Family Historical Documents

Historical Family Documents


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Family documents help us to understand the immigrant experience. Ship manifests, Naturalization forms, Census Forms, Birth and Death records, Marriage Licenses, Passports, Obituaries, Newspaper articles, Historical Books (e.g. Wartime records and accounts), Social Security forms, Divorce records, and Family Oral Histories . . . and many more sources and documents help construct our family’s heritage.

Displayed below are some of these documents that not only are part of our specific family histories, but often help us construct missing portions of family history.

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Russian Internal Passport

Louis TUROW was issued a Russian Internal Passport in 1913 which he used to leave Russia.

His passport image will take you to the Louis TUROW family page which contains related information and translation.

Louis Turovsky internal Russian Passport

Louis Turovsky internal Russian Passport

Lena Miller’s (MELAMED) Polish Passport page 1 of 2

The French says
Passport for Melamed, Chaya Leja
Profession is left blank.
Nationality Jewish.

Russian_Passport_LenaMelamed-Miller_part1

Lena Miller’s (MELAMED) Polish Passport page 2 of 2

Date of birth: 1888
Height: medium
Face: oval
Hair: Chestnut
Eyes: Grey
Mouth: Normal
Nose: Normal
Going from: Warsaw To: America
This passport is good until February 4, 1921

Russian_Passport_LenaMelamed-Miller_part2

Ship Manifest – 2 Pages
Chaja Leja MELAMED
(Lena MILLER)manifest Lena Melamed page 1

manifest Lena Melamed page 2

Naturalization form A-2214 Application for a Certificate of Arrival and Preliminary Form For Petition For Naturalization

Lena Miller 1941 Application
Select image for larger view of 3 page document (PDF)

NatFormA2214_lena miller 1941

Certificate of Arrival – for Naturalization Purposes

Ship manifest forms often have ‘strange’ notations and numbers that were added long after arrival.  These are mostly notations correlating the immigrant’s Petition for Naturalization; their arrival had to be verified.  When verified a certificate, similar to this was issued:

Certificate Of Arrival - Ruben CHARGO 1916


Alien Registration Form (1918)

Sam Chargo’s Alien Registration Form
Alien Registration Form - Sam CHARGO. 1918

On the same day that Congress declared war on Germany, President Woodrow Wilson announced a set of regulations, controlling the activities of “alien enemies.” The regulations specifically identified “alien enemies” as German males, fourteen years or older, who resided in the United States but who had not been naturalized as citizens. In November of 1917, the President issued a proclamation which required alien enemies to register with the Department of Justice and carry a registration card on their person at all times. By 1918, alien women were also required to register. Those who failed to register were threatened with internment. Indeed, more than 6,000 alien enemies nationwide were placed in internment camps between 1917 and 1920, many of whom failed to register. The registration requirement was but one on many official and unofficial anti-German activities that occurred during World War I on the home front.

In February 1918, the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety passed the Alien Registration Act.  This legislation ordered all unnaturalized aliens to register and make sworn declarations about themselves, their immediate family members, and their property holdings.  This act allowed the Commission to gather information on all non-citizens during World War I, but it also encouraged many immigrants to start–or finish–the naturalization process.  Each “alien enemy” was issued a registration card with photograph and identifying information, which he was required to have on his person at all times. He also needed permission from the local registrar to travel or change place of residence. Certain areas were also off-limit zones as deemed by the military. The Armistice was declared on November 11, 1918, and all regulations on enemy aliens were lifted December 25, 1918.

Russian Draft Papers

Louis TUROW was drafted into the Russian militia. The draft related records he kept offer insight into what many of our relatives experienced while in Russia.

His draft record image will take you to the Louis TUROW family page which contains related information and translation.

russian_draft_turovsky_1272pg1

The DUMA VOTERS LIST 1906 records . . .

are the registration lists of those eligible to vote for indirect representatives to the last constitutional body in Russia before the fall of the old regime in 1917, the Duma. The Registration records are from the first decade of the 20th century (i.e. 1900 to 1910). The records are called the Duma voting list records. The image will take you to more information.

MALAMED  Borukh Gdalev

Postcard Russian Miliary Draft.

Chiam Lieb Shargorodsky (Hyman Louis Chargo), one of Lena Miller’s (nee Shargorodsky) brothers sent from Russia to his parents, Sam & Tillie Chargo. Chiam Lieb arrived in America in 1914 with his brother-in-law Ben Miller (Beryl Melamed). They both were in the Czar’s army. The image will take you to a translation of the card.

post-card-front_Hyman_Chargo-c1912-Russia

Article: History of Russian DraftBerel Melamed (Benjamin Miller) was drafted into the Czar’s army around the turn of the 20th century, serving in the band.  He deserted the army. Perhaps he deserted shortly before getting married in Kiev in April 1913, and departing Europe for America in July 1914 – at the beginning of WWI.  Ben never spoke of his military service except to say he saw his first airplane.  He did not have fond memories of his family; perhaps this had something in part to do with his being drafted.  His family was well off and this article leads one to the potential conclusion that he might have been the family ‘donation’ to the draft calls. The image will take you to an article about the Russian draft process and history.

Ben Melamed (Miller) in the Czar's army c1912

Marriage License 1893

Philadelphia Charles GOLDENBERG married
Sophie GARFINKEL
Marriage License issued 1893 Philadelphia

Philadelphia marriage 1893 Sophia Garfinkle Charles Goldenberg2

Marriage Certificate 1913 Russia

Ben Married Lena in 1913 in or near Kiev, Russia. Ben left for America in 1914; Lena joined him in 1920. This marriage certificate is a copy of the original.

MILLER marriage_certificate1913_BenLena

Social Security Form 5

This form often contains parental information. This is Ben Miller’s form which was issued in 1936 shorty after the Social Security System was enacted.


Social Security Form5_BenMiller1936

Morris & Tillie Chargo Passport

 The original, which is yellowed and fragile, is in fairly good condition considering the age. The two pages are duplicates, the first in Ukrainian, the second in French. Stamps include one from Virbalis, Lithuania from December of 1923 and one from Dover from near the same time.

Passport N° 5821.

The bearer of the present passport, citizen of the Socialist Soviet Republis of Ukraine, Shargorodska Gila Gersheovna, 60 years old, and her son Moses, 15 years old, are travelling toAmerica.
This passport is valuable during one year (12 months). On the strength of that and for a free passage, the passport is delivered with the apposition of the seal of the Commissioner of the People to the inner affairs.

Kiev, September 1923, 21th.

 Morris Chargo Passport page 2 MorrisChargoPassport-1