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In relation to yesterday’s post about my Jamaican-born great grandfather, I wanted to show you his “Declaration of Intention” to become a citizen of the United States from 1915:
In general, it seems like pretty standard stuff.
Name: David Powell
Age: 38 years
Occupation: Fireman
Color: White
Complexion: Fair
Height: 5 feet 7 inches
Weight: 142 pounds
Color of hair: Brown
Color of eyes: Brown
Other visible distinctive marks: Scar on chin
Place of birth: Jamaica, British West Indies
Date of birth: September 11, 1876
Current residence: 342 29 St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Emigrated from: Liverpool, England
Vessel name: Civic
Last foreign residence: Liverpool, England
Allegiance renounced: George V, King of Great Britain & Ireland
Port of arrival: New York
Date of arrival: On or about the ___ day of May, 1903
But the last part is interesting:
“I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to permanently reside therein: So help me God.”
So, the two dealbreakers were anarchy and polygamy.
Those were the elements the US wanted most to keep out in 1915.
I guess they’d be disappointed to know that the hit reality show Sister Wives has been running strong since 2010.
50 Happens 
That show makes me feel sooo icky and gives me the heebie jeebies yet once in a blue moon I get sucked into watching an episode!
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Not gonna lie – I’ve seen it too! 😉
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That really is cool! I love stuff like that. That’s pretty neat you have it
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Thanks for reading! I’m lucky my mom made me a big binder of all her genealogy research. She was at it for years.
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Old documents are so interesting. I really like the penmanship. It just has a good flare. I’ve never seen that show before. I always wonder if people realize that shows like that will be memorialized on the internet forever…
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I noticed the penmanship too. I was trying to figure out if he was a lefty, like my mother. I was also wondering how he got the scar on his chin. If I were a fiction writer, I might make up a story about an epic bar fight in Liverpool. But at his size, he probably avoided those!
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Yes! That scar was on his chin! When I first read that I thought how interesting there needed to be descriptions like that. That totally would make a good character in a story.
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