Wyoming School Census Records

Ancestry just released a new record series for the State of Wyoming: Wyoming School Census: 1884-1974. According to Ancestry: 'Annual censuses were conducted for all school districts in Wyoming to determine where funding was needed…Wyoming statutes required that all children between the ages of six and 21 were required to be enumerated in April’ of each year. The School Census records list the names of each child/youth, their age, where they lived, and who their parent/guardian was. The School Census records from the 1930's & 1940's also indicate whether each child/youth listed was attending school.

I found School Census records for my great-grandma, Alice Laura Lemoine. She was born in Hanna, Carbon County, Wyoming in 1897, and grew up in the towns of Hanna and Saratoga. The first School Census for my great-grandma that is available is from the year of 1909. There were actually three School Census taken for my great-grandma and her siblings. They were enumerated in School Districts 9, 10, & 17 (although I don't know why). Here is the School Census for School District 17 from 1909.

This specific School Census was taken by her father, Emile Lemoine. I have the family's birth record that was also written by Emile Lemoine, so to have another document with his handwriting is quite the find.

My great-grandma is listed in additional School Census records from 1911 through 1916. The last School Census record for my great-grandma is from 1918. She was 20 years old in April of that year (she would be 21 in August of 1918). By this time, she was  no longer attending school.

Here is the link to all of the School Census records I found for my great-grandma:

Alice Lemoine School Census Records

I also found the School Census records for my grandpa, Robert Earl Dodge, and his brother, Alfred Lee Dodge. The first School Census record I found for my grandpa is from 1936, when they were living on the Windmill Ranch west of Laramie. He would be six years old in 1936. The School Census record is below. 

However, his name is crossed out on the School Census record. My great-grandparents moved to Rawlins in 1936, so this is where my grandpa and his brother attended school. They are both listed in the School Census records in Rawlins until they were both 20 years old. One thing I noticed with the School Census records is that although my great-uncle, Alfred Dodge, was drafted into the Army in February of 1953, he is still listed in the School Census record for that year. Alfred was born in July of 1953, which means that because of the rules of enumeration, he would have been listed in the 1953 School Census, even though he was already gone and in the Army. Additionally, although my grandpa no longer attended high school and was working for the Union Pacific Railroad, he was still listed in the School Census records until he was 20 years old as well.

Here are the links to both my grandpa's and his brother's School Census Records:

Robert Dodge School Census Records

Alfred Dodge School Census Records

Frances (Dodge) Nemetzky and the Tanforan Assembly Center - 1942

December 7, 1941, "a date that will live in infamy," saw Japanese Imperial Forces carry out their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing "the forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to "relocation centers" further inland – resulting in the incarceration of Japanese Americans." Following the issuing of this Executive Order, "approximately 122,000 men, women, and children were forcibly moved to "assembly centers." They were then evacuated to and confined in isolated, fenced, and guarded "relocation centers," also known as "internment camps...Nearly 70,000 of the evacuees were American citizens." 

(from https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-9066) 

One of these assembly centers was the Tanforan Assembly Center, located at San Bruno, California (approximately 12 miles south of San Francisco), operated between April and October of 1942. Between September and October of 1942, those who were detained at the Tanforan Assembly Center were relocated to the Internment Camp at Topaz, Utah, where they remained for the duration of World War II.

The detainees included 58-year-old Shigetaro Inouye and his wife, 53-year-old Komaye (they did not have any children); and 53-year-old Mitsuru Nakai, his wife, 43-year-old Michie, and their sons, 21-year-old  Michikazu, and 14-year-old Hirokazu. Shigetaro and Komaye Inouye had resided in the United States for many years, as had Mitsuru and Michie Nakai. The Nakai's two sons, Michikazu and Hirokazu, were born in the United States. Both families lived in San Francisco when Executive Order 9066 was issued.

Between June and August of 1942, both families were visited by Frances Nemetzky. On June 21, 1942, Frances visited the Nakai family, and brought with her two packages of food. It is probable Frances brought them some of the pru-nut creams that she sold at her store. She visited them again on August 12, 1942. She visited the Inouye family twice; first on July 19, 1942 (with her husband, David Nemetzky), and again on July 29, 1942 (this time by herself). Prior to their removal, both families lived about one mile or so from Fogalsang's Pru-Nut Creams, the candy store that was owned and operated by Frances. It is likely that each family had frequented her store, and that they had known each other over the years.

The Inouye and Nakai families were relocated to Topaz, Utah, until the end of World War II. The Nakai family experienced bittersweet times during their forced incarceration. Mitsuru Nakai passed away at Topaz in April of 1943. His death was reported in The Topaz Times. Their son, Michikazu Nakai, married his wife at Topaz in August of 1943. 

Following the end of World War II, both the Inouye and Nakai families returned to San Francisco. Shigetaro Inouye and his wife, Komaye, became citizens of the United States in 1954. Michie Nakai remarried in 1947, and also became a US citizen in 1954.

The National Archives Catalog has published records of the Tanforan Assembly Center, which is how I found that Frances had visited the Inoyue and Nakai families there in 1942. The records I found include visitors passes, visitors lists, and records of the families that were detained there. This was definitely something I did not expect to come across. I have found over the years that records sometimes find me, and this is definitely the case here. Below are the records I found on each of Frances' visits, as well as records of the families that she visited. 

