Charles, I have very little information on my grandfather other than what I have been able to find out in the last year. I'm not even sure yet in what city in New York my father was born. Early 1900's was very difficult for German people. My grandfather died in 1917 and escaped some of it, but my father wasn't so lucky. Anti German sentiments were very high during the first world war, and the second as well. My daughter even had a neighbor child who wasn't able to play with her because her mother was half German, and she was born in 1967. If it hadn't been for my mother, I wouldn't have known how bad it was in the early 1900's. I too had kids in school in the thirties who wouldn't play with me because I was half German. Of course, the other half was Irish, and that wasn't much better. Reading some of the old newspapers is an education. I mentioned that all his old cigar making tools were destroyed, but other things that they were advised to destroy were lost. My Grandfathers German Military discharge papers, their marriage license, Birth records. All destroyed. The only thing they didn't destroy was his citizenship paper, and they were told to hang on to that just in case. In case what, I don't know. Pre WW1 was no picnic for those of German descent, and WW2 was no better. My father's sister who died before I was born wouldn't even admit that she was born in Germany. What I have done though, is write an essay about the German side of my family (I need to do another for the Irish side!). I did it originally for my cousin who's last a memory of his mother was the hearse driving down their driveway with his mother's body in the back. He was six and his brother was 3. It now has to be revised and expanded with the records I have been able to get from Germany in this past year. I have been hoping to get a reply from the Oneida Vital Records office before doing a revision. Dorothea -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Charles Page