My Grandmother Was An Alien

Recently I was checking out the new collections on ancestry.com and found “U.S. WWII Alien Registration, 1940-1955.” This record collection is described as “documents created by the U.S. government to track non-citizens, particularly during and after World War II.”

According to the National Archives (www.archives.gov), the Alien Registration Act of 1940 required all noncitizens 14 and older living in the United States to visit their local post office to register their alien status with the government. Registration included a questionnaire (AR-2) form and fingerprinting. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) assigned an Alien Registration Number (A-Number) and mailed an Alien Registration Receipt Card containing this number to the registrant as proof of registration and alien status. Radio public service announcements promoted registration and newspapers published photos of actors and musicians completing their alien registration.

Initially I didn’t think these records applied to my immigrant ancestors. Most of them became citizens before 1940, so the alien status was not applicable. And I previously thought the WWII time period meant only U.S. residents from countries of concern (such as Japan, Germany, and Italy) were required to register. The publication of the index of AR-2 forms on ancestry.com enabled me to easily look up any ancestor for whom I did not have record of naturalization prior to 1940.

My paternal grandmother, Lillian Schwartz, neé Bund, was born in 1902 in Liverpool, England. She immigrated to the U.S. with her mother (Tillie Schneider Bund) and baby brother (Jacob Bund) in 1905 (her father had immigrated the previous year). Lillian died in 1986. I had a vague memory from family lore that she never became a U.S. citizen and I have been unable to find any naturalization records for her in online repositories. I think if she was going to become a citizen she would have done so before 1940 or at least started the process by then.

I did find that Lillian’s father and mother were naturalized in 1922 and 1926, respectively. I thought it might have been possible that Lillian automatically became a citizen upon her parents’ naturalization. But it seems that didn’t happen because I found she registered as an Alien in 1940. However, upon further research, it looks like Lillian may have been eligible for derivative citizenship. According to alllaw.com (https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/citizenship-children-naturalized-citizens.html), prior to May 24, 1934 a child could derive citizenship if either parent was naturalized before the child’s 21st birthday and the child had a green card at that time. Lillian would have been 20 when her father was naturalized in 1922.

If Lillian derived citizenship through her father, perhaps she did not realize that was the case or she thought she still needed to register for an A-Number. Did Lillian mistakenly register as an alien in 1940? Maybe she decided or was instructed to register in case the derivative citizenship wasn’t sufficient. It’s not clear if the INS verified a registrant’s naturalization status prior to issuing an A-Number to that person.

To further complicate the matter, as shown below, Lillian’s response to question 12 on the AR-2 states she hadn’t applied for first citizenship papers at the time she completed the form in December 1940.

Yet census records contradict this statement. In the 1925 New York census and 1940 U.S. census she is listed as a citizen and in the 1930 U.S. census she is listed as naturalized. Unfortunately, the question about her naturalization was left blank in the 1950 U.S. census.

1925 New York Census;“C” is abbreviation for citizen:

1925 New York Census;“C” is abbreviation for citizen:

1940 U.S. Census:

      

The “x” next to Harry’s name indicates he was the person who provided the information to the enumerator (person taking the census). So Lillian’s husband stated that she was a citizen at the time of the census in April 1940.

 

Another area of interest regarding my grandmother’s AR-2 revolves around her name. I was a bit surprised to see her response to question 1b stating she entered the U.S. under the name of “Lillian Bund” because the ship manifest as well as her inspection card show she immigrated as “Leah Bund” (Leah was her Hebrew name). Also, her response to question 1c regarding additional names is not complete in that her birth record from Liverpool, England lists her name as “Laura.” Perhaps she decided or was told she only needed to provide names she used as an adult.

I thought that finding the AR-2 record provided evidence that my grandmother was NOT naturalized as a U.S. citizen, at least as of 1940. This does not appear to be a straightforward conclusion.

The Oddity of David Schwartz’s Birth Certificate

 David Schwartz was my grandfather Harry Schwartz’s brother. Harry had 5 brothers and 5 sisters (including Lillian, who died as a toddler), spanning from Morris, born around 1887, to Julius (known as Manny), born in 1908. Harry and David were the sixth and seventh children, respectively, born to my great-grandparents Joseph Schwartz and Gussie Goodman.

