Replies

http://www.therightsideoflife.com/2010/02/22/eligibility-hi-petition-launched-in-spite-of-introduced-bills/#comment-35926 "MGB March 1st, 2010 13:24 dunstvangeet: I’m aware of the column headings, because I also looked up their meaning over the weekend. From experience working with census records, I’m also aware that when specific columns were lacking, census takers often improvised. I have other records where a census taker wrote the date of naturalization in that column, because it was more pertinent to the record than the date of immigration, being more recent information. Mr. Agnew’s records are contradictory and elusive; but at least, unlike Obama’s, they’re out there on the Web for all to see–contemporaneous records. You say that you have proof that Agnew’s father was not a citizen when Spiro was born. That’s a pretty-sure-of-yourself statement to make, in the face of contradictory records. So what do we know so far? 1. In 1920, the census taker wrote down that Theodore was an alien who came to the US in 1887. 2. In 1930, the census taker wrote down that he was a naturalized citizen who came to the US (if that’s not the date of naturalization) in 1903. In 1910, Theodore S. Anagnost (Anagnostopoulos) lived in Schenectady, NY, with and next to relatives (cousins, siblings). See dist. 7, enumeration dist. 186, ward 7, p. 4A. That document states that he came to the US in 1902 and was naturalized by 1910. So perhaps he was naturalized in 1903, shortly after arriving in the US. How do I know this is Spiro’s father? Because there is a TIME magazine story about him and his cousins, dating from 1969: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840347-2,00.html You will find Andrew Chyrsikos in the same city in 1910. A. Kansas is another cousin. Theodore lived with or next to Mr. Kansas. On the Ellis Island website, you will find that Theofrastos S. Anagnostopoulos, age 25, came to the US on 9/30/1902, bound for Schenectady, NY, to live with his cousin “A. Kansas”. You can see the actual manifest at the website. Note that the transcriber mistakenly read his middle initial as “L.” when it was “S.”, albeit written in a very florid script. Compare that S. to other examples of the person’s handwriting. You have to register to see these documents, but it’s free. http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?MID=08846931920007855840&FNM=T&LNM=ANAGNOSTOPOULOS&PLNM=ANAGNOSTOPOULOS&first_kind=1&last_kind=0&RF=13&pID=102784160474& So, whatever 1903 meant on the 1920 census, Theodore was naturalized by 1910, before he married and before Spiro was born. Look at your 1920 census record again. Notice that Mr. Moore not only wrote down the wrong date of immigration and age for Theodore, he also indicated that Spiro’s mother Margaret, who was born in VIRGINIA, was an alien and, although born in the USA, came to the USA in 1887. How is that possible? Her sister Lillian, who lived with her and Theodore at the time, was also born in Virginia; but she was not listed as an alien immigrant. I think Mr. Moore was very mixed up, perhaps could not understand their Greek accent, was in a hurry that day, or else he made false assumptions. Considering that the TIME magazine article mentioned “beenamerica”, it’s possible that Theodore’s family went back and forth between America and Greece. Theodore and his brother George may have come to the USA in 1887, as children. At some point, the family may have returned to Greece. Then the siblings came back, with cousins, in the early 1900s. In any case, it’s certainly NOT true that Spiro’s mother was an alien immigrant in 1920. So whatever else Mr. Moore documented is suspect. So we have dueling census records, although the 1920 census record has numerous errors of fact. The 1910 census clearly states that Theodore Anagnostopoulos (Spiro Agnew’s father) was a naturalized citizen in 1910, years before Spiro was born. For those who don’t know, the 1890 census was mostly destroyed by fire. So there are no census records for this family prior to 1900. Interesting confluence: Now some are claiming that Obama’s original birth records (although recently SEEN by Ms. Fukino) also conveniently were destroyed by fire. When? And where’s any news story about that frightening historical event–that being when Hawaiian state archives were destroyed in a fire?" There's more on that blog. It was an ongoing discussion back in March 2010 This is another person who did the same research. It's been on the Web. As I said, some blogs are more frequently read than others. People share. People read other blogs. People go to libraries and online databases and share what they find. It's not a contest, unless someone makes it one.