Taking a Break

I have run into a time crunch and will not resume posting until sometime in mid-July.

Best wishes for a wonderful summer.

Fourth of July photo from www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/3689828045/.

The Elizabeth Ann Pugsley Hayward Virtual Scrapbook

Over the next few months, I will be posting a collection of materials about the life and career of Elizabeth Ann Pugsley Hayward. These materials will include photos, newspaper clippings, articles she wrote, information about her family and the people she worked with, information about the national political conventions she attended, information on legislation she sponsored or supported, and so forth. With these materials, I will be developing a time line of her life and at the end of posting everything will write a short Wikipedia entry about her life and career.

If anyone has any original materials about her life that I may not have seen, it would be great to see scans of photos or other materials that I could add to the collection for the benefit of all of her descendants. Genealogical scans should be generally be 300 dpi and I can use all the common formats (jpg, tiff, etc.). Toni has already sent a number of items that I will be posting, but different branches of the family may have additional materials. If you send me an email at the address on the right sidebar I can let you know what I do and do not have. Thanks!

Guest Post: The Big Table

After reading a post on Keepapitchinin: The Mormon History Blog yesterday about a sketch for a United Order community, I wrote a guest post on the experience of the Little Colorado Settlers with the United Order and, in particular, the communal meals.

You can read it here.

The Tanner ancestors involved with these settlements were Henry and Eliza Tanner (Joseph City) and Ove Oveson and his family (Brigham City).

You Have Mail...

Gammon Hayward and many other fine citizens of Salt Lake City neglected to call at the post office in 1853 to collect their mail. Perhaps you will recognize a name or two on this list.

Thanks, Toni, for sending this!

The Cripps Family Emigrates

Charles and Elizabeth Cripps emigrated to Utah in 1863 and 1861. Five of their children died at a young age and were buried in England. Four of their children emigrated to Utah (although it's not clear whether Frederick stayed there). Four of their children stayed in England, but at least one of them visited Utah many years later.

Here are some notes about each family member.

Father: Charles Cripps (1863)

Ship: Amazon

Wagon Company: unidentified

Charles Cripps' entry in the Pioneer Overland Trail database says that, "Evidence from emigration and church (Perpetual Emigrating Fund) records proves he traveled to Utah in 1863."

His biography by Ida Thayle Cripps DeWitt Smith says:

It was yet two years before Charles could get enough money to join [his family] in America. He sailed on the ship Amazon a capacity of 1600 tons, 4 June 1863, and arrived in New York City 18 July 1863. Destination: Florence, Nebraska. The ship was a church-chartered vessel sailed by Mr. Hovey, Capt. There were 882 persons aboard. William Bramall was president of the company. Charles was 68 years old. He was issued ticket #96 and he used 420 (some form of currency) from London account of the church’s emigration fund. The group he was with were from “Coventry.”

Charles Dickens, the great English novelist, was on that ship, the Amazon. Dickens described the ship at Liverpool Harbor, England. “A Mormon emigrant ship with more than 800 Mormon converts…in their degree, the pick and flower of England” and concluded with these comments:

What is in store for this poor people on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, what happy delusions they are laboring under now, on what miserable blindness their eyes may be opened then, I do not pretend to say. But I went aboard their ship to bear testimony against them if they deserved it, as I believed they would; to my great astonishment they did not deserve it; and my predispositions and tendencies must not affect me as an honest witness. I went over the Amazon’s side, feeling it impossible to deny that, so far, some remarkable influence had produced a remarkable result, which better known influences have often missed.

Here is another biography of Charles Cripps. Here is an article about the sailing of the Amazon.

Mother: Elizabeth Baker Cripps (1861)

Ship: Underwriter

Wagon Company: unidentified

Traveled with: daughter Emma Hodges and her family

Here is what her biography says about her trip:

She left from Liverpool, England, on April 8, 1861 at the age of 60 on the ship the "Underwriter" with her daughter Emma Godbe Cripps Hodges, her husband William Augustus Hodges and their oldest son. She left her husband Charles behind. It would be two long years later until she would be reunited with him in Utah.

