Hunting for the Home of First Fandom's Warren Fitzgerald

[beamjockey]

I may be on the trail of the birthplace of science fiction fandom (for certain values of "birthplace").

Last week Rob Hansen pointed out, to Boingboing and Tor.com, that 11 December 1929 was the occasion of the founding meeting of the Scienceers, which seems to have been the first science fiction fan club, at least the first club where the members met in person rather than corresponded.

Science fiction fandom is still going strong after 80 years, and many of us are curious about its early history. Rob has wondered if more information can be found about Warren Fitzgerald, who hosted the first meeting at his home.

An account of the Scienceers by Allen Glasser recalls that Fitzgerald and his wife were black, and they lived somewhere in Harlem in late 1929. They hosted multiple meetings of the Scienceers at their home. Fitzgerald also joined the American Interplanetary Society in 1930; its founders included David Lasser, Nat Schachner, Fletcher Pratt, and other SF people.

I may have found a 1930 U.S. Census form with information about Warren Fitzgerald. (If you have trouble accessing this, and you want to see a PDF of the form, let me know.)

Footnote.com allows a search on names for the 1930 census. There was a "Warren Fitzgerald" in Manhattan, New York, New York, living at 211 West 122nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. This is the only hit in the state of New York. (Ancestry.com gives others in the state but only one in the city of New York. I didn't look behind their paywall for more info.)

Is this Fitzgerald our Fitzgerald?

He is listed as a roomer with homeowner James Jessup. Gertrude L. Fitzgerald also lived there, as did five other roomers. Warren was 30, Gertrude was 36, and they had been married for five years. He was born in Pennsylvania. His father's birthplace was listed (in accordance with Census practice) as "Canada-French," and his mother was born in New York.

His occupation is listed as "meter prover" in the "meters" industry. He was a military veteran of "WW," meaning World War. Gertrude worked as a servant for a private family.

Fitzgerald's "race or color" is coded as W, meaning White, while everyone else in the building is listed as "Neg" for Negro, as are most of the other people living on his block.

This all seems consistent with what we know from fannish and rocketry sources about Warren Fitzgerald, with one exception: the census worker listed him as white and not black.

Allen Glasser wrote: "He was a light-skinned Negro -- amiable, cultured, and a fine gentleman in every sense of that word. With his gracious, darker-hued wife, Warren made our young members welcome to use his Harlem home for our meetings -- an offer we gratefully accepted." Perhaps light skin made coding his race ambiguous.

Google Map link to 211 W. 122nd St.

Google has a Street View picture of what may be fandom's first meeting place.

From Odds & Ends

Warren Fitzgerald remains a mystery. He has attracted interest from some historians since black participants in SF fandom-- or in rocketry-- have been rare, yet here is an example right at the beginning. Fitzgerald parted company with the Scienceers, and SF fandom, after the American Interplanetary Society got started. Apparently he dropped out of AIS after its first year.

Next questions:

Do we have the right guy? Try to determine whether there were other Warren Fitzgeralds in New York at that time, and if so, rule them out.

Check with a genealogy buff; an expert may know how to find out more from census records.

Check 1940 Census, and later ones, to see what became of Fitzgerald.

Would WWI military records shed any more light on him?



National Archives info listed by Footnote.com for the census form:

Publication Number: T626
Publication Title: Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930
Content Source: NARA
Census Year: 1930
Short Description: NARA T626. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930.
State: New York
County: NEW YORK
Browse Description: MANHATTAN BOROUGH
Enumeration District: 31-913
Description: MANHATTAN BOROUGH, ASSEMBLY DIST. 19 (PART), BOUNDED BY (N) W. 123D; (E) LENOX AVE.; (S) W. 122D; (W) 8TH AVE.
Sheet Number: 7A

Edited to add: Frank Winter confirms, on p. 146 of Prelude to the Space Age, that according to the 1930 AIS membership list, this is indeed the right house.

Comments

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

And if somebody can find access, try the 1920 census data. And somebody needs to go in (if they're not online) and check property records on the address (though those won't help much if he was renting; calling it "his" house would still be normal if he was renting rather than owning, especially for a teenager).

