Category Archives: Genealogy

Secret location (Roscoe)

: February 28, 1943 envelope

: February 28, 1943, p. 1

: February 28, 1943, p. 2

Letter transcription:

Feb. 28, 1943
Lt (jg) R. S. Yegerlehner MC USNR
A.P.O. 43
% Postmaster
San Francisco Calif

Dear Mother,

When writing use the above address until further notice. The Navy 224 would be OK but this may be a little faster. I’ve been able to write almost every day this past week but before that several days there just wasn’t a chance.

Our location is very much a secret so we will just try to keep it that way. I still have the job of helping to censor the mail and we are more particular than before.

My pay accounts were left at the

[page 2] old place so no money will be drawn to be sent home by check or money order as before so pay day is just another day and most of the days are rainy days with sunshine in between.

This location will keep the guessers busy for some time – seems at first they had fun guessing so they can start all over again. When things do open up that was more can be told I can write more interesting letters but for the time being it’s just words to let you know we are able to write each day.

Hope these letters are getting thru OK
Lot of Love
Daddy

______________________________

History of APO 43

I had a little difficulty tracking down APO numbers but eventually I found them! APOs were traditionally the postal numbers used by the Army. If you need to find a World War II APO, here is a good place to find one:
http://www.7tharmddiv.org/docrep/Location%20of%20APOs%201942-1947.pdf

And thank you to the 7th Armored Division for posting this 1947 pamphlet from the Army Postal Service.

©2014 copyright owned and/or written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2014/01/19/secret-location-roscoe/

Between sick bay and laundry (Roscoe)

4 Replies

: February 27, 1943 envelope

: February 27, 1943, p. 1

: February 27, 1943, p. 2

Letter transcription:

Feb. 27, 1943
Lt. (jg) Yegerlehner
Navy 224
% Fleet P.O.
San Francisco Calif.

Dear Mother,

News – It didn’t rain last night but it has been off and on this A.M. There doesn’t have to be many clouds but it just opens up and showers.

So far today I have had nothing on but shorts & shoes and have been busy between sick bay and laundry. All we have to do is get them good and soapy and then hang them on the line and the rain water washes out the soap – we hope.

So far I have been lucky about the lizards. One fellow put his shoe on and felt something squirm-

[page 2] ing inside and then realized there was a lizard present with his foot. Others have been awakened at night by them crawling on them. They are only about 6 in long and look like a sanke [snake] with legs. Thin tail are a bright green. The ants are the most abundant and can be found anyplace and any size. I suppose they are hungry and are doing only what nature intended for them to do – eat.

As I told you before – write the folks because my stamps are very few in number and I want to make them go as far as possible. I hope you are getting these letters for I doubt that our connections are too good, but here’s hoping.

Lots of Love
Daddy

P. S. Don’t worry we are doing fine – beard and everything.

©2014 copyright owned and/or written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2014/01/18/between-sick-b…laundry-roscoe/

Much more like spring (Gladys)

3 Replies

Letter transcription:

MRS. R. S. YEGERLEHNER
KENTLAND
INDIANA
2-27-43

Dear Daddy – After the blizzard yesterday is rather warm and sunny today – much more like spring. Had the tires checked today. Have to have that done at regular intervals now and today was last day for this first period. Blanchard wouldn’t charge me for the service – said you had been good to them. I am expecting Floyd & Ruth tomorrow on their way home from Mutchler’s. They haven’t been here since Jan. 2 so will be able to see how much D. has grown. I have him sitting up in his buggy now. He got tired lying in his bed. Had peas & carrots & milk at 2 P.M. and has been pretty well satisfied till just now. Pauline Hiestand gave me a picture of Joe Robert. I will send when I send more of D. J. R. is 15 months old and Pauline can’t get his bottle away from him. He is so big. They had his curls cut off and it makes him look very boyish. I went to class meeting at Mullen’s last night. The first one I had attended since Christmas but I think I need to get out once in a while. The boys go to the show once in a while but not often. Mark went to see Arabian Nights last Fri. It is nice enough for him to skate today. John of course is listening to the Opera and I am too because he has it tuned in here in the living room. It is so nice I may take D. out for a little airing. The schools here are having a measles epidemic but so far they haven’t closed. Eleven are out of the 3^rd grade. If either J. or M. get to feeling bad I am going to shut them up in one room and keep D. as far away as possible. So far they both are feeling fine, so will hope they escape. Will write a long letter tomorrow and get in all the fine points of home life. We are all well and finances are OK but the uniform money hasn’t come.

