McIntires in WW I
by Jonathan Tucker
As previously noted, these latter chapters have focused on the participation of the descendants of Micum McIntire in conflict and war. Again, this is not to celebrate war, but to recognize the degree to which its impacts alter lives and land and the future. This chapter was originally written prior to November 11, 2018, specifically for the anniversary of the end of World War I.
It was at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1917 that an armistice called for a ceasefire—on the 11th hour of the 11th day on the 11th month, the guns fell silent, ending WWI. It is important to remind ourselves of the sacrifices all of our forebears made that enable us to enjoy the freedoms we have. That includes the all-important right to vote and determine our own futures. Get yourselves to the polls and vote! We owe it to those who came before us.
World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Of course, it was not. But it was the first mechanized war, introducing machine guns, long distance high-explosive artillery, poison gas, and other horrors of modern mass slaughter to the battlefield. It took far too long for military leaders on any side to adapt battlefield tactics to the new reality of mechanized warfare. Transport, for instance, still often involved horses, mules, and donkeys—eight million of which died during the conflict. The result of pitting 19th century battlefield tactics against 20th century weapons was unending slaughter.
Roughly 10 million soldiers lost their lives in World War I, along with seven million civilians. Hundreds of thousands of men simply disappeared into the churned mud of the battlefields of Europe, never to be seen again. In the British Isles, including in Scotland, entire generations were lost. In almost every tiny village or former hamlet across Scotland, there is a WWI memorial listing the names of local men who did not return.
The United States entered WWI late, on April 6, 1917—the war had been underway since July 1914. But American participation was the deciding factor, and led to an end to the war a year and a half later. The American descendants of Scots, including the descendants of Micum McIntire, were very much a part of the war effort.
McIntires in WWI
What follows is a partial listing of the descendants of Micum McIntire who are known to have participated in WWI, listed in alphabetical order. Information is also provided about their families and in some cases subsequent service in other conflicts:
Lorinda Blaisdell – Born York, ME, about 1856; m. Orleans W. Goodwin, a farmer, son of Edmund and Sophronia E. Goodwin, b. about 1852. Lorinda was a Molder Second class (she made molds for new or replacement metal parts for ships) in the U.S. Navy, December 3, 1917, to January 26, 1920; residence Kittery. Children (Goodwin): a. Willard Leopold b. April 1875. b. Albertina, b. abt. 1877. c. Arthur Goodwin, a real estate and insurance agent, residence Kittery, Maine d. 1963. d. Ida, b. 1882, m. Austin M. Trefethen, Oct. 29, 1902, residence Kittery. e. Harry L., b. York, November 6, 1893.
Almon C. Boston – Born York, ME, Sept. 8, 1884; married Florence P. Hooper, South Berwick, ME, September 29, 1906, daughter of William H. and Sarah E. (Littlefield) Hooper, b. Feb. 15, 1890, South Berwick, ME; Almon served as a wagoner in the U.S. Army, July 25, 1917 to Apr. 28, 1919; overseas, Sept. 26. 1917, to Apr. 4, 1919. Champagne-Marne, St. Michiel, Meuse Argonne and Defensive Sector. Children: a. Elijah, b. July 27, 1907, South Berwick, ME. b. Donald Richard, b. Nov. 22, 1908, South Berwick, ME. c. Herbert C., b. Feb. 16, 1910; d. March 6, 1910, South Berwick, ME. d. Robert Oliver, b. Aug. 8, 1912, South Berwick, ME. e. Morris Everett, b. April 19, 1914, South Berwick, ME. f. Phyllis M., b. Sept. 13, 1916, South Berwick, ME. g. Elsie Mae, b. Aug. 9, 1920, Kittery, ME. h. Eleanor Francis, b. Sept. 8, 1921, Kittery, ME. i. Elizabeth E. Oct. 25, 1922, Kittery, ME. Florence H., b. Dec. 30, 1923, Kittery, ME. j. Quentin Roosevelt, b. unk. k. Adrian, b. unk.
