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DIANE L. RICHARD EXPLAINS HOW YOU CAN USE ONE TO FIND THE OTHER — AND VICE VERSA Passenger Records and Naturalization Records

WITH THE PLETHORA of websites YLISTARO, FINLAND  PROBABLY A his life in the US, I would see if he that contain passenger records SWEDISH PORT  COPENHAGEN, was naturalized in that court, and online, it’s easy to presume that DENMARK   PEABODY, if so, learn what the paperwork finding your ancestor’s arrival in MASSACHUSETTS said about when they emigrated the US or (or departure My maiden name is Acey. It is a and on which vessel. from Europe) will be a breeze! pretty unusual name. Armed with I still remember that phone Unfortunately, that’s not always that and knowing that my father’s call. The clerk was searching the true. family was from Finland and lived naturalization files and she said: Due to spelling variations, the north of , I set out to find the “We don’t have an Acey, but we large number of ports, records that family’s passenger records. This do have a Matti Kujanpää a.k.a. have not survived and other fac- was back when they weren’t online Acey.” That was the day that I tors, a supposedly straight search at and one visited a NARA regional learned that my unusual surname Ancestry, http://www.ancestry.com/; archive or a Family History Center. wasn’t even the original unusual Ellis Island, http://www.ellisisland.org/; When I looked at the records surname! Somewhere between Castle Garden, http://www.castle for Boston and New York (the most emigrating in February 1900 and garden.org/; AncestorsOnBoard, likely port for an early the census taken on 2 , http://www.ancestorsonboard.com/; Finnish emigrant), I could not find the name changed from Kujanpää etc., may not reveal your ancestors. Acey (or Esi as it was spelled in the to Acey. Though you may have From the naturalization found naturalization paper- papers, I learned that the work. family came over on the SS Or, you may have Thingvalla in 1900, sailing found a passenger record, to New York from know your ancestor was Copenhagen. It was then naturalized, but cannot easy to find the family in find the naturalization the Ellis Island passenger paperwork. You may have records and their passport your ancestor living in the records (via the Institute of US or Canada, but cannot Migration, http://www. find either a passenger migrationinstitute.fi/index_e record or a naturalization .php), though the record of record. You are certain that their departure from at some point they arrived, Finland does not appear to though they may not have have survived. The family become a citizen. appears to have originally My great-great-grand- sailed out of Hanko, parents, for example, never Finland, probably to became US citizens, though Certificate of Citizenship for Matti Acey, born in Finland, Gothenburg, Sweden or they lived here for more and became a naturalized US citizen on 23 March 1933. another Swedish port and than 30 years. My hus- then to Copenhagen, band’s great-grandfather lived in 1900 census). Even recognizing Denmark. the US from 1906 until his death in how it could be misspelled, search- This shows how finding natu- 1926 and never became a citizen. es were not successful. From vari- ralization paperwork may jump So, what do you do now? ous censuses I knew that Matti start your search for a passenger Acey and family were listed as AL record. An additional bonus was HOW NATURALIZATION PAPERWORK (Alien) from 1900 to 1920 and PA that I subsequently discovered JUMP STARTED MY RESEARCH (First Papers Filed) for 1930 indicat- that the daughter independently Before I answer that, let me first tell ing that he had started the natural- became a citizen in the 1950s, you about one of my earliest ization process. meaning that her file — at the genealogical research break- In what I considered a desper- height of McCarthyism — was throughs 20 years ago. It was ate move at the time, I contacted very full compared to the few because of this success that I now the Essex County Courthouse. My papers of her father’s file. And, it search out naturalization paper- thoughts were that since Matti included a translation of a page work, regardless of whether I have lived in Peabody, Massachusetts from their original passport. This found passenger records. (Essex County) for the duration of document certainly confirms my