The rooming house setup doesn't sound all that compatible with the Scienceers story.

Is that address in the part of Manhattan known at the time as Harlem? (I know there's still an area known as Harlem, I say "at the time" in case the boundaries have shifted, as such things do, over time.)

[pnh.livejournal.com]

That address would absolutely have been considered Harlem in 1929, as it is now.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

1910 Census shows:
Warren S Fitzgerald
Age in 1910: 10
Estimated birth year: abt 1900
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Relation to Head of House: Son
Father's Name: Francis J
Father's Birth Place: Canada English
Mother's Name: Elva L
Mother's Birth Place: New York
Home in 1910: Okmulgee Ward 2, Okmulgee, Oklahoma
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Gender: Male

Father, Mother, and birth year all match up. Same kind of thing in 1900:
Name: Warren S Fitzgerald
Home in 1900: Glade, Warren, Pennsylvania
Age: 6/12
Birth Date: Nov 1899
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Race: White
Ethnicity: American
Gender: Male
Relationship to Head of House: Son
Father's Name: Frank
Father's Birthplace: Canada
Mother's Name: Elvaretta
Mother's Birthplace: New York
Marital Status: Single
Residence : Glade Township, Voting District 2, Warren, Pennsylvania

They all say White though.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Might just mean he was passing.

Can you access New York city directories online?

How about World War One military records?

I can check ancestry.com

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Interesting to note that Eric Davin's book lists his name as James Fitzgerald, not Warren.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Davin is relying on Sam Moskowitz, which is known to be a bad idea.

Moskowitz gives his name as "James Fitzgerald" in The Immortal Storm (1951 in its book publication) and his home as Harlem. Moskowitz calls him "Warren Fitzgerald" in Seekers of Tomorrow (1966), but places his home in the Bronx. *Sigh*

Both fanzines and American Interplanetary Society records insist that he was Warren Fitzgerald of Harlem.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

I found this in the 1920 Census:


1920 United States Federal Census

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald
Home in 1920: St Thomas, Us Virgin Islands, Military and Naval Forces
Relation to Head of House: Private
Father's Birth Place: United States of America
Mother's Birth Place: United States of America
Race: White
Sex: Male
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

It looks like he was in a Marine unit

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald
Muster Date: Feb 1919
Station: 149th Company, M C, Marine Barracks, Protestant Cay, St Croix, V I Of The U S

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald
Muster Date: Sep 1919
Station: 102nd Company, Mb,St Thomas, Virgin Islands Of United States

Apparently he went AWOL a lot and did not obey orders.

He was a messman which was often a Negro job see Caine Mutiny.

Sam Moskowitz

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

I am interested enough in the whole story, but did not know that Moskowitz was considered unreliable. (I did note later on, though, that he seemed to have contradicted himself. Is this the kind of thing on which the word "unreliable" is based?) SaM did write an essay in *Amazing Stories* in the early 1960s; I believe this one was on Ray Bradbury, and how influential he had been, and referred to a story about the first man back from Mars and the gulf between him and everybody else. I had read the story (in *Analog* -- the title may have been "The First One" by Herbert D. Kastle, but Kastle may have written another story in the same issue) and it was about the first man back from the dead. Even so, I am wondering what the facts are with regard to Moskowitz and his fannish reputation. I know this is tangential, but could somebody please enlighten me?

Nate

Re: Sam Moskowitz

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Even so, I am wondering what the facts are with regard to Moskowitz and his fannish reputation.

His efforts to chronicle the history of SF, and fandom, were herculean. But he included a lot of mistakes (as we have seen above). Also, sometimes he would ride the wrong horse a long distance.

His prose in The Immortal Storm is turgid, but he improved later in life.

He's still a hero to me for taking SF seriously enough to try collecting its history. It's just a good idea to check him against another source, where possible.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia says that address is in Harlem. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harlem_map2.png)

K.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

It seems to me the racial aspect could go either way. If Glasser and all the other teenagers were white, they may have simply assumed that a man married to a black woman must himself be black--especially if he lived in Harlem and every else in the rooming house was "Negro" ( as the census says).

