Patrick Joseph Canavan and John Michael Canavan by Camille Arbogast
Brothers Patrick and John Canavan were born in South Boston; Patrick Joseph on March 6, 1892, and John Michael on August 23, 1895. Their parents, Thomas R. and Hanora (Nee), known as Hannah, were both born in Ireland, each immigrating to the United States in the early 1880s. They married in Boston in 1886; according to their marriage record, it was Hannah’s second marriage. Thomas and Hannah had seven other children: Mary born in 1887, Richard in 1891, Margaret in 1893, Hanora in 1896, Joanna in 1899, Thomas, Jr., in 1901, and Anthony in 1903. Two of their children died in early childhood: Richard in 1891 of cholera infantum and Hanora in 1901 of pneumonia.
At the time of Patrick’s and John’s births, the family lived on Bowen Street in South Boston and Thomas was a street paver. By 1899, they had moved to Dorchester, where they lived on Dorchester Avenue, first at 528, then, by 1906, at 526. By that time, Thomas worked for the Goodyear Machine Company in the South End. On the morning of January 9, 1906, he played with his children, put on his coat, and left for work. He never returned. Hannah “made a most thorough search” for her husband, checking with everyone who knew him and calling at all the hospitals. On February 27, she asked for police assistance, telling the officers that if Thomas “failed to return very soon she didn’t know what would become of her.” On May 1, Thomas’s drowned body was found in Boston Harbor, near White Spirit Wharf on Commercial Street in the North End.
By 1910, the Canavans had moved to 337 Dorchester Street. Hannah was working outside the home as an office cleaner. The older children were also employed: Patrick, 18, as a salesman at a grocery and Margaret in an ink factory. The younger children, including John, still attended school. Six years later they lived at 867 Dorchester Avenue.
On June 24, 1916, John enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard, serving in Company I of the 9th Infantry. Shortly before John enlisted, President Wilson had called up the National Guard. The United States was in the midst of the Mexican Expedition, the attempt to capture the Mexican revolutionary Francisco Villa, known as Pancho Villa. In the summer and fall of 1916, John was stationed near El Paso, Texas, where the National Guard was protecting the southern border.
Guardsmen were called for service again on March 20, 1917. John reported for duty on March 26, and mustered as a private on March 30. On April 1, he was promoted to private first class. The next day, President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany; war was declared on April 6. The 9th Infantry of the Massachusetts National Guard was stationed at Camp Framingham, an existing National Guard summer training ground and state armory. In August 1917, the regiment was reorganized as the 101st Infantry, part of the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th Division, or Yankee Division. John was promoted again in August, this time to corporal.
The 101st Infantry sailed for France on September 7, 1917, on the USS Pastores, leaving from Hoboken, New Jersey, and arriving in Saint-Nazaire on September 21, 1917. On November 3, John was made a private. The 26th Division went to the front in early February 1918, in the Chemin des Dames sector. In early April, they moved to the Toul-Boucq sector, where, on April 20, John was wounded slightly. After a few days in the Champagne-Marne defensive sector in early July, they participated in the Aisne-Marne offensive July 18 through 25. In August 1918, John was again made a private first class. From September 12 through 16, the 101st fought in the Saint Mihiel offensive.
While John was serving overseas, Patrick was a shipper for C.B. Smith and Brother of 38-40 Stilling Street in South Boston, supporting his mother and two youngest siblings; Hannah died in August 1917. On May 31, 1918, Patrick enrolled in the United Naval Reserve Force at the recruiting station in Boston. He was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service in Boston on June 4, serving as a storekeeper, second class. As a storekeeper, he was responsible for maintaining “ship or company military supply stores,” including handling “purchasing, procurement, shipping and receiving, and issuing … anything else obtained through the Naval Supply System.” A notice in the Boston Globe stated that Patrick “had been doing some overseas duty,” though this is not reflected in his service record. Another notice stated he was stationed on Commonwealth Pier.
On August 28, 1918, there was an influenza outbreak on a Naval receiving ship in Boston. From the receiving ship, the disease quickly spread to other Navy sites, sweeping through Commonwealth Pier and filling the Chelsea Naval Hospital. Almost 21,000 Navy personnel in the Boston area had caught the illness by mid-September.
On September 28, 1918, Patrick died at home, of lobar pneumonia almost certainly caused by influenza. A funeral service was held for him at his home and a high requiem mass was celebrated at Saint Margaret’s Church on Columbia Road (today’s Blessed Mother Teresa Church). He had been a member of the Dorchester Lower Mills Council, Knights of Columbus; the Edward Everett Court of Foresters; and the Saint Margaret’s Ushers’ Club.
At the time of Patrick’s death, John was in the Troyon sector. From there, in mid-October, the 26th Division moved to an area near Verdun, as part of the Meuse-Argonne offensive. On October 23, an attack was begun “on the Bois d’Haumont, the Bois des Chênes, and the Bois d’Ormont.” John was mortally wounded during the fighting on October 23-24. On November 7, he died of these wounds received in action. He was reported Wounded Severely on December 10, 1918; a month later his status was changed to Killed in Action.
In September and November 1918, first anniversary masses were celebrated for the repose of the souls of Patrick and John. In October 1918, “a month’s mind mass for the repose of the soul” of Patrick was also held. The intersection of Dorchester Avenue, Mount Vernon Street and Roseclair Street in Dorchester was named for John and Patrick Canavan in 1920. In July 1921, their sister held a funeral for John at her home, 103 Westville Street, and a requiem service was held for John at Saint Margaret’s Church. John was also honored with a motor cortege and military funeral.
Sources
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Family Tree; Ancestry.com
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