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Passenger Records and Naturalization Records humble roots as it states: “the Arrived at: New York for someone who was naturalized bearer, Mathew, son of Isak Ship: Moltke in Massachusetts after immigrating, Kujanpja, a landless peasant”. Date: on or about 9 December 1905 probably via New York. The port If I hadn’t been able to find a name given is not one that you find NATURALIZATION PAPERWORK LEADS passenger record once I had this on the lists of available ports. TO PASSENGER RECORD type of detailed information, I Let’s start at the beginning. Now I will answer the question of would have been very frustrated. From the Juneau County what do you do now by focusing Though it was a little harder than () Library I learned that on some of the families that I have expected, as 1905 should have been mentioned in the Juneau County researched and what was found 1904 and his wife (listed as “Declaration of Intentions” was: (or not) in terms of passenger Michalina Owezarch) with the chil- Name: Terrence Kelley records and naturalization records dren actually did not arrive until 12 Birthplace: Ireland and how one can be used to help August 1905 on the Etruria which Date: 1853 you find the other. Given the com- sailed from Liverpool and not with Entry port: Whitehall plexity of these records, this article Antoni (listed as Anton Owczarik). Date of entry: June 1849 will touch upon a few useful tools In addition, the different passenger Declaration: Mar. 14, 1853 and hopefully give you enough records indices each spelled his With this information, one fig- ideas to help you jump start your name differently: Owczarik (Ellis ures that Terrence was naturalized research. in Wisconsin after entering The following is an the country at Whitehall. example of a situation Whitehall? where the naturalization After several inquiries, I paperwork did help in ulti- still had no idea what mately finding the passen- Whitehall was referring to. ger record. In my experi- We do know that ence, it’s more likely that I Terrence and family origi- find either the passenger nally stopped in record or find the natural- Wilbraham, Massachusetts ization paperwork, and not for a few years and had a both. few children there. This would seem to indicate KALISZ, RUSSIA  HAMBURG/ that Boston or New York LIVERPOOL  NEW YORK  would have been the likely Petition for Citizenship, dated 12 January 1906 for Antoni Owczarek, filed at Superior Court of Cook County. port of arrival. The Owczarek family emi- The actual naturaliza- grated just before 1907. Eventually Island); Owczarck (Ancestry, port tion paperwork for Juneau County they went by the name Ozark. of New York); Owczarek (Ancestry, is held at the University of From cemetery records, I port of Hamburg). This slowed the Wisconsin-Stevens Point as part of knew that the patriarch of the process down a bit. But, the passen- the Area Research Center, family who immigrated was ger record for Michalina and chil- http://www.wisconsinhistory.org Antoni Owczarek/Ozark and his dren was also found. /libraryarchives/arcnet/stevens.asp. wife was Michalena. I also knew Even with a naturalization The paperwork did clarify the from the census that they were record, some passenger records issue of Terrence’s port of immigra- Russian Polish, naturalized in 1915 remain elusive. tion, though it still perplexes me and by 1930 were using Ozark. Here are two recent examples that the Wisconsin archives has a It was assumed that they came of research where the passenger naturalization document that was through New York or Boston. An record was not found initially, the created in Hampden County, initial search of the passenger naturalization paperwork was then Massachusetts. records to those two ports did not found, and the passenger record This document states: reveal the Owczarek family. still remains elusive. The first exam- “Terrence Kelley of Wilbraham Fortunately, there is a Soundex ple is from the mid-19th century was born in Milton in the County index to naturalizations for Cook and the second is from the turn of of Clare Ireland, is now 33 years of County, where Chicago is located, the . At least finding age, he arrived at Whitehall in the and the name was unusual enough the naturalization paperwork pro- district of New York on or about that the case file was identified and vides another opportunity to learn the 24th of June 1849.” the documents acquired. more about the individual… some- Essentially, Terrence ended up The key details from the peti- times. being part of the massive Irish tion for citizenship, as far as finding emigration wave (1846-51). Now, I Antoni’s passenger record, are: IRELAND  NEW YORK  know that the reference to Birth date: 9 May 1870 MASSACHUSETTS  WISCONSIN Whitehall indicates that he came Birth place: Kalisz, Russia Take this example of a naturaliza- through New York. With the Sailed from: Hamburg, tion found in a Wisconsin archive research I had done, which