Paul Lewis Burnham – Born July 22, 1893; res. Lawrence, MA; m. Buffalo, N Y, Aug. 1920, Dorothy Wilson Dailey, daughter of Edgar Clarence and Catherine Marie (Wisecup) Dailey, b. Bainbridge Ohio, Mar 28, 1898. Paul graduated from Dartmouth, 1917; served in WWI from July 1917-Aug. 1919; second Lt., 1919; served with the 1st and 85thSquadrons in Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel and Argonne Sectors. He was thereafter engaged in newspaper advertising with Eagle-Tribune Associates, Lawrence. Children (Burnham) b. Lawrence: a. son, b and d. 1924. b. Paul Alfred, b. Apr. 28, 1926; served in USN from July 19, 1944; on USS Antietam, c. George Daniel, b. Mar. 29, 1928.
Carleton Lord Came – Born Somersworth, NH, Feb. 23, 1896; res. Pasadena, CA 1951; m. Jan 5, 1929, Casamira Eleanor Trenoske of Mt. Carmel, PA, b. Sept. 13, 1897. He was a graduate of UNH, 1918, and George Washington University, DC 1926; served in Army during WWI and assigned to Chemical Warfare Service; with association with Resinous Products and Chemical Co. of Philadelphia from 1933, becoming West coast tech representative. Children (Came): a. Dorothy Carolyn b. DC, Jan. 26. 1921; res. Pasadena, CA 1950, unmarried. b. Milder Kathryn b. Mt. Carmel, May 13, 1911. c. Frances Louise, b. DC, July 12, 1923; a nun at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy. Wichita, Kansas, 1951. d. Carleton Leonard, b. DC, Oct. 7, 1928, residence Lomita Park, CA 1951, m. San Gabriel, CA, May 19, 1950, Nancy Motley. Their children (Came): Constance Marie. e. Joan Ellen, b. Springfield, PA, January 5, 1938.
Philip Poindexter Clement – Born Bangor, Maine, May 14, 1893; residence there; m. Bangor, Nov. 10, 1917, Martha Leonora Mansur, daughter of Wilfred Everett and Charlotte Ellen (Brown) Mansur, b. Bangor, February 22, 1896. He attended the University of Maine, 1913-1914; employed as a timber inspector and engineer, Great Northern Paper Company, Bangor, 1912-1919; consulting forester at Bangor; was vice president and director of Prentiss and Carlisle company after 1928; director of Old Town Woolen Company; clerk of Mt. Chase Land Company, Quebec Extension Railroad Company, and Jo Mary Company. He was a Mason. He served in the Army Air Corps from Dec. 12, 1917, to November 26, 1918, training at Princeton Ground School to August 7, 1918, thence to Camp Dick, Dallas, Texas, and Eberts Field, Lonoke, Arkansas. Children (Clement) b. Bangor: a. Charlotte Mansur, b. January 19, 1919; an employee of the Foreign Economic Administration Cairo, Egypt, 1944, unmarried. b. Barbara Ann, b. November 21, 1922; was a graduate of Smith College, 1945, then a teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota. c. Pauline Martha, b. March 2, 1927.
Guy Percy Clement – Born Bangor, Maine, July 15, 1895; residence Falmouth Foreside, Maine, 1945; m. NYC, Sept. 3, 1921, Winifred Annie Greenhalgh, daughter of James Herbert and Elizabeth Greenhalgh, b. Bury Lancashire, England, November, 22, 1894. He was an insurance salesman; served in the Army from June 29, 1917, to May 17, 1919; Sgt., Depot Co. H, Fort Wood, NY; transferred to 303d Field signal Battery, 78 Div,; sailed for France May 27, 1918; participated in the Battle of St. Mihiel, Sept 12-16, 1918; returned May 13, 1919. Children (Clement): a. Warren Guy, b. Swampscott, MA, July 12, 1922. b. Elizabeth, b. Bangor, ME, March 1, 1926. c. Bruce Pennington, b. Portland, ME, Oct. 9, 1932.
