Vita Brevis

A growing family

Written by Scott C. Steward | Mar 29, 2016 2:06:53 PM
Edward Hughes Glidden's sketch of the Maryland Casualty Tower.

We pick up the Bouchers in 1912 with Mrs. Frances Boucher[1] and her sons Carlos H., clerk, and Emile G., “2d vice pres. Crook-Horner Supply Co.,” at 1718 Linden Avenue in Baltimore, along with Mrs. Boucher’s grandson Harry P. Stone, clerk.[2] Thomas J. Wentworth, now a member of the Melbourne Advertising Agency with an office at 210 East Lexington Street, is back at 1731 Linden Avenue.[3] Edward H. Glidden appears as a member of Glidden & Friz, architects (in the Glenn Building, 16 St. Paul Street), and the treasurer of the Maryland Apartment House Company; he has already moved into the Glidden & Friz-designed Homewood Apartments on North Charles Street.[4] As in 1910, Claude Burch is at 804 North Calvert Street.[5]

In 1913, Edgar L. Brooks (who married Josephine Boucher Stone in that year) is listed as secretary of the Baltimore Chemical Company at Seventh Street, east corner of Gough; Julien P. Friez, instrument maker and the father of Lucien Louis Friez, was living at 1230 East Baltimore Street.[6] Edward H. Glidden and Clyde N. Friz now had their office on the twelfth floor of the Maryland Casualty Building.[7]

Interestingly, in 1914 William Boucher Jr. (of Wm. Boucher & Son) was living at The Homewood, as were my great-grandparents Pauline Boucher (daughter of an earlier William Boucher Jr.) and Edward H. Glidden.[8] L. Claude Burch, salesman, was now listed at The Avon.[9]

In 1915, the Boucher household at 1718 Linden Avenue split into two parts: Frances Boucher and her son Emile were shown at 1820 Linden Avenue, while Florence Boucher resided in the family house at 1718.[10] (What I suspect this division reflects was Emile’s marriage to Ida Belle Lerew in 1914.) Edgar L. Brooks, clerk, was listed at 2001 Madison Avenue; the Lucien L. Friezes were living with Lucien’s parents at 1230 East Baltimore Street. The Gliddens were shown at The Homewood (and my great-grandfather’s office was now 1008 Garrett Building); L. Claude Burch, solicitor, was living at 2334 North Charles Street. [11]

The Baltimore Society Visiting List for 1916 takes the place of an electronic city directory for that year. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hughes Glidden are again listed at The Homewood. Among their neighbors were Mrs. M. Gillet Gill and her son Royal Warfield Gill;[12] some years later Mrs. Gill’s granddaughter Madeleine would marry the Gliddens’ son Edward Jr.

Edward Hughes Glidden. Photo courtesy of Wincy Jackson

In 1917, Mrs. Frances Boucher is back at 1718 Linden Avenue with her son-in-law Charles W. Hogan, superintendent, and grandson Harry P. Stone, salesman.[13] Edgar L. Brooks, clerk, is now at 2117 Allendale Road,[14] while the sprawling Friez compound (Julien P. Friez & Sons, Manufacturers of Standard Meteorological Instruments & Apparatus) boasts an ad in the city directory. Thomas J. Wentworth appears as editor of the Baltimore Journal of Commerce, residing at 1731 Linden Avenue.[15] Edward H. Glidden’s office has expanded to 1008–1010 Garrett Building, while L. Claude Burch, insurance, is living at 2333 North Calvert Street.[16]

America’s involvement in the First World War began in April 1917, so 1917 and 1918 are also years covered in Ancestry.com’s World War I Draft Registration Cards database:[17]