I searched for Harry’s siblings’ birth certificates as a genealogical record. The oldest, Morris, was born in Hungary and I haven’t been able to locate his birth certificate. Dora, Shirley (also known as Sarah), and Ann were born in New York City in 1890, 1892, and 1893, respectively. I’ve been unable to find these three siblings’ birth certificates. Therefore, I’m basing these birth years on information reported in the 1900 U.S. census and in Joseph’s 1913 petition for naturalization.

I was able to obtain images of the birth certificates for my grandfather (see my most recent blog post “Grandpa’s Birthday Mystery”) and his 6 remaining siblings. I had the most difficulty locating David’s certificate. The information about the record I found listed on familysearch.org showed his mother’s maiden name as Jennie Klien, so I had originally dismissed that, knowing his mother was Gussie Goodman. A couple of years later, I was able to view this actual birth certificate online.

I studied it carefully and realized it was most likely David’s birth certificate. Here are the reasons:

1.      The date of birth on the certificate (December 10, 1898) matches the date given on Joseph’s petition for naturalization. David’s wife Estelle’s petition for naturalization gives that same date of birth for her spouse. It is also the birth date on David’s World War I military service record and his World War II draft card.

2.      The home address, 85 Goreck [correct spelling is Goerck] St, matches the family’s address from the 1900 U.S. census (as well as the address on Harry’s 1897 birth certificate).

3.      His father’s name was Joseph whose occupation was a tailor.

4.      The number of previous children (7) and number now living in all (7) are as expected for David compared to those numbers for his siblings.

5.      The surname spelling of Swartz rather than the expected Schwartz didn’t bother me because I had already found that spelling used on some of his other siblings’ birth certificates.

So I’ve concluded this is indeed David’s birth certificate. But that leaves us with the very odd, unexpected name of Jennie Klien identified as David’s mother. The birth certificates I have for 6 of the other siblings list the mother’s maiden name as some form of Gussie Goodman/ Gutman (Sam’s is also a bit odd, citing his mother as “Gustav Goodman”). It is highly unlikely that David’s mother was someone other than Gussie Goodman. His World War I draft card gives his nearest relative as Gussie Schwartz and his marriage certificate lists his mother’s maiden name as Gussie Goodman.

I can only deduce the person who completed the certificate, shown on the form as Lena Weiss, recorded the wrong given and maiden names for the mother. She may have accidentally copied the name Jennie Klien from another child’s birth certificate she had previously just completed. I’ve seen a similar error on a marriage certificate where I’m certain the maiden name of the groom’s mother was erroneously listed for the bride’s mother, as well. 

I’m not surprised when I find errors made by enumerators on census records, or by informants on death certificates. But it’s surprising and disappointing to see such a blatant error on an original birth certificate. I wonder if Joseph and Gussie submitted a correction, but I haven’t been able to locate a corrected certificate.

Grandpa’s Birthday Mystery

My paternal grandfather, Harry Schwartz, was born in New York City. Our family celebrated his birthday on July 25. In 1978, we had a big party celebrating a couple of graduations, my father’s 50^th birthday, and my grandfather’s 80^th birthday. This meant Harry was born on July 25, 1898.

As I began my genealogy research awhile ago, I looked through my deceased father’s papers and uncovered this “Certification of Birth” for “Haris Swartz” stating he was born on August 1, 1897.

This obviously caused much confusion and generated many questions. Was this really my grandfather’s birth record? Maybe the information wasn’t copied correctly from his birth certificate? I could understand that his given name may have been Haris and that his surname was misspelled. But that birth date was the real shocker. It just didn’t make any sense.

I dug further and found his actual birth certificate which does look like the correct birth certificate for my grandfather, according to the parents’ names and the home address. The name Haris is interesting in that it never again appeared on any of his official or unofficial records. And his surname was never again recorded as Swartz – always as Schwartz [I’ve located birth certificates for 6 of Harry’s siblings and 2 of those also show the surname spelled as “Swartz” (others are “Schwartz”)]. Still, these discrepancies are not that surprising. But that birthdate ….

