Wordless Wednesday

Mayday! Mayday! These Projects Need Your Help!

The Moravian Archives, which is affiliated with the Moravian Historical Society, has launched a transcription project through the use of Juxta Editions, a professional editing suite for the creation of digital scholarly editions.  Digital images of original manuscripts from the archives' collections have been uploaded, on a platform which allows individuals worldwide to transcribe, edit, and annotate each manuscript.  Those interested in helping with the project may contact the assistant archivist at tom@moravianchurcharchives.org.  For more information visit the transcription project site.

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

World War I centennial commemorations continue to be organized.  The Polish Museum of America (PMA) plans to host an exhibition in 2017–2018 honoring the Polonian recruits of the Polish Army in France, often referred to as Haller's Army.  PMA collections include the recruitment papers of more than 30,000 enlistees.  The museum's goal is to put a face to each of those names.  An appeal is being sent to Polish-American genealogists, media organizations, fraternal societies, veteran associations, and family researchers.

If you have researched a relative in the PMA Haller's Army document collection, or if you have a relative who was a member of the Polish Army in France and have a photographic image of the recruit, please send a message to Info@PolishMuseumOfAmerica.org with the subject line "WWI recruit - <surname>."  While donations of original photographs are particularly welcome, reproductions or scanned images will also be gratefully accepted. Your participation in the project will aid in a meaningful remembrance of those who were willing to sacrifice the most for an independent Poland.

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

New Zealand also has a World War I project.  Researchers at the University of Waikato are asking for help from the public in transcribing key pieces of information from 100-year-old handwritten military records — about 140,000 personnel files.  The primary aim of the "Measuring the Anzacs" project is to analyze New Zealanders' health via data such as height and weight.  This project will also be helpful to genealogists, however, and will gather military data on the soldiers, including injuries, decorations, and prisoners of war.  As New Zealand's early 20th-century census records were usually destroyed, the project will be collecting information that might not be available otherwise.

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

Donna Swarthout is working on a book of stories about people who have reclaimed German citizenship under Article 116 of Germany's Basic Law.  Her blog post of January 14, 2016 describes the book project in more detail.

Donna's family was from Altwiedermus - Gemeinde Ronneburg (Hessen) and Hamburg.  She had her German citizenship restored in 2012.

If you have reclaimed your German citizenship or are in the process of doing so and are interested in contributing your story to the book, please contact Donna by e-mail.

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

During World War II, U.S. airmen who were based at RAF (Royal Air Force) Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England sponsored meals and education (and informally "adopted") seven war orphans.  Photographs and documents relating to the children were discovered during work on the Imperial War Museums' Web-based project on the U.S. armed services' presence in Britain.  The children — Brian, Donald, Jeanette, June Rose, and three siblings, Margaret, Ann, and John — were identified by first name only, and the museum is now seeking more information about them.  The BBC has a story about the search.  The American units mentioned in the story are HQ Detachment, 78th Fighter Group; HQ and HQ Squadron 79th [Fighter] Group; 83rd Fighter Squadron; and 84th Fighter Squadron.  Esther Blaine, Public Relations Manager at the museum, is asking people who know about the children to post information on the Web site.  The museum is also asking for contributions of photographs and stories of the U.S. service members who served in Britain during World War II, and of the British people whom they befriended.

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

Little is known about the persecution of the Jews of Hof during the Nazi regime in World War II.  The "Jewish Citizens of Hof on Saale (Bavaria) 1933 to 1945" project seeks to produce a publication, lectures, a public memorial plaque, and possibly also an exhibit.  The publication is planned for 2017 and will be designed for use in history and civics classes in schools and adult-education classes.  The project organizers hope to teach young people in particular about democratic ideas in order to prevent future marginalization of minorities.

If you are a descendant of Jews from Hof, Bavaria, if you know any, or if you have information about them, please share what you can.  The project is looking for any kind of information about persecution in Hof:  memories, documents, photos of people and buildings.  It will gladly accommodate requests for anonymity, etc. and will do interviews by telephone or other means.

The project is sponsored by the Hermann und Bertl Müller-Stiftung (Hermann and Bertl Müller Foundation) in Hof and is supported by the Nordoberfränkische Verein für Natur-, Geschichts- und Landeskunde e.V. (North Upper Franconian Association for Nature, History, and Regional Studies), locally known as "The Long-name Association."  The project executive director is Ekkehard Hübschmann, Ph.D.  Please contact info@agfjg.de if you can help.

Hof is variously known as Hof/Saale, Hof a.d. Saale, Hof/Bayern, Hof (Saale), and Hof an der Saale.

