My children's uncle, Robert Frame, applied for a United States passport in 1921. Included in his passport application is a letter from his boss, Charles A. Liddle, in support of his application. This passport application was obtained on Ancestry.com. It's not unusual for an employer to write a letter of support, but having the vice-president write one is slightly atypical.
There's a minor coincidence with Mr. Liddle that suggests he should be researched further. Normally I don't research the high level executives at companies where relatives worked. However, Robert Frame's maternal grandmother's maiden name was Liddle and while not rare the name is not that common.
I've researched Liddle a little bit before, but didn't make too many inroads and frankly got sidetracked with other things. A recent search for him on Genealogybank located a newspaper clipping from Seattle in 1961 that indicated Liddle died in January of that year.
The 1940 Census for Charles A. Liddle indicates that both he and his father were born in Pennsylvania. The 62 year old is enumerated as a railroad company executive at 235 Linden in New Trier, Illinois (Chicago area), living with his wife Kathryn and two servants.
Charles A. Liddle's own passport application from 1919 (located on Ancestry.com) indicated that his father, William Liddle was born in Pennsylvania.
I'm not certain this means I should drop my search for a connection (Robert Frame's parents were natives of County Cumberland in England and immigrated to the United States in the 1860s). There are two reasons why in this case, the search probably should be continued:
- Robert Frame's family lived in Pennsylvania for a short time after their immigration.
- Robert Frame's mother had relatives of her father--Watsons--living in Pennsylvania when they immigrated. It is possible that more than the Watsons were involved in this chain of migration.
Note: in my own research, I'm completely citing all the sources used. In blog posts, there's enough detail that those with an interest can obtain the originals. And, as always, sources are always completely cited in Casefile Clues where I usually write these research scenarios up in more complete detail.
Liddle's draft card from World War II is somewhat unusual and I'm working on a blog post on that as well.
Frustrating my search is the fact that there was a Charles Liddle who lived in the Rockford, Illinois, area.
Stay tuned. We'll have an update when more has been located. In the meantime, never ignore the potential possibility that your relative's boss might have somehow had a connection to him besides employment.