The 1940 registration
The Legal Genealogist is up to her eyeballs in the frenzy of the last day of the combined FGS2015-RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City. But it’s Saturday… a day for my family here on the blog… and I can’t leave this space vacant.
So here’s a teaser.
Did you know we had aliens among us?
And — better yet — we not only had aliens among us, they left records???
Take a gander at these two pages of an AR-2 form from the Alien Registration of 1940. And we’ll talk about these forms — and about the woman recorded in these forms, Martha Benschura — down the road. (And if you’re here in Salt Lake City, come join me at 4 p.m. when I’ll be speaking about Martha Benschura: Enemy Alien.)
Page 1, AR2 form, Martha Benschura
Page 2, AR2 form, Martha Benschura
I am old enough to remember the TV commercials in the 50’s every January: “Aliens! You must Register!”. I always envisioned little green men lining up at the Post Office….
I love it! Take pictures if you ever see one…
I have been searching in vain for that commercial online. I do not believe that I just imagined it…
I wish Daniel D. Ward would have left some records from PEI! I think he came on a space ship. OR he was one of the first in the 1804 witness protection program!
We all have ancestors like that, darn it!
I know this is pedantic but I do think we should be accurate – the document says her name is Marta-not Martha. 🙂
This one document is the single use of Marta as the spelling; her birth and baptismal records both say Martha.
I was an alien too! I wonder, if it is too early to order a copy of my own alien registration form and also naturalization papers?