2016 International Jewish Genealogy Month Design Competition

International Jewish Genealogy Month (IJGM) is a celebration of Jewish genealogy promoted by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS).  IJGM takes place during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan.  In 2016 this will be November 1–30 on the secular calendar.

The primary means used to publicize IJGM is the winning design chosen from the annual competition for that year.  The design needs to celebrate Jewish genealogy and help promote genealogy as a hobby.  It will be available to organizations and individuals to help promote IJGM, primarily as posters and flyers.

This year's design competition officially began on January 25, 2016, and the deadline to submit an entry is June 20, 2016.  Submission requirements are available on the IAJGS Web site.  Each entry must be submitted by an IAJGS member organization, but the artist does not need to be a member of the organization.

The winning artist will have a choice of a registration to this year's IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, which will be held in Seattle from August 7–12, or of free access to the conference recorded sessions.

They're Not Mine; Are They Yours?

Herschel Kosewen and
Maria Wiernicka
marriage license (top)

I'm sure that everyone who does family history research has at some time ordered a record (probably more than once!) for a person that turned out not to be a family member.  What to do with these?  They aren't doing me any good.  I've accumulated a few of these at this point, so I thought I'd post about them in the hope that other researchers who can use them might read about them here before ordering them.  It's easy to spend a lot of money doing research; helping someone else save some money is a good thing.  These are all high-resolution scans, all but one from microfilm.  All are from New York City except one marriage license from Cuba.

Edwin Carroll Atwood and Margaret Victoria Andren marriage license, Manhattan, New York, May 9, 1931

Alex Blumenkranz and Leah Citron marriage license, Bronx, New York, December 1, 1934 (first page only)

Julius Fitzgerald and Margaret Andrew marriage license, Manhattan, New York, January 21, 1937

Herman Greenberg and Dorothy C. Itzkowitz marriage license, Bronx, New York, May 21, 1935 (first page only)

Jerome V. Heim and Margaret C. Andrews marriage license, Queens, New York, September 5, 1931

Jerome Klosenberg and Edith Posnick marriage license, Bronx, New York, June 9, 1935 (second page only)

Herschel Kosewen and Maria Wiernicka marriage license, Havana, Cuba, March 19, 1937

Irving Strauss and Rebecca Kshonz marriage license, Bronx, New York, November 24, 1934 (second page only)


Dora Sandals birth certificate, Manhattan, New York, February 23, 1899

Beckie Sandler birth certificate, Manhattan, New York, March 11, 1895

Joseph Sandlowitch birth certificate, Manhattan, New York, May 23, 1893


Margaret (Webster) Morrison death certificate, Bronx, New York, November 27, 1923 (first page only)

John O'Brien death certificate, Bronx, New York, November 27, 1923 (second page only); wife Mary O'Brien

Treasure Chest Thursday: Emma Receives a Copy of Her Divorce Decree

This week's document is a letter from Emma Petit's lawyer, John T. Ryan, to Emma.  This is another piece of paper that may have been white originally but now is a creamy off-white.  It is 8 1/2" x 11" and has two folds that suggest it was mailed in a regular business envelope.  It also has another fold made when the bottom third of the letter was folded.  It is typed on letterhead from the American Tire Armor Company, of which John T. Ryan was the general manager.  When I received it, the letter was in an oversized business envelope.  It does not appear to be the envelope in which Emma received the letter, as no mailing address or postage stamp is on it.  The word "Divorce" is written on the envelope in pencil.

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

JOHN T. RYAN, GEN. MGR.                                                                               PHONE: DOUGLAS 1618

AMERICAN TIRE ARMOR COMPANY [graphic]

                                    814 PACIFIC BLDG.

THE FEATURE OF THE
S. F. AND FRESNO                                                             SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 4/8/08.
AUTOMOBILE SHOWS


Mrs. Emma Margaret Petit,
         Route #38,  Box 57,
                 Anglum, Missouri.

Dear Madam:–

                    On the receipt of your letter some time ago, I took
up the matter of getting a final decree of divorce and it was
granted on the 30th of March.  In some way or other I mislaid
your address and your letter of this morning was rather timely.
                    Enclosed you will find a certified copy of the final
decree, which you desire.
                    Hoping that this will prove satisfactory and with best
wishes for your future success, I remain,
                                                 Yours very truly,

                                                               John T. Ryan .    [signature]

Encl.
JTR/DA

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

I have to admit that I'm a little surprised Emma's divorce lawyer was the general manager of a tire-related company.  Maybe he handled the case as a favor for Emma.  He apparently had someone available to type the letter for him, as evidenced by the last line, "JTR/DA."  For those not familiar with secretarial conventions, that means the letter was typed for JTR, i.e., John T. Ryan, and was typed by DA, whoever that might be.

