Stanislaus Rosemarynoski is my great grandfather. He was born in Poland. Now, Poland did not exist as a country when he came to America. Germany had invaded from one side and Russia invaded from the other. So various papers list his home country as Russia, with him speaking Polish. Basically, he was Polish in Russian occupied Poland. After WW I, Poland became a country again when the map was redrawn after the war. Various online sources provide a brief or lengthy history of Poland.
Different sources give different information on his date of birth. Marriage records and passenger lists indicate a birthday of 7 January 1897. The 1920 US Federal Census suggests 1889, while the 1930 US Federal Census suggests 1890 (this discrepancy is common with Census records). His WW II draft registration card and his death certificate indicate 7 January 1890. And his Naturalization records indicate 7 January 1891. When a date is given, 7 January is consistent. But the actual year various from 1897-1891.
He arrived at Ellis Island in New York in 1909.
The passenger list for arrival in New York is below in two images.
Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls. NAI: 6256867. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=nypl&h=4033150053&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=1068 accessed 5 Mar 2018.
Stanislaw Rosemarynoski is on line 2 of the passenger list. He sailed on the SS President Grant, departing from Hamburg on 8 May 1909 and arriving in New York on 20 May 1909. His age is 21 years, placing his date of birth about 1888. His father is listed as Wojceck Rosmaryinowski, and his final US destination is Norwich, Connecticut to visit a friend named Jan (?) Karnocki.
His Marriage Record is in a post about his wife, my great grandmother, here.
His immigration papers are below, in three images as three pages.
United States of America, Stanislaw Rozmarynowski Naturalization File, Declaration of Intention (Superior Court of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 24 April 1937), US Department of Homeland Security, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Genealogy Program 1200 First Street NE Washington, D.C. 20529-2206, File No. 4359, obtained by sending hardcopy request. Declaration of Intention to become a US Citizen.
The blank areas are “redactions” from the Federal Government. Their opinion is to provide privacy for anyone such as children who may still be living. I disagree with this position, as the document is used for genealogy, so any time someone redacts genealogical information, it can be rather frustrating.
From this document, we can see he waited a while before he filled out Naturalization papers. His Declaration of Intention to become a US Citizen didn’t happen until 1937. His petition for Naturalization to become a US Citizen didn’t happen until 7 Sept 1939. Why is this date important? World War II started on 1 Sept 1939, just a few days earlier, when Germany invaded Poland. Germany had invaded Poland years earlier, and at the end of WW I the map of Europe was redrawn, and Poland was “taken” from Germany and became the country of Poland again. How did WW II start? Germany wanted Poland back, and invaded with blitzkrieg tactics. There were certainly other considerations, but Poland was invaded by Germany on 1 Sept 1939. Within a week, Stanislaus filed to become a US Citizen. Perhaps he was afraid he would be shipped back to Poland, away from his wife and family, to a country that was now embroiled in war, and that he hadn’t lived in for over 30 years. He actually becomes a US Citizen a few weeks later, in December 1939.
Later in WW II, more men were required to register for the draft, even if they never served. There was something called the “old man’s draft” for men born between 1877 and 1897. In 1942, this would have been for men aged about 45-65. They never were drafted, but they registered nonetheless. Below is the draft registration card for Stanislaus, with two images.
Ancestry.com, U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 (Lehi, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com, The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) for the State of Massachusetts; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System, 1926-1975; Record Group Number: 147; Series Number: M2090.
This document gives us some more information, including name of wife and date of birth. This confirmed we have the right person.
The second page, or back side of the card, indicates he had red hair. This was information very important for my mother! Her father had jet black hair, but she had some aunts with bright red hair! Now she knows the red hair did not come in a bottle, but was inherited from their father Stanislaus.
Finding such documents is part of the fun of genealogy!