I did some more digging and found Harry’s birthdate listed as July 25, 1897 on his 1918 World War I draft card as well as his father’s (Joseph Schwartz) 1913 petition for naturalization. An even earlier record was the 1900 U.S. census which listed the residents’ month and year of birth. Harry’s was listed as July 1897. However, his 1942 World War II draft card listed his birth date as August 1, 1897. So confusing!

Well, all of the records have one thing in common – the birth year is consistently 1897. And that year makes more sense than 1898, because his brother David Schwartz was born in December 1898! 

One place I did see Harry’s birthday listed as July 25, 1898 was his grave stone. Of course, that information was provided by Harry’s son (my father) Sidney Schwartz, so although it indicates when we all observed his birthday, it’s not really evidence of Harry’s actual birth date. 

During a conversation with Dad in 2006, he said his dad (Harry) thought his birthday was really in August and that his birth certificate may be wrong. Well, it’s looking like both he and his birth certificate were correct and for some reason at some point he started commemorating July 25, 1898 as his date of birth. It was actually his father who gave the July 25 date at least as early as 1913, but I can’t find any explanation for 1898 in place of 1897. I guess that will always remain a mystery.

More Bunds Than I Realized

Early in my genealogy research, I became fascinated with my Bund ancestors, as I kept finding more and more of them in the U.S.! I previously only knew about my great-grandfather Morris Bund and that he had a brother Fred who married Ethel. Soon I discovered Morris and Fred’s father and mother (Herman Bund and Betty Ralis) both immigrated to the U.S. in addition to several siblings I was not aware of. 

The first to arrive in the U.S. was Morris’ sister Mali Bund who emigrated from Romania via Havre, France, arriving in New York December 7, 1902 at age 19. Eight months later, Mali married Julius Ackerman. She resided in various parts of New York City until her death in 1955. 

Their sister Adele Bund, also from Romania, was next to immigrate. She arrived in New York June 5, 1904 at age 18 after having lived in Liverpool since November 1903. Adele married Frank Berkowitz in 1916 but tragically died in childbirth in 1919, having lost 2 other children soon after they were born in 1916 and 1917. 

Morris Bund arrived on June 22, 1904, the same month as Adele. I wonder why the two siblings did not travel together. The manifest lists Morris as Moses, his age as 36, that he previously lived in Liverpool for 3 years, and he was born in Austria. Morris was already married to Tillie Schneider but she didn’t immigrate to the U.S. until 1905 along with their two children (one of whom was my grandmother Lillian Bund). Morris lived in New York City until his death in 1924.

Morris Bund and family, c. 1920

Morris and his siblings’ father, Herman Bund, was born in Lemberg, Austria (now Lviv, Ukraine) in 1844. He emigrated to the U.S. via the S.S. Teutonic arriving at Ellis Island on January 5, 1905. Herman previously attempted to emigrate on the S.S. Majestic which arrived in New York on December 16, 1904, but it appears he was sent back to Liverpool because he had scarlet fever. Prior to emigrating, Herman resided in Liverpool for 12 months where he may have lived with his son Morris. Herman lived in NYC until his death in 1911. 

Siblings Gussie (“Golde”), age 21, and Jacob (“Jakale”), age 26, traveled together from Bucharest aboard the S.S. Carpathia, departing from Fiume and arriving in New York on February 26, 1906. Gussie married Morris Pudis in 1915 and she lived in NYC until her death in 1960. Jacob married Ray Leibowitz in 1912 and lived in New York until his death in 1961. 

Herman’s wife Betty arrived in New York at the age of 55 on July 24, 1906 aboard the S.S. Potsdam. Her previous residence was Bucharest, Romania and she sailed from Rotterdam, so apparently did not stop over for a brief stay in Liverpool as her husband did. She traveled with Aron Bund, age 16 and Abraham Bund, age 11. I have not been able to find any further information about these two presumed sons of Herman and Betty. Betty lived in New York City until her death in 1921. 

After Mali arrived, her siblings and parents all listed her or her husband Julius Ackerman on the manifest as the person they were planning to join, except Betty listed her husband Herman. 

Learning about these additional siblings of my great-grandfather -- Mali, Adele, Jacob, and Gussie -- has enabled me to uncover numerous more cousins. We all descend from Herman Bund and Betty Ralis. 