The letter was mailed to Emma in Missouri.  We have no information about when she went there or how long she stayed.  It took some searching to find Anglum.  It no longer exists under that name but was renamed Robertson in 1929 (for the man who paid for the design and construction of Charles Lindbergh's plane Spirit of St. Louis).  Then Google Maps refused to recognize Robertson as a location, so I had to go to Mapquest, which showed that it is about 12 miles from Clayton, which was mentioned in the typed narrative about Emma's early life, and 8 miles from Maryland Heights, where Emma wrote that her oldest daughter and her husband were living.  So it seems that some time after filing for divorce Emma decided to leave California, at least for a while, and go "home" to where her family lived.

The copy of the divorce decree to which John Ryan referred is probably the one that I described last week.  The two items appear to have been separated over time and during multiple changes of caretakers.

Speaking of Emma's divorce, two weeks ago I wrote that I was going to investigate "at some point" whether the complete file had survived.  Coincidentally, on February 6 I gave a presentation to the Solano County Genealogical Society.  While I was there I asked whether anyone knew about the status of divorce files from that far back.  One of the people attending was actually a volunteer archivist for the Solano County Archives!  She told me where to send an inquiry, and I have learned that the file does indeed still exist.  One important fact that I've already been told is that Emma filed in 1906, before she paid Emile to leave.  I'm looking forward to reading the file when I receive a copy.

And of course I had to look up the American Tire Armor Company.  John Ryan was one of five men who organized the company in Vallejo in 1908, with the aim of manufacturing and marketing a steel automatic automobile tire.  In March 1908 he applied for patents for a tire protector and an armored pneumatic tire, assigning the patents to the company.  A large ad seeking investors for the company was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on June 14, 1908.  Ryan was granted his patents in 1913.

One last comment:  Who would have guessed that in 1908 a car show in Fresno would be considered on the same level as one in San Francisco?

Wordless Wednesday

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.

I'm Apparently a Sellers via Informal Adoption

During my extended search for my grandfather's birth record, one of the reasons I continued to try after being rebuffed by the New Jersey State Archives multiple times was, of course, to verify and document his birth date.  But another reason was that I had begun to wonder who his father actually was.

You see, my grandfather had a younger brother, George Moore Sellers.  I was told by their younger sister that George (who actually went by "Dickie") was named after my great-grandfather Cornelius Elmer Sellers' stepfather, George W. Moore, because Elmer loved his stepfather so much.

I had that little factoid filed away in the back of my brain for several years before I suddenly wondered why, if Elmer loved his stepfather so much, did he name his *second* son after the man, and not his first son?  From that it was an easy step to wonder if maybe Dickie actually had been Elmer's first son.

When my sister finally acquired a copy of my grandfather's birth record, it did not resolve the question, as no father was listed.  The fact that my great-grandmother filed an amended birth certificate 37 years later and listed Elmer as the father seemed a little too convenient, as poor Elmer had been dead for 22 years and really couldn't argue about the issue.

It occurred to me that this was a great way to use DNA testing to resolve a question.  I already had the results of my father's Y-DNA test (Y-DNA being the test for the male sex chromosome, passed down from father to son).  I just needed to find a straight male-line descendant of Dickie and convince him to have a test done.  This was even one of the wishes I had in my Dear Genea-Santa letter.

I was lucky in that Dickie had two sons and they each had sons.  I found most of them through online searches and was able to talk one of my cousins into doing the Y-DNA test (which I of course offered to pay for).

And the big news is here.  I received the results of the Y-DNA test for my cousin (grandson of my grandfather's brother) a few days ago.  If the Y-DNA for two men matches, they have to descend from the same male ancestor at some point in the past.  If it does not match, they do not descend from the same man.

After comparing my father's and my cousin's Y-DNA, the conclusion is that Dickie and my grandfather absolutely do not descend from the same man.  My grandfather's biological father was not Cornelius Elmer Sellers, and my family line became Sellerses by informal adoption.  When Elmer married Laura Armstrong, he accepted her 7-month-old son by another man, and as far as I know raised him as his own.  There are no stories in my family that my grandfather (or any of his siblings) ever knew that Elmer was not his biological father.

Speaking of Y-DNA, another reason this didn't come as a big surprise to me is that with more than 1,000 matches at 12 markers, my father has no matches with anyone named Sellers.  My cousin who just took the Y-DNA test?  At 37 markers he has eight matches, five of whom are Sellers.