Richard Lunt Heald – Born Atkinson, NH, Mar. 31, 1900; m. Newton, NH, 1924, Ora Ethel Neff, daughter of Henry and Gertrude (Smith) Neff, b. Florida. He served as a Gunner’s Mate, USN, 1916-24; employed as an armorer at Camp Carson, CO. Children (Heald): a. John Edward, b. NE. b. Ruth Elizabeth, b. NE, c. Joan Virginia, b. Seattle., d. Patricia Victoria, b. NE.
Earl Smith Hewitt – Born Royalton, VT, June, 8, 1893; d. June 1959; m. Enfield, NH, Sept. 14, 1920, Mary Clementine Dole, daughter of Walter and Fannie Louise (Dodge) Dole, b. Enfield, Oct 21, 1894. He was a graduate of Tufts College, 1916; served in the Army during WWI; was Dep. Secretary of State of New Hampshire, 1929-32; rep. from Enfield in the state legislature, 1943-45, and state senator after 1945; introduced into the NH senate the Dumbarton Oaks Resolution. He was editor and publisher of the Hanover (NH) Gazette from May 15, 1933; a member of Social Masonic Lodge, Enfield, NH. Children (Hewitt): a. John Walter b. Randolph, VT, June 16, 1921. b. David Dodge b. Bristol, NH, July 11 1922. c. Richard Dole b. Marion, MA, Apr. 27, 1924. d. Robert Harvey b. Enfield, NH, Sept. 14, 1926; S 2/c UNS, Nov., 1944 to July, 1946; att. University of NH. e. Thomas Smith, b. Hanover, Dec. 16, 1932; attended Tufts University.
Leland Junkins – Born Salmon Falls, NH, Sept. 4, 1889; d. there, Aug. 11, 1941, s.p.; m. York Beach, ME, Sept. 5, 1910 Ruth May Webster, daughter of Frederick and Ida Webster, b. So. Berwick, ME Apr 29, 1887. He served in the Army WWI; was a stove foundry foreman. She m. (2) Frank Young.
Josephine Lunt Kelly – Born Saco, ME, Dec. 5, 1888; m. Brookline, MA, June 17, 1914, Dr. Edwin Eugene Smith, son of Edwin MacBride and Eugenie Ellen (Cook) Smith, b. Auburn, ME, June 10, 1892. They resided Wollaston, MA. He graduated from Tufts Medical School, Medford, MA, 1914; served as a Captain in the Army Medical Corps, WWI; stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, GA, thence to France, returning June 17, 1919. LCOL, Reserve Medical Corps. Children (Smith): a. Elizabeth Ellen b. NYC, Oct. 22, 1915. b. Ruth Maria b. Quincy, MA, Mar. 31, 1917. c. Edwin Eugene b. Wollaston, Dec. 9, 1922.
Henry Tucker Lawrence – Born Waltham, MA, August 20, 1896; residence Woburn, MA, 1950; m. Arlington, MA, Oct. 4, 1930 Elizabeth Mackey Doane, daughter of Foster Parker and Mary Jane (Mackey) Doane, b. Arlington, September, 20, 1906. He attended Harvard; served overseas during WWI; was an electrician and a specialist in compensating ship compasses. She attended Radcliff College, then received nurses training at Mass General in Boston. Children (Lawrence): a. Henry Tucker, Jr. b. Waltham, Oct 2, 1931. b. Daniel Foster, b. Waltham, May 14, 1933. c. Jarius Came, b. Winthrop, MA, July 29, 1939. d. Mary Johanna, b. Winthrop, August 25, 1940. e. Peter, b. Woburn, Aug 3, 1943.
Kenneth Stevens MacIntire – Born Hyde Park, MA, Jan. 16, 1891; res. Hollywood, CA, 1950; m. DC, Mar. 10, 1921 Judith Jenora Schultz, daughter of William Robert and Lougene (helm) Schultz, b. Baraboo, WI, Sept. 12, 1898. He served as an Ensign in the Camouflage Section of the Bureau of Construction and Repair, USN, WWI; later was an artist and designer, and proprietor of a gift shop. No children.