Note: A Mystery 

My great-grandfather’s brother Fred Bund’s origin remains a mystery. One of his descendants told me he was born in Romania but he claimed he was born in the U.S. (New York). Records show he was born between 1892 and 1898. In that his parents, Herman and Betty immigrated to the U.S. in 1905 and 1906, respectively, Fred’s birth place is most likely Romania. But so far, I’ve been unable to find a ship manifest or naturalization record for him or any other record showing a birth place other than the U.S. 

Fred Bond

My research continues ….

Union Members

My dad, Sidney Schwartz, was a proud dues-paying union man. His father, Harry Schwartz, probably had a strong influence in that he, too, was a union member. Harry’s occupation was an electrician in New York City and he was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for at least 50 years. He received a pin as well as a (gold?) watch engraved with “Presented to Harry P. Schwartz by Local Union #3. 50 years loyalty in the IBEW 8-11-73.”

Harry entertained his family with stories about some of his more interesting jobs as an electrician. One I remember is him working high up on the Verrazano bridge as it was being built. According to Wikipedia, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world when its construction was finished.

Construction on the bridge began in 1959 and was completed in 1964 during which time three men died in falls. Workers walked off the job for four days, demanding safety nets. Their demands were met and afterwards the safety nets caught and saved three more workers. [https://bklyner.com/25-facts-verrazano-narrows-bridge-bensonhurst/] Perhaps Harry’s labor union, IBEW, played a role in the negotiations. Here’s Harry with his pals at what looks like a construction site where they were working.

Sidney’s occupation was a printer. He started out working at The Washington Post, from 1955-1963. During the remainder of his career, he was a federal employee at the Government Printing Office in Washington, DC where he worked on the Federal Register, as well as other publications. He, too, received his 50-year membership pin from his union, which was the Communications Workers of America/ International Typographical Union.

Dad earned many awards during his 30+ years at GPO, including Award for Superior Service in 1968 and Special Achievement Award in 1974 and 1978. He held the position of Group Chief in 1990. Dad was also a member of UPIGA – Union Printcraft International Golf Association. He enjoyed many trips with his union golf buddies.

Their unions likely provided Harry and Sidney better wages and benefits and enabled them to work under more favorable conditions. As a federal employee with the Department of Health and Human Services, I’m represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. I didn’t fully appreciate the benefits of that representation until recently. NTEU negotiated with HHS to ensure employees’ safe and fair return to the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m grateful for labor unions and their efforts to safeguard our rights to decent working conditions with fair wages and benefits.

Happy Birthday, Mom – A Tribute

Today Mom would have celebrated her 91^st birthday, so I thought I’d share a few facts, stories, and photos to commemorate the occasion.

Florence Gold was born January 23, 1931, in Brooklyn, New York, to Tillie Siegel and Morris Gold. She was the youngest of 5 children. She was very close to all of her siblings, but had a special bond with Harold who was closest in age to her (after Rose died in 1958). Rose was born in 1922, Harold in 1921, Rae in 1918 and Sid in 1916. So Mom was truly the baby in the family.

Florence with brother Harold, c 1944

Mom often reminisced about her adventures with her good friend Elaine. Elaine’s family was wealthy and they employed a maid who would take Elaine and Mom to the movies and elsewhere. Unfortunately, Mom started smoking cigarettes when she was 15. Her siblings were not happy about it, but they helped hide her smoking from their parents.

Florence (front) with friend, c 1940

Mom’s family moved around a lot, but stayed in the same general area of Brooklyn. When she was a teenager, they ultimately moved to an apartment building on the corner of Ocean Parkway and Ditmas Ave. This is where she met Dad (Sidney Schwartz) who was living in the same building with his family. Mom graduated from Prospect Heights High School in January 1949 and she and Dad became engaged a few months later and got married in 1951.

Florence, high school, 1949

In the mid-1950s, Mom, Dad, and my oldest brother Matt moved to Silver Spring, MD. Mom’s sister Rose and brother Harold were living there at the time. Their mother Tillie lived there for awhile, as well. My brother Jeff was born, the family moved to Rockville, then I was born. Mom became close, life-long friends with our neighbor, Eleanor (Ellie) Munson. 