Visitor Pass for Frances Nemetzky - June 21, 1942.

Visitor Pass for Frances Nemetzky - August 12, 1942.

Visitor list dated July 19, 1942. Frances Nemetzky, and her husband, David, are on Lines 96 & 97.

Visitor list dated July 29, 1942. Frances is on line 169.

Information sheet for the Nakai family.

Information sheet for the Inouye family.

Frances Cleveland Dodge - A Nurse in California

For many years, I have wondered about the nursing career of my great-great aunt, Frances Cleveland Dodge. When I first started this family history search 20 years ago, I found Frances in the 1910 Census in Longmont, Colorado, where she was a nursing student at the Longmont Hospital Training School for Nurses. When she married her first husband, Thomas Fogalsang, in California in 1916, their marriage license stated that Frances was a Nurse and that she was residing in San Francisco.

Several years ago, I found the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection website. This website has digitized and transcribed numerous newspapers from Colorado, including The Longmont Call and the Longmont Ledger. Both newspapers recount the graduation ceremony for Frances, which took place on July 12, 1911. The Longmont Ledger from July 14, 1911 indicates: 'The training school for nurses is a very important part of the work, and for two years has turned out graduating classes of young ladies fully prepared for the profession of nursing.' Frances was one of three nurses to graduate.

Shortly after I began my family history research, I found a newsletter that contained a history of the Longmont Hospital, including the Longmont Nursing School. Here is a link to the newsletter that I saved:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzsieQx5uaIqdzNkOElhN0lOeGc/view?usp=drive_link&resourcekey=0-ZpSU4NVYsgio0mP7GroReQ

More recently, I found an advertisement that was published in the magazine Colorado Medicine: The Journal of the Colorado State Medical Society from October of 1909 for Nurses' Training at the Longmont Hospital. Below is that advertisement:

Both The Longmont Call and the Longmont Ledger from December 8, 1911 explain that Frances had completed her work and that she had taken a nursing position at a hospital in Raton, New Mexico. The Salida Record from January 2, 1914 wrote: 'Mrs. James Newitt, of Buena Vista, was operated on at the Red Cross Hospital Monday. Her sister, Miss Frances Dodge, of Buena Vista, is attending her.' This was the only indication of Frances' nursing career that I had found.

Recently, however, I have found a handful of newspaper articles from California that shed light to Frances' nursing career. I found these newspaper articles on newspapers.com and newspaperarchive.com. They are from November 1912 to September 1915 and indicate that Frances worked as a nurse in San Francisco, Placerville, Sacramento & Yreka.

Siskiyou Daily News: November 7, 1912: Miss Dodge and Miss Cohn arrived from San Francisco the last of the week to accept positions as nurses in Mt. Shasta hospital.

Ferndale Enterprise: July 11, 1913: Miss Rebecca Hindley, a graduate nurse, and Miss Lena Schortgen, who is training at the Sequoia hospital, are enjoying a vacation with relatives in Upper Mattole. A Miss Dodge, also a nurse, arrived at the same time, and all were visitors for a day or two at the Kirll home, where Miss. Schortgen is visiting her mother and other relatives.

Ferndale Enterprise: July 22, 1913: Miss Dodge, a nurse, whose home is at Arcata, returned there the first of the week after a very happy vacation spent with Miss Lena Schortgen, also a nurse, at the home of the latter’s mother, Mrs. C. Krill.

Placerville Mountain Democrat: December 12, 1914: Mrs. Harry Wenzel, wife of the assistant district passenger agent of the S.P. Co., came up from Sacramento last Tuesday for a brief visit with her friend Mrs. Frances Dodge, head nurse at the Wrenn Sanatorium.

Placerville Mountain Democrat: April 24, 1915: Miss Frances Dodge, nurse at the Wrenn Sanatorium, returned from Sacramento Sunday evening.

Placerville Mountain Democrat: May 8, 1915: Miss Frances Dodge, head nurse at the Wrenn Sanatorium, left Thursday for Nevada to spend her vacation. Her place will be filled by Miss Hazel Hoak, who returned from Redding the first of the week.

Record Searchlight: May 8, 1915: Miss Frances Dodge, after spending one day in this city visiting Mrs. Volney Fox, departed Saturday morning for Gazelle, where she will spend a week with relatives before returning to her home at Placerville.

Siskiyou Daily News: September 2, 1915: Miss Frances Dodge arrived in Yreka Monday evening from Sacramento to accept the position of head nurse at Mount Shasta hospital. Miss Dodge was one of the nurses at this hospital when the late Dr. Carlson was in charge, and her Yreka friends are glad to welcome her back. Since leaving Yreka she has nursed in Placerville and Sacramento.

Siskiyou Daily News: September 23, 1915: Little Billie Miller, son of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Miller, was very sick Wednesday night. The little fellow had spasms and Dr Hall and nurse, Miss Dodge, worked with him some time before he recovered. He was much better this morning.

I haven't found anything to indicate when Frances went to San Francisco prior to her marriage to Thomas Fogalsang, but to have these newspaper articles shed light on her days as a nurse is such an amazing find.