[pnh.livejournal.com]

Original Scienceers member Allen Glasser's 1961 fanzine article recalls Fitzgerald as a "light-skinned Negro"; the census data (assuming it's the same guy) lists him as white. And we know he was married to a "darker-hued" black woman.

Nothing about this is all that odd. It's entirely easily to believe in a male American of mixed racial ancestry who prefers to pass as white so far as official records are concerned, but who presents as black to his black wife's family.

The history of race in America is really, really complicated once you get down to individuals and particular ancestries.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

The first-hand report doesn't necessarily prove that much; if Fitzgerald could pass as white in general society, he still could have read as black to one teenager seeing him in an otherwise all-black household in Harlem.

As you say, very complicated.

I'm somewhat pleased that a bunch of white nerdy teenagers were happy to go to meetings in this black man's house, and that he and his wife were happy to host them. But then my impressions of what would have been "normal" in that time and place are a bit vague, and perhaps there's nothing the slightest bit unusual about it.

What was the legal status of interracial marriage at the time? I guess he wouldn't have told the census people "white" and also "married" if that made him a criminal, probably. But did the census people ask back then, or just write down what was "obvious" to them?

That confirms it.

[(Anonymous)]

Frank Winter giving the 211 address for the AIS Warren Fitzgerald proves you definitely have the right guy. Nice work, Bill, and nice work too on all the other stuff others have gleaned about Fitzgerald. You'll soon have enough to write a proper profile piece on him. The question as to whether he was passing or was a white guy in an interracial marriage is intriguing. Were interracial marriages legal in New York at that time? I can't imagine they weren't if he's listed as white and his wife as black since that would be admitting a felony. With regard to his military service, did military records of the time include photos? If so, that may well be our best bet for getting a look at this mystery man. Mind you, I'm not sure that would necessarily indicate to me whether he was mixed race or not - I had no idea Mariah Carey was black until this as pointed out to me, f'rinstance.

- Rob Hansen

Re: That confirms it.

[pnh.livejournal.com]

According to this notably well-sourced Wikipedia article, interracial marriage was 100% legal in New York State:

Between 1913 and 1948, 30 out of the then 48 states enforced anti-miscegenation laws. Only Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alaska, Hawaii, and the federal District of Columbia never enacted them.

See also this.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

Would you like a GEDCOM file with his ancestry and (most) names of his siblings? You can also get a photostat of his Soc. Sec. application from the gov't for a few bucks.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Would you like a GEDCOM file with his ancestry and (most) names of his siblings?

Sure, but I would certainly need help interpreting it.

What would I learn from his Social Security application?

[redbird]

You'll have to wait a little while to check the 1940 census; I don't know whether the 70-year rule on census records will make those available on January 1, 2010 or not until 2011.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I don't know what the rules are. One reason I put this on the Web is to encourage others with more skill at this sort of research to help out. jeffreyab and kevinnickerson came through, bless 'em, with census and military records.

[(Anonymous)]

Someone with time might want to see what information might be available at The Museum of the City of New York, The New-York Historical Society, and there's this: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/iraas/harlem/ . And let's not forget the NY Public Library.

I suspect not everything is on the web. Ah, old fashioned research: dusty tomes, microfilm, microfiche, etc, etc ...

-- Michael Walsh

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Thanks much (to you & others who've contributed) for this researched information on Fitzgerald & FanHistory.

I might add to the speculation (which is a big part of genealogy, though the next step is "No credence without Documentation") with a suggestion that "Canada-French" includes dark-complexioned Mediterranean people of a culture that apparently didn't have strong prejudices against marriage with other races, and for census purposes could well have included Metis (people of French-Canadian/American-Indian ancestry, sometimes with a bit of Scots or Irish blended in, especially if they were Catholics).

[(Anonymous)]

Long shot: has anyone contacted Elliott Shorter? His family lived in Harlem, and they were all readers. There's an off-chance El or Ann would have known him, though they're a generation younger.

