Dorchester Illustration no. 2427 William Valentine Dacey
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: William Valentine Dacey. Written by Camille Arbogast
In the photograph, William is on the left, and his brother Leonard is on the right.
William Valentine Dacey was born on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1896, in Chelsea to William T. and Mary E. (Cummings) Dacey. His father, William T., was born in Boston to Irish parents and his mother, Mary, was born in Charlestown(her father was from northern New England and her mother from Ireland). William had one older brother, Leonard born in 1894, and five younger siblings: Francis, known as Frank, born in 1897, Dorothy in 1899, Marion in 1901, Gertrude in 1904, and Lawrence in 1911. Three of the siblings died as children: Marion at age 10, Gertrude at 16, and Lawrence at 17.
William T. was in the window shade and screen business. At the time of his marriage in 1894, he was a shade cutter. By 1900, he was a window shade salesman. Eventually, he became the president of the Crown Shade and Screen Company. Founded in 1905, with a showroom in Boston and a factory on Lochdale Road in Roslindale not far from Forest Hills Station, the company advertised shade cloth, “roller fly screens,” and made-to-order screens for windows, doors and porches.
When William V. was born, the family lived at 11 Auburn Street in Chelsea. By 1910, they had moved a couple of blocks over to 39 Cherry Street. The family moved within the neighborhood again in 1912 to 131 Williams Street. In his note card for William V. Dacey, Dr. Perkins noted that William graduated from Chelsea High School in 1916. During the 1916-1917 school year, William was a special student in the Boston University Business Administration program. In April 1917, his parents purchased a home at 7 Aberdeen Road in Milton.
That June, on his draft registration, William gave his address as 9 Arlington Street in Chelsea, and his occupation as a “Field Clerk of Army, Northeastern Department.” Although we are unsure of William’s connection to Dorchester or Dr. Perkins, Dr. Perkins did keep an index card entry and photograph for him. And, on that card, Dr. Perkins recorded that William enlisted in the Army on July 1, 1917. On October 18, 1917, William sailed for France with the “Field Clerks, Statistical Division,” leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the USAT Tenadores. Dr. Perkins noted that while overseas William served in “Gnrl Pershings [sic] Headquarters.” William returned to the United States on the USS Cap Finisterre, sailing from Brest, France on July 3, 1919, and arriving in Hoboken on July 13. At the time of his return, his “Rank and Arm or Staff Corps” was listed as Army Field Clerk, Adjutant General’s Department, and his Organization as General Headquarters.
After the war he lived with his family at 7 Aberdeen Road and continued as a clerk for the United States Army. On October 12, 1920, William married Bostonian Mary A. Donovan in Milton. They eventually had two children: William F., and Clare. The Boston directory for 1924 lists William living at 8 Fowle Road in Roslindale and working as a clerk, First Corps Area, South Boston. On the 1930 census, William’s occupation is recorded as army base clerk; the directory listed him as a warrant officer, USA Army base. In 1930, William and his family lived at 149 Willow Street in West Roxbury. By 1934 they had moved a short distance to 231 Manthorne Road.
On September 21, 1936, William died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. His funeral was celebrated at the Church of the Holy Name in West Roxbury and he was buried in Calvary Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and children, his mother, and three of his siblings.
Sources
Birth record, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Family Trees, Ancestry.com
Death Record for Marion Dacey, Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Death listing for Gertrude J. Dacey, 85th Annual Town Report of Milton, Mass. for the Year Ending December 31, 1921, page 50; Archive.org
Death listing for Lawrence Dacey, Town of Milton 92nd Annual Report 1928, page 101; Archive.org
“Crown Shade and Screen Co in Its New Quarters,” Boston Globe, 25 Jan 1930, 6; Newspapers.com
Chelsea, Boston directories, various years; Ancestry.com
Boston University Year Book 1916-1917, Vol 5, No 5, Part 2, Boston MA: Boston University, September 1916, page 221; books.google.com
Deed, 7 Aberdeen Road, Milton, Norfolk County Registry of Deeds; Norfolkresearch.org
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, National Archive and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, Record Group 92. The National Archives at College Park, Maryland; Ancestry.com
Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, Record Group 92. The National Archives at College Park, Maryland; Ancestry.com
Marriage listing, 84th Annual Town Report of Milton Mass. for the Year Ending December 31, 1920, page 64; Archive.org
“Deaths Reported,” Evening Star (Washington DC), 23 September 1936, B-13; Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
“West Roxbury District,” Boston Globe, 23 Sept 1936, 16; Newspapers.com
“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 23 Sept 1936; 21; Newspapers.com
US Census 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930; Ancestry.com
