Wosford Fenwick Neal

WOSFORD FENWICK NEAL

I. Wosford F. Neal worked for E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.

a) Sources for Job at DuPont:

ã 83rd Birthday Article: Approximately 1959 – Wosford worked at the DuPont Company in Arlington, retiring 18 years ago (or at age 65).

ã Obituary: October 20, 1959 – Wosford was a machinist at E. I. DuPont de Nemours Co. there until his retirement about 25 years ago (or about 1934)

b) Job:

ã Machinist – 1) a person who operates a machine, esp. a machine tool. 2) a person who makes machinery – Source: The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, pg. 549.

c) Company: E. I. DuPont de Nemours Co.

ã Website: www.dupont.com/

ã Company History during Wosford Neal’s career experience:

o 1910s

- 1915 - 1918: During World War I, DuPont supplies 1.5 billion pounds of

military explosives to Allied forces and provides U.S. industry with 840 million pounds of dynamite and blasting powder - half of the nation's total requirements for mining and heavy construction.

- 1917: DuPont enters the dye industry, previously monopolized by

German firms. The company establishes its Jackson Laboratory and a plant for dyestuffs manufacturing at Deepwater Point, New Jersey.

o 1920s

- 1920: DuPont purchases the viscose rayon process from the Comptoir des Textiles Artificiels and forms the DuPont Fibersilk Company (later the DuPont Rayon Company).

- 1923: The DuPont Cellophane Co. Inc. is formed after DuPont acquires the rights to cellophane from a French company. Four years later, DuPont researcher Hale Charch makes cellophane moisture-proof, transforming it from a merely decorative wrap into a popular and effective food packaging material.

- Research in films and lacquers leads to a new, quick-drying automobile paint called Duco that speeds production and gives consumers a range of new color choices.

o 1930s

- 1930: DuPont researchers Arnold Collins and Wallace Carothers discover

a successful general purpose synthetic rubber, neoprene. Just two weeks later, researcher Julian Hill discovers the first synthetic fiber, a precursor to nylon.

- 1934: The Haskell Laboratory of Industrial Toxicology is built at the Experimental Station. Completed in 1935, the lab opens with a staff of 20.

- 1935: Researchers Gerald Berchet and Wallace Carothers discover nylon, a new "synthetic silk." After years of intense development, nylon finally is announced to the public at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.

- 1937 - 1938: Researchers discover DuPont™ Teflon® fluoropolymer resins, a tough, versatile material; DuPont™ Butacite® PVB interlayer, a new plastic used in automotive safety glass; and DuPont™ Lucite® acrylic resins.

o 1940s

- 1941 - 1945: DuPont contributes to the top secret Manhattan Project by

designing, building and operating both the Hanford plutonium producing plant in Washington and the Oak Ridge pilot plant in Tennessee. The company also builds and operates for the government a neoprene plant, an ammonia-methanol plant, two Chemical Warfare Service plants and a Navy chemical plant. DuPont produces 4.5 billion pounds of military explosives, as well as nylon for parachutes, tents, ropes and other military supplies during World War II.

- 1946: Production of "nylons" was interrupted by World War II, and when

stores began carrying the flattering legwear after the war, women lined up to get them - sometimes with near-riot ferocity.

ã Source: www.dupont.com/corp/overview/history/

II. Birth Certificate of Wosford Neal’s son Edmund –September 6, 1918:

ã Name: Edmund Wosford Neal

ã Sex: Male

ã Place of Birth: 317 Davis Ave, Kearny, NJ

ã Date of Birth: September 4, 1918

ã Father: Wosford Neal, age 41, born at Prince Edward Island

ã Mother: Grace Sweeney, age 34, born in U.S.

ã Source: Office of Registrar of Vital Statistics, Kearny, NJ

III. Immigration Papers – U.S. Department of Labor – Naturalization Service

d) Declaration of Intention #4383

ã Date: August 12, 1919.

