Learning about Ancestors from the Connecticut Military Questionnaire

Louis Harold Kranowitz

On Friday, we met Louis Harold Kranowitz. As promised, there is much more to the Louis Kranowitz story. The photo featured on Friday's Face from the Past post, is one of two photos of his photos my great-grandmother kept the album. Interestingly, the second photo is also from his service days. In this dreamy cloud portrait he looks even more handsome.

These two portraits, taken most likely before Louis left for war, sparked my curiosity about this family member. Military records seemed like a good place to start. Not many records survived from WWI, so I wasn't sure how much luck I would have.

Draft Registration

The draft registration card pulled up immediately and was surprisingly easy to read. The card provided the following information:

Name: Louis Harold Kranowitz
Address: 218 North Street, New Britain, CT
Birth: July 25, 1892 New York, NY
Age: 25
Citizenship: Natural Born Citizen
Occupation: Assistant Pharmacist
Employer: Clark and Brainerd, New Britain, CT
Dependents: Mother
Marital Status: Single
Race: Caucasian
Medium Hight, Slender, Brown Eyes, Black Hair. No disabilities.

Louis Harold Kranowitz, WWI Draft Registration Card.
(Click to Enlarge). Source: Ancestry.Com

Connecticut MIlitary Census

Louis Harold Kranowitz
Connecticut Military Census Feb 27, 1919
(click to enlarge).
Source: UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012
Original data: Connecticut Military Census of 1917. 
Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut State Library.

Next, I recalled the Connecticut Military Census of 1917. In February of this year, I discovered and shared Max Crane's Military Census record. All men of 16 year of age  and older, filled these out. I had a little trouble finding Louis's Military Census since for some reason it was not indexed. Eventually, by scanning all the New Britain Kp-Kz records, I found it!
The document provides a few new facts about Louis:

• He had no other trade than Pharmacy. 
• He was 5'7'' tall and weighed 135 pounds (slim indeed).
• Here he reported he supports two people, but doesn't disclose who. 
• No prior military service.
• He can ride a horse and handle a team, but can not drive an automobile or a motorcycle. 
• He can not understand telegraphy or operate a wireless. 
• He has no experience with steam engines, electrical machines or boats (power or sail). 
• No experience with simple coastwise navigation or high speed marine gasoline engines.
• Is not a good swimmer. 

Connecticut Military Questionnaire
Louis Harold Kranowitz (pages 1/4)

What I didn't expect to find was the following amazing document. A Connecticut Military Questionnaire 1919-1920. Now, if you haven't seen one of these documents, I highly recommend you take a look, especially if you have ancestors or family members from Connecticut who served in WWI. They are absolutely fabulous! It's a four page questionnaire handwritten by the veteran. In many cases if the soldier died on duty, the form was filled out for that person and a photo if available was attached.

In these questionnaire the veterans were asked to fill out many details about their service in the war. The information is very detailed and include among other information: draft date, unit, rank, military number, where and when they served, travel, injury and discharge.

Here is a summary of Louis Harold Kranowitz military service and other new facts about him:

Connecticut Military Questionnaire
Louis Harold Kranowitz (pages 2/4)
Click to enlarge:
Source: Ancestry.com. Connecticut,
Military Questionnaires, 1919-1920 Provo, UT, USA: 
Original data: Connecticut State Library,
Hartford, Connecticut.

• Mother's maiden name: Gross.
• Drafted and inducted into the army on Oct 4, 1917, about 8 months after he first filled out the Connecticut Military Census. 
• Reported to Camp Devens in Massachusetts.
• Rank: Private
• Unit: Medical Corps of the National Army (If you look closely at his photo, Louis is wearing a Medical Corps pin).
• Identification #: 1690365
• Trained at Camp Devens for about seven month until May 30, 1918.
• While at Camp Devens he was promoted to Sergeant on April 4, 1918.
• Embarked from Newport News, Virginia on Jun 20, 1918 on the USS Tenadores. 
• The USS Tenadores arrived at Brest, France on July 13, 1918.
• From Brest he proceeded to Cosne, France. The journey lasted 9 days and he arrived on July 22, 1918. 
• Stationed in Cosne for five months until Dec 22, 1918.
• Continued to Treves Germany where he remained for the remainder of the war, until August 30, 1919. 
• Returned to the US aboard the USS Kroonland which arrived in Hoboken on Sep 10, 1919. 
• Discharged from service at Camp Devens on Sep 16, 1919 and return to his civilian life as a pharmacist. 

