Week #17 Documents

I was scrolling through the Ancestry hints one day when a photo of one of my 3x great aunts husband, William Seitz,  popped up. It was an odd photo that almost looked like a mug shot or official document photo so I checked it out. Turned out it was taken when he was registered on the "Kansas Registration Affidavits of Alien Enemy".

William Seitz

This was a type of document I had not seen before so I googled what that meant. This was the description found on the National Archives website: 

"Following the onset of hostilities during World War I, non-naturalized "Enemy Aliens" by definition, were required to register with United States authorities as a national security measure. Under the provisions of a Presidential Proclamation of April 6, 1917, non-naturalized female aliens were likewise registered as an additional national security measure that included those women of American birth that were married to enemy aliens. Registrants include school children, divinity students, former United States soldiers and sailors, Roman Catholic nuns, the elderly and the infirm. For the State of Kansas the registered aliens represent a broad cross-section of the German-born population of the State."

"Regulation 19 instituted a requirement for enemy alien registration. Registration involved completing a four-page form that required the registrant to provide family information, details of immigration, a physical description, a photograph, and fingerprints. 

More than 480,000 German enemy aliens were registered, 200,000 permits were issued, and 6,300 enemy aliens were arrested under Presidential Arrest Warrants. There are no surviving master lists of registrations, permits, or arrests.

Very few records of the enemy alien registration and permitting processes exist today. The records that do survive are incomplete. The series identified below are the only known registration records currently maintained by the National Archives. Researchers should be aware that enemy alien registration records have been identified at a variety of locations outside the National Archives, including state archives, historical societies, and county libraries. To date, the only states with known surviving enemy alien registration records are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota (state registration), New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wisconsin."

It's very rare to find your ancestors fingerprints anywhere so it's neat to see his. 

William was born in Germany March 17, 1849. I'm not sure when exactly he came to the US but he married Caroline Walter my 3x great aunt in Kansas in 1889. He remained in Kansas until his death in 1938. I have many other German Born Relatives in my family who would have been in the United States at that time but have not seen any other documents like this. But according to what I found online not many of these documents exist anymore. At least not for the states where my ancestors were. 

I know from speaking with an older gentleman where I work his family were Germans and living in Kansas. During WW2 his family and the predominantly German community that he lived in faced a lot of hatred even though he and his siblings were born in the US and his parents had been in the country well before the war. They spoke both German and English but when he went to college his teachers forbid him and any other students from speaking German. It makes me wonder what kind of hatred my Ancestors faced. 

Sources:

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/286181 

https://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/enemy-aliens/ww1 

2022 Week #15 How do you Spell That?

As I'm sure is the case in any family tree we have branches filled with William, John, Edward, Matthew and James. But there are some cases where the names are a little more unique. Here is a collection of some of the more unique names throughout my family tree! 

 Eliphalet L. Monroe
Born: 1768 in Vermont
Died: 26 September 1848
5x Great Grandfather

Rosbotham Monroe

Born: 09 Feb 1731

Died 18 July 1831

6x Great Grandfather 

Granderson F. Williams 

Born: 1820 in North Carolina

Died: June of 1893 in Missouri 

4x Great Grandfather

Gottlib J. Mollick 

Born: 05 March 1837 in Germany

Died: 29 Dec 1929 in Missouri

4x great Grandfather

Jabez Van Dorin

Born: 09 April 1798 Pennsylvania

Died: 1872 Iowa 

4x Great Grandfather 

Glass (or Glafs) Cochran

Born: 1715 in Northern Ireland

Died: 05 September 1795 Massachusetts

6x Great Grandfather

Submit Miner

Born: 26 September 1787 Massachusetts

Died: 11 June 1833  Ohio 

4x Great Grandmother

Walter Children

My grandmother on my mom's side had some siblings with some unique names. 2 sisters that passed away in their teens were Zola and Oraleta. Then her 3 brothers all went by nick names Bud (Loren), Short (Aubrey), Friz (Maurice). I guess my great grand parents had some unique ideas when it came to naming their children!  

Political/Historical Figures:

 I'm guessing it was popular in early days when naming children to name them after historical figures. Although not quite unique in spelling but unique none the less. I've got several scattered throughout my tree including:

2- William Sherman Mullins
Andrew Jackson Mullins
Andrew Jackson Loomis
Andrew Jackson Hutchison
Benjamin Harrison Mullins (Born 1889 when Harrison was President) 
Benjamin Franklin Slavin
George Washington Ertel
Queen Victoria Booth 
John Wesley Booth

Week #14 Check it Out

 I wasn't 100% sure what to do for this week and waited for guidance from Amy and checked out some of the other blogger's posts. Some featured books they'd found and used in their research and others used it to share something interesting they found. I decided to interpret it as a combination of the 2. 

