In the House Where He Lived

I have some patrons who bring me extremely interesting research. In my last post I wrote about Jack and his quest to find out more about the uncle he is named after who died in WWII. This past week Jack returned to my desk with an object he said I would not believe; and he was right.

Jack brought in a deep shadowbox frame; about 18"x 18" and 4 inches deep. Contained in it was a round ornate circular silver frame. At the center of which was a 3 inch circular photo of a couple in their mid to late 50s, maybe very early 60s. Curved around the top of the photo it said 1878-1903; beneath it said 2 May. Around the couple's photo were 1 inch round photos of 5 younger people; presumably their children. This was a silver wedding anniversary frame; silver in color and material, as well as in the fact that it is a 25th anniversary commemorative frame.

Jack proceeded to tell me how this was in the home his parents bought in 1969 in Flushing, Queens, NY. Jack surprisingly knew the name of the previous homeowner. Do you know the name of the person who owned the house you grew up in? I sure as heck don't.

Even though their was no indication on the object as to who was in the photos, Jack believed it belonged to the former homeowner and wanted to get it back to the family. The former homeowner's name was George Washington Anger. I guess that is a pretty hard name to forget.

A search for George quickly resulted in finding his WWI draft registration card. The card confirmed that George lived in Flushing and it provided his date of birth which made subsequent searches much easier.

From there we back up through the U.S. Federal Census records, 1940 to 1930 to 1920 etc, to find George living with his parents at the address Jack had grown up at. Sure enough, George was 1 of 5 children of August and Caroline Anger.

1900 Census

Turning our interest to the parents, we found their marriage record in the New York, New York Marriage Index as, wouldn't you have it, 2 May 1878. This frame was theirs and those photos were these people we had seen in all these records.

Jack then asked if we could find any living family members. I always tell my patrons that it is easier to find the dead than it is to find the living. We took a shot though and searched the public family trees on Ancestry.com. We found someone who appeared to be the great-great grandson of August and Caroline. Using my personal Ancestry.com account I was able to email the tree owner through Ancestry. I could see this Ancestry user was an active researcher because he had had an account since 2012 and had last logged in 2 days before.

We simply sent a note saying I was a genealogy librarian working with a patron who had an object that might be of interest to him if he was indeed related to this couple.

Today Jack and I received a reply to that email saying that yes, those are his great-great grandparents and that he would be delighted to know what we have in store for him.

I know that it is Jack's wish to see this object back in the hands of a family member who will love and cherish it as much as he has all these years - these strangers whose house he once lived in.

Home on the Road and Great Grandpa Albert's WWI Draft Registration

Every June I take a road trip. Well, if you aren't home for your birthday it doesn't count. This is how I get to stay perpetually 28. :)

This summer Cousin Peter and Godmother Joanne and I traipsed from Salt Lake City, Utah to Kansas City. Missouri and then turned south towards Austin, Texas, Our stop in Kansas City required a visit to the Kansas City Public Library where they were having an exhibit of the first Shakespeare folio; basically a very old rare book contained in a glass case opened to one page of the play Hamlet. Well.....

Okay....

We were there for me to look through city directories but its nice they had something out for Cousin Peter and Godmother Joanne to look at.

Despite my long seeded New York roots, I apparently had a few relatives on my mother's side who resided in Kansas City in the early 1900s. One of which was my great grandfather, Albert Gardner.

Great Grandpa Albert is intriguing to me. Born on September 21, 1891 in Queens, New York he was christened Almond Desjardins. His very French name is pronounced AL-mon-d Day-shar-dan but everyone says it like the nut, Almond and pronounces the last name Des-Jar-Dins. I'm sure he Anglicized the name not because of the course American pronunciation though but rather for employment opportunities. Desjardins means from the garden and Gardner is a very historic family name on Long Island where his family settled after coming from Montreal. The choice of Gardner for a surname makes sense.

Several years ago I came cross his World War I draft registration card. Curiously, though, he was living in Kansas City. That surprised me. Even though "Albert Gardner" is a rather common name, I am sure it is his draft registration card. The birthday matches other records I have, He was born in New York. I was told by his son that he was a painter. In 1917 when this registration was created his mother would have been a widow and it is likely he was helping to financially support her. He wasn't married yet.

But what is that bit there about having already served in the Cavalry for 3 years? And why is it stamped "Delinquent or Deserter"?

Has anyone else seen that on a draft registration card?

And what do you think it says between "Private" and "Cavalry"?

That aside, while in KC, MO, I did try to find Great Grandpa Albert's residence. Sad to say that 619 Troost Ave. no longer exists. Troost is still a street but 619 is now where the U.S. Interstate 70 and I-35 come together. In some sense that feels right. His home is now on the road and personally, I feel quite at home on that road.

Joseph Sauer's WWII Dog Tag

This is a follow-up to this past Wednesday's semi-wordless post. Many bloggers have a Wordless Wednesday post in which they just put up a picture. That is what I did except the picture actually had words in it so it was only kind of a Wordless Wednesday.

This is the image I posted. It is the WWII dog tag of my great grandmother's brother, Joseph A. Sauer.

This year marks the 100th anniversary, or centenary, of the start of WWI, or what at the time was called The Great War. WWI began on July 28, 1914 and lasted until November 11, 1918. You will see that there will be many events and programs this year reflecting on WWI. 

Joseph served in WWII though which started on September 1, 1939 and lasted until September 2, 1945. Joseph was kind of old to be a soldier at that time. He was born on May 6, 1902 in Manhattan. He enlisted on September 9, 1942 at the age of 40. He died on December 23, 1968, long after WWII. He is interred in Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn, NY. 

Joseph's brother-in-law, my great-grandpa Charles A. Henry, who was just a few years older than Joseph, served in WWI. Charles was born March 26, 1896. He enlisted on September 9, 1918. Joseph at that time would have only been 16; narrowly escaped the age requirement for enlisting in WWI.

Here is a photo of Charles A. Henry in his WWI uniform.

Although I love that WWI photo of my great-grandpa, I find something so poignant about Joseph's WWII dog tag. The purpose of the dog tag was to identify the dead. And although Joseph survived WWII, he knew when he was issued that item what its purpose was. It must have served as a constant reminder of the risk he was taking. 

Although the item does not reveal much genealogical information it does tell an important family story about service to ones country. It does list the name and address of the individual's next of kin, though. That much is genealogical. In this case, the unmarried Joseph's next of kin was his widowed mother. If his father was alive at the time, it would have listed him.

I don't know if you can see it but in the lower right hand corner there is a small stamped "O." This was Joseph's blood type. It was placed there to inform medic should the soldier need a blood transfusion. At this time they did not know about the Rh factor; the + or - that now accompanies a letter when you are told your blood type. I am also "O"; "O+" like my father.

In my opinion, the dog tag is the most personal of all items ever issued by the government. These items were there throughout all the battles and service the soldier endured. I am not sure what Joseph did in the war. I have never been able to find his WWII Enlistment Record. And I am not entirely sure how my father came to own this tag that belonged to his great uncle but it shakes me to my core to think about what this tag might have "seen" regardless of what war it was issued for or what service Joseph gave his country.

Wordless Wednesday, Kind Of...