FRIDAY FINDS ~ At last! A naturalization record for someone in my tree–Bertha Klinoweit Redcap (1898–1934)

The index card for Bertha Redcap's naturalization record

Funny how things work sometimes.  I had lunch with a friend just last Sunday.  As we were talking, I, of course, was talking about my family tree and genealogy etc.  This friend isn’t a genealogist, but she was kind enough to listen to me.  I didn’t go on too long.  LOL!

One thing I mentioned was that in all my 17+ years of researching, I had yet to find a naturalization record for any of my ancestors. 

Given that 4 of my 8 great grandparents came here mid to late 1800’s, from Scotland and England, you’d think I would have found one already.  They did state in the 1900 census that they were naturalized.  And all of them were living in Detroit, Michigan. 

I might not have located any of their records….yet, but I have located one.  Not a blood relative, but it is a record from Detroit, so I’m happy to know they exist.

The record I have located is for my paternal granduncle’s wife’s brother’s wife.  Yes, that’s stretching it a bit.  My granduncle Roy Gould married a lady named Emma Redcap and this naturalization record is associated with that family.

Certificate of Arrival for Bertha Klinoweit, 3 Apr 1913

Bertha Klinoweit arrived in the U.S. on 3 Apr 1913, according to her Certificate of Arrival for Naturalization Purposes.  She would have been a young girl of 14 years old at the time.  This first page of the paperwork states that she arrived on the President Grant.  I’ll be looking for a passenger list with her name and will share it with you in a later post.

HERE’S THE NEXT PAGE OF THE NATURALIZATION RECORD

YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY OF THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

On this form we learn that she calls herself Mrs. Bertha REDCAP.  This gives her address in Detroit, her occupation and her date of birth – 22 Jul 1898.  Best of all it gives her location of birth in Germany as Sanseitschen.  This verifies her arrival in New York on 3 Apr 1913 on the U.S.S. President Grant.  This page also lists her husband, Charles, his date of birth and place and the date of their marriage as 15 Aug 1926.  Doesn't get much better than that for genealogical information.

Bertha signed the page on 10 Nov 1927 and one of the witnesses was my granduncle’s wife, Emma GOULD.  Emma also signed the form and now I have both of their signatures (click here to see the  other family signatures I've collected)

HERE IS THE LAST PAGE OF BERTHA’S NATURALIZATION PAPERS

On this page we see that Bertha declared an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and denounced the German Reich. She signed this page as well.

The court date is given as 13 Feb 1928 and her Certificate of Naturalization No. is 2728882.

I expect that Bertha was quite proud on the day she took her oath and became a U.S. citizen.

Bertha & Charles had two sons, Edward Charles, born in 1929 and Richard Robert, born 1931.

Sadly, Bertha died at the young age of 36 years, on 24 Nov 1934.  She never got to see her little boys grow up.  The cause of death was listed as Edema of brain – pulmonary thrombosis/fatty pancreas and liver.

Have you located naturalization records for any of your ancestors?  If so, I’d love to hear about them.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

MY BIG FIND AT THE FHL- Part 2 ~ What else was I able to turn up once I had John Doller’s original name?

John & Bertha - about 1935

If you read my blog yesterday, then you know that I made a pretty huge find (with help from library staff), while I was attending Rootstech.  You can read about it here WHAT A FIND - John Doller's real name was Johann Tolarowski - my husband's great grandfather.

In the 15+ years I’ve been researching mine and my husband’s family, I was never able to find some of the records I wanted to for John Doller and his wife, Bertha Keller. 

Now I know why!
If you enter John Doller in the search criteria on a website, you aren’t likely to come up with hits for Johann Tolarowski.
 
Once I learned John’s birth name, in German records, I was able to locate more information.

The first thing I found was his German passenger record.  He traveled from Germany to the U.S. with his wife, Bertha, son, Erwin and infant daughter, Ida.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)
 

They traveled on the ship Columbia from Hamburg, leaving on 3 Jul 1890.
 