Warren S. Fitzgerald Marine Corps. Career Part 1 1918 to 1919

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

After joining the Marine Corps. as a Reserve Class #4 I am not sure if this means he is a draftee he spent most of his time as part of the force that occupied the Danish Virgin Island s after the US purchased them. Not sure this is the same fellow as the NY one but I think he is the one that dies in 1978 as he later goes AWOL in the Eastern Washington region.

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Feb 1918 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Company "E", Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Mar 1918 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Company ''E'', Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, Calif

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Apr 1918 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Company ''E'', Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: May 1918 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 149thCompany, USMC Marine Barracks, NY Norfolk, Va

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jun 1918 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 116th Company, Marine Barracks, St Thomas Virgin Islands Of United States,

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jun 1918 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 149th Company, US Marine Corps

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jul 1918 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 149th Company, MC, MB Christiansted, St Croix, VI Of US
10-31 Det Watch Ho St. Croix V.I.

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Oct 1918 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 149th, Company, M C Battery Station Shoys, StCroix, V I Of U S
Det.d BS Watch Ho St. Croix V.I.

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Feb 1919 Station: 149th Company, M C, Marine Barracks, Protestant Cay, St Croix, V I Of The U S
1-23 Det.d BS Watch Ho St. Croix V.I.
1-3 Det. MB Frederickstad, St. Croix V.I.
1-28 Messman

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Apr 1919 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 149th Company, MC, Marine Barracks, Protestant Cay, St Croix, VI Of The US

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jul 1919 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 116th Company, Marine Barracks, St Thomas, Virgin Islands Of The United States,
1-31 Messman

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Aug 1919 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 56th Company Marine Barracks St Thomas Virgin Islands Of US
18, jd trans fr 149th Co. MB St. Croix

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Aug 1919 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 116th Company, Marine Barracks, St Thomas, Virgin Islands Of United States,
1-17 ED Messman , 18 trans to 102nd Co. MB St. Croix, V.I. Auth CO. cable #09138

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Sep 1919 Station: 102nd Company, Mb,St Thomas, Virgin Islands Of United States
Messman

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Oct 1919 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: 102nd Company, Mb, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands Of United States
Messman

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Nov 1919 Station: 102nd Company, Mb, St Thomas, Virgin Islands Of United States
AOL fr 10 PM. 20 to 10:55Pm 20, for which awarded 7 days EPD by CO. 22

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Dec 1919 Station: 102nd Company, Mb, St Thomas, Virgin Islands Of United States
AWOL from 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM , 6 for which tried by DC, 9 and sentenced to lose pay amtng to $20.00. App. By CA 9.

Re: Warren S. Fitzgerald Marine Corps. Career Part 1 1918 to 1919

[wcg.livejournal.com]

It's been over a decade since I read about the enlistment categories in that era, but I *think* Reserve class 4 just means "recruit who won't be counted as part of the regular Marine Corps until we want to count him." It had to do with manpower limits on the regular force, so recruits were typically put into this reserve category. The Marine Corps Reserve wasn't an organized thing then like it is now. Instead it contained recruits, retirees, officers on half pay, etc...

Note the original assignment to Mare Island. That was the west coast recruit training command before the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at San Diego opened.

That last entry, about being AWOL for half an hour, is the kind of mickeymouse charge that would just draw non-judicial punishment today. DC means "Deck Court" which is like Captain's Mast in the Navy. CA is Convening Authority, so the sentence was approved by whoever had the authority to convene a Deck Court. It looks like the CO of the Marine Barracks at St. Thomas decided to "teach him a lesson" after he went on liberty without proper authority again.

The earlier sentence of EPD is Extra Punitive Duty. That probably means he had to go out and cut the grass or trim the headquarters hedges.