Elizabeth was skilled as a nurse. This was a profession that the pioneers were thankful for many times. She was the nurse who delivered her daughter's baby in the wilderness outside Florence, Nebraska in July of 1861. The baby was named Florence because they were approaching Florence, Nebraska where they were to meet the wagons on the "Down and Back" teams from Salt Lake.

The trip to Keokuk, Iowa, was a very difficult journey for them. They had no wagon team so day by day; they walked by the side of someone else's wagon. Elizabeth had a vase that meant very much to her. It was her only possession from England. She refused to leave it behind. As a result, she carried this vase in the folds of her apron as she walked along with her pregnant daughter, Emma. The wagon master had told them that each person could only bring 20 pounds. This consisted only of food and clothing.

Child #1: Elizabeth Mary Cripps Spicer (1856)

Born: 7 May 1826

Died: 25 April 1898

Ship: Horizon

Wagon Company: Dan Jones/John A. Hunt

Traveled with: husband William Spicer

Their wagon company entered the Salt Lake Valley several weeks after the Martin and Willie Handcart Pioneers. Here is Elizabeth's obituary.

Child #2: Henry Charles Cripps

Born: 16 November 1827

Died: 9 Dec 1827

Died as an infant.

Child #3: Caroline Cripps Billings

Born: 6 April 1829

Died: after 1910

Remained in England with her husband, Henry Billings, and five children.

Child #4: Sarah Ann Cripps Hayward (1853)

Born: 1 August 1830

Died: 15 February 1932

Ship: International

Wagon Company: Jacob Gates

Traveled with: husband Gammon, daughter Sarah, and son Henry

Here is Sarah Ann Hayward's biography.

Child #5: Frederick George Cripps (1880)

Born: 11 April 1832

Died: 21 July 1916

Ship: Wisconsin

Traveled with: his five children, Ada (11), Charles (8), Henry (5), Frederick (3), and Alice (infant). 

Frederick's wife, Eliza Hamblin, died about 1879, so Frederick was taking his children to be raised by his elderly mother in Utah. The youngest was an infant. That must have been quite a trip across the ocean! Ada shows up in the genealogy as Ada Cripps Spicer, married to Daniel Spencer Wallace, so she was probably adopted by her aunt Elizabeth Spicer.

Child #6: Eliza Jane Cripps

Born: 26 July 1833

Died: 10 May 1935

Did not emigrate. I have no record of a marriage. This daughter is not listed in the 1841 census although she would have been seven or eight years old at the time, and she is also not listed in the 1851 census.

Child #7: John William Cripps

Born: 17 December 1834

Died: 27 February 1917

Stayed in England. Married to Mary Jane Woodward. They had 12 children. His great-granddaughter Ida Smith wrote a biography of Charles Cripps which I quote above in the section about Charles Cripps. She notes that John Cripps visited Utah, and his grandson Percy Charles Cripps moved to America.

Here is the record of John's 1898 Utah visit.

And here is Percy's Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. citizen. Note the statement that he had to sign.

I also recently received a kind email from one of John's great-great-great grandsons, who lives in England. It's wonderful to think that there is still some contact between different branches of the Cripps family, 149 years after Elizabeth left England. Their family was very important to Charles and Elizabeth, and I imagine they would be pleased.

Child #8: Ellen Cripps

Born: 9 April 1835

Died: as a child

The name of this child is from the family records. There is no record of her in New Family Search. Should she be added? Does anyone have a source for her birth?

Child #9: Daughter

Born: 9 May 1836

Died: stillborn

Child #10: James Alfred Cripps

Born: 13 April 1837

Died: 30 August 1846

Child #11: Emma Goadbey Cripps Hodges (1861)

Born: 1 February 1839

Died: 14 February 1924

Ship: Underwriter

Wagon Company: unindentified

Traveled with: mother Elizabeth, husband William Hodges, son William (2), and starting in Nebraska, her newborn daughter Florence.