ã Age: 41 years

ã Occupation: Mechanic

ã Color: White

ã Complexion: dark

ã Height: 5 feet 6 ¾ inches

ã Weight: 158 pounds

ã Color of hair: brown

ã Color of eyes: blue

ã Visible distinctive marks: fingers left hand missing

ã Place of Birth: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Islands

ã Birth Date: November 17, 1877

ã Residence: 317 Davis Avenue, Kearney, NJ

ã Emigrated from: Prince Edward Islands

ã Vessel: Unknown

ã Last foreign residence: Prince Edward Islands

ã Renouncement Statement: Renouced allegiance and fidelity to any

foreign prince or sovereignty particularly to George V. King of Great Britain & Ireland.

ã U.S. Port of Arrival: Eastport, ME – 1879.

e) Petition for Naturalization #24033

ã Date: December 30, 1921

ã Where: the Court of Common Pleas in Hudson

County, New Jersey

ã Name: Wosford Neal

ã Residence: 317 Davis Ave, Kearny, New Jersey

ã Occupation: Machinist

ã Date of Birth: November 17, 1877

ã Place of Birth: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

ã Emigrated from: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

ã Date of Emigration: March 15, 1879

ã Port of Arrival: Eastport, Maine

ã Date of Arrival: March 21, 1879

ã Vessel: “Don’t Remember”

ã intend to become U.S. Citizen: August, 12, 191?

ã Wife: Grace

ã Wife’s date of birth: November 1, 1883

ã Wife’s place of birth: Jersey City, New Jersey

ã # of children: 4

ã Names of children:

o Thomas 1 July 1910 Jersey City 317 Davis Ave Kearny

o James 4 Sept 1914 Jersey City 317 Davis Ave Kearny

o Edmund 11 Sept 1918 Kearny 317 Davis Ave Kearny

o Wilford 4 Sep 1920 Kearny 317 Davis Ave Kearny

ã Lived in U.S. since: March 21, 1879

ã Lived in New Jersey since: September 19, 1914

f) Oath of Allegiance & Order of Court Admitting Petitioner

ã Filed September 13, 1921.

ã Subscribed & sworn in open court on December 16, 1921.

ã Certificate of Naturalization #1371925 issued on January 24, 1922.

IV. 1920 US Census – NEW JERSEY (January 6, 1920):

a) Soundex:

ã Neal = N400

ã Address: 317 Davis Ave., Kearny, Hudson, NJ

ã Vol 68, E.D. 273, Sheet 8 Line 13

ã White 43 born at Sea, England, Citizenship 1887 Pa

b) Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920—Population, Department of Commerce—Bureau of the Census.

ã State: New Jersey

ã County: Hudson

ã Township: Kearny Town

ã Ward of City: 2^nd

ã Supervisor’s District: 9

ã Enumeration District: 273

ã Sheet No: 8A

ã Date: January 6, 1920

ã Enumerator: Gustave L. Roden

ã Street: Davis Ave.

ã House No: 317

ã No. of Dwellings (Visit): 86

ã No. of Family (visit): 179

ã Head of Household: Neal, Westford

- Home owned or rented: Rented

- Sex: Male

- Color or Race: White

- Age: 43 years old

- Single, married: Married

- Year of immigration: 1887

- Naturalized or alien: Pa

- If naturalized, year: N/A

- Attended school: N/A

- Able to read: Yes

- Able to write: Yes

- Place of birth: At sea, England

- Mother tongue: English

- Father’s place of birth: Ireland

- Father’s mother tongue: English

- Mother’s place of birth: France

- Mother’s mother tongue: French

- Able to speak English: Yes

- Trade, profession: Machinist

- Industry:

- Salary or wage: Wage

ã Wife: Grace

ã Son: Edmund W.

ã Stepson: Davis, Thomas

ã Stepson: James F.