Warren S. Fitzgerald Marine Corps. Career Part 2 1920 to 1921

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jan 1920 Station: Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Charleston, South Carolina
1-9, Messman, 10 trans to US via USS Gulfport auth MGC #8902 dated Washington 1-2-1920
22, jd,-fr 102nd Company, St. Croix, V.I. via USS Gulfport

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Feb 1920 Station: Barracks Detachment Marine Barracks Navy Yard Charleston Sc
Trans to #14

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: May 1920 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Barracks Detach, Ent, Marine Barracks, San Diego, California
S. jd fr New York NY, transf to regular USMC from USMCR to complete unexpired term of enrol; 8 to 31, Det.d US Naval Fuel Depot La Playa, California

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jun 1920 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Headquarters Mountain Reserve Division Denver Colorado
Trans to Reg M. C. 4-28-20

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jun 1920 Station: Marine Barracks, Recruit Depot, San Diego, California
1 – 18 Det.d US Naval Fuel Depot La Playa, California; 17, leaving his post without being regularly relieved; for which tried by the DC and sentenced to LP $20; 22, app by CA LA remitted subject to conditions specified in article #4893 N.I. 1913; 17 to 18, PAL, non-duty status; awtg trial and result of trial; 22, released from conf and restored to duty; 23, failing to obey an order; for which awarded 10 days’ restriction 26.

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jul 1920 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Barracks, Recruit Depot, San Diego, California

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Aug 1920 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Barracks, Recruit Depot, San Diego, California
21 untidy at CO’s inspection; for which ordered 10 days EPD. 24, 26 to Marine Detach USS Wyoming

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Aug 1920 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Detachment, U S S Wyoming
26, jd fr MB San Diego, California

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Oct 1920 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Detachment, USS Wyoming
18, reported for “Attempting to smuggle tobacco into Brig 18” for which awd 5 days B&W (sol conf) by CO 19; 19 to 23 inc conf-serv-sent-awd 19
ED: Messman

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Dec 1920 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Detachment, U S S
DESERTED 8:00 AM 11 Des award offered

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jan 1921 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Washington
12, jd in person from Mountain Rctg. Div. DHS. Spokane Wash, after voluntarily surrendering from desertion at that station at 10:30 AM Jan 18, 1921. 12 to 14 conf awtng action C.O. 15 to 31 conf awtg action HQMC

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Feb 1921 Station: Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Washington
1 to 2, conf awaiting action MCHQ; 5 tried by SCM for AWOL from 8 AM Dec 11, 1920 to 10:30 AM Jan. 8, 1921 sentenced to perform EPD for one month, to L.P. amounting to $89.40, and to be discharged with a BCD. L. P. reduced to $50 by C.A. remitted for reasons of good conduct for 3 months while in custody.

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Apr 1921 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Washington
20 to 21 sick present bar.

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: May 1921 Station: Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Washington
Qualified sharpshooter and insignia delivered

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Jul 1921 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Washington

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Aug 1921 Station: Barracks Detachment, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Washington
! tried by DC for sitting down on post at or about 2:45 PM July 30, 1921 L.P. amt. to $20 and EPD for 20 days, $20 remitted under Art. 1877 N.R. 1920 1, app by CA July 30 to Aug 1, 1921 full duty status

Name: Warren S Fitzgerald Muster Date: Sep 1921 Enlistment Date: 1 Feb 1918 Station: Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Washington
Found sitting down and smoking on Post at or about 4:45 AM
Tried and fined and given EPD and discharged with a BAD conduct record Sept. 9, 1921

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

He gets in increasing troubles and is transferred to the regular USMC to finish his term of service. He ends up on the USS Wyoming a dreadnaught battleship from which he deserts at the end of 1920. This ends up with him surrendering to the USMC in Spokane and then his bad conduct discharge in September 1921.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that looks right. I'll also note that the original award of a BCD was apparently suspended due to good conduct. It was later re-instated after the last offense. But he appears to have put in 8 good months after the court martial conviction.

Speculating some, I'm guessing he ran afoul of an NCO at St. Thomas and got a reputation as a shitbird. From that point on he goes from one command to another getting a fresh start in each place but eventually having his past catch up with him as people from his last duty station transferred in or the 1st Sergeant got letters from an old buddy in the fleet.

