Biography
William Purtell was born in a tenement neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut. He was the son of Thomas Michael and Nora Mary (née O'Connor) Purtell, who were tobacco workers. He received his early education at St. Patrick's School, and attended Hartford Public High School for two years before dropping out at age 15. He then worked as a janitor, water boy, and car checker for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
During World War I, he served with the radio section of the U.S. Army Expeditionary Force in France, being discharged as a corporal in 1919. That same year, he married Katherine Elizabeth Cassidy; the couple had a son, William, and a daughter, Margaret.
Read more about this topic: William A. Purtell
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