52 Ancestors Challenge Week 4: Overlooked - Abe's Naturalization Papers

This year I have challenged myself to write brief biographies on 30 of my direct ancestors; my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents. In doing so it forces me to revisit my research on each of them, and the members of their extended family, their siblings, and those siblings' spouses, etc. Undoubtedly, this results in me reexamining records and looking at new Ancestry hints. Newly digitized records are being added to databases all the time. I can't always keep up with all the hints. I try to keep on top of the hints for my direct ancestors though, but those extended family members, well, it's a lot. In this process of writing, I am uncovering a lot of details that I overlooked. In some instances my discoveries have prompted me to order records I haven't seen. Such was the case for my great grandfather, Abram Thomas Earle (January 13, 1891 - November 18, 1973).

Abe passed before I was born. I had heard many stories about him from my dad and grandparents, though. From them I knew Abe had immigrated to the U.S. from what is now Newfoundland, Canada. At the time of his immigration Newfoundland was a British dominion. 

I have traveled to the town he grew up in, Twillingate. I can tell you the exact date I first visited there but I didn't know the exact date Abe arrived in the U.S., until now.

I knew he was here by 1915 when he married Ethel Mae Losee on June 5, 1915 in Freeport, Long Island, New York. I knew he came to the U.S. after his mother died. His mother Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley died on March 20, 1899 of consumption, what we call tuberculosis, when Abe was just 8 years old. Then an orphan, I really don't know what Abe's life was like between his mother's death in 1899 and his marriage in 1915. I knew he had older sisters and there was this notion that those ladies took care of him, but it was all vague as to when, where, and who exactly. The dynamics of the family are lost to me, except for what I can glean from records.

In an effort to clarify details about his life and that of his sister, specifically his sister Susie, I order their naturalization papers. The papers included many of the details I was hoping for.

Abe naturalized on January 10, 1925 in the Supreme Court of Nassau County, New York. We just passed the 100th anniversary of his naturalization. His Declaration of Intent, filed on September 26, 1917, states that he worked in monotype (a printer), he was white with a fair complexion, 5'5", 142 pounds, brown haired, and blue eyed. At the time of the application he was living with his wife, Ethel, in Roosevelt, New York, a town adjacent to Freeport. All of which I knew based on other resources and family. But then it told me this: Abe emigrated to the United States from Twillingate by way of Sydney, Nova Scotia on or about May 31, 1903 via railroad to Boston, Massachusetts.

The Boston part I had suspected because I saw his sister, Susie, in the 1910 census living in Boston. Abe wasn't listed on that census but stories told of Susie taking care of Abe, maybe he was there in 1910. He was there in '03. 

It was the railroad part that got me. Train? I didn't see that coming. The Earles are a nautical people. Abe's father died at sea, as did his maternal grandfather. I incorrectly assumed Abe must have come by ship into Boston or Ellis Island. Nope. Train.

I have been to Nova Scotia. I haven't been to Sydney. The closest I got was probably St. Ann's, Nova Scotia back in 2017 while driving from Baddeck to Ingonish Beach. I stayed there a night before driving through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. St. Ann's is about a 37.6 miles (60 kilometers) west of Sydney. Nova Scotia is beautiful, as is Newfoundland.

I wonder what Abe thought of Boston and who took care of him there. He was only 12. Did he travel alone? Where was he living when he was back in Twillingate before his departure? When did he get to New York? I still don't have the clearest picture of his life between 1899 and 1915 but I do have a new bullet on the time line:

May 31, 1903 - emigrated from Newfoundland to Boston by way of Sydney, Nova Scotia via train.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 3: Nickname - They Called my Grandpa Whitey

They called my grandpa Whitey.

Some nicknames are obvious derivatives of the person's name. My name is April. My close family members call me A. My brother-in-law Timothy, we call Tim. My niece Sofia, we call Sofie.

And then there are other nicknames that are descriptive, Skinny Vinnie, Fat Tony. 

