Exceptional Records in the FBI Case Files
Jul 18th, 2008 by sharbrough
EXAMPLE: Freddy Stock
Here’s a link to the application on Footnote. [link]
(Note: while the FBI Case Files are “premium content” and therefore require a subscription, the Frederick Stock file is free)
(Additional note: while we call them the “FBI Case Files” and while I’ve seen signs saying the same thing at the National Archives, the title of the microfilm publication that we digitized is “Investigative Reports of the Bureau of Investigation 1908-1922.” When we say “FBI files” that’s what we refer to.)
My name is Frederick August Stock (generally known as Frederick A Stock).
The following are all other names used at any time by me: Friedrich Wilhelm August Stock
My reasons for using the foregoing names are: This was my name in Germany. I anglicized it as stated in Answer 1 and have used the Anglicized name for brevity and convenience.
I was born in Julich, Germany on November 11, 1872.
He lists a daughter, Vera Stock, 17 years old; a wife, Elizabeth, born in Fulda, Germany. He has no parents or sisters, but a brother, Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Stock, 49, lives in Toledo. He adds this note, “The whereabouts of a half brother and two half sisters is unknown to the undersigned.”
I arrived in the US on October 3, 1895, at New York on the SS Patria.
My present occupation, etc: Musical conductor since 1905 of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
He reads, writes, and speaks English, French, and German.
Interesting stories herein:
Stock was unaware that he had to submit “2nd papers” and this misunderstanding led him to vote in several elections, believing himself to be a citizen, before being told at the polls in 1916 that we could not vote, and was not a citizen. He resubmitted first papers, submitted second papers, and awaited final petition at the time of this form.
An excerpt that I can’t willingly dilute by paraphrase:
“Immediately upon coming to Chicago in 1895, I became a viola player in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, then under the leadership of Theodore Thomas, and continued in the Orchestra as a viola player until the death of Theodore Thomas in January of 1905, when I became the conductor of the Chicago Orchestra which is now known by the name of Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is operated under the direction of The Orchestral Association.
“The purpose of the managers and the conductor of the Orchestra, from its foundation until the present, has been the promotion of the art of orchestral music in its highest form. The Orchestra consists of about ninety men, highly trained and skilled musicians, who, by long years of training under Theodore Thomas and the undersigned applicant, have beome an organization of the highest artistic achievements, known throughout the musical world as one of the greatest of orchestras.”
“My primary interest, since coming to this country, has been in the art of music and my associations have been largely with musicians. Questions of politics have never been prominently the subject of my attention but I have long since, both in form and spirit, renounced allegiance to the German Empire and I not only formally declared my intention in 1895 to become a citizen of the US, but have, for these many years, since coming to the country, been at heart and in spirit a loyal and devoted admirer of the political institutions of the US and anxious to identify myself as a citizen of the US, and that my child and descendants may continue to be loyal and devoted citizens of the US.
“I was, from the depths of my heart, loyal to the US throughout the war against the Central Empires. I have had and have no sympathy with Germany’s objects in the war or her methods of conducting the war and, feeling thus, am chagrined and humiliated to be classified as an alien enemy of the country of my affections and adoption.”
One of the barriers to naturalization for Stock was his technical status as enemy alien, being a citizen of Germany. An Exception would clear the way for his naturalization.
[...] all about Beau’s discovery of Exceptional Records in the FBI Case Files from his [...]
How can one access these files? I have a grandfather who may have had to register.
If you are not familiar with Footnote.com, Roshyn, then just point your browser to http://www.Footnote.com, and type your grandfather’s name in the search box. You never know what you’ll find!