In 2016 my mom and I went to visit a genealogy library not to far from where we lived. This was unique as most of our relatives lived about 2-3 hours away. But one branch of our tree lived in the county next to where I grew up. We went in search of some information on my 3x great grandfather James Miller. He kind of just vanished and we didn't know where exactly he died or where he was buried. His wife my 3x great grandmother Emily (Whipple) Miller Newland remarried and even she was kind of a mystery. We didn't know where she was buried either. So we thought by going to this library we could utilize the local resources to maybe break down a brick wall or 2. 

Unfortunately we came up empty handed where James and Emily were concerned. But while we were there I happened to scan the section where they had family history books that people had done and donated. I came across one that said Whipple family. Bingo that was Emily's maiden name. At that point I hadn't researched the ancestors beyond her and don't think I had many names on my family tree yet. I opened it up and low and behold this was all about my 5x great grandfather and his children. And I knew it was the correct family because it said "Emily m. James Miller". 

Joseph (my 5x great grandfather)  as is quote in the book "was a poor New England laborer and farmer whose lifetime spanned the late colonial period, the struggle for independence, the building of the new nation, and the extension of western settlement." Joseph was born in Connecticut in 1753. On August 20, 1777 Joseph became a "regular" enlisting as a private in the Continental Army for the duration of the War. He joined Captain Abner Prior's Company in the 5th Connecticut Regiment. Through the years of the war he worked his way up to Sergeant. The last date of service for Joseph was December 31, 1781. Early in the war the Continental Congress promised each private and non-commissioned officer $50, 50 acres of land, and a new suit of clothing. Connecticut held a part of northeastern Ohio called the western-reserve, from which 100 acres of bounty land was issued in 1799 to Joseph Whipple for his Service. There is no record of him moving there until 1833 when his family settled near the Western Reserve. 

Before moving to Ohio they lived in New York and Massachusetts working various labor jobs including providing coal for a local forge. Towards the end of his life he moved with his family to Ohio and he and his wife Mary lived with their son Marks. Both died at his home. Joseph died in 1843 at the age of 90 and Mary died in 1848 at the age of 89. There is no record of their burial or stone surviving today. In the statements from friends and family in the pension application, many indicated they were very poor people and liked to keep to themselves. 

Samuel (my 4x great grandfather) was born in 1807 in Massachusetts. During the 1820's he worked with his father and brothers as laborers and probably was involved with them in the manufacturing of charcoal. Samuel moved to Vernon, Trumbull County, Ohio around 1830. In 1833 he married Laura Buttrick. By 1850 Samuel and Laura moved to Holt County, Missouri. . Laura died in Child birth but record of her burial is not found. He later remarried to Ruth Hastey. 

In October 26, 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Union army. He joined the same unit as his son Samuel J. Whipple and his Nephews Harlow, Virgil, and Daniel Whipple. The Muster roll for Company E, 25th Missouri Volunteers describes Samuel as 54 years old, 5 feet 10 inches, gray eyes, dark complexion, and a wagoner. He was mustered in December of 1861 and stood guard in bad weather and caught a cold which turned to bronchitis. He was admitted to the Army Hospital in St. Joseph, MO where he died March of 1862. Again like it seems to be on this family no record of burial. 

About the only cemetery I've been able to visit was that of Samuel's son Samuel J. Whipple in Holt county Mo. It's probably the most difficultly accessed cemetery I've ever been to!!! That says a lot as I've traipsed through many a cow pasture to access cemeteries. It sits right off the highway easy to find with a nice sign but it's on the literal side of a cliff!!! You can see stones from the road and so it doesn't look to difficult but you climb up the first portion and realize there are more stones further up!! So climb away I did. The view from the top was absolutely spectacular as you can see interstate 29 and the Missouri River valley. 

View from where I parked my car. 

View of the road from the first section

All the stones on the hill 

View from the top looking west towards Missouri River. 

All though we may not have found exactly what we were looking for but still was a worth while trip. Here this book had sat for who knows how many years in a library just 30 miles from where I grew up. Not only did it give me more names to add to my family tree but it also gave details for not only Joseph Whipple's (5x great grandfather) but Samuel Whipple's (my 4x great grandfather) lives. They became more than a name on a tree, they now were people I felt like I knew. That right there is my favorite part of genealogy.