Child #12: Stephen Baker Cripps

Born: 9 May 1840

Died: 4 August 1881

Stayed in England. Married to Ann Dredge George. I don't have a record of any children.

Child #13: Donald Edwin Cripps

Born: 4 October 1844

Died: 1845

Coming soon ...  census records about the Cripps family

Elizabeth Cripps Spicer

Elizabeth Cripps Spicer was the oldest child in the Cripps family. Her obituary notes that she emigrated in 1856, five years earlier than her mother.

From the Deseret News, May 14, 1898.

Thank you for sending this obituary, Toni!

Wessman 27: Elizabeth Baker Cripps

Birth date: 5 February 1801 Exton, Rutland, England

Died: 8 March 1891 Salt Lake City, Utah

Parents: Henry Baker and Mary Turner Baker

Spouse: Charles Cripps (a ropemaker)

Born: 17 May 1795 Coventry, Warwickshire, England

Died: 1 June 1870 Salt Lake City, Utah

Married: 13 Nov 1825 St. Giles, Camberwell, Surrey, England

The life of Elizabeth is a history of decisions. Elizabeth felt that christening of children was important. Because of this, she had her children christened at St. Mary, Rotherhithe, Surrey, England. Elizabeth and her family moved to Bermondsey, Surrey, England when their last child Donald Edwin Cripps died at about the age of one.

In 1850, she listened to the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon she, her husband (Charles), and two of her daughters Sarah Ann and husband, then Elizabeth Mary and husband, were converted and baptized. Elizabeth was baptized in the "Old Kent Road" branch March 25, 1850. Her daughter Sarah Ann Cripps Hayward, Gammon Hayward, Caroline Cripps Billings and Henry Billings, after their baptism went to America in 1851 and 1853 with their children.

In 1851, the census of England showed that Elizabeth was living at #1 Silver Street, Rotherhithe, Surrey, England with her husband.

Elizabeth decided to leave England and follow her daughters and other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to America. She wanted to come to a more productive country and leave the rampant poverty. She had also had five children die (Henry, Ellen, a stillbirth daughter, James and Donald) there.

She left from Liverpool, England, on April 8, 1861 at the age of 60 on the ship the "Underwriter" with her daughter Emma Godbe Cripps Hodges, her husband William Augustus Hodges and their oldest son. She left her husband Charles behind. It would be two long years later until she would be reunited with him in Utah.

Elizabeth was skilled as a nurse. This was a profession that the pioneers were thankful for many times. She was the nurse who delivered her daughter's baby in the wilderness outside Florence, Nebraska in July of 1861. The baby was named Florence because they were approaching Florence, Nebraska where they were to meet the wagons on the "Down and Back" teams from Salt Lake.

The trip to Keokuk, Iowa, was a very difficult journey for them. They had no wagon team so day by day; they walked by the side of someone else's wagon. Elizabeth had a vase that meant very much to her. It was her only possession from England. She refused to leave it behind. As a result, she carried this vase in the folds of her apron as she walked along with her pregnant daughter, Emma. The wagon master had told them that each person could only bring 20 pounds. This consisted only of food and clothing.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln had been elected president. This election started a chain of events that would affect emigration to Utah. When the Civil War started, the Saints that were emigrating wondered if the war would block ships that were coming from Europe. Wagons and teams were difficult to get. Most of the Saints were too poor to buy their own wagons and teams. The church did not have the funds either, even if wagons were available.

It was in 1861 that emigration started using the "Down and Back" wagon trains for the hundreds of saints who were coming. On April 23, 1861 (the day after the news arrived that Fort Sumter fell), 200 wagons and 1700 oxen left for Florence from Salt Lake. Every ward in Utah donated a fully outfitted wagon and a yoke of oxen.