But every once in a while there is a nickname that makes you wonder where that came from.

Everybody called him Whitey. The story is that it stemmed from his childhood when he had white hair, but he didn't have white hair when I knew him. So I kind of didn't get it. His hair was dark, maybe salt-and-pepperish but not white. Not really. 

I don't think I knew his real name until I was in my teens, and I think it was because he didn't like his first name, Clarence. I like it. I think its better than Clair for a man, which is now more commonly a woman's name but it really is a gender neutral name. Many noteworthy men were named Clair, or Claire. or Clare. Lots of well known Canadian hockey players, not at all a feminine bunch, have the name Claire. My other grandmother was named Clare. Maybe grandpa didn't like the soft, femininity associated with name Clare, even though he was Clarence. I don't know, I'm just speculating.

However, I have never found a genealogical record about him in which he is noted as Whitey. In records he is always Clarence. You kind of need to know the person's "real" name to find them in records.

A few years ago, my mother's cousin Anita shared with me this photo of my grandfather as a boy, maybe he's 3. It's not a clear photo. You can't see his face but look at that hair. It's as white as the sand he's playing with. Now I really do see why they called my grandpa Whitey.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 2: Favorite Photo: Charles Henry circa 1899.

I did the Ancestors Challenge before, back in 2022. At that time I wrote about this favorite photo. To me "favorite" means that absolute top. You only have one favorite. Right? Maybe not. I do have many many photos I love. My office bookshelves are dominated by pictures, rather than books. So to pick another "favorite" photo is challenging for me.

I am not sure if I have shared this photo in my blog before but I cherish it:

That is my great grandfather, Charles Henry (26 March 1896 - 14 June 1949). He was born on March 26, 1896 in Woodhaven, Queens County, New York to Victor Henry and Annette Hinch-Henry. 

The physical photo was given to me by my grandmother's sister, my Great Aunt Ann Henry-Cramer. I am not sure when exactly but Aunt Ann has since past. 

I was so excited to receive such a precious heirloom. Charles looks as though he's only 2, maybe 3, perhaps 4 at most. It is not a dated image so I can only assume it was taken circa 1899, around the turn of the century.

So excited, I immediately share the image via FaceBook so that family members could see it. My father's cousin, Cousin Timmy took it upon himself to lovely restore it digitally. I shared his rendition above. The image below shows the physical photo I received on the left. Look at the beautiful work Tim did.

Amazing. Right?

I never knew Charles, which is not uncommon. Most people don't know a great grandparent. Sadly, though, my father didn't get to know this grandfather of his. Charles died 6 months before my dad was born. He died from a rare form of stomach cancer on June 14, 1949.

My grandmother was convinced he developed that cancer as a result of the work he did for a paint manufacturer. I mean they were still making paint with lead back in those days.

But in this image, he's just a baby with a whole life ahead of him, no thought of marrying and having children, no less grandchildren or great grandchildren. This was also years before the scandal of his father's murder/suicide. His father, Victor Henry, committed a murder/suicide on June 23, 1908. I write about that extensively.

But Charles, that little boy there has no idea of all the life ahead of him, all the changes and challenges he will face. It's just so innocent. I love it. I hate that giant floofy bow under his chin. I would have torn that thing off instantly. How irritating. But I love it.

Venting about the Ungrateful DNA Testers

I try to link my DNA matches to my tree. If I cannot figure out how we are connected and there is no tree from them to work with, I often reach out to the person. Very often I do not hear back. People typically take these tests just wanting the ethnicity profile and then they disappear. (By the way, the ethnicity profile is the least useful aspect of the test results, but anyway...) Sometimes people are actually working on a tree. I am, of course, willing to share all the information I have gathered. My tree is public, etc., etc., etc.

If they do reply, sometimes I get back some of the most confounding messages, like this one:

"...With the upmost respect, I am asking please to not add me or anyone you might believe is directly linked to me.

...we are extremely far apart as relations.

...be kind and respectful in return.

