Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Who Was Your First Ancestor Born in ...

For this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun adventure, Randy Seaver is asking us to climb up our family trees to find some of our "first" ancestors.

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission: Impossible! music!):

(1) Lorine McGinnis Schulze, in her blog post "Who Was Your First Canadian or American Born Ancestor?", asked that question.

(2) Let's broaden it a bit to "Who was your first ancestor born in your chosen county, state, province, or country?" based on your known ancestry.

(3) Put it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link in a comment to this post.

I'm going to make a caveat to my post:  These answers are based on what I have entered into my family tree program.  I have additional information about earlier generations, but this is the information that is accessible.

• For the British colonies that became the United States, my earliest recorded known ancestor born there is my 7th-great-grandmother Ann Pharo, born about December 14, 1677, probably in the Province of West Jersey, probably in an area that became part of Burlington County, which was not officially formed until 1694.

• For the Province of New Jersey, which was established in 1702, my earliest recorded known ancestor born there is my 6th-great-grandfather Hananiah Gaunt, born March 2, 1706/07, possibly in Germantown or Hananicon.

• For the United States of America, declared an independent country in 1776, my earliest recorded known ancestor born there is my 3rd-great-grandfather Hananiah Selah Gaunt, born January 25, 1795 in Burlington County.  I suspect I do have someone else born earlier than that, but I can't find the info currently.

• For New York State, my earliest recorded known ancestor born there is my maternal grandfather, Abraham Meckler, born July 23, 1912 in Brooklyn, Kings County.

And that's it for me and North America.  No known ancestors born in Canada or in states besides New Jersey and New York.  Now, if we go back across the pond:

• For England, my earliest recorded known ancestor born there is my 4th-great-grandfather Richard Dunstan, born about 1790ish, probably in Lancashire.  I know I have ancestors born before that; I think the earliest Gaunt ancestor I know about is Peter, born about 1507 or something like that.  But I can't find that information right now. :(

• For the Russian Empire, my earliest recorded known ancestor born there is my 3rd-great-grandfather Avram Yakov Nowicki, born before about 1835, likely in Grodno gubernia, now part of Belarus.

And so far those are the only countries I have prior to North America.  My family didn't move around much.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Emma La Forêt's Emergency Passport

Last week I posted Emma la Forêt's application for an emergency passport to leave Europe in 1917.  This week we get to see the passport itself (yes, this is the real thing!).  It is a buff-colored 12" x 17 1/4" piece of paper, watermarked with the seal of the U.S. Department of State.  It has three impressed seals and one rubber-stamped seal of the American Embassy in Paris, France on the front.  On the back, there are, in succession, an impressed seal of the American Consulate in Algiers, Algeria; a rubber-stamped seal of the Département d'Alger Sûreté Départementale (Algeria Regional Police); an impressed seal of the American Consulate in Marseilles, France; a rubber-stamped seal from the Commissariat in Marseille, but I can't read most of it; and a rubber-stamped seal from the Ministère de l'Interieure (Minister of the Interior) in Bordeaux, France.  As usual, I have underlined the information that was entered onto the preprinted form.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

Photo of Emma and Rosita                          This document expires Dec 14. 1917 unless
E. La Foret [signature]                                 renewed.  The holder has applied to the
[impressed Paris Embassy seal]                   Department of State for a regular passport

[rubber stamp of Paris Embassy seal]

Good only for

six months from date.

                                                                  The person to whom this passport is issued
                    printed Great Seal                 has declared under oath that he desires it for
                    of the United States              use in visiting the countries hereinafter named,
                                                                  for the following objects:
                                                                  Algeria  (name of country)    Residence (object of visit)
                                                                  France  (name of country)    en route (object of visit)
                                                                  ———  (name of country)    United (object of visit)
                                                                  ———  (name of country)     States (object of visit)

This passport is not valid for use in other countries

except for necessary transit to or from the countries

named, unless amended by an American

diplomatic or principal consular officer.