Allen John McIntire, Jr. – Born Boston, Nov. 29, 1888; residence Milton, MA 1950; m. Cambridge, MA Feb. 15. 1926. Mary Ellen Toomey, daughter of Timothy J. and Margaret (Sullivan) Toomey. He served in the 101st. Ammunition Train Medical Corps during WWI; a glazier. Children (McIntire) b. Cambridge, MA., a. Allen John, b. Feb. 21, 1927; b. Cornelius Joseph, b. Mar. 5, 1929. c. Kenneth Joseph, b. Oct. 22, 1930. d. Mary Arvin, b. Feb 28, 1937.
Elmer G. McIntire – Born Caribou, ME. May 10, 1894, PFC, 302d and the 305th Machine Gun Battalions, April 29, 1918, to May 8, 1919; participated in the Oise, Aisne and Meuse-Argonne engagements m. Presque Isle, ME Dec. 16, 1914, (1) Nettie G. Avery daughter of William B. and Sarah (McPherson) Avery, b. Castle Hill, ME, Oct. 20, 1896. DIV., and (2) m. Salem. NH, June 1, 1937 to Celia I. Martin, daughter of Victory and Jane (Carriveau) Martin, b. Clair, N. B. Children: a. son, b. Nov 29, 1914. b. Martha Jane, b. Feb 1940.
Lawrence Earle Merrow – Born Saco, ME Aug 18, 1896; res. Nyack, NY; m. Machias, ME, Aug. 21, 1922, Faye Smith, daughter of Adin Louis and Alice Mabel (Bridgham) Smith, b. Machias, Aug. 1, 1897. Lawrence enrolled in the USNRF, Apr. 17, 1017; discharged as CBM, Feb. 20, 1919; graduated from Univ. of Maine, 1919, as an electric engineer; served as asst. to Vice President of the Rockland Masonic Lodge, Nyack, 1942. Faye was a graduate of UMO, 1919 teacher at Guilford and Machias, ME. Children (Merrow): a. Adin Ralph, b. Montpelier, VT Nov. 16, 1923; served in Army Medical Corps, Sept. 2, 1943-Aug. 4, 1946; as a T/5, company aid man, participated in the Saar Basin campaigns with the 63rd Div., 7th Army; grad. Bowdoin College, 1948; att. McGill Medical School in Montreal, 1950. Unmarried.
Albert Thurston Rich – Born Chelsea, MA, August 28, 1878; residence Malden, MA, 1946; m. there, May 29, 1905, Laura Whitman Barrett, daughter of George Washington and Elizabeth Boylston (Crocker) Barrett, b. Malden September 13, 1879. He attended US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, June 5, 1897, to January 15, 1898; Pvt. and Sgt. Co. B, 43, US Infantry, 1899-1901; Pvt. and Cpl. Troop E, 12 Cavalry, 1901-1903; 2nd LT. of Infantry October 9, 1903, 1st. Lt., January 19, 1911, Captain July 1, 1915, Major, July 1, 1920; transferred to QM Corp, November 17, 1926; LCOL, November 16, 1927, and Colonel, February 1, 1935; retired March 31, 1935. He served overseas with the Second Div.; Insp. 41 Div.; First Arm Dist., of Paris after WWI; with the Army of Occupation in Germany and Belgium. He was a Mason and Shriner. No children.
Susanna Hincks Rich – Born North Cambridge, MA, June 19, 1883; m. Malden, MA, Sept. 18, 1906, Guy Kent, b. Wyoming, October 15, 1877. They resided in DC in 1945. He was a graduate of USMA, West Point, 1901, Army War College, 1924, School of the Line, 1921, and General Staff School, 1922; 2nd Lt. of Cavalry, February 18, 1901, 1st Lt., August 2, 1906, Capt., July 1, 1916, Major, July, 1920, LCOL, October 5. 1929, and Col., January 13, 1932. He served in the Inspector General’s Department, January 15, 1929 to January 23, 1933. Children (Kent): a. Thomas b. West Point, NY, July 19, 1909. b. Susanna, b. Pacific Grove, CA, December 21, 1912; d. Camp Stotsenburg, Philippine Islands. August 9, 1917. c. Guy McMaster, b. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, May 4, 1922; Guy attended USM, July 1, 1942 to January 12, 1943; enlisted USA, 1943, then commissioned; stationed in Germany with Occupying Forces 1945-1946. Unmarried.
