Charles Wooster

This is a biography of Charles Wooster written by his living relative, a cousin that used to live with him when they were young, Arnold Isaiah Bell Davis.

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Charlie

Charles Bushnell Wooster, Jr. was born 22 July 1928 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was the son of Charles Bushnell Wooster, Sr. and Mary Elta Montgomery.  He was a direct descendant of David Bushnell who created the first submarine ever used in combat.  His paternal grandmother was Sarah Elydia Busnell Wooster. Mary Elta Montgomery Wooster was the sister to my mother, Letitia Mabel Montgomery Bell.  Some time before 1935 the Wooster family moved to Providence, Rhode Island where Charles Wooster earned a doctorate degree in chemistry from Brown University.  

In September 1934 my father, Henry Hallie Bell, was killed by a train and my mother was now a five month pregnant widow.  Her sister, Mary Elta Montgomery Wooster took my mother in and I was born into the Wooster household in January of 1935.

In 1938 Dr. Charles Wooster had completed his PHD and was hired by Rhome & Haas Company to solve mass production problems with Plexiglas.  The Wooster extended family moved to a new home in Frankford Borough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Dr. Wooster’s new job location.  It was here that Charlie’s sister, Elta Elydia Wooster, was born 19 September 1939.

On June 20, 1942 my mother married Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Depew Davis and my name was changed from Arnold Isaiah Bell to Arnold Isaiah Bell Davis.  We moved to Narberth, Pennsylvania and kept in close touch with the Wooster family.

Charlie graduated from Frankford High School and his father was able to secure him entrance to Brown University.  Despite having a very high IQ he did poorly and it was decided to let him take any course offered at Brown University.  He excelled in most of the courses he chose, but had no direction.

The Korean War broke out and Charlie was drafted into the Army.  His job was to run a smoke generator in front of our lines to shield their movements from the North Korean’s view.  Somehow the enemy line moved past him and he was now behind the enemy line.  He managed to fend for himself by befriending local villagers and in the process of surviving he learned to speak Korean.  When he finally was able to find his way back to American lines he was offered a position in food procurement because of his fluency in the Korean language.  This position was required to be filled by a sergeant and all Charlie had to do was pass the sergeant’s test.  Charlie passed all of the requirements except one.  He could not learn how to drive a Jeep.  He received an honorable discharge.

Charlie lived by himself in a small New York City apartment and worked for an insurance company.  On weekends he would dress himself as a diplomat and go to the United Nations building where he would converse with the workers in the UN.

His mother died in 1961.  The Davis family had moved to Florida and in 1970 Dr. Wooster came to visit.  He asked my widowed mother to marry him and she declined.  He had retired from teaching chemistry at New Paltz State University.  He died 2 December 1970.

Neither Charlie or his sister Elta married.  They sold everything in their father’s estate and proceeded to spend the money on a world tour.  I had no further communication with the Wooster family.  Elta died 27 August 1993 in Los Angeles, California.  According to the VA records Charlie died 1 June 2001, in Jamaica, Queens, New York.  

It is sad that he chose to live alone and not communicate with any of his relatives.  I never knew what had happened to him until Heather Durant Krout of the Hart Island Project found me.

Thank you Heather.

Arnold Isaiah Bell Davis

Ocala, Florida

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