Looking Beyond the Indexes

Have you ever looked at an index and thought, "Well, the name looks close but that can't be my ancestor because the (fill in religion, race, sex, etc.) is wrong"? I used to think that too. But I have found errors in indexes on several occasions. So I've learned that it is always a good idea to look beyond the indexes and view the documents themselves. The document above is my latest example of this lesson.

Ancestry.com has posted and indexed the World War II draft registration cards for Illinois. These are the cards from the fourth registration of World War II, known as the "old man's draft." Those required to register were men between the ages of 45 and 64. I searched for grandpa under the most common spelling of his name and found him indexed as follows:

Name Anton W Skrobul
Birthdate 18 Mar 1884
Birth Place Sany, Lithuania
Residence Beckemeyer, Illinois
Race Negro (Black)

Now if grandpa had a common name and lived in a big city, I might have thought, "This can't be grandpa, he wasn't "Negro"." But, let's face it, how many Anton Skrobuls do you know? So I was pretty sure this was him. And in looking at the image, everything else looked correct.



Page 2 of the document contains more information, including 7 categories to indicate race, such as light, dark, freckled and black. (Note to self: See if any of my Irish relatives were freckled.) The page 2 associated with Anton W. Skrobul indicated he was dark, not black. But apparently an indexer made a mistake and decided "dark" meant "black" which was indexed as Negro. I doubt that Anton identified himself as black, and he looks rather fair-skinned in his photos. So if his skin looked dark the day he registered, it may have been due to coal dust from working in the mine, and not his ethnic heritage.


Here is a photo of Anton with his two sons. From left to right, Anthony, Anton and Stan Skrobul.

Beckemeyer Kids, 1930s

This is a photo of children in Beckemeyer, Illinois. It was taken in the early 1930s. According to my information, the O is above Henry Koch. The X is by my uncle Anthony (aka Putt) Skrobul. The boy at the top right later became Father Feldman. I don't know who the others were, especially the one in the middle in the animal costume.

Mom and Her Siblings

My mom, Ann Skrobul, was one of 8 children. And from what I saw of them, they all got along well. I know my mom loved them all, and felt loved by them. The photo above shows my mom goofing around with her 2 brothers, Stan and Putt (aka Tony).

I have alot of photos of my mom with 1 or more of her siblings. In the photo below are Stella and my mom standing, with their oldest sister Josephine seated. The photo was taken in April, 1957. My mom is standing behind Aunt Jo because she was a little bit pregnant at the time.



The next picture shows Veronica, Ann and Jule Skrobul standing in front of the family home in Beckemeyer, Illinois.


Here is one more photo of my mom and some of her siblings. From left to right, Stella, Veronica and Ann are shown spending a quiet evening together knitting.



I only have one photo of my mom with her siblings when they were children. It is a picture of the 5 sisters that I have posted here. I have no picures of the sixth sister, Maria, who died as an infant.

My mom was very lucky to have grown up with so many great brothers and sisters, and to have stayed close to them as adults.

To see more photos and comments about brothers and sisters, look at the 11th edition of Smile For the Camera, posted by the footnoteMaven.

Ann, Tony and Friends

This is a photo of my mom, one of her brothers, and two of their friends. Standing are Bob Kahroff, my mom Ann Skrobul, and Tony Kannell. Kneeling is Tony Skrobul, also known as Uncle Putt. Uncle Putt was a fun guy. It looks as if Tony Kannell and Uncle Putt are ready to go hunting. I believe this picture was taken in Beckemeyer, Illinois in front of the Skrobul home.

The Skrobuls and Friends

This is a picture of some of my Skrobul relatives from Beckemeyer, Illinois and their friends. I believe the photo was taken in the early 1940s.

In the back row: Grandpa Anton Skrobul (aka Antanas Skrabulis), a friend named Tony McCloskey, my uncle Stan Skrobul.

In the front row: my uncle Anthony Skrobul, an unidentified friend.

If you know the name of the unidentified friend, I'd like to hear from you.