What's In Your Wallet?

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks : Week 7 - Unusual Source

This year, 2021, I'm participating in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks genealogy challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. This week's entry was tough. For the most part I use the "usual' sources - census; birth, marriage and death records; newspaper articles - that sort of stuff. But then I thought about the more personal sources that shed light on a person's life, or help along the research in other ways.

As far as unusual sources go, I've already created a whole series of posts about Wallace B. Dixon and his cars using the complete collection of driver's licenses and registrations that he saved in a scrapbook.  I haven't added the two final vehicles, a Rambler and a Chevy Nova which would take us from his first car in 1924, up to 1979 when he voluntarily surrendered his license. 

But that got me to thinking about the other things people keep in their wallets, and what we can learn from them. Certainly those licenses and registrations provided a good bit of information: address, age, personal appearance, type and age of vehicle. They were useful in creating a timeline of addresses, and helped with dating of some photos that pictured those cars.

Another type of item from my grandfather's wallet are ID cards. 

This card, issued by the US Coast Guard at the Port of New York tells me that in 1942, just a few months after the United States formally entered World War II, my grandfather was working for Standard Oil as a Shift Breaker. I've written about that previously, here. It also gives his place and date of birth and a physical description. It's wonderful to find a photograph on the card as well, as Wally was more often behind the camera than in front of it.

US Coast Guard ID issued to Wallace B. Dixon, April 28, 1942

Coast Guard ID with photo and thumbprint.

Eighteen years later, he was carrying this card in his wallet.

ESSO Bayway Refinery ID Card,
showing that Wallace B. Dixon had logged
28 years of service to the company.

But 1960 minus 1942 only accounts for 18 of the 28 years years of service mentioned on the retiree's ID card. According to a more "usual" source, census records, he was working for an unspecified refinery as early as 1930. Of course, that would make 30 years between 1930 and 1960, but it is entirely possible that the two earliest years were with a different company. According to the 1930 Elizabeth Directory, there were a number of oil producers and refineries in the area.

Oil Producers and Refineries in
 the 1930 Elizabeth Directory, Price & Lee, Co., Publishers.

So, two unusual sources - the ID cards- and two very usual sources - census records and a city directory - help to fill out the story a bit. I'm glad that my grandfather kept all the bits and bobs from his wallet. It's added information and insight to our family history.