Ancestry Chapter 29
1910 - Michael Norek’s Strange Naturalization Papers, Alfons
Arrives
(click documents to see details.)
Michael Norek's Strange Naturalization Papers, October, 1910.
Michael Norek is finally naturalized on October 7, 1910, but his papers are truly strange. See the Certificate of Naturalization below. The document lists the "children at home" as Cecilia 18 (wrong, 20), Stephen 16, Anton 14, Annie 12, and (no way the following) "wife Helen 47 yrs resides with husband."
Wife Helen died in 1906, and wife Antonia Helen is only 22. No mention of their two-year old Michael Jr. So why is Grandpa Norek trying to pass off Antonia (Antonia Helen) as Helena, and hiding Michael Jr. and Antonia? I find nothing in the immigration and naturalization laws that could explain this. There must be some worry, but what it is?
I think I found the answer to these odd papers! Its below, in three parts. As Agatha Christie once said, presume the result that happened was the result intended.
Part 1 - Michael has been in the U.S. since 1892. That’s 18 years. And the first-batch children are all thoroughly American. None has ties anymore to Eastern Europe. Its time for Michael to take the big step. Its time to give up his Prussian citizenship. Or maybe job-wise this has become a necessity.
Part 2 - But what about Antonia? She has been here only six years. She still has many ties to Eastern Europe. That is where her family is. She isn’t even 22 yet. And the naturalization laws do have a significant impact here. If Michael becomes naturalized, so does his wife. Antonia will lose her Prussian citizenship.
Part 3 – The solution to the Michael/Antonia dilemma is for Michael to become a citizen and confuse the issue of who is his wife. Should later Antonia want to say she is still Prussian, she can say Michael was married to Helena in 1910. After all, she was certainly not 47 in 1910 and her name is not Helen. If instead being a U.S. citizen someday is fine with Antonia, she is a citizen. She was his wife in 1910 and automatically became a citizen. Her middle name is Helena. And the curious naturalization papers – just clerical errors, harmless errors.
Back to the papers, Michael Norek is 46 (correct), is 5' 7" (I understand this is correct from others and it fits my early memories) and lives at 2144 W. 23rd Place, Chicago (correct).
Remember that height. Michael Norek was five foot, seven inches tall. Its important later.
Alfons Tibus Arrives New York, 1910.
On October 7, 1910, Antonia's older brother Alfons arrives in New York from Dirschau, West Prussia, on the ship Pennsylvania. This is the same ship on which Antonia arrived.
The ship’s manifest lists Alfons as a baker, which he was. His closest relative is listed as Michael Tibus, who we know is his father. Alfons is 23, going on 24. Download of Ship's Manifest from the www.ellisisland.org website. The entire page can be read, but not downloaded. Alfons is listed at #11 near bottom of this download.
Alfons has not seen his sister Antonia for six years, since 1904. In the genealogy put out in 2004 I wrote that he will never again see the family he left behind. Wrong. Alfons went back to visit his family a number of times. Recollections of Alfred, one of his children, confirm that the family remains where they were, into the 1050s at least. And that place remains where it was of course, but it is no longer part of Prussia. It is part of Poland. (More later.)
Select by years