Fred Garland Tucker – Born Portsmouth, NH, May 9, 1897; m. Portsmouth, August 1920, Dorothy Aldrich Doolittle, daughter of Arthur M. and Emma (Aldrich) Doolittle, b. Marlborough, NH, Feb. 20, 1897; d. May 9, 1981. She served in the Naval Women’s Auxiliary during WWI. Fred attended Dartmouth and NYU; served in the Navy during WWI, was thereafter in the U.S. Navy Reserve Force from May 21, 1918 to April 2, 1919. He served at Hingham, MA on the U.S.S. Southery, the station ship in Portsmouth, NH. He was attached for a time to the District Detail Office in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. He attended Officer Material School. His orders came out of the Fourth District, Philadelphia, PA.; Fred was a lawyer and a govt. employee; a member of St. John’s Masonic Lodge, Portsmouth, NH. Children: a. Robert Garland, b. Apr. 3, 1921. b. Priscilla Aldrich, b. Dec. 3, 1922. c. Virginia Sanborn, b. Oct. 14, 1928.
Melvin Weston Rowell – Born June 22, 1868; res. Northwood Narrows, NH 1946; m. Henrietta Schooch. He was graduated from USMA, West Point, 1890; served as 2nd Lt. and 1st Lt., promoted to Captain Feb. 1917; retired March 10, 1919. He served in Puerto Rico and the Philippines, 1900-05,; stationed Pinar Del Rio, Cuba; participated in the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, 1916-1917; to France with his regiment and stationed at Marseilles organizing and commanding Base Section No. 6 May 31, 1918, to March 10, 1919. Children (Rowell): a. Melvin Weston, Jr. b. Josephine.
William Wright Walcott – Born Natick, MA, June, 1879; was a graduate of MIT, 1901, and Harvard Medical School, 1905; practiced medicine in Natick; commissioned Captain (MC) U.S. Army, and served with 101st Engineers; was wounded by a shell and gassed; d. Le Mans France, Mar 16, 1919, unmarried. A Mason.
Philip McIntire Woodwell – Born Bridgton, ME, Oct. 1, 1895; res. W. Roxbury, Mass and York Maine, m. Franklin, NH, Feb. 24, 1925 Virginia Belcher Sellers, daughter of John Henry and Carrie Louise (Belcher) Sellers, b. Carlinville, Ill., July 23, 1895. He was a grad. From Dartmouth, 1917; served two years. ISMR. WWI resigned as Ens., Oct. 10, 1919. He was a teacher at Petersham, MA, 1920-1922, Haverhill, MA, 1922-24, Newton, MA, 1924-25, Watertown, MA, 1925-32, Boston English after 1932. Children: (Woodwell) a. George Masters II, b. Cambridge, MA, Oct. 23, 1928; b. Virginia Louise, b. Boston, Apr 6, 1937.
Elmer Russell Young – Born York, ME, Aug. 21, 1897; m. there, Jan 26, 1919, Mildred Moulton, daughter of Joseph and Addie (Hatch) Moulton, b. So. Portland, ME. They resided in York. He was a supervisor of state highways; a past master of St. Aspinquid Masonic Lodge, York. He served in the Navy from Aug. 8, 1918 to Dec. 2, 1918. Children (Young): a.Dorothy, b. Jan 11, 1920; d. Mar 25, 1933. b. Bessie, b. Aug. 26, 1929; d. March 28, 1933. c. Richard, b. May 19, 1934; attended MIT: a chemical engineer, residence Stratford, NJ, m. Dianne Melgren. Children (of Richard Young): i. Richard Scott. ii. Glenn
WWI and Poetry
Celtic culture is rightly known for its bards, historians, and storytellers, and Scots are no exception. Famed bard Duncan Ban MacIntyre (1724-1812) was known as the Robert Burns of the Highlands. He was, among other things, a forester and briefly a soldier. Fighting as a substitute for a local Fletcher gentleman, Duncan lost Fletcher’s sword during the 1746 battle of Falkirk and as a result was denied his pay upon his return. He later wrote a wryly humorous poem about the incident.