Florence with Ellie, c 1980

For many years, Mom worked as the bookkeeper at John Ligon, a window and floor coverings store in Bethesda. She enjoyed the work and friendships with her coworkers. Before her job at John Ligon, she had a few other part-time jobs – one was selling Amway products. For awhile, she was involved with the Jewish War Veterans Ladies Auxiliary.

Mom had many hobbies. She crocheted, knitted, danced in Jacki Sorensen aerobics classes, and played bridge and tennis. But best of all, Mom loved to read. She read the descriptions of new books that were in the Washington Post each week and put a hold on the ones that sounded good from the Aspen Hill public library. At times, she belonged to the Book of the Month Club.

Mom loved babies, especially her grandchildren! She loved holding, talking and reading to, and playing with them and making them laugh. They were her greatest joy. Happy birthday to an amazing mother and grandmother – kind, funny, caring, dedicated, and supportive, and loving.

Florence with 1st grandchild Kacey, 1984

Happy Anniversary Florence and Sidney

 

Sidney Schwartz's photo album/scrapbook

Today is my parents’ anniversary – they were married 68 years ago. So here is their story, in honor of their special day.

 

When Florence Gold and Sidney Schwartz were teenagers, they lived in the same apartment building on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. Mom liked telling the story that when she saw Dad in the building, she said “I’m going to marry him one day!”. They began dating in 1946 when she was 15 and Dad was 17.

 According to the photo album/scrapbook Dad made, the two of them spent time at nearby Coney Island and Prospect Park in 1946 and 1947 and they took trips to upstate NY and Washington DC in 1948.

 

 

Then, as Dad writes in the scrapbook, “the little-big step”:

 



Possible engagement portrait, 1949

In 1949 there was a trip to Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey and 1950 they took another trip to DC with friends.

At last, they were married on February 10, 1951.

 

 A honeymoon in Miami Beach, Florida, followed.

 

Life as a married couple began with Sidney’s service in the Army. They were together in El Paso, Texas most of 1952 where Sidney was stationed at Ft Bliss. By then (September 1952), Florence was pregnant with her first child. They were back in Brooklyn when baby Matty was born in January 1953, then they were apart for a brief time while Sidney was stationed in San Francisco where he was discharged from the Army at the end of 1953.

 

Florence and Sidney relocated to Maryland where they had another son and a daughter. Sidney spent most of his career at the Government Printing Office in Washington DC, working the night shift, while Florence worked part-time as a bookkeeper at John Ligon in Bethesda.

 

Family portrait 1967

 

Over the years, they had many friends with whom they enjoyed playing bridge (including duplicate bridge), dining, and traveling. Florence and Sidney loved to travel -- their most memorable trips together were to Hawaii for their 25^th anniversary and to London.

 

Florence and Sidney were married for 38 years, till Florence’s death from breast cancer December 7, 1989 at the age of 58.

 

Family Lore – Fact or Fiction?

I’ve always “known” my Grandma Tillie (Segal) died from stomach cancer (in 1965). I’ve shared this information with family and in my health history forms. Some of my cousins were also informed that Tillie had stomach cancer. So imagine my surprise when I found out she actually had ovarian cancer. I recently obtained a copy of her death certificate which identifies cause of death as “generalize metastasis ovarian carcinoma.” I was flummoxed!

 

 

But I shouldn’t be surprised. Since beginning my genealogy research about 10 years ago, I’ve discovered other discrepancies between my family lore and facts found in documents.

My mom, Florence Gold, told me many stories about her mother, Tillie Segal, as I was growing up. These included the “fact” that Tillie immigrated from Austria when she was 15 years old and was accompanied by one of her brothers. I was able to find her listed in the 1913 SS Amerika ship manifest where her age was recorded as 17 and former residence noted as Austria. However, it appears she was traveling alone yet was joining her brother in New York City. So the story was partially true.

 

Line 5: Tillie as Taube Sigal, age 17, last residence Sokolowka, Austria
 

 

Line 5: Tillie joining brother Maidel Sigal (likely Morris)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One family story I will likely never prove or disprove is that Grandma Tillie had 14 brothers, was the youngest child, and the only daughter. Mom was only able to list 4 of the brothers’ names and so far I’ve only been able to track down one of those (Morris).

Family lore may not always be 100% factual, but there are usually some snippets of truth which are often good leads for further research.