In England, while all this was going on in America, George Q. Cannon chartered three ships at Liverpool. One of the ships was the "Underwriter." He filled the ships with supplies, appointed L.D.S. officers for each ship and supervised the emigrants boarding and their departures. Elizabeth spent three weeks on a bumpy ride across England to get on the "Underwriter."

Three thousand saints (including Elizabeth) on the three boats arrived in New York. They were funneled into harbor barges that eventually took them to the Jersey City depot. They went Northwest to Dunkirk, New York by train and went west along Lake Erie to Chicago. From there, they traveled on the Mississippi River to Quincy, Illinois. Nauvoo (which was now deserted) was fifty miles south. Elizabeth said that it was [in] Keokuk, Iowa, that they stayed. When Elizabeth left Jersey City, she saw first hand part of the Civil War that was going on. Troops were guarding a cannon that had been captured from Secessionists. She learned that a rebel officer had been imprisoned in the train depot. Nearly every town and bridge they passed had a guard.

In Missouri, business was stopped and men that were armed patrolled the streets. The city itself gave the aura of being a captured city. Due to the war curtailing the Missouri river traffic, it forced the emigrants to overload the steamboats. No trains were running. If Elizabeth [had] been even one month behind schedule, she would not have reached Florence, Nebraska, in time to meet the wagons. Elizabeth stayed in a camp with a bowery that the Saints had set up for May, June, and July until the wagons came to take them to the Salt Lake valley. After arrival in the Great Salt Lake Valley, Elizabeth lived mostly in the homes of her daughters. She lived in the 16th Ward ... on 6th West between First and Second North. She lived for a while also in San Francisco.

[Her husband Charles Cripps emigrated to Utah in 1863 on the ship Amazon. Elizabeth was listed in the passenger records two years earlier as "widow." Perhaps she didn't know if Charles was planning to come to America.]

Her son Frederick George Cripps and his five children (Ada, George Charles, Henry, Frederick and Alice) came on the ship "Wisconsin," on June 5, 1880. Frederick's wife died in 1878 with their last child in childbirth in England, so he brought his children over so that Elizabeth could raise them. Elizabeth at this time was 79 years old and had been a widow approximately ten years. She was a woman of exceptional strength to raise her large family, then in her later years, raise five more.

She had a motto that said, "IF YOU CAN DO...YOU MUST DO...AND SHOULD DO." Some examples of Elizabeth following this motto in her life was when she helped others with her nursing skills, gained a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She also crossed the ocean, plains, mountains and rivers, going on with life while grieving the death of her children and husband, and then raising five grandchildren in her later life.

Elizabeth died 8 March 1891 and is buried ... next to her husband Charles in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Children of Charles and Elizabeth Baker Cripps

1. Elizabeth Mary Cripps

Born: 7 May 1826

Married: William Spicer

Died: 25 April 1898

2. Henry Charles Cripps

Born: 16 Nov. 1827

Died: 9 Dec. 1827

3. Caroline Cripps

Born: 6 April 1829

Married: Henry Billings

Death:

4. Sarah Ann Cripps

Born: 1 August 1830

Married: Gammon Hayward

Died: 15 February 1932

5. Frederick Cripps

Born: 11 April 1832

Married: Mary Ann Eliz. Hamblin

Died: 21 July 1916

6. Eliza Jane Cripps

Born: 26 July 1833

Died: 10 May 1935

7. John William Cripps

Born: 17 December 1834

Married: Mary Jane Woodward

Died: 27 February 1917

8. Ellen Cripps

Born: 9 April 1835

Died: as a child

9. Daughter Cripps

Born: 9 May 1836

Died: stillbirth

10. James Alfred Cripps

Born: 13 April 1837

Died: 30 August 1846

11. Emma Godby Cripps

Born: 1 February 1839

Married: William Augustus Hodges

Died: 14 February 1924

12. Stephen Baker Cripps

Born: 9 May 1840

Married: Ann Dredge George

Died: 4 August 1881

13. Donald Edwin Cripps

Born: 4 October 1844

Died: 1845 

Many thanks to Toni for sending this history by an unidentified author.