Of course he could also have had any of the myriad problems common to young Marines. Alcohol, or women, or recreational drugs, or gambling, or maybe he just got too "salty" and pushed an NCO too far.

I've seen this kind of record belonging to Marines we called "good field Marines." They're great when you're in the field, but they're liberty risks. I'd check to see if he had any problems in civilian life later that might reflect a tendency toward risky and compulsive behavior.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I never heard of a "meter prover" before, but I see there is a Wikipedia article about them. Like "computer," a "meter prover" can refer to either a gadget or a person.

And my government has an official job description in the Department of Labor's Dictionary of Occupational Titles:

"GAS-METER PROVER"
Job Description and Jobs
DOT: 710.281-022

Tests ability of gas meters to accurately measure specified volume of gas at maximum and average cubic-feet-per-hour capacity and adjusts meters to correct excessive registration error: Connects hoses from prover to meter inlet and outlet and raises prover bell until prover gauge registers zero. Turns valve to allow measured amount of air or gas to pass through meter at specified flow-rate. Closes valve and compares registration on meter gauge. Screws fitting into meter outlet to retard flow of gas and repeats test. Turns setscrews to adjust meter and repeats test until meter registration is within specified limits according to prover and meter gas readings. Analyzes test results to determine cause of persistent registration errors. Segregates meters requiring repair. Records test results and date on meter card. May maintain temperature of oil used as gas seal in prover within specified limits to ensure accurate and uniform test readings. May test ability of flowmeters to accurately measure gas and liquid and be designated Flowmeter Test And Certification Technician (inst. & app.).

Sounds well within the grasp of 1920s technology.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

kevinnickerson kindly provided me with genealogy info, excerpted below.

Francis James Fitzgerald was born on 8 Mar 1869 in Wooler, Ontario, Canada. He died on 21 Jun 1958 in Portland, Oregon. He married Elveretta Leigh Scott on 6 Jan 1896.

Elveretta Leigh Scott was born on 29 Jan 1876 in Angola, New York. She died on 2 Oct 1959 in Portland, Oregon. She married Francis James Fitzgerald on 6 Jan 1896.

They had the following children:

      		M 	i 	Floyd Cecil Fitzgerald was born on 21 Oct 1896 in Angola, New York. He died on 22 Apr 1991 in Portland, Oregon.
      		M 	ii 	Vernet Raymond Fitzgerald was born on 4 Aug 1898. He died in 1899/1988.
      		M 	iii 	Warren Scott Fitzgerald was born on 12 Nov 1899. He died in 1900/1989.
      		M 	iv 	Allen Clifford Fitzgerald was born on 13 Oct 1901. He died in 1902/1991.
      		M 	v 	Stewart Curtis Fitzgerald was born on 9 Oct 1903. He died in 1904/1993.
      		F 	vi 	Living Fitzgerald.
      		F 	vii 	Living Fitzgerald.
      		F 	viii 	Living Fitzgerald.
      		F 	ix 	Mabel Lucille Fitzgerald was born in 1891/1908. She died on 21 Aug 1909.
      		F 	x 	Living Fitzgerald.
      		M 	xi 	Living Fitzgerald.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Living Fitzgeralds? That seems like an interesting line to pursue. (Forgive the possible redundancy -- I haven't read all the comments yet.)

Connecting the Dots

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Now this is becoming a logic puzzle of the "Brown-wears-a-green-tie" variety.

What can we establish by connecting the sources of information we have about Warren Fitzgerald?

• Winter gives the address of WF from AIS membership records in 1930
• Glasser recalls visiting him in Harlem
• Census form confirms that a Warren Fitzgerald lived there in 1930
• Glasser recalls meeting WF's black wife
• Census form says that Gertrude, sharing his last name, also lived there, circumstantial evidence that he was married
• Census form indicates that she was black

These facts connect the people described in the 1930 Census form to the people involved with the Scienceers and the AIS.