Embassy

of the

United States of America,

at

    Paris, France   

To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting;

The undersigned Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

of the United States of America,

hereby request all whom it may concern to permit

— Emma La Forêt — ———

Description                                                  a Citizen of the United States accompanied
Age 50 Years ______                                   by her minor child Rosita safely
Stature 5 Feet 7 Inches Eng.                       and freely to pass and in case of need to give
Forehead   high                                             them all lawful Aid and Protection.
Eyes     blue grey   
Nose    regular                                                            Given under my hand and the
Mouth    medium                                                         Seal of the Embassy of the
Chin    round                              [impressed                        United States
Hair    dark brown                         Paris                       at   Paris, France    
Complexion    fair                       Embassy                   the  14th  day of September
Face    oval                                    seal]                       in the year 1917 and of the
                                                                                     Independence of the United States
                                                                                     the one hundred and forty second
Signature of the Bearer.
  Emma La Foret.   [signature]

CANCELED [rubber stamped diagonally]

No. 1704

Wm G. Sharp [signature]

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA, AT ALGIERS, ALGERIA.
                     October 4, 1917.
 GOOD
~~~~~~            A. C. Frost [signature]
  BON           Consul of the United
                      States of America.
Service No. 214
(No fee)
[impressed           I hereby certify that
Algerian              the bearer of this
Consulate            passport is the wife
seal]                    of Jean L. La Forêt
                           Vice Consul of the
                            United States of
                            America at Algiers,
                            Algeria.
                                 A. C. Frost [signature]
                                 Consul of the
                    United States of America.


No 3454.
Vu à la PRÉFECTURE d'Alger
Bon pour se rendre = en Amérique
via Marseille - Bordeaux - New. York
Objet du voyage = rentre dans son pays.

Alger, le 4 Octobre 1917
POUR LE PRÉFET,
Le Chef de la Sûreté Départementale délégué.
[rubber-stamped
Algeria Regional Police                Imaranos(?) [signature]
seal]


BON  Consulat Général des États - Unis
          d'Amérique à Marseille, France.
          Vu le 9th of October 1917
          Le Consul Général des États- Unis
                         d'Amérique:
No fee
Service No. 838.                  John Q.(?) Moody(?) [signature]
[impressed
Marseille
Consulate
seal]


COMMISSARIAT SPECIAL DES PORTS
VU [illegible]
Marseille, le 9 [illegible] 1917.
Giraud(?) [signature]

COMMISSARIAT SPECIAL
[illegible] la Préfecture
                  VU au départ pour les
Marseille, le 9/10/17    Etats-Unis
[rubber-stamped      Pour le Préfet           via Bordeaux
Marseille                 et par délégation
Commissariat          Le Commissaire Spécial
seal]                              Morelli(?) [signature]


VU pour se rendre à New. York
Bordeaux, le 12/10/ 1917 .
P. LE PRÉFET DE LA GIRONDE,
La Commissaire Spécial délégué.
[illegible signature]
[rubber-stamped
Minister of the Interior
seal]

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

Wow!  I think this passport is very cool, and I am lucky to have it, even if it isn't for a member of my own family.  It's fairly straightforward; most of the information came directly from the passport application Emma submitted September 7.  It was processed very quickly, being dated September 14 in Paris.

The two sentences that were struck through on the front of the passport were probably for standard emergency passport procedures.  As Emma seemingly did not plan to travel again, they were not relevant for her.

The back of the passport has the same types of stamps that one might see in a passport today, and we can see Emma and Rosita's route from Algeria to Marseille to Bordeaux to New York.  I wish I could read the French signatures better, but c'est la vie!

My guess is that the "Canceled" stamp was put on the passport after Emma and Rosita arrived in New York.  As there is no date by the stamp, however, that is only a guess.

I have noticed that Emma consistently does not use the accent on Forêt.  (I wonder if that bothered Jean?)  As the passport was processed in Paris, I'm not surprised that they did include it.

When I received this gift of documents, the passport was folded and in the envelope in which it appears to have been sent:

This is pretty easy to read, so I won't transcribe it, but in the upper-right corner is a note in pencil:

Left Alger Oct 7/17

This was the only part of Emma and Rosita's trip not present on the passport.  So they left Algeria three weeks after the passport was dated.  There's no indication when they received it.

A second notation in the upper-right corner is "103" in pen.  This isn't the passport number, and no other number on the passport matches it.  It's a mystery what it refers to.

The other item that was in the envelope was Jean La Forêt's business card:

Jean L. La Forêt

Vice Consul Américain à Alger

6, Rue Henricet                 St. Eugène (Alger)