...your research and the immense family tree you have built is so impressive!

...I am an extremely private person..."

I simply told them that if they do not want to share information, they should take down their DNA or they will likely be contacted by others trying to figure out the connection.

But what I really wanted to say:

1. Telling me to be kind and respectful when I have been nothing but kind and respectful is not only unnecessary, it's fucking rude. I shared all my research information with you. You be kind and respectful. Say thank you!

2. We are not "extremely far apart." Trust me. 3rd, 4th, even 5th cousins is not extremely far apart. If we were extremely far apart, my tree would not have been useful to you.

3. I'll put whoever I damn well please into my tree.

4. I am happy to keep you out of my tree but you're not the only person ever born of an affair. Ease up there, unicorn.

5. If you are "an extremely private person", don't take a DNA test.

Grrr. It makes me so mad that people want the answers to their mystery but are not willing to share their findings. You want to know what you want to know and you used me to find it but now you won't share the discover. 

Take your DNA down. 

...and the word is utmost.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 1: "Start at the Beginning" - This Year's Research Goal and Who Lured Me into This Kind of Research

My genealogy goal for this year is to write brief biographies on each of my direct ancestors back to at least my great-great grandparents.

Every summer I teach a genealogy course through a graduate program to pre-service librarians, those pursuing a masters degree in library and information science. I give them the assignment to write a brief biography on one of their ancestors, typically they choose a great grandparent. They need to use resources to substantiate names, dates, locations, and relationships in their ancestor's story. So now I am going to try it for 30 of my ancestors (2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great-great grandparents). 

I have been at this genealogy thing for a long, long time now; about 40 years and it is high time that I put my work to words on paper for future generations of my family to inherit in some digestible format. I love documents but looking at a heap of them doesn't really explain what I have learned from all that I have gathered. So in addition to picking up the 52 Ancestor Challenge again, I've set my own time table to write these biographies. Basically I plan to write one every 2 weeks, give or take a day. I hope to share some of them. Although, any that includes information about the living will not make it onto my blog.

I plan to write about direct ancestors, but it isn't a direct ancestor who lured me into my genealogy research journey. I share this story often, every time I give a presentation, in fact. This is how I got started.

When I was a pre-teen, I attended a family reunion for my paternal grandfather's mother's family, the Losee Family. While we were there my paternal grandMOTHER's brother, Richie, and his wife, Jeannette showed up. I thought that odd because they weren't Losees, they were Henrys. I thought maybe the invitation was sent to extended family members as well but my grandma explained that Aunt Jeanette was born a Losee. That kind of blew my mind and I couldn't quite get my head around it. How were we related? At the time, neither my Grandpa Earle or Aunt Jeannette couldn't explain the connection. And that is what began my research. I had to figure out how Aunt Jeanette was related to Grandpa Earle.

To make the matter even more puzzling, I asked my grandmother who introduced who to their current spouse. "Oh no," she replied and proceeded to tell me that it was after she had married my grandpa that her brother Richie got engaged to Aunt Jeannette. Grandma's parents threw them an engagement party at the Henry home so that everyone could meet Jeannette. While there Grandpa asked Jeannette her last name. When Jeannette replied "Losee" my grandpa stated his mother's maiden name was Losee.

Now this reunion was back before the Internet so my research process began with a trip to the Freeport Memorial Library in Freeport, New York with the knowledge that the Losees had lived in Freeport for a very long time. While there my grandmother and I were taken into what they called the Memorial Room and up on the wall there was a plaque explaining that the library was a memorial to those in the community who had died in the American Civil War. Among the names was Benjamin F. Losee. 

After resolving that Grandpa and Jeanette were second cousins, they had great grandparents in common, I was then lured into figuring out who Benjamin F. Losee was and how I was related to him. (He's my great-great-great grandfather's brother, by the way.)

If you have been doing genealogy research for any period of time you know first hand that once you resolve the answer to one question, several more pop up. It is a never ending quest to piece together a puzzle that has no edges.