Here’s the index for this record.  His occupation, Maurer, means Mason.  Family lore says that one child died on the ship.  We know it wasn’t Erwin, so it had to be little Ida.  More on that in a minute.

Name:	John Talarowski
Gender:	männlich (Male)
Departure Age:	32
Occupation:	Maurer
Birth Date:	abt 1858
Residence:	Dahlwin, Westpreußen
Departure Date:	3 Jul 1890
Port of Departure:	Hamburg
Port of Arrival:	New York (New York City (All Boroughs))
Ship Name:	Columbia
Captain:	Vogelgesang
Shipping Clerk:	Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft
Shipping line:	Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft
Ship Type:	Dampfschiff
Ship Flag:	Deutschland
Accommodation:	Zwischendeck
Volume:	373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 068 A
Household Members:	Name Age John Talarowski 32 Bertha Talarowski 26 Erwin Talarowski 4 Ida Talarowski 8 Monate

The New York Passenger record I located has the family arriving in New York harbor on 11 Jul 1890.  There is an entry in the column title “Date and Cause of Death” across from Ida’s name.  What do the numbers 12-18 mean?



I have searched every way I can think of for information on the numbers 12-18 in the date/cause of death column for Ida.  There are ICD codes for causes of death on many death certificates, but 12-18 isn’t one of those codes.  I tried looking at the beginning of the microfilm series for any indication of what the numbers in that column could mean.  No luck.  I welcome any input from others who may have an answer.  Were they able to take baby Ida off the ship?  Is there a death record for her in the U.S.? Is she buried in New York?
 

 The next record I located for this family was the 1892 New York state census.  On 16 Feb 1892, the Talurowski family is enumerated in the second district, Buffalo, Erie, New York.  This was the first U.S. record I located with the family still using the name Talurowski.  This is 19 months after their arrival and Ida is not named with them.  Further indication of her death.

John Talurowski, male, age 33, born in Germany, alien, working as a Mason, Bertha Talurowski, female, age 26, born in Germany, alien, Erwin Talurowski, male, age 6, born in Germany, alien.



We can see that John had not yet applied for citizenship, nor was he using the surname, Doller.  According to the 1920 census, he was naturalized in 1902.  I had searched naturalization record listings at the FHL, but they did not have 1902.  I would really like to find this record.

I’ve mentioned time and time again, on this blog and in classes I’ve taught, that social media can be one of our greatest resources for genealogy.  Especially Facebook groups.  I belong to many of them, not only in the U.S., but for other countries as well.  I wrote a blog post about this subject back in 2014 and it still holds true today FACEBOOK – HOW IT CAN BE VERY USEFUL IN YOUR RESEARCH

I decided to ask for assistance on the Western New York Genealogical Society group, to which I’ve belonged for some time. I thought perhaps someone in the group would have some tips specifically related to obtaining naturalization records from the Buffalo area.
 
Here is my query: Posted on 10 Mar 2018 at 10:37 a.m.

ADVICE needed.
Hello everyone. I wonder if you could tell me if anyone has experience in retrieving naturalization records? I have been looking for years for the papers for a particular person in the Buffalo area. A HUGE find at the FHL was that the last name was not Doller, but Tolarowski. It would appear that he arrived and kept the name Tolarowski for a few years. I believe he may have changed it when he was naturalized. Which gives me even more reason to want the record. From census records he was naturalized in 1902. The family lived in Buffalo from 1890 until his death in 1935.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Within minutes I began receiving responses.  I continued to check back as I wrote yesterday’s blog post.  About an hour after I first posted, I checked back only to find that one of the members had located the information I needed on Family Search.  I, of course, know about and use Family Search daily, but hadn’t had a chance to look through their records since learning of John Doller’s German name.  Not only did the member, Kasia, tell me that the record was on Family Search, she posted images of the various records she found.



Now that I have this information I should be able to request his naturalization papers.  I’ve got a volume number and a page number.  I’m doing my genie dance again!
 