Love Mother

©2014 copyright owned and/or written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2014/01/17/much-more-like-spring-gladys/

Hotter Than Blue Blazes (Roscoe)

1 Reply

: February 26, 1943 envelope

: February 26, 1943, p. 1

: February 26, 1943, p. 2

: February 26, 1943, p. 3

Letter transcription:

Feb. 26, 1943
Lt. (jg) Yegerlehner
Navy 224
% Fleet P.O.
San Francisco Calif

Dear Mother,

To begin with don’t forget to inform Mark that I remembered about his birthday and also you he should have the dollar I sent him some time ago. It really seems like ages ago – guess it’s because of the moving around.

Lately all I’ve been wearing is a pair of pants and shoes because of the hot rainy weather. Rains every night and gets hotter than blue blazes in the day time.

I haven’t written anyone but

[page 2] you since leaving Noumea because of stamp shortage. I brought about 2 doz. along but they all stuck together and so again stamps are scarce. We thought we had a rugged time where we were before at first but we were living in the lap of old Lady luxury and didn’t realize it.

The conditions in general here are good – Food OK but mostly out of cans. All out of cans I should say and we eat out of plates on our laps bathe in the ocean – write only in day time on our knees because boards are a thing only in past memories.

[page 3] I haven’t shaved for four days but I do brush my teeth and all in all feel fine and happy but I don’t care for this type of camping but in time thing will get better.

Don’t be too disappointed if the mail isn’t too regular but I’ll still try to do the best I can. Dr. W & Dr P are all alone as far as I know but I wouldn’t trade with them even at that.

Well, have work to do
So solong
Love Daddy

P.S. I’ve written every day the last 3 days

©2014 copyright owned and/or written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2014/01/16/hotter-than-blue-blazes-roscoe/

The Professional vs. the Bully

20 Replies

[Editorial note: I generally do not focus on issues within the genealogy community but use this blog to share my family’s history and writings. A situation occurred this week that I really felt I needed to address, or in other words, vent.]

A simple request to transfer two memorials on Find A Grave turned into something more. I going to assume that anyone reading my blog will be familiar with the website Find A Grave. But in a nutshell, Find A Grave is an all volunteer cemetery transcription database. People from all over the world submit cemetery transcriptions. Others will volunteer to take photographs. Overall my experience with Find A Grave has been a fabulous one. I have even transcribed a few cemeteries myself. I currently manage between 2,500-3,000 graves. If you are the first person to upload information about a gravesite, you are the default manager for the deceased person’s profile. Should someone come along who is a close relative, they can ask you to transfer the memorial to their care. Find A Grave has pretty strict guidelines about who is considered a close relative. Some members are equally as strict. Others, like myself, are pretty lax. I didn’t transcribe a bunch of graves of people I don’t know just so that I can horde them. I do it so the information will be available online so that their families can find them. My general policy is I will transfer any grave that is not my direct relative or one of my “pet” families (These are generally branches of my family that I have been actively researching).

So earlier this week, I was contacted about transferring two memorials. I declined to do so, explaining that I was a direct descendant. This fact made the other contributor and me distant cousins. Ordinarily, this would have been great. We all love to find distant family. However, the tone of the response immediately set up my hackles. Would I send him a GEDCOM of all the information I had on this family that I was willing to share? He also took it upon himself to explain what a GEDCOM was. (As a rule, I do not look kindly upon people who talk down to me – so mistake number one on his part). He had plainly read my profile and my policy about transferring memorials. Did he miss the part about being a professional genealogist? I replied that I was currently preparing articles on this branch of the family for publication and I could not share anything at this time.

Now, in the past I have been quite generous with my sharing amongst relatives (and the gentlemen did count as a relative). I used to have a free tree posted on Worldconnect with oodles of sources and transcriptions. Many of my friends will tell you how many countless hours I have spent climbing their trees. I am a very generous person when it comes to genealogy. It is my passion and I don’t care who I am researching. Just give me a puzzle to solve and I am on the trail. Something happened on the way to becoming a professional genealogist…I realized that some people don’t follow the genealogical proof standards; they don’t care and they don’t care who knows it. Some people feel that anything posted on the internet is free for them to take without writing a proper citation or asking permission to take it. Some people have no understanding of the concepts of intellectual property, copyright and fair use. Now I admit that I have not always been so diligent but never to the extent that I would tell someone “I do not share your concern for protecting your work.” This gentleman actually wrote that in his last email to me. I am quoting him directly. And this ladies and gentlemen of the jury is why I took down my free tree from Worldconnect last year, and why my tree at Ancestry remains private and accessible to only the closest of friends and family.

The worse part about this whole exchange is that the gentlemen made no apologies for his mindset AND he tried to BULLY me into sharing my tree over the course of three separate emails. When I told him I wouldn’t share, he gloated about combing through 31 other public Ancestry trees to find out the information anyway. The sad thing for me is that because of the free tree that I had posted for years and my willingness to share with distant cousins, I no longer control aspects of my research. The people who know how to cite sources correctly have given me credit (and I always get a warm fuzzy feeling seeing my name in a citation), but once that information gets saved from one tree to another and so on, the original source is lost. I can get over the loss of my intellectual property but how many possible connections have I lost with distant cousins as a result?

For me, this experience was about the fact that I felt bullied. I was berated for not sharing. Sometimes when people keep pushing, your natural tendencies revolt. I generally share my work on a case by case situation. I felt the gentlemen thought he was entitled to my work, and that made me uncomfortable. I wish there was a way to solve this conundrum. But I really don’t have any answers for this one. As for my personal research, my Ancestry tree will remain off limits indefinitely.

©2014 copyright owned and written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2014/01/16/the-professional-vs-the-bully/

Yet another winter storm (Gladys)

5 Replies

Letter transcription:

MRS. R. S. YEGERLEHNER
KENTLAND
INDIANA
2-26-43

Dear Daddy – Today is Mark’s big day – 10 years old. I gave him a dollar and his new finger-tip over coat. – John gave him 25¢ for stamp & Mother gave him a pr of mittens she knitted. I will bake a cake for him this morning. He wrote you a v-mail last night thanking you again for the dollar you sent and gave his grades. John also wrote. It is cold today and a small blizzard is on. The air is full of snow. Not much on the ground yet. Hope this finishes off winter weather. The tulips are up and I didn’t get them covered so they might get nipped. I told you in yesterdays I think the tax will be around 200⁰⁰ but the rate is higher this yr and exemptions lower. However I won’t have to pay it now and have enough bonds to cover it and last half of ’41. Didn’t get my (our) Jan bond bought so will have to get two before the end of this month (by tomorrow). So far have 14 – $25 and 6 – $50’s. Couldn’t rent a safety box – they are all taken. I think Ruth & Floyd will be here sometime Sunday. They are at Ruth M’s now. The papers just came but haven’t had time to read them – I hear the stork is going to fly over the Bartlett’s – don’t know when but probably be a few months yet. Soon be time to bathe David. He slept from his 6 P.M. bottle til 7:15 this morning. The pictures we took of he & Jimmy Ed were fair – will send them in next bunch of pictures. The storm has let up some but the wind still blows.

Love Mother

©2014 copyright owned and/or written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2014/01/15/yet-another-wi…r-storm-gladys/

Another short note (Roscoe)

2 Replies

: February 25, 1943 envelope

: February 25, 1943, p. 1

Letter transcription:

Feb. 25, 1943

Dear Mother,

I hope these are getting to you. This I think is 4 since I stopped writing regular. Maybe 5 but anyway it helps to get a note out now and then.

My clothes were molding so had to take them out for an airing but with rain most of the time there isn’t a chance to dry anything.

Everything is OK and on the up & up.

Love Daddy

Lt (jg) Yegerlehner
Navy 224
% Fleet P.O.
San Francisco Calif.

P.S. Write the folks my stamps are far & few between

Measles and cough drops (Gladys)

9 Replies

Letter transcription:

MRS R. S. YEGERLEHNER
KENTLAND
IND
2-25-43

Dear Daddy – It is cloudy and looks like we will have another snow. Was pretty cold last night but warmer now. Got Mark a new winter coat so he had a chance to wear it this morning. It is all wool. The reason I got it now is because there may not be any all wool coats next fall. I’ll take his picture in it and you can see it. It is lighter in color than I wanted but didn’t have much choice. I went to Agnes’ office to go over the tax and looks like with all deductions we will still have to pay around 200⁰⁰. The exemptions are lower & rates higher this year. However 1942 may be cancelled but will have to file. David has a habit of crying around noon while the boys are home – that is if they don’t play with him. There are measles in school and I want the boys to stay away from him so we can at least take that much precaution. It may not do any good but it will be an effort. These measles are the old fashioned kind. Sammy Washburn has them. I saw Howard yesterday and he had a sample cough drop you had given them and said it relieved Sammy, wanted to know what they were but I didn’t know. They are hetagonal [sic] in shape & you told them they had claroform in them. Lucile & I walked with our babies yesterday but it is a little chilly to go out today. I am going to keep D. away from school children and will have to stay away from town to do that. Mark is planning big for his birthday tomorrow. Will bake a cake.

Love – Mother

On the up and up (Roscoe)

1 Reply

Letter transcription:

Feb 24?
Lt. (jg) Yegerlehner
Navy 224
% Fleet P.O.
San Francisco Calif.

Dear Mother-

I think this will find its way I hope – It’s about the first letter in one week but it’s the best that can be done under the circumstances. We are well happy have enough to eat but not much time and facilities to write.

I haven’t received any of

[page 2] your mail since Jan 25 and really don’t expect to for some time.

We have plent of rain, lizards, ants, bugs, worms, flies and anything else you might mention.

I’ll be writing more regular as time goes along so don’t worry – everything is OK. And on the up & up.

Love Daddy

Point rationing March 1943 (Gladys)

2 Replies

Letter transcription:

MRS. R. S. YEGERLEHNER
KENTLAND
INDIANA
2-24-43

Dear Daddy – Our weather today is neither hot or cold, a little cloudy and some sunshine – acts like might snow or rain before evening. If it doesn’t rain will take David out for an airing. Lucile had Jimmy out yesterday. His rash is better but she is giving him lactic acid now. We took some pictures of D. and the rest of us. The next reg. letter I will send two or three. That is the only disadvantage to this kind of mail. Got our new ration books. So far the only foods rationed in the new book are canned fruits, juices & vegetables and frozen foods, also dried & dehydrated fruits. For March each person is allowed to use 48 points. One lb dried prunes takes 20 points – one can (14 oz) peas takes 13 points – those are the higher point foods – Sauerkraut takes only 4 points for a lb. We will have to figure out what we need most before using our points. Got Mark a coat for next winter. It is marked “reprocessed wool” so probably some of the cuff pants that were cut off were used to make it. It is a finger-tip and dark red. I was afraid if I waited until next fall I couldn’t get 100% wool. Our finances are ok but not much surplus now – after I get the uniform money will pay off the policy loan. Am still buying bonds. Agnes hasn’t reported yet on the tax so can’t report on it today. Mark is ready to go back to school & take this. Measles are abroad – just hope we don’t have to have them here. No symptoms as yet.

Love Mother