So I think researching my adoptive Sellers family line back to 1615 is far enough, and I probably won't do too much Sellers research anymore.  On the other hand, now I have to try to figure out just who Grampa's biological father actually was.  And maybe I'll find out that the 12% Irish that Ancestry.com's DNA test claimed for me is actually true.  (Of course, that test also said I'm less than 1% English, when one of my great-grandmothers immigrated here from England and her family is traceable in the Manchester area for five generations.  So I still don't trust the "cocktail party conversation.")

There are some things I'll miss about the Sellers line.  Now I know that I'm not a descendant of Alexander Mack, the founder of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkers); of Justus Fox, a printer in 18th-century Philadelphia who knew Benjamin Franklin; or of Franklin P. Sellers and his son Cornelius Godshalk Sellers, both printers and editors.  And I can't claim Sellersville anymore.  But I'll be sharing all the research I've done with the cousins I've been contacting and letting them know about the rich heritage that's part of the Sellers name.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Emma and Emile Petit's Divorce Is Finalized

When I read the receipt of payment for Emma Petit's lawyer in conjunction with her divorce case, I was surprised it came chronologically before the divorce itself was finalized.  Maybe the lawyer was not concerned about the final decree taking place?  Whatever the reason, the next item is Emma's Decree of Divorce.  This appears to be an original document from the Superior Court of Solano County, with an impressed seal.  It is watermarked bond, 14" x 8 1/2".  The paper may have originally been white, but it is now a creamy off-white.  I've underlined the parts that are handwritten.

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

No. 3230

SUPERIOR COURT

SOLANO COUNTY.

  Emma Margaret Petit    

                      Plaintiff __

 vs.

    Emile Petit                  

                   Defendant     

Decree of Divorce.

Filed  March 30th.  , 1908 

    G. G. Halliday            

                            Clerk.

By  _________________

                Deputy Clerk.

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

STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
                                                 SS.
COUNTY OF SOLANO.

       I, the undersigned, County Clerk of the County of Solano, State of California, and ex-officio Clerk of the Superior Court of said County, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a full, true and correct copy of the final decree and judgment madein the above entitled action on the    30th    day of    March    , A. D. 1908 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my

hand  affixed  the  Seal  of  said  Court  this

  30th   day of   March   , A. D. 1908 

 (signature)  G. G. Halliday 

Clerk.

By ____________________

Deputy Clerk.

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

In the Superior Court

OF THE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA, IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SOLANO.

_______________________________
Emma Margaret Petit
                           Plaintiff,
vs.                                                                             Decree of Divorce.
Emile Petit
                           Defendant.
_______________________________

     This cause having been brought on to be heard the   11th   day of     March         A. D., 1907 , upon the complaint herein, taken as confessed by the defendant (whose default for not answering had been duly entered), and evidence having been adduced from which it appeared that all the allegations of the complaint were true, whereupon an Interlocutory Judgement was made and entered declaring that Plaintiff was entitled to a divorce from said Defendant upon the grounds of     Extreme Cruelty         and more than one year having expired after the entry of said Interlocutory Judgment, and no appeal from said judgment haveing been taken or motion for a new trial made, now
     Upon motion of             John T. Ryan             , counsel for said Plain-
tiff, and good cause appearing therefore,
     It is Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed, and this Court, by virtue of the power and authority therein vested, and in pursuance of the Statute in such case made and provided, DOES ORDER, ADJUDGE AND DECREE, that the marriage between the said Plaintiff,      Emma Margaret Petit       and the said Defendant,      Emile Petit      be dissolved, and the same is hereby dissolved accordingly, and the said parties are and each of them is freed and absolutely released from the bonds of matrimony, and all the obligations thereof.
  It is further ordered that the custody of children of said marriage  
  heretofore awarded to plaintiff be and it is hereby confirmed.         
______________________________________________________
Done in open Court this     30th .    day of      March           A. D., 1908 

(signature)           L. G. Harrier .          

Judge of the Superior Court.

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

In Emma's handwritten narrative, she mentioned that Emile had not appeared in court for the divorce suit, and here that's confirmed.  The case was first heard on Match 11, 1907, four months after Emile accepted $500 from Emma to leave her and Vallejo, so she paid him off before filing.  Since part of his agreement was that he would "never again intrude upon her presence", maybe that's why he didn't appear in court.

Emile and Emma's children are mentioned almost in passing in the decree, only to confirm that Emma will retain custody of them, but they are not named.  If the file still exists in Solano County, it should have more details about them.

As an editor, I was amused by some of the spelling I found.  On the outside jacket we see "judgment", but on the inside decree it's spelled "judgement" once and "judgment" twice.  Somehow I don't expect legal court papers to have spelling errors.  And it's in the preprinted part!