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Passenger Records and Naturalization Records revolves around Castle Garden institute.fi/, I learned that there and Washington. and Ellis Island, I learned that pre- was a passport issued for the wife Connecticut can easily be elim- 1855 immigrants were let out of Gabriel, Hedvig Latvala, and inated from the list since in the wherever the boat docked. And, their children (Latvala is her maid- 1900 census, Gabriel states that he this reference was ambiguous en name). It was issued in Vaasa is AL, indicating that no natural- enough in that there is a Whitehall Province on 22 November 1892, ization paperwork has been start- at the southern tip of Champlain number 3443. Her husband, ed. Given that they only lived in Lake in upstate New York where Gabriel Thomasson Latvala California for a few years, I decid- steamers from Canada would (Gabriel is the same as Kaappo), ed to look into naturalizations for travel or at one point, the barge got his traveling document on 5 Snohomish County, Washington. office was temporarily located at April 1890 (number 689). Note: Paperwork was found for the foot of Whitehall Street near This means that he traveled before Gabriel and it’s only the “final” the Battery at the southeast end of his son was born in December paperwork. There is nothing about . Could the latter be the 1890. which port(s) the family traveled Whitehall of this reference? They most likely traveled soon though. And, this means that the Even with this information, after they got their passports and passenger record has still not been the passenger record has yet to be went through Sweden and all by located. found. We know that Terrence had the surname Latvala. In preparing this article, I took a wife, Ellen. Whether she trav- another look at passenger eled with him and/or whether records since there are more they married in Ireland or the online and found this entry on US is unclear. An exhaustive Ancestry.com, which is a very search has not yet been carried good candidate. I found Gabriel out and at least the naturaliza- Latoada (I can see Latoada as tion paperwork provided some Latvala and the original passen- key data about birth place, etc. ger list seems to support this); Arrival date: 29 April 1890; 26 FINLAND  CONNECTICUT  years old; Finnish; Bremen to CALIFORNIA  WASHINGTON Southampton to New York; My second example is Gabriel Ship: Elbe. Thompson, actually born At FindMyPast, http://www. Kaappo Pauhu a.k.a. Kaappo findmypast.com, the correspon- Tuomanpoikka Pauhu, on 15 ding entry was not found. Only January 1863 in Alavus, Finland. the passenger list for those stay- He married in 1884 and had ing in cabins appears to be four children in Finland. In the available. 1910 US census, Gabriel is natu- The found entry is not incon- ralized and living in Everett, sistent with what I knew from Snohomish County, Washington. the passport. Now to find Here is his basic timeline. Hedvig and the children. December 1890: last child born in Finland Naturalization document for Terrence Kelley, OBTAINING NATURALIZATION 1894/1895: living in Connecticut born in County Clare, Ireland and arrived via RECORDS WHEN YOU HAVE A (daughter Aile was born there) Whitehall in District of New York. PASSENGER RECORD 1900 census: The family was Sometimes, researchers figure found in Placer County, California Unfortunately, they have not been that once they have the passenger 1902: son born in Washington found in the surviving Swedish record, there is no need to perse- Given that the time frame for passenger records. Kaappo Pauhu vere and obtain the naturalization emigration was pretty narrow, and appears to have become Gabriel paperwork. Given the examples I’m now talking the late 1800s, the Thompson before reaching the US that I have talked about and how odds of finding this passenger and he traveled under his wife’s mobile many of these families record seemed good. I even had maiden name (possibly they had were before settling, a passenger two names for Gabriel, his adopt- lived on her family’s farm before record only tells you part of the ed name and his birth name. emigrating and the change in sur- story. Even when combined with After some preliminary name could be consistent with census information, birth docu- searching of the passenger records that). ments, etc., there are still gaps in for the 1890-94 period brought no The passport information what we know about an individ- success — either from the US end places Gabriel in the US around ual and the naturalization paper- or the Finnish— a different 1890 with wife and children arriv- work would be beneficial. approach had to be taken. ing a few years later. This gave Whereas for the previous From the Institute of three locales to look for naturaliza- examples, the passenger record Migration, http://www.migration tion paperwork — Connecticut, could not be found, here are two

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Passenger Records and Naturalization Records

