Ahl has an entry among service records maintained by Dr. Nathaniel Royal Perkins. During World I, Dr. Perkins was employed by the draft registration board to examine young men for the draft. During this job, he befriended many servicemen and kept track of their military service during the war. Dr. Perkins died in 1922, and his widow, Clara, donated the collection to the Dorchester Historical Society in 1924.
Leslie Otis Ahl was born in Roxbury on October 20, 1895, to Mia Ahl, a Swedish immigrant. Mia had immigrated just the year before. Although Mia indicated she was married, there is no evidence of Leslie’s father, so he may not have immigrated with Mia. In the 1920 census she indicates that she is a widow.
In 1910 Mia and Leslie were living in Malden. The 1917 Malden directory says that Leslie had moved to Dorchester, while Mia was living at178Washington Street, Malden. In June 1917, when Leslie registered for the draft, he gave his address as 1233 Morton Street, Dorchester, and his occupation as chauffeur for W. Spencer Hutchinson of 1235 Morton Street. Leslie was described as of medium height and medium build with blue eyes and light hair.
Leslie served in the army from his enlistment on December 15, 1917 until his discharge on February 18, 1919. He traveled to Europe with Company E of the 30th Engineers from Hoboken, N.J., leaving June 30, 1918, on the ship President Grant. He was engaged in the offensives at St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne.
When he returned, he and his mother rented an apartment at 37 Temple Street, Dorchester, and Leslie continued working as a chauffeur to a private family. He joined the Macedonian Lodge of the Masons n 1922. In the early 1920s Leslie married Ruth W. Clough, who was living at 2260 Dorchester Avenue and working as a clerk in a drug store. Leslie moved in with her, and they had a son, Leslie Jr., but Ruth died in 1925. In 1927 he married Effie May Penney. They had a daughter Patricia, born in 1927, but Effie May and Patricia were living at 54 Rockland Avenue, Roxbury, separately from Leslie and his mother, who were living at 37 Temple Street, Dorchester, as reported in the 1930 census. In 1930 Leslie was working as a chauffeur for a taxi company. From the later 1920s and through the rest of his life, Leslie was living at various addresses in Roxbury
The 1940 census gives Leslie’s address as 103 Cedar Street, where he lived with his wife Effie and his daughter Patricia as well as a step-son, step-daughter and god-son and god-daughter. He worked for the Works Progress Administration in the Clothing Department. In the 1950s he worked as a kitchen helper at the New England Baptist Hospital on Harrison Avenue, Roxbury.
Effie May died on January 13, 1961, and she was buried in The Gardens Cemetery in West Roxbury. Leslie died on June 22, 1967, and he followed Effie to The Gardens Cemetery.
Index card in collection of photographs and service records maintained by Dr. Nathaniel Royal Perkins. During World I, Dr. Perkins was employed by the draft registration board to examine young men for the draft. During this job, he befriended many servicemen and kept track of their military service during the war. Dr. Perkins died in 1922, and his widow, Clara, donated the collection to the Dorchester Historical Society in 1924.
Sources:
Birth Record on Ancestry.com
Boston Directories on Ancestry.com
Boston Globe May 1, 1925, and January 14, 1961 on Ancestry.com
FindaGrave.com
Massachusetts Masons Membership Cards on Ancestry.com
US Army Transport Service on Ancestry.com
US Census 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 on Ancestry.com
World War I and World War II draft registration cards on Ancestry.com
World War I Service Record. Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.