 

Photo of flowers on a vase from www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/29238021/. Photo of the sunset over Rotherhithe, England, from www.flickr.com/photos/45375656@N00/802460787/. Photo of the prairie outside Keokuk, Iowa, from www.flickr.com/photos/davidburn/2885269649/. Photo of the Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja rhexifolia) in Albion Basin, Utah, from www.flickr.com/photos/ironrodart/3777934592/.

Generations 4 and 5 of the Wessman Family

Johan Wessman's parents Bengt Persson and Marit Olofsdotter are mentioned in the history of the Wessman family. (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5)

I did not do research on the Hall family in Sweden, so I do not have any information on Anders Rasmusson Hall and Edla Maria Brun besides what is found in the genealogy.

Gammon Hayward and Sarah Ann Cripps Hayward

Here is a history of the Gammon Hayward. Here is a history of Sarah Cripps Hayward.

Here is a post describing the sources on the Hayward family.

Here is a post on the Perpetual Emigrating Fund inspired by the Hayward and Pugsley families.

Here is a post about the Mormon Migration site inspired by the Hayward family's immigration.

Philip Pugsley and Martha Roach Pugsley

Edward Tullidge published a biography of Philip Pugsley in his magazine. (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6)

Here is a biography of Martha Pugsley.

Here is a biography of Philip's second wife, Clarissa Ames Pugsley.

Philip Pugsley died in 1903. Here are newspaper clippings about his obituary and funeral. Here are notes about the participants in his funeral.  Philip's will was fought over in court. Here is the case in the Utah Supreme Court. (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4) Here are notes on the executors to his will.

Fifth Generation

I haven't posted anything separate on the fifth generation in any of these families. I do have some materials, but could use more if anyone has any sources.

Generation 3 of the Wessman Family

Last week I did a survey of the information on this blog about Henry and Jean Hayward Wessman. Here is a summary of posts so far on their parents, Johan and Amanda Wessman and Henry and Elizabeth Hayward.

John or Johan Bengtsson Wessman

Johan Bengtsson was born in 1840 at Braseröd, Romelanda, Göteborgs-och-Bohus, Sweden. He later changed his surname to Wessman. His family called him "John" in the family records, so I use this name in Rootsweb and even here so that descendants can find this information by doing a google search. But his name was Johan and he used that name on a letter in 1895 and in his 1896 immigration, so that is what I call him and how I have him listed in my records.

Here is a series of five posts with all the information I know about the Wessman family in Sweden. (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5) Part 4 includes a link to the current Wessman family genealogy on Rootsweb.

After his wife left for Utah, but before he was able to leave Sweden, Johan wrote a beautiful letter to Amanda. Someone transcribed the Swedish and then translated it into English for the Wessman family. (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4)

Göteborg den 25 Jannuari 1895

Kära Älskade make samt mina små gossar ja äfven mina flickor...

Johan left Sweden in November 1896 and arrived in New York in December 1896. The records about that trip are documented in the post Johan Bengtsson Wessman's Trip to America.

Amanda Matilda Hall Wessman

The posts about the Wessman family in Sweden also mention Johan's wife Amanda. Amanda Hall was born in 1848 in Tanum, Bohus, Sweden. Here is a collection of documents about her life.

Here is a short Andrew Jenson biography of Amanda Wessman.

Here is a lovely little article from the Relief Society Magazine about Amanda's temple work, "An Unknown Heroine."

Here are a few documents  about her death in 1931.

Henry John Hayward

Henry Hayward was born in London in 1852, right before his parents left England for Utah.

Here is a biography. Here are some photographs of Henry and his wife Elizabeth and three of their children.

Henry is mentioned several times in the collection of postcards from his daughter Jean's studies in Berlin and his subsequent trip to Europe with his sister and youngest daughter.

