. He was a member of the William L. Harris Post 196 of the American Legion.
Sources
Birth Record & Marriage Record, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 US Federal Census; Ancestry.com
Annual Report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1904. Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1904: 191; Archive.org
“210 Receive Diplomas,” Boston Globe, 22 June 1907: 11; Newspapers.com
“Child Struck Down by Auto,” Boston Globe, 17 August 1911: 13; Newspapers.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
U.S. Veteran Master Index, NARA microfilm publication, St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985; FamilySearch.org
“Boston, Massachusetts,” Influenza Encyclopedia. University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine. <https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-boston.html>
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
“Nine Retirements Announced Here in Postal Service,” Boston Globe, 30 Jan 1949: 20; Newspapers.com
Morning Death Notices, Boston Globe, 5 May 1960: 20; Newspapers.com
Death Notices, Boston Globe, 11 Sept 1962: 28; Newspapers.com
“Walter Ernest Bauer,” FindAGrave.com