WWI Draft registration

Draft registration cards are a very valuable family history research record. They usually provide the legal name, address, next of kin, employment record, and description of the registrant. Currently, my family history database has more than 300 registration cards as evidence for these types of facts. Despite having read through hundreds of these records, in my reading tonight, I learned that I really had a deep lack of understanding of how the draft process worked. Excerpted below are some of the very interesting bits I discovered thanks to Ancestry!

Source: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3172/

"Men who registered were given bluish green certificates to prove they had registered. The certificate was embossed with an eagle at the top and merely stated who had registered where on what date. This certificate was signed by a registrar. In Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune stated that law officers could demand to see this registration certificate at any time, and a man without a card was then subject to investigation. [Say what?] Also, passports were not issued to men in the affected age groups unless they could produce draft registration certificates. The Vicksburg Evening Post warned its western Mississippi readers that the federal government could easily determine who had not registered through school, insurance and other records, and the impression was also left that registrants' names would soon be printed in the newspaper so the public could determine who had not registered. This paper also reported that such sensational rumors had spread around on registration day that some black registrants rushed to their registration site in an out-of-breath state."

24 million men were registered during the three WWI draft campaigns which occurred on June 5, 1917,  June 5, 1918 and September 12, 1918. According to Ancestry, "about 98% of adult men under age 46 living in the U.S. in 1917-18 completed registration cards". Perhaps this was partially because President Wilson  "characterized it as necessary to make "shirkers" play their part in the war". Who would want to be labeled a shirker?

I never realized that there were national registeration days, or even large efforts to promote those days. Honestly, I had given almost no thought to how the World War draft registrations were implemented until reading these snippets today.   Over time I had noticed that a lot of the registration cards were dated in June, but I had assumed this was likely due to the small towns that I was looking at and the number of persons available to register people. 

"On the designated registration days, businesses and schools closed down in most communities. Saloons closed in most states. Registration started at 7 or 7:30 a.m. and lasted until late at night. In New York City, boat horns were blown to announce the start of registration, and in Provo, Utah whistles performed a similar function. In Vicksburg, MS, church bells and whistles were used. In Jackson, MS, cannons at the old state capitol building were to have been fired at the start of registration, but organizers had difficulty finding gunpowder. Similar noise-making events occurred across the country.

Family members often came with the registrant to the registration site. Patriotic parades were held on the first registration day, as in Spanish Fork, UT, where registrants were included in the automobile parade.  

In Salt Lake City, a deputized registrar made a tour of the hospital on registration day registering men unable to leave the hospital. These hospitalized men could also have appointed someone to obtain the registration card prior to registration day from the city or county clerk".

Hope in reading this, you also learned something new about our history.

George Washington Grabe's Civil War journey

 George Washington Grabe is the 3x great-grandfather of my nieces, Sophia & Sienna Kaski. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the 30th Illinois Infantry Regiment of the Union Army. The Civil War was in its third year.

He would travel on foot from Camp Butler, Illinois to Warrenton, Georgia: more than 900 miles.

On April 18, 1864, his regiment left Camp Butler, hiking the first 200 miles to arrive in Cairo, Illinois. There they joined with the Tennessee River Expedition under General W.Q. Gresham. On April 30, 1864, they arrived in Clifton, Tennesse. Five days later, they left Clifton marching on to Pulaski, Tennessee.

Who could have imagined that 180 years later, Private Grabe's great-great-great-granddaughters would live within 30-60 miles of these last two Tennessee locations? Learn more about Fort Pulaski thanks to this link from the National Park Service.

Heading out of Tennesee, the regiment then moved onward to Athens and Huntsville. On May 25, 1864, the regiment began their travel to Decatur crossing the Tennessee River on the 27th. From there, they continued on to Warrenton. Warrenton was as far south as Private Grabe's traveled before the battles pushed them north again.

To join General Sherman's Army, the regiment went to Rome, Georgia then Kingston, Georgia, joining the army at Acworth on June 8, 1864. June 10 they moved on to Big Shanty where about 20 soldiers from the 30th Illinois Infantry were killed or wounded. Learn more about the Battle for the Kennesaw Mountain using this National Park link which starts its story on the same June 10.

The regiment's final stops were in Resaca and Gaylesville before mustering out in Chicago, Illinois. And thus, goes the story of George Washington Grabe's journey to defend the Union. Shortly after the war, he would marry Maggie Dial and become a Methodist minister.

Unknown B&W album - likely Colorado

I had the pleasure of digitally archiving the records and pictures held by my Uncle Don Untiedt. The pictures included below were all together in a single album. However, I have no additional notes on who or where these pictures were taken. 