One of the best sources on the Hayward family is a book by Ida Wagstaff. It does not have much about Henry though.

Elizabeth Ann Pugsley Hayward

The least-covered so far of this generation is the one about which I have the most to say.

Elizabeth Ann Pugsley was born in 1854, not long after her parents immigrated to Utah from England. She married Henry Hayward in 1875. They had nine children. Six of their children died as infants or children. Elizabeth had a long career in public service.

I will start posting a history about her that I wrote in college and supplement it with various materials collected by my grandparents or sent to me by Wessman cousins.

The Curious Story of Jean Wessman's Citizenship

Jean Wessman was born in Salt Lake City, so why was she listed as an alien in the 1920 census?

This is the 1920 U.S. Census entry for the Wessman family: Henry, Jean, Merle, Harry, Richard, Paul, Jean, John, and Elizabeth.

The entries after their names are:

• Relation to head of the family
• Home owned or rented
• If owned, free or mortgaged
• Sex
• Color or race
• Age at last birthday
• Single, married, widowed, or divorced
• Year of immigration to the United States
• Naturalized or alien
• If naturalized, year of naturalization

Naturalize —

admit (a foreigner) to the citizenship of a country 

(Oxford American Dictionaries)

Henry's record shows that he was the head of the household, owned his home, had a mortgage, was male, white, 34, married, that he came to the United States in 1895 (probably incorrect). The last field is the most curious.

Henry's entry says "Pa." What does this mean?

The instructions for 1920 census takers are available online, and the document notes the  following instructions for filling in this box:

129. For a foreign-born male 21 years of age and over, or a foreign-born unmarried female of that age, write—
"Na" (for naturalized), if he, or she, has become a full citizen, either by taking out second or final papers of naturalization or, while he or she was under the age of 21 years, through the naturalization of either of the parents.
"Pa" (for papers), if he, or she, has declared intention to become an American citizen and has taken out "first papers."
"Al" (for alien), if he, or she, has taken no step toward becoming an American citizen. ("1920 Census: Instructions to Enumerators," IPUMS-USA, Minnesota Population Center, http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1920.shtml.)

So, according to this census record, Henry had declared his intent to become a citizen. Then, looking at the citizenship status field below his, Jean is listed as "Al," or alien. Why would Jean, who was born in Salt Lake City in 1887 show up in the census as a non-citizen of the United States? A reporting error? A recording error?

Here is the census instruction:

130. A married woman is to be reported with the same citizenship as her husband.

It seems that the census taker was following instructions when she recorded that Jean was an alien.

Were the census instructions accurate and legal?

The answer is complicated. Here is a long article on the topic of women and naturalization (Part 1 - Part 2). I will summarize a few key points.


With the exception of a few states including Utah, women did not have the right to vote before  the Nineteenth Amendment was passed in 1920. Unless a woman was single or widowed, she had few reasons to seek citizenship. In 1855, an act of Congress provided that "[a]ny woman who is now or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the United States, and who might herself be lawfully naturalized, shall be deemed a citizen." A woman's citizenship came automatically with her husband's citizenship.

For decades after 1855, courts found time after time that an alien wife of an alien husband could not establish citizenship for herself. But an alien woman who married a U.S. citizen automatically became a citizen, as did her minor children.

Just as alien women gained U.S. citizenship by marriage, U.S.-born women often gained foreign nationality (and thereby lost their U.S. citizenship) by marriage to a foreigner. As the law increasingly linked women's citizenship to that of their husbands, the courts frequently found that U.S. citizen women expatriated themselves by marriage to an alien. (Marian L. Smith, "Any Woman Who is Now or May Hereafter Be Married...", Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802-1940, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, archives.gov.)

In 1906, Congress passed a naturalization act to standardize the process of immigration and naturalization. Congress required that all courts had to use standard forms including a declaration of intention, a petition for naturalization, and a certificate of naturalization. [1]

Not quite a year later, in 1907, Congress passed an act that stated that all women acquired their husband's nationality upon marriage.

