Wordless Wednesday

Armistice Day, November 11, 1918

My friend's grandfather Zalmon Orloff served in the U.S. Army during World War I.  He was in Saumur, France when the armistice was signed.

Zalmon wrote letters to his girlfriend about every other day while he was in the Army.  For some reason, after he returned to the States and was mustered out of the service, Zalmon had his girlfriend type up the letters he had written and send him the typed copies.  This means that a hundred years later, my friend has copies of the letters Zalmon wrote, including the one he wrote on Armistice Day.

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S.A.S.

Saumur, France

Dear Sarah:

I don't know how to begin my letter.  The beginning though, does not matter anyhow.

The main thing is that the population of France, Saumur included, is gone stark mad with joy on account of the armistice signed this morning.

French and American soldiers, men, women, boys and girls are embracing one another and the words "GUERRE EST FINIS" were on everybody's lips.

The wine shops were doing a rushing business and the natural merriment was greatly increased by the artificial one.

Groups of Americans and French gathered around every corner and sang the Marsellaise on the top of their voice.

Every nook and corner was full of children, who, waving the tricolor or the Stars and Stripes, sang their favorite songs and exploded fireworks in your very face.

The French and American buglers were blowing every tune imaginable and I doubt whether Saumur ever witnessed a similar scene.

Have read in the papers the conditions of the armistice and about the revolutionary movement spreading in Germany.

Why, Sarah, it seems as if it were a dream and I have to pinch myself to realize that I am wide awake and the wonderful news is a real, genuine unadulterated fact.

I never expected that the end of the misery will come so soon.

Hurrah!

Zalmon

Wordless Wednesday

Treasure Chest Thursday: Jean La Forêt Receives a Postcard

This is a postcard 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" in size.  The paper is a muted green on both sides.  It is a little worn but is in pretty good shape.  Both sides have some preprinted text and handwritten parts.  It has a 10 centime stamp from France (République Française) and is dated May 29, [19]18.  The postmark says Pl. Victor Hugo, but I can't read the city.  I suspect it is Paris, however, as the message side of the card has "(XVIe)" for the 16th Arondissement, the location of Place Victor Hugo in Paris.

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Address side:

République Française

CARTE POSTALE

Ce côté est exclusivement réservé à l'addresse

Monsieur LaForêt .                      

              Via Consul d'Amérique .

              30 bd Carnot .                

                                    Alger .     

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Message side:

107 Rue de la Pompe (XVIe)

My dear Mr. La Forêt .

I have found my father in a very critical condition and there is very little hope of his recovery, so I can make no plan at present for the future.

You should notify Oran of the day you took charge in order that consular agent can adjust his accounts.

With best wishes to yourself and Middour [?]

Cordially yours

Dionn [?] M Mason

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Translation of address side of postcard:

French Republic

Postcard

This side reserved exclusively for address

Mr. LaForêt .                              

               Via American Consul .

            30 Boulevard Carnot .     

                                   Algiers .    

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This seems to be from someone associated with Jean La Forêt's position as Vice Consul, as he gives Jean instructions to communicate with the consular agent about when Jean took charge.  A few embassies are in the area of 107, rue de la Pompe today, so maybe this was where the American embassy was in 1918.

This document on the Algerian U.S. embassy site says that from 1913–1925 the Consulate was located "in a seafront building behind the main Post Office at 30, boulevard Carnot."  Boulevard Carnot in Algiers is now Avenue Taleb Messaoud, according to Google Maps.  Oran most likely refers to the city in Algeria.  But why is the consular agent in Oran if the Consul is in Algiers?  Was the embassy in Oran?

The bulk of the note, however, is about this man's father, whom Jean appears to know.  The father's name is not given, and the name of the writer is difficult to read ("Dionn" was the best I could do, but I don't really think it's correct), so I can't do much to figure out who either man was.  I also don't know who "Middour" was (which I suspect is also misspelled).

