Confirmed Assumptions

Last week, we talked briefly about hunting for a person with "old
country" roots. I am pleased to share the followup finds.

As you will recall, a volunteer from Random Acts of Genealogical
Kindness responded to my pleas for help in Washington State. This
volunteer located the obits for our man in question and his wife.

His obit provides his birth and death dates. His obits tells us he
did live in San Francisco before Washington State. His obit is the
icing on the cake. We had found a passport application from 1894
with our gent's name and particulars. I am now certain that this one
is the right one. Yes, we've confirmed our assumption in this case.

His wife's obit provides the marriage date and location. The rumors
we had heard were only off by a county or two and only one year.
That's pretty good.

The next step, should my friend decide to pursue her German roots, is
to contact Washington State and get a copy of the marriage license.
That could provide us with the location of her birth in Germany as
well as the correct spelling of her maiden name.

We could also check with federal government for her naturalization
papers. They should have a copy of them, and if not, contact
Washington State for them.

As for our gent, I suspect he had kin in St. Louis as that is where
he was naturalized. We could send off for his naturalization records
as we know the date of naturalization and the court in which it
happened.

I still have one assumption that is not confirmed. I suspect our
gent met his future wife when he returned to the Rhein area of
Germany for a visit in 1895. She was a young teenager at that
point. She comes to America when she is of age and marries him. I
suspect this could have been an arranged marriage. If we find her
naturalization papers, they could go a long way to proving or
disproving that particular theory. In the meantime, it makes for a
nice story.

Use Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness when you need only one or
two items in a particular spot. Their volunteers can ask for
reimbursement for parking, copy costs and 50 cents per mile. It's a
great service. Just be sure to thank the volunteers.