This changed nothing for immigrant women, but U.S.-born citizen women could now lose their citizenship by any marriage to any alien. Most of these women subsequently regained their U.S. citizenship when their husbands naturalized. However, those who married Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, or other men racially ineligible to naturalize forfeited their U.S. citizenship. Similarly, many former U.S. citizen women found themselves married to men who were ineligible to citizenship for some other reason or who simply refused to naturalize. Because the courts held that a husband's nationality would always determine that of the wife, a married woman could not legally file for naturalization. (Women and Naturalization.)

When women were granted suffrage in 1920, a problem arose:

Given that women who derived citizenship through a husband's naturalization would now be able to vote, some judges refused to naturalize men whose wives did not meet eligibility requirements, including the ability to speak English. The additional examination of each applicant's wife delayed already crowded court dockets, and some men who were denied citizenship began to complain that it was unfair to let their wives' nationality interfere with their own.  (Women and Naturalization.)

In 1922, Congress passed the Cable (Married Women's Independent Nationality) Act. This act stated:

That the right of any woman to become a naturalized citizen of the United States shall not be denied or abridged because of her sex or because she is a married woman....
That a woman citizen of the United States shall not cease to be a citizen of the United States by reason of her marriage after the passage of this Act, unless she makes a formal renunciation of her citizenship before a court having jurisdiction over naturalization of aliens....
That a woman who, before the passage of this Act, has lost her United States citizenship by reason of her marriage to an alien eligible for citizenship, may be naturalized as provided by section 2 of this Act... [2]

How did this affect Jean in practical terms? Was she able to vote in national elections between 1920 and 1922? Was she able to get a passport? Did she know when she got married that according to the 1907 law she would lose her citizenship upon marriage? [3]

Henry Richard Emanuel Wessman and Hazel Jean Hayward were married on November 25, 1908, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

So, the census was right. Under then-current American law, Jean lost her U.S. citizenship when she married Henry Wessman, a Swedish citizen.


Several acts followed in subsequent decades which attempted to correct the problem. In 1936 an act allowed women whose marriages had ended in death or divorce, which would include Jean since Henry died in 1932, to regain citizenship by filing an application at court and taking an oath of allegiance. Women who married a non-citizen between 1907 and 1922 and were still married had to go through the complete naturalization process.

In 1940 Congress extended the application and oath of allegiance process to all women who had lost their citizenship between 1907 and 1922. [4]


A final question remains. Was the law removing citizenship from these women constitutional? Before and after the Civil War, certain questions arose regarding citizenship, and in 1868 the United States ratified the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which begins:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The Amendment states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States... are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Despite this Amendment, Congress does have the power to make certain adjustments to or restrictions on citizenship. Although there is a chance that a provision like this might have been seen as constitutional by the Supreme Court at the time, there is little chance that such a law would be found constitutional now.

__________________
[1] If Henry had declared his intention to become a citizen, he would have filled in extensive data including details on his entry into the country. Are these records available anywhere? In a Utah court? Duplicate papers were to be sent to Washington D.C. Are these papers available somewhere? They are not available through ancestry.com.

[2] The Cable Act also provided, "That any woman citizen who marries an alien ineligible to citizenship shall cease to be a citizen of the United States." This was evidently an effort to prevent American women from marrying Asian men, who were not eligible to become citizens. This unfortunate provision was not repealed until the 1930s.

[3] I cannot find any such records for Jean Wessman. Before she married, she spent a year in Europe and Germany. Here is her passport application, "Form For Native Citizen."

[4] Here is a document on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website about the reacquisition of citizenship lost by marriage.

[5] This has been a particularly long and technical post. Anyone who has read all the way through to the conclusion and footnotes deserves a prize. Email me at the address on the sidebar, and explain your relationship to the Wessmans (if any) and I'll send you a pdf certificate granting you a distinguished award of some sort. :)