Dog Passports and Leaving Servants in China

Sometimes one just simply cannot make things up.

In the process of searching for items on GenealogyBank while working on a separate blog post, I located a reference to a visit George and Marie Drollette made to her hometown of Evansville, Indiana, in 1921. The article contained an interesting subheading:

"Five Passports for Dog"

In explaining the subheading further, the paper states that "in speaking of the difficulties of entering the United States, Mrs. Drollette remarked that she had to have five passports to get her dog over."

Five passports for her dog? I'm inclined to think that she's referring to some sort of permission for the dog, but I'm doubting that she obtained canine passports.

Mrs. Drollette also lamented that she was unable to bring over her Chinese servant due the apparent amount of time the Drollettes were staying in the United States.

I'll have to look for Mrs. Drollette's passport and see if any dog is mentioned.

Stay tuned.

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GenealogyBank may contain similar items on your relative.

Initials and No Names in Hawaii

One never knows where a reference to a relative will be located, as this item from The Hawaiian Star in 1901 indicates. 

The person of interest is George Drollette and in 1901 he was travelling with United States Minister to China Conger. Drollette is mentioned at the very end of the article as being Conger's secretary. 

The Hawaiian Star, July 24, 1901, Page 3; digital image, Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov)

Two quick points about this piece--don't tie yourself too closely to geography when searching newspapers and remember that first names may not be included in all references to your person of interest. Drollette is only listed with his initials and Conger's first name is never mentioned at all and the name of Conger's son is also omitted.

The Chinese Name of George Drollette

We've blogged about George Drollette before, but a search for him on Ancestry.com located "Certificate of Registration of American Citizen" which had not been located before.

I have seen George's several passports before and most of the information on this registration was repetitive of information contained on those records. However, there was something written in Chinese which has been circled in green in this first image.

I was not certain what the Chinese meant, but further down on the document it became clear. It was his Chinese name.

 A little backtracking on the  Ancestry.com site assisted me in determining the actual source of this material--the National Archives. George's "database results" screen from  Ancestry.com makes this clear (it was also reasonably clear on the first screen shot shown in this post as well):

What are these records?

The ARC ID for these records is 1244186.  Viewing that entry on the National Archives website  (the "Archival Descriptions Search" page for 1244186) provided more detail about the creator and location of the original records, which is partially included below:

Consular Registration Certificates, compiled 1907 - 1918

ARC Identifier 1244186 / MLR Number A1 548

Textual Records from the Department of State. Division of Passport Control. (08/13/1918 - 01/16/1926)

National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (Civilian), College Park, MD

Series from Record Group 59: General Records of the Department of State, 1763 - 2002

The Scope and Content portion of the Archival Descriptions Search for 1244186 also provided background information on the records:

"This series contains certificates filed at U.S. consulates and legations by U.S. citizens intending to stay in a particular country for a considerable period of time. Each certificate contains the name of registrant, consulate at which he registered, his date and place of birth, general travel data, names and places of birth and residence of his spouse and children, and the registrant's current place of residence. An "Affidavit to Explain Protracted Foreign Residence and to Overcome Presumption of Expatriation" is part of the file for registrants who had resided outside of the United States for a long period of time."

Summary

Ancestry.com frequently adds new material. It is difficult to keep on top of it all. While I do have concerns about the compiled data, images and databases such as these can provide the user with new information. 

It won't always be your relative's Chinese name however. 

No citation here?

Our general citation philosophy on Rootdig:

I'm a strong believer in citations and in my work (and in Casefile Clues) I cite material in the spirit of Evidence Explained. Here on the Rootdig blog, I have a different philosophy. Posts made here have enough information that the reader could locate where the material was obtained.

Lemonade is Popular in China in the 1920s

 

Date: Saturday, August 12, 1922  

Paper: Evansville Courier and Press (Evansville, IN) 

from  Genealogybank.com

It has been a while since I wrote about George Drollette and his exploits in Asia, but this 1922 reference from an Evansville, Indiana, newspaper, located on Genealogybank.com gave a little additional detail on their life in China. If I was unaware that Mrs. Drollette's brother was still living in Evansville, that clue would have been helpful as well.

It also mentions that the Drollette family had visited in Indiana "last summer." If I had not already searched passport and passenger lists that reference to their apparent visit would have required additional research. Given the newspaper was dated August of 1922, we will assume that the reference is to a visit in 1921.

The article discusses the apparent popularity of lemonade in China and a letter from a Chinese employee to his apparently non-Chinese employer.

One just never knows what one will find in the newspaper.