WEBSITES FOR PASSENGER RECORDS AND NATURALIZATION RECORDS Starting a new project involving naturalization • Finding US Naturalization Records and/or emigrants and passenger records? Check out http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/naturalization these websites: records.html • What Passenger Lists are Online? • Additionally, these NARA links give overviews on http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/onlinelists.html naturalization and immigration records, • Online Searchable Naturalization Indexes and Records http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/naturalization/ and http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/naturalization.html http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/

examples where the passenger learned from a Portland, Oregon not Joseph Herrle, on the passenger record is found, all clues point to Foreign Born Voter Registration record, it was the diary’s entries the individual being naturalized card that Jacob Grassmick states about which ship he traveled on to and yet no naturalization paper- that he was naturalized on 12 which port and in which year that work can be found. This shows November 1932 in Lincoln, allowed this passenger record to that naturalization paperwork can Nebraska – District Court. then be easily found. No naturaliza- remain just as elusive as passenger Nebraska? Let’s see where this tion paperwork has yet been found. records, and, as a researcher, you trail now leads! ideally would like both! CONCLUSION SELZ, RUSSIA  BREMEN, GERMANY I didn’t even talk specifically about BALTZER, RUSSIA  LIVERPOOL   BALTIMORE, MARYLAND  IOLA, those individuals who entered the BOSTON  MANITOBA  SHEBOYGAN KANSAS  SOUTH DAKOTA  US and migrated to Canada or COUNTY, WISCONSIN  MULTNOMAH MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OREGON those who entered Canada and COUNTY, OREGON Another case of an individual’s migrated to the US (the so-called Using the found passenger record, travel was helped by a diary that St. Albans crossing records) or did census records and other docu- was discovered in the possession the same via Mexico! That’s a topic ments, we can track Jacob of a descendant. Up until this for another article. Grassmick to all these locations and time, no passenger record or natu- As you can see, there are many yet have not found his naturaliza- ralization paperwork had been sources for passenger, immigration tion paperwork. Maybe he never found for Joseph Herrle. and naturalization records or clues did become naturalized. From the 1910 census, I knew to these records. The clues suggest 1911: Arrives in Boston that Joseph was naturalized, had how to locate the companion 1911 Canadian census: Manitoba arrived in the US in 1899 and was records. Given the frequent chal- 1912 & 1914: Children born in living in Portland (Multnomah lenges to finding passenger records, Canada County) Oregon. don’t overlook the information that 1920 US census: Sheboygan, I subsequently learned that you can learn from naturalizations, Wisconsin — listed as in the from 1902 to 1905, he served with and vice versa. Though some natu- country since 1916, indicating the Coastal Artillery at Camp ralizations, like that for Gabriel the probable move from Manitoba McKinley in Honolulu, Hawaii Thompson, told me nothing, the to Wisconsin after joining up in Iola, Kansas. paperwork for Terrence Kelley and 1930 US census: Sheboygan, Interestingly, when Joseph Matti Acey revealed a lot! Wisconsin — listed as PA enlisted, his paperwork was Sometimes, though one finds the 1961: Dies — Multnomah County, stamped “And that I am a citizen of naturalization paperwork, as for Oregon the .” At this time, he Terrence Kelley, the passenger list Working with the archives at had only been in the country three remains elusive. Don’t forget the the University of Wisconsin, years. The so-called small print says situations, like Joseph Herrrle, , which houses the natu- that they could add in case of an where you do find the passenger ralization records for select applicant for first enlistment: “And record and not the naturalization Wisconsin counties, including that I am (or have made) legal dec- paperwork, — though subsequent Sheboygan, at http://www.uwm.edu laration of my intention to become records strongly indicate that he /Libraries/arch/genie.htm, a search a citizen of the United States.” So, became a US citizen. And, what was undertaken for the naturaliza- that opens the door that Joseph did about Jacob Grassmick who was tion paperwork for Jacob. One not have to be a citizen, just plan to purportedly naturalized in would assume that he filed while become one. Nebraska while yet to be found liv- living in Sheboygan since the cen- Recently, it was revealed that a ing in that state? Every document sus gives a status of PA. A check of distant family member had a diary about an ancestor tells you some- “Wisconsin, Circuit Court written by Joseph detailing his thing — make sure to dig into the (Sheboygan County), journey. fascinating and often frustrating Naturalization records, 1851-1982” Using the information from the world of passenger, immigration did not locate a naturalization diary, I found the passenger record. and naturalization documents! record for Jacob. The search was complicated in that IG As this issue goes to press, I his name is listed as Herrle Joseph,

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