Do you have any answers about the subject or location?

In one picture there is a sign for "Dirty Woman Creek". When I Google that, there is such a place located in Colorado. However, if there were other "Dirty Women" creeks, it's reasonable that over time they have been changed to something more P.C. However, given the potential Colorado connection, I'm tagging these as part of the Untiedt line for now.

[Update: since originally posting this, I was able to read the top of one building which is excerpted below. It reads "Pikes Peak Motor Co". Googling that name there is such a place located in Penrose, Colorado.]

Do you recognize any of the buildings? Any of the children? Maybe the horses?

Is this Penrose, Colorado?

[You can zoom in by right clicking on any image below and saving a copy, or by using the Zoom funciton on your browser. Need help? just send me a note].

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Peter August Kaski's journey to America

At the age of 26, Peter August Kaski brought our Kaski branch to the United States.

He started the ship portion of his journey with a 40 hour trip on the SS Rollo from Gothenburg, Sweden to Hull, England.  Most emigrants would then take the Paragon Railway train between Hull and Liverpool.

From Liverpool, Peter August Kaski then sailed for 10 days on the S.S. Aurania to New York, disembarking on April 24, 1903. 

On the ship manifest below, Peter A. Kaski is listed on line 10. He declared having $12 in his pocket and was headed to Bryant, South Dakota. Originally, it was written that he was headed to meet his brother, J. Kaski, but that was then crossed out and replaced with the name Oskar Peterson of Deadwood, South Dakota. There is evidence that his brother, Jakob Krister Kaski was in Bryant by 1911, and is likely the brother referenced in this record.

How he made his journey from New York to Bryant has, thus far, been lost to time, but we know he would end up in Bryant, South Dakota eventually, which is where he married his wife, Mariah Alvina Ecklund 5 years later.

Do you know more of this story? If so, I would love to hear and record it for the future.

[To zoom in, right click on any of the above images and save a copy].

And the drama continues...

 So today I located the obituary of John Wiebener, father of the Arnold (A.H.) Wiebener referenced in my last blog post: Missing money, a Gunshot, and a Bank Collapse. Turns out that John was a director of the bank that his son allegedly stole $137,000 from. The father, John, died in 1924, and the fraud was uncovered in 1931. 

• Was the son committing the fraud while his father served in this fidicuary role? 
• Was the son more trusted because his father was a director of the bank? 

Just raised so many more questions in this interesting tale.

Missing money, a gunshot and a bank collapse

[Trigger warning: suicide]

I've recently located several news articles related to $137,000 of missing funds believed to have been stolen by Arnold Wiebener, a first cousin three-times removed.  Arnold's aunt was my great-great-grandmother, Annie Wiebener Schwager.

Below are newspaper clippings from the Davenport, Iowa Daily Times on July 25, 1931. Arnold was a cashier at the Farmers' & Merchants' Bank in Durant, Iowa. It's believed that over many years he stole money from bank deposits and applied the funds against bad loans. Believing that his fraud would be discovered, Arnold shot himself in the basement of the bank, dying several days later. The bank could not sustain the loss, and was closed down permanently. Following his death, his widow also endured a legal battle regarding title of their property and deeds that were signed over to the bank after Arnold was shot but before he died. A time period that the widow aruged was under duress. 

In my career, I've audited banks and performed procedures to attempt to uncover any bad loans that could have been hidden. I've looked at segragation of duties to ensure that a person approving a loan has no deposit authority for loan repayments. I found the whole story very interesting, and was surprised that the story didn't survive in the myths and legends of our family lore.

Car tire tube rations?

 I've heard of "War Rations" and thought that applied to things like food and gasoline, but never heard that it also applied to car tires. 

I came across this February 1943 The Dispatch of Moline, Illinois news article that referenced my great-uncle, Clarence Untiedt. It says he was issued a certificate for the purchase of Grade 3 rationed tires. Not only were car tires rationed, but it was "news-worthy" who got them. Slightly blows my mind.

I was also amused by the adjacent heading that talked about the 7 million increase in the number of city bus passengers. The funniest part is that the tire ration is not listed as one of the reasons for the increased bus traffic; how could it not be?

So I learned a new interesting piece of history today, and hope that you reading this, also finds a little smirk of joy.

Wilhelm Mann Baptism record

 

Wilhelm Mann, father of John Mann, was my 2x great-grandfather. Below is an excerpt from Dömitz, Germany baptismal records showing Wilhelm's baptism in December 1852. In addition, the record also shows the names of his parents and his godparents.