Overall, this postcard leaves me with more questions than answers!

Did the 1918 Flu Pandemic Affect Your Family?

The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed millions of people throughout the world.  In the United States, one of the groups hardest hit was servicemen drafted into the Army for World War I.  One member of my family probably caught the flu this way, and he passed it on to his sister and almost prevented my grandmother from being born.  At least, that's how the family story goes.

Velvel Brainin was the second-youngest brother of my great-grandmother Sarah.  He was born about 1892 in the Russian Empire, possibly in or near Kreuzburg (now Krustpils, Lativa).  He immigrated to the U.S. sometime between 1904 and 1910, most likely with his mother, Ruchel Dwore Jaffe Brainin (my great-great-grandmother), and the two youngest children, Pesche (later Bessie) and Benjamin (I still haven't found that ship manifest).  By 1910 the entire family was in the U.S., and everyone except brother David was living in New York City.  (David was in San Francisco, but that's another story.)

Velvel went by the name of William after his arrival here.  He registered for the draft on June 1, 1917 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he was working as a tailor with his brother Max.  According to his draft registration card, he was of medium height and build and had dark brown hair and eyes.  Once when my grandmother and I were going through boxes of photographs, she identified one photo as "my Uncle Willie in his Army uniform", but that photo sadly seems to have disappeared.

"Willie" died in New York City on January 26, 1920.  The death certificate lists the cause of death as influenza.  Since he apparently did serve in the Army, either by being drafted or by enlisting, there is a good chance he caught the flu while at boot camp, as many soldiers did.

Most of the above information is pretty straightforward.  Now comes the family story.

My grandmother told me that while her mother (the aforementioned great-grandmother Sarah) was pregnant with my grandmother, she caught the flu from her brother Willie.  Sarah became seriously ill and had to go to the hospital.  Both her life and that of my grandmother were in danger.  She supposedly had a lung removed.  When my grandmother was born and they both proved to be healthy, my great-great-grandfather the rabbi went dancing in the streets in celebration.

One interesting element to the story is that my grandmother always said that her uncle died before she was born, which was in 1919, so I had not put much effort into looking for him in the 1920 census.  When I finally found the Brainin family in the census, however, William was there, still alive and kicking.

To make sure I actually had the right guy, I searched in the New York City death index and found a likely candidate, who had died shortly after the family was enumerated in the census.  When I obtained the death certificate, it showed he was the right person.

So with one part of my grandmother's story disproven, what about the rest?  Medical records are pretty taboo in this country, so it is unlikely I would be able to gain access to them, if they have even survived (I have been told that medical records need only be kept for 20 years; most are destroyed after that, and my great-grandmother died 50 years ago).  So much for verifying the lung removal.  There might be an obituary for William in a local paper, which might mention the family story, but it would probably be in Yiddish—which I don't read.

Willie was certainly enlisted, not an officer, so his service file was probably burned in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center, but I should try asking for it just in case.  I'm not a descendant (not that he had any), however, which will limit what I can receive.  But if I can find out what unit he was assigned to or where he went to boot camp, I can try to track down morning reports that might mention Willie becoming ill with the flu and when it happened.  Then I could at least verify that part of the story.

Willie said on his draft registration that he was a naturalized citizen.  I also should try to get a copy of his naturalization file.  He doesn't seem to have become a citizen in New York City (or at least his name doesn't show up in the Italian Genealogical Group index), so it's possible he was naturalized while stationed somewhere else with the Army.  That would be another possible way to learn his unit and then look for morning reports.

The great thing about family stories is that they give so much texture to what otherwise can easily be a dry list of names and dates.  But not everything in family stories is necessarily true; sometimes things are "misremembered" over time.  It's good to try to verify the accuracy of as many facts as possible, because knowing the accurate information can affect your future research.  Don't just dump the story, though.  Record it as the impetus that started you researching in that direction.  After all, if you hadn't heard the story, you might not have looked for that information, right?

Wordless Wednesday