Over this past Fourth of July weekend, I traveled back to the Cleveland, Ohio area for the holiday and my brother's wedding. I had some free time on the morning of the fifth, so I dragged my husband to the Cuyahoga County Archives (my mom watched the kids). I had never been there. From the website, I had a rough idea of the types of records available; admittedly, a lot of their holdings were for time periods before my ancestors even immigrated to America. The property tax duplicate records helped me learn some stuff about some of the homes my great-grandparents owned and lived in, but that is a subject for different blog post.
The Archives has naturalization records, such as Declarations of Intention, Petitions for Naturalization, and Oaths of Allegiance. I had already collected these for most of my great-grandparents, but not for George Bellan, one of my maternal great-grandfathers. We found his papers; from his Declaration of Intention, I learned exactly where and when he entered America, on which ship he traveled, and where he left from. This document also gives me his home address in 1915, which I previously did not know. Great stuff, right? Everything most family history researchers need to know to continue their searches. But then I saw this in the physical description section:
The Archives has naturalization records, such as Declarations of Intention, Petitions for Naturalization, and Oaths of Allegiance. I had already collected these for most of my great-grandparents, but not for George Bellan, one of my maternal great-grandfathers. We found his papers; from his Declaration of Intention, I learned exactly where and when he entered America, on which ship he traveled, and where he left from. This document also gives me his home address in 1915, which I previously did not know. Great stuff, right? Everything most family history researchers need to know to continue their searches. But then I saw this in the physical description section:
"Lame in right leg." I read that as I stood in the parlor of the big mansion where the Archives are situated, and, I am telling you, I almost teared up right there. If I were to fill out one of these forms, I would have to write the exact same thing (except for my left leg). I obviously did not know this about him; I only have two photos of him, and, while he IS seated in one of them, there is no visible indication that he is disabled or deformed. When he filled out this form, he was 41 years old, only 7 years older than me, so how did he become lame? Was he hurt in an accident or a fall? Was he born with a degenerative condition like I was? (It is unlikely he had the same medical condition as me; KT syndrome is not genetic - it results when a fairly common gene mutates at a certain point in embryonic development.) Did it cause him much pain?
In any case, I don't know, I just now feel connected to this person in my family tree who I never met, a man who passed away when my mom was only three years old. Here is a person I would like to talk with about my day-to-day physical struggles - someone who would surely understand what it is like to have to do work around the house and raise children when, some days, just walking around is a struggle. So, here's to you and me, George; put us together and we've got two normal legs ;-)
©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
In any case, I don't know, I just now feel connected to this person in my family tree who I never met, a man who passed away when my mom was only three years old. Here is a person I would like to talk with about my day-to-day physical struggles - someone who would surely understand what it is like to have to do work around the house and raise children when, some days, just walking around is a struggle. So, here's to you and me, George; put us together and we've got two normal legs ;-)
©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