After the loss of two young daughters and one son, John and Bertha did go on to have one more daughter, Freada Emma Meta Doller (my husband’s grandmother), born in Buffalo, Erie, New York on 24 Aug 1895.  Freada married Heinrich “Henry” August Fink and they had four children.  She died at the age of 85 in San Diego, California.  Her older brother, Erwin went on to marry Lena Boskat and they had 6 sons.  Erwin lived to the age of 77 and died in Buffalo, New York.

John and Bertha continued living in Buffalo until their deaths.  John died 15 Dec 1935 and is buried in Buffalo Cemetery, Cheektowaga, Erie, New York.  You may visit his memorial here #80147013 and Bertha died 6 Oct 1950 and is buried in the same cemetery #80147168.

This has been a great story to write and I hope to learn more if and when I locate John’s naturalization papers.

Please contact me if you are related to this family, I’d love to hear from you.
 
To read more about the Doller family please see the following blog posts.  There are several more photos included in these posts.

ANALYZING EVIDENCE - JOHN DOLLER & BERTHA KELLER–WHO WERE THEY?

SEPIA SATURDAY ~ The Doller Family of Buffalo, New York, early 1900’s

AMANUENSIS MONDAY – BIRTH RECORDS - WHAT INFORMATION DO THEY REVEAL?

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Locating that elusive Immigration record ~ Margaret Ritchie Milne (1820-1902)

A picture of the ship Furnessia - in service 1880-1912 Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com

It doesn’t always happen right away.  I am talking about finding those records.  I’ve been dancing around this particular immigration record for a dozen years.
 
Margaret Ritchie Milne is my 2nd great grandmother.  She was born in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland 23 Oct 1820.  She married Charles Milne, although I don’t yet have a marriage date for them.  They had four children, 3 daughters and a son.  It is the son, Andrew, from whom I descend.  Those three daughters were born first, so I’m glad they kept trying and finally had a son.

I knew Margaret had come to the United States after the death of her husband, Charles, who died in 1877. She is enumerated on the 1881 Scotland census.  But, I found her listed in a Detroit, Michigan city directory in 1886.  She is living with her son, Andrew C. Milne.

I also knew that she eventually moved back to Scotland, since she died and is buried there.

It’s often when we revisit the information we have for our ancestors, that things begin to line up and make sense.  Because we continue to learn as we research, we look at things from a different perspective.  That was the case with Margaret.

I looked at the Events I had listed for her in my Legacy database and realized that I was missing possible city directory listings.

I recently wrote a blog post about how helpful those city directories can be.  You can read that post here.

If Margaret was living in Detroit in 1886, could she have been there in 1885?  Time to check that city directory.  BINGO!  
I was able to locate it and found her daughter, Charlotte, living with her, listed as "Lotta."  Also on that same page is Margaret’s son, Andrew C. Milne, my great grandfather. 



If Margaret was living in Scotland in the 1881 census, but was in Detroit, by 1885, then I’ve really narrowed down her arrival date.
Sure enough, I located a record on Ancestry.com for a Passenger list for Margaret Milne, traveling from Glasgow to the U.S. on 3 Nov 1882 on the ship Furnessia.  Who is on that passenger list with her?  Her 20 yr. old daughter, Charlotte.

This record is very difficult to read, but it was clear enough to me.  The ages for Margaret & Charlotte match exactly.



This was exactly what I’d been looking for these past dozen or so years.  I’m doing my happy dance right now.

Here is the indexed information from that record.

Name    Mgt Milne
Arrival Date    3 Nov 1882
Birth Date    1820
Age    62
Gender    Female
Ethnicity/ Nationality    Scottish
Place of Origin    Scotland
Port of Departure    Glasgow, Scotland and Moville, Ireland
Destination    Scotland
Port of Arrival    New York, New York
Ship Name    Furnessia

I’m very happy to have finally found this record.  What immigration records have you been searching for for a long time?  I’d love to hear about them.  Did you eventually find them?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST 

WHY DIDN'T I SEE THAT?  When the obvious escapes us

STEVE MORSE'S ONE STEP WEBSITE ~ If you thought it was only for passenger records - Think again!

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION