Amanuensis Monday: Declaration of Intention for Philip Jacobs (1889-1954)

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

Today I share the Declaration of Intention to Naturalize for Phillip Jacobs, the husband of my great grandfather's sister, Kate Newmark Jacobs. 

---

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DECLARATION OF INTENTION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NORTHERN ILLINOIS DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

My full, true, and correct name is PHILLIP JACOBS, formerly known as PHILLIP PINONZEIG

My present place of residence is 5808 N. Kenmore Avenue

My occupation is Tailor

I am 51 years old

I was born on Dec 10, 1889 in Lomza, Poland

My personal description is as follows: Sex male, color white, complexion fair, color of eyes blue, color of hair brown, height 5 feet 4 inches, weight 160 pounds, visible distinctive marks mole on left arm, race White, present nationality Polish.

I am married; the name of my wife or husband is Katie; we were married on 2-6-1913 at St. Louis, Mo. he or she was born at London, England Sept 19, 1896; and entered the United States at New York on about 1910 for permanent residence in the United States, and now resides at with me.

I have two children; and the name, sex, date and place of birth, and present place of residence of each of said children who is living, are as follows:

Nettie, F, born Dec 15, 1914

Harold, M., born July 27, 1916; both born and reside in Chicago, Ill.

My last place of foreign residence was Lomza, Poland.

I emigrated to the United States from Bremen, Germany

My lawful entry for permanent residence in the United States was New York under the name of Dzeikops (Jacobs) Philip on Dec 4, 1911 on the SS Prinz Frederich Wilhelm

Since my lawful entry for permanent residence I have not been absent from the United States, for a period or periods of 6 months or longer, as follows:

I shave not heretofore made declarations of intention.

Philip Jacobs (Signature)

Subscribed and sworn to (affirmed) before me in the form of oath shown above in the office of the Clerk of said Court, at Chicago, Illinois the 17th day of June, anno Domini 1941. I hereby certify that certificate No. 11-283115 from the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization showing the lawful entry for permanent residence of the declarant above named on the date stated in this declaration of intention has been received by me, and that the photograph affixed to the duplicate and triplicate hereof is a likeness to the declared.

Hoyt King

Clerk of the US District Court

(Illegible Signature) Deputy Clerk

Notes: 

1) I have seen surnames spelled in interesting and unusual ways. Dzeikops for Jacobs might take a prize, but it makes sense. The is no J sound in the Hebrew or Yiddish alphabet. Biblical names that normally begin with J in English (like Joseph, Jacob, Jonathan) actually start with the Y sound in Hebrew. For someone to try to spell Jacobs phonetically without a J, Dzeikops is fairly accurate. 

2) As I indicated last week, the date of birth for Kate is incorrect. Philip had the year of birth for their daughter Nettie/Natalie off by a year. It appears that after Philip filled out his forms, Kate's forms were "corrected" to match his on both Natalie's birth and their marriage year. Even though Kate likely was correct on both counts.