Abrahamson 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.
Nathan Gabriel Abrahamson was born April 14, 1893, in Sheffield, England, to Paul W. and Minnie Ethel Abrahamson. Paul and Minnie, who were from Kovno, Russia (Lithuania), had moved to Sheffield, England, where the three youngest of four children were born, including Nathan. Paul immigrated to Boston in 1902, and the rest of the family followed from Liverpool the next year on the ship Mayflower, arriving in Boston June 13, 1903.
They moved to 237 Quincy Street, Dorchester. In the 1910 Census Nathan’s occupations is listed as a stock clerk in a drug store. His draft registration card for World War I gave his occupation as Pharmacist, working at C. H. Dexter, 166 Court Street, Boston. He was single and described as: 5 feet, 6 1/4 inches tall; 130 lbs, with brown eyes and black hair. By the time of his enlistment on July 25, 1917, the family had moved to 159 Callender Street.
Nathan was assigned to the Medical Department at Fort Ethan Allen in Vermont and served there until July, 1918. He served at Base Hospital for the 39th Division to mid-September and then at Evacuation Hospital #29 until August 16, 1918 and overseas at Evacuation Hospital #27 until his discharge on September 16, 1919.
When Nathan returned to civilian life, he lived with his parents at 62 Johnston Road. life City directories report that from 1921 to 1925 Nathan was a student. At 34 years of age Nathan married a woman named Ethel, probably in 1927. The 1930 Census gives their address as 153 Chiswick Road, Brighton, and states that Nathan’s mother was living with them. The couple had one child, a son named Paul, who was reported as seven years old in the 1930 Census, apparently named for his grandfather.
Nathan was the proprietor of a drug store, probably the Aberdeen Pharmacy at 1670 Commonwealth Avenue. In later years he became the President of the Terrace Pharmacy Co,, Inc., at 183 Chestnut Hill Avenue. He and Ethel were living on Lothian Road in Brighton during the 1940s.
Nathan died May 17, 1950, and was buried in the Mishkan Tefila Cemetery in West Roxbury.
Index card included in a 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:
Applications for Headstones for US Military Veterans on Ancestry.com
City Directories on Ancestry.com
Newspapers.com
US Census on Ancestry.com 1910, 1920, 1930
WWI draft registration card on Ancestry.com
WWI 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.