• Census form says WF's father was Canadian, mother was from New York, WF was born in Pennsylvania
• Census form says age last birthday was 30, implying 1899 or 1900 birthday
• Social Security Death Index says a Warren S. Fitzgerald was born 12 Nov 1899 in Pennsylvania
• GEDCOM file offers Warren Scott Fitzgerald born 12 Nov 1899.
• GEDCOM file says parents were Francis James Fitzgerald (1869-1958) and Elveretta Leigh Scott (1876-1959), and also offers siblings and some grandparents
• GEDCOM file says FJF born in Wooler, Ontario, ELS born in Angola, NY

These facts establish Warren Fitzgerald's birth date and give us a middle name.

• 1900 and 1910 Census records assure us we are tracking the same family, and confirm the middle initial.
• 1920 Census says Warren S. Fitzgerald is in military service, stationed in St. Thomas.
• Marines' records say Warren S. Fitzgerald enlisted 1 Feb 1918, at age 18, a plausible enlistment age.
• Military records say he was stationed in St. Thomas in 1920.

These facts establish that the our man is the same person as the Marine.

And we now know quite a bit about his military service. What else can confidently be said about him?

Re: Connecting the Dots

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

You may want to omit any 'facts' that come from the GEDCOM file. It's just a compendium made by someone, and no better than referencing this thread.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Frank Winter has this to say in Prelude to the Space Age: The Rocket Societies, 1924-1940 (a book I love):

Hugo Gernsback offered to rent a room for their regular meetings at the American Museum of Natural History. According to Moskowitz, Gernsback could not attend and sent his editor, David Lasser, who went with Pendray and Lemkin. Lasser, Pendray and Lemkin allegedly pressed the Scienceers to join their Society but only one member did, Warren Fitzgerald. Michael Ashley, in his The History of the Science Fiction Magazine, Chicago (Henry Regery Co.: 1974) 1:41, recounts a similar story. However, in interviews with the present author, neither Lasser, nor Pendray, nor Lemkin have any recollection of this incident, nor of The Scienceers, nor of Fitzgerald, though Fitzgerald dropped out of the AIS within a year.

So by the 1970s, when Dr. Winter was doing his research, the AIS's leaders no longer remembered their interaction with the SF fans.

By the way, Gernsback stiffed the Scienceers on the meeting room and they were presented with the Museum's bill.

[(Anonymous)]

They tried to get the aviatrix Ruth Nichols to join the AIS, IIRC from her papers. I can't remember if she ended up going or not, but there was some correspondence.

I hadn't heard of the AIS at the time I was going through Nichols' papers at the Intl. Women's Air and Space Museum -- only the UK's Interplanetary Society.

Fitzgerald on 1930 Census Form

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Here's an excerpt from the 1930 census form which shows Warren Fitzgerald and Gertrude L. Fitzgerald living at 211 W. 122nd St in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. It's dated 9 April 1930, just five days after the inaugural meeting of the American Interplanetary Society.

From Odds & Ends

(Apparently Picasa won't let me embed it at a size larger than 800 pixels wide; click on the image, and choose the zoom, to examine the original, which is over three times as wide.)

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Did some recent digging and have found no marriage record for them and when he married later he said he had never been married.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

I am back tracking his parents in Canada it looks like they were white.

Okmulgee, Oklahoma

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

This is the capital of the Creek Nation and is a very tri-racial area.

Source: American Community Survey, 2006-2008
For people reporting one race alone, 69 percent was White; 9 percent was Black or African American; 11 percent was American Indian and Alaska Native; less than 0.5 percent was Asian; less than 0.5 percent was Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and less than 0.5 percent was Some other race. Ten percent reported Two or more races. Three percent of the people in Okmulgee County was Hispanic. Sixty-eight percent of the people in Okmulgee County was White non-Hispanic. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Wikipedia lists several prominent African Americans as coming from there so I postulate a historical black community. Also being of Canadian ancestry Fitzgerald would not have been exposed as much to institutional racism.

I would speculate that he met his wife there in that multi-racial community.

Obit

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Bill

You could order a copy of his Boise, Idaho obit here:

http://www.boisepubliclibrary.org/Research/Obituaries/

The library might be able to find other information like his heirs.

Re: Obit

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Irresistable. Have requested his obituary.