The reason it was included was because of the handwritten note on the back:

Passport

———

Emma La Foret

and minor child Rosita.

———

Issued by Embassy of

the United States at

Paris, France, on

Sept. 14-1917, for

three months, to go

from Algiers to New

York via France.

No. 1704.

——

Signed = Wm. G. Sharp

————

This writing looks similar to that of Emma's handwritten narrative, and the name of Wm. G. Sharp bears no resemblance to the signature on the passport.  So Emma wrote a short note describing the passport, even though all of the information she wrote was included on the passport itself.  I know documentation is good, but I don't understand the purpose of her note.  On the other hand, it's nice to have one of Jean La Forêt's Vice Consul business cards.

Researching Japanese-American Family History

Example of koseki
(Japanese family registry)

A few years ago I volunteered and worked with a group that was bringing genealogy into schools and social agency programs, trying to interest the younger generation in researching family history.  The outreach during the first couple of years focused on the black community.  It was then decided that we expand our outreach to other groups.  One suggestion was the Japanese-American community, but we ended up not pursuing that, primarily because Japanese family history research can be difficult and we knew of no good resources for beginners.

Well, Japanese family history is still difficult to research, but now I know about a very handy reference for people who are getting started.  Linda Harms Okazaki has created a six-page guide, Finding Your Japanese Roots, in a laminated trifold layout.  It is focused on Japanese-American research, finding records in the United States, and then working back to finding records in japan.

The guide provides a quick overview of important history to keep in mind when conducting your research, types of records to look for in the U.S. and Japan, a glossary, a comprehensive list of online resources, and several short tips.  Most of the information is clear and to the point, but some items would benefit from a little clarity, due in part to the need to be very concise because of the limited space.

The short introduction explains circumstances and records specific to Japanese-American research.  In particular, the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II, while a heinous tragedy, created records that can be extremely detailed and informative.

The timeline Linda has created fits an amazing number of important dates into a small space, but a critical fact was omitted.  She included the 1952 Immigration and Naturalization Act that allowed Asian immigrants to become citizens but did not mention that laws enacted at various earlier times (usually during wartime) allowed Asians who served in the U.S. military to naturalize prior to that.

The records discussed are divided into conventional U.S. records, records unique to Japanese-Americans, and conventional Japanese records, and the lists appear to give a good overview.  One record type for those unique to Japanese-Americans seems to have accidentally been left out, however.  There are two references to "Evacuee Case Files" in the descriptions of other records, but there's no entry for the Evacuee Case Files themselves.

Some phrasing is misleading.  A reference to delayed birth certificates as a resource suggests that these exist only for Hawai'i and pre-1906 San Francisco.  Certainly, the majority of Japanese immigrants in the United States were probably in California and Hawai'i, but some were in other locations that either required vital records registration at later dates or simply didn't come near complete compliance for many years.  Delayed birth registration is something to consider through the early 1940's for anywhere in the U.S.  Another statement that would benefit from rephrasing is in the introduction, which states that "American-born women who married Japanese immigrants lost their citizenship until 1931", implying that this was always the case.  It only began in 1907, however.

As Linda is producing and distributing her guide on her own, she makes it in small batches and updates it on an ongoing basis.  Some of the minor problems I have mentioned here will undoubtedly be corrected in an upcoming print run.  If you would like to talk to her about getting a copy, she can be reached at LindaHOkazaki@gmail.com.

Full disclosure:  The copy of Finding Your Japanese Roots that I used for this review was given to me by Linda.

Was Your Relative a Comic Book Hero?

Comic book heroes aren't real, right?  Well, they might be if they were Jewish and fought in a World War.  The Canadian Jewish Congress published at least two comic books of Jewish war heroes, and they are available for download.  Issue 1 has features on men who fought in World War I and II and general information about WWII.  The men were from several countries, including Canada and the U.S.  Issue 2 is all about World War II and profiles men from the U.S., U.K., and Netherlands.

The scans of the issues aren't perfect.  Issue 1 seems to have pages out of order, and Issue 2 has one page upside-down.  But the information is great, and they're free (though you do need to register at the site to download, and you have to wait five minutes between downloads).  Family names featured are Brenner, Cohen, Fisanovitch, Frijda, Kisch, Levin, Levy, Ross, Shulemson, and Wigram.

The Web site has only the two issues and lists both as being in the public domain.  I found one site that said there were three issues, but I can't find any evidence of the third issue so far.

Tell us if you are related to any of these heroes!