(Note: Armistice day was Nov 1, 1918, but the war did not officially end until a series of treaties were signed in 1919 and as late as 1920).

Unfortunately, Louis chose not to elaborate much when asked to respond to his experience in the military (last two pages of the survey). He reported that he was in favor of serving and that his state of mind was good. According to him, the effect of his experience both in the US and abroad on his state of mind were good.

As you can see, this type of record is a gold mine of information. Armed with the wealth of details from this questionnaire I should be able to learn much more about his experience. I've also found similar records for his brother William Carl Kranowitz who served in Naval Intelligence, as well as Minnie's brother, their cousin William James Crane.

If you think you may have had a relative who died during WWI and was from Connecticut, be sure to check these records. While browsing the New Britain records, I also found many young men who died of influenza while still in training in the US. Often their photograph was included as well.

Friday's Faces from the Past: Louis Harold Kranowitz

Label on back: Louis Kranowitz
New Britain, Conn 1918

Louis Harold Kranowitz (1892-1960)

This handsome young soldier was a cousin of my great-grandmother Minnie. Louis and his family welcomed Minnie and her brothers into America and were influential in their decision to live in Hartford, Connecticut during their early years in this country. Louis, son of Aaron and Sophie Kranowitz was born in New York, but spent most of his life in New Britain, CT. He was the middle child, squeezed between two older sisters, Berth and Lena and two younger brothers, William and Bernard.

Remember the story of Max Crane (Kranowitz)'s beating in New Britain? In Part III:  of that series:  Why Was Max Hanging Around the Block?, I concluded that Louis Kranowitz, 16 years old at the time, was probably Max's companion the day he received the beating  which made headlines in 1909.

This photo of Louis Kranowitz was taken sometime in 1918, during the last year of World War I. Louis was twenty-five years old. I found the photograph in Minnie's album. Neatly labeled on the back, in her  own handwriting, she places Louis in New Britain, CT. He may have not left for battle yet. By 1918, Louis had graduated from Columbia University where he studied pharmacy.

Check back next week for more about Louis!

Friday's Faces from the Past: Mystery Lady

Special Announcement!
GeneaBloggers just added Friday's Faces from the Past to it's list of daily prompts! Here is what they wrote:

Friday’s Faces from the Past – NEW! – Have you come across photos with people and places that you can’t identify? Do you rescue “orphaned photos” at flea markets and antique shops? Or do you just want to tell the story behind a cherished family photo? Friday’s Faces from the Past is a way to highlight photos, of known ancestors or complete unknowns suggested by Smadar Belkin Gerson of Past-Present-Future.

Thanks  



Today I give you a lady from the past. There are only two clues to help identify this elegant lady. The first, this photo postcard was printed in a studio in Philadelphia. The second, the photo was on the same Kranowitz cousins page as the boy with the bicycle from last Friday's post. Next to this beautiful woman's portrait was a photograph of Bernard Kranowitz and another of his nephew Harold Eisenberg (son of Bertha Kranowitz), both from New Britain, Connecticut. On the opposite page of the album, two pictures of Louis Kranowitz, all properly labeled except for the Philadelphia lady.

Aaron and Sophie Kranowitz of New Britain had five children, Louis, William, Bernard, Lena and Bertha. I have photos the first four, but not Bertha. They were my great-grandmother Minnie's first cousins. Minnie speaks very highly of their family in her memoir. Their home was open to Minnie and each of her siblings when the first arrived in America.

Lena E. Kranowitz of Mason Drive, New Britain, CT

I have an old Newspaper clipping of Lena Kranowitz. Lena, the chairman of the Benefit Fund for Refugee Children seems slightly older than the woman in question, but certainly shows some resemblance. I can not rule out that the unidentified lady is a younger Lena, or her sister Bertha.  I don't know enough about their lives to know what either of the Kranowitz sisters would have been doing in Pennsylvania. To my knowledge they were both longtime residents of New Britain, Connecticut, which suggests our mystery lady may not be a Kranowitz after all. (According to the 1934 New Britain Directory, Lena resided with her sister Bertha's family on 73 Mason Drive).

I've made a note to check out all of the New Britain's high-school yearbooks when I visit the local library. Until then, I welcome all of your input!

Have a wonderful weekend!

More from Friday's Faces from the Past:
A Bicycle & A Boy
A Success Story
Mystery Man
Harrison
Goldie and Bobbie Rosenbaum
Julius Burakoff