  • On 5 June 1917, Harry Prescott Stone (1892–1970) of 1718 Linden Avenue registered for the draft. A native of Baltimore, born 11 October 1892, he was of medium height and build, and blue-eyed with light-colored hair. His occupation was as a manager and buyer for an auto supply house (Frank Brothers, 114 West Mount Royal Avenue), and he noted that he was the sole support for his invalid mother.[18]
  • Also on 5 June 1917, Emile Gabriel Boucher (1886–1950) of the Homewood Apartments registered for the draft. Born in Baltimore 21 October 1886, he was tall and slender, with blue eyes and light hair. He was married,[19] and a salesman for McCardle & Cooney at 8 E. Trumbull Street in Baltimore.
  • On 12 September 1918, Edward Hughes Glidden (1873–1924) of Apt. 5G at the Homewood Apartments[20] registered for the draft. Of medium height and slender build, he had grey eyes and light-colored hair. (He was born 15 April 1873, although the form does not supply the place – Cleveland, Ohio.) Information about his occupation is hard to parse: he has too much to say for the form to absorb. He lists himself as the manager of six apartment house corporations, rather than as an architect, perhaps because the latter profession might have seemed frivolous in wartime. He lists five of the six companies, most of them buildings of his own design: the Homewood,[21] Earl Court,[22] Fireproof,[23] Calvert Court,[24] and Monument Square Apartments. He also had an office at 1210 American Building.
  • Louis Claude Burch (1881–1946) also registered for the draft on 12 September 1918. Of medium height and build, with blue eyes and light hair, he was born 17 May 1881. Claude lived with his wife Constance B. Burch at 2333 North Calvert Street; he was associated with the Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York, located in the Irvin Trust Building.
  • Perhaps in the company of his brothers-in-law, Carlos Herman Boucher (1877–1968) was the third Boucher family member to register for the draft on 12 September 1918. Like his nephew Harry Stone a resident of 1718 Linden Avenue, Carlos was tall, of medium build, with grey eyes and brown (?) hair. Born 23 June 1877, he was a representative of The Texas Co., located on Columbia Avenue in Baltimore. He listed his mother as his nearest relative.

One other family member saw active duty during the First World War: Gordon Cumming Reed (1896–1962). Born William Viers Cumming Boucher in Baltimore 27 June 1896, he was known for most of his life under the surname of his stepfather Frank C. Reed. From 30 April 1917 through 15 February 1919, Gordon served as a seaman on a sub chaser, evidently in the North Atlantic.[25]

Notes

[1] Mary Frances Giles (1843–1923), who was married to William Boucher Jr. 1865–99.

[2] R. L. Polk & Co., Baltimore City Directory… (1912), pp. 375, 1965. William Boucher & Sons, cigar manufacturers (and no relation to the “musical instrument”-making Bouchers), has two listings for men named William: William and William Jr., at 105 Roland Avenue in the Roland Park section, along with Oliver Boucher, student, at the same address (p. 375). In 1913, Carlos H. Boucher was an agent living with his brother Emil and mother Mrs. Frances Boucher (p. 374); Thomas J. Wentworth, advertising agent, was at 1731 Linden Avenue (p. 1913); and L. Claude Burch, agent, was at the same address as in 1912 (p. 437). Caroline P. Remington’s Society Visiting List for Baltimore (1912) lists the Gliddens at The Cecil Apartments on North Eutaw Street (p. 114).

[3] Baltimore City Directory (1912), p. 2137.

[4] Baltimore City Directory (1912), p. 851. The Homewood, at the corner of Thirty-first Street, boasted a café; John Glenn Jr. was the secretary and treasurer of the company, whose offices were in the Glenn Building (p. 1041).

[5] Baltimore City Directory (1912), p. 437. He would marry Constance Marie Boucher in 1912.

[6] R. L. Polk & Co., Baltimore City Directory… (1913), p. 269. Lucien Friez married Marie Boucher Stone in 1913; Marie’s uncle Edward H. Glidden and cousin Edward H. Glidden Jr. would undertake several architectural commissions for the Friezes between 1916 and 1935.

[7] Baltimore City Directory (1913), p. 855.

[8] R. L. Polk & Co., Baltimore City Directory… (1914), pp. 364, 820. Years later, my Glidden great-grandparents were buried next to William and Elizabeth Bryant Boucher at Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, Md. – a curious coincidence, as the two families were apparently otherwise unrelated.

[9] Baltimore City Directory (1914), p. 423.

[10] R. L. Polk & Co., Baltimore City Directory… (1915), p. 375.

[11] Baltimore City Directory (1915), pp. 406, 797, 851, 437.

[12] Caroline P. Remington, comp., Society Visiting List (1916), pp. 114, 112, 293.

[13] R. L. Polk & Co., Baltimore City Directory… (1917), pp. 368, 991, 1882.

[14] Baltimore City Directory (1917), pp. 397, 770.

[15] Baltimore City Directory (1917), p. 2046.

[16] Baltimore City Directory (1917), pp. 822, 426.

[17] See U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line].

[18] Josephine Mary Boucher (1870–1961), who married Henry Prescott Stoddard Stone in 1888.

[19] To Ida Belle Lerew (1889–1948).

[20] His wife was Pauline B. Glidden.

[21] Built with Clyde Newton Friz, 1910–13.

[22] 1903.

[23] The Haddon Hall, later the Canterbury Hall Apartments, built with Friz, 1912–13.

[24] 1915.

[25] See Pennsylvania, WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948 [database on-line].