But WWI was a poor subject for humor. Its horror and its aftermath altered the world for generations, and poets responded to the brutalities and losses in new ways. Poems from 1914 and 1915 extolled the old virtues of warfare—honor, duty, heroism, and glory. But by 1915, those “virtues” began to be described with far greater skepticism and moral ambiguity, with realism and an often bitter irony. Although horrific depictions of battle in poetry date back to Homer’s Iliad, the later poems of WWI mark a substantial shift in how we view war and sacrifice.
Just months before his own death in 1918, English poet Wilfred Owen famously wrote of a book of his poems:
“This book is not about heroes. English Poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War.”
Two of the best known WWI poems penned by poets of Scottish descent are included here. They illustrate the transition from an early emphasis on glory and honor to a recognition of the horror and frequent pointlessness of slaughter.
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae (Clan MacCrae)
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
At the Somme: The Song of the Mud
Mary Borden (Clan Lamont)
This is the song of the mud,
The pale yellow glistening mud that covers the hills like satin;
The grey gleaming silvery mud that is spread like enamel over the valleys;
The frothing, squirting, spurting, liquid mud that gurgles along the road beds;
The thick elastic mud that is kneaded and pounded and squeezed under the hoofs of the horses;
The invincible, inexhaustible mud of the war zone.
This is the song of the mud, the uniform of the poilu.
His coat is of mud, his great dragging flapping coat, that is too big for him and too heavy;
His coat that once was blue and now is grey and stiff with the mud that cakes to it.
This is the mud that clothes him. His trousers and boots are of mud,
And his skin is of mud;
And there is mud in his beard.
His head is crowned with a helmet of mud.
He wears it well.
He wears it as a king wears the ermine that bores him.
He has set a new style in clothing;
He has introduced the chic of mud.
This is the song of the mud that wriggles its way into battle.
The impertinent, the intrusive, the ubiquitous, the unwelcome,
The slimy inveterate nuisance,
That fills the trenches,
That mixes in with the food of the soldiers,
That spoils the working of motors and crawls into their secret parts,
That spreads itself over the guns,
That sucks the guns down and holds them fast in its slimy voluminous lips,
That has no respect for destruction and muzzles the bursting shells;
And slowly, softly, easily,
Soaks up the fire, the noise; soaks up the energy and the courage;
Soaks up the power of armies;
Soaks up the battle.
Just soaks it up and thus stops it.
This is the hymn of mud-the obscene, the filthy, the putrid,
The vast liquid grave of our armies. It has drowned our men.
Its monstrous distended belly reeks with the undigested dead.
Our men have gone into it, sinking slowly, and struggling and slowly disappearing.
Our fine men, our brave, strong, young men;
Our glowing red, shouting, brawny men.
Slowly, inch by inch, they have gone down into it,
Into its darkness, its thickness, its silence.
Slowly, irresistibly, it drew them down, sucked them down,
And they were drowned in thick, bitter, heaving mud.
Now it hides them, Oh, so many of them!
Under its smooth glistening surface it is hiding them blandly.
There is not a trace of them.
There is no mark where they went down.
The mute enormous mouth of the mud has closed over them.
This is the song of the mud,
The beautiful glistening golden mud that covers the hills like satin;
The mysterious gleaming silvery mud that is spread like enamel over the valleys.
Mud, the disguise of the war zone;
Mud, the mantle of battles;
Mud, the smooth fluid grave of our soldiers:
This is the song of the mud.
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