V. Social Security Application – Filed on November 24, 1936:

ã Birth Date: November 17, 1874

ã Place of birth: Prince Edward Island

ã Father: Patrick Neal (Deceased)

ã Mother: Nettie Philbrique

ã Color: White

ã Sex: Male

ã Social Security Application Date: November 24, 1936 at age 62

ã Social Security Number: 152-10-9271

ã Business: E. I. DuPont de Newmours & Co.

ã Business Address: 626 Schuyler Ave., Arlington, NJ

VI. Wosford Neal was “born” and “raised” on Prince Edward Island, Canada:

Civic Address Community of CHARLOTTETOWN
County:	Queens County
History:	Located in the south shore of the island, on Hillsborough Bay. In 1765, Samuel Holland named the location Charlotte Town for Charlotte Sophia (1744 to 1818) consort of George III. The city was incorporated in 1855. Charlottetown Royalty was planned by Samuel Holland as one of the 70 territorial divisions of PEI. The location has a post office since 1802. Established as a civic address community in 2000.
Includes:	SHERWOOD WEST ROYALTY WINSLOE EAST ROYALTY HIGHFIELD PARKDALE POPLAR ISLAND HILLSBOROUGH PARK

o Source: www.gov.pe.ca

VII. Eastport, Maine:

a) U.S. Department of Labor, Naturalization Service Form 2203 No. 4383: Declaration of Intention:

ã Wosford Neal arrived at the port of Eastport in the State of Maine, anno Domini 1879.

b) Petition for Naturalization No. 24033:

ã Wosford Neal arrived in the United States, at the port of Eastport Maine, on the 21 day of March, anno Domini 1879 on the vessel “don’t remember”.

ã Features and benefits of the City and Port of Eastport, Maine:

ã Eastport – Source: www.eastport.net/history.asp

o Located on Moose Island.

o It is connected with the mainland by a short causeway.

o The unique maritime history of the area provides much to explore.

o Eastport is home to the world's second largest whirlpool, the "Old Sow".

o Eastport is the only US owned principality that has been under rule by a foreign government. It was held from 1814 to 1818 by British troops under King George following the conclusion of the War of 1812.

o Eastport Barracks Museum. Located on Washington Street, this building was used as part of the officers' barracks for Fort Sullivan. It was moved to its present site in 1877. The Museum tells the story of Eastport's past. Among its collections are the results of an archeological dig on the fort site, a history of Eastport's fires, and its participation in the country's wars. There is an extensive genealogical collection. Open summers only, 10:00 - 4:00 on week days.

ã Features of the Port of Eastport – Source: www.portofeastport.org

o All Natural deep water port (2^ndlargest in North America)

o you can deep sea fish within a few hundred feet of shore. In a short time, still within sight of the Breakwater, the ocean is over 300 feet deep – Source: www.mainelist.com/towns/Eastport.php3

o Boston only 6 ½ hours away by motor carrier.

o Closest U.S. port to Europe.

o During the nineteenth century, the port of Eastport was a major shipping center for the United States, rivaling the port of New York in the 1850's. The lumber, stone and fish that were exported and the numerous commodities imported created a lively schooner trade up and down the east coast.

o This region was the birthplace of the sardine industry.

o The proximity of Maine and New Brunswick ports encouraged a smuggling trade from the late eighteenth century on.

VIII. Wosford “was a fishermen for numerous years” (see article on 83rd

Birthday “Surprise Fete”:

ã Fisherman – n. (pl.-men) 1 a person who catches fish as a

livelihood or for recreation. 2 a fishing boat. – Source: The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, pg. 549.

IX. Wosford Neal was a Whaler

ã Whaler – n. 1 a whaling ship or a seaman engaged in

whaling – Source: The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, pg. 549.

ã Whaling – n. the practice or industry of hunting and killing

whales, esp. for their oil or whalebone. Whaling master is the captain of a whaler – Source: The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, pg. 549.

X. Wosford Neal on the Schooner “Ellanora” as a member of the crew:

a) Schooner:

ã A vessel with two or more masts, with fore and aft sails on both

masts, normally less than 150 tons.

o Mast: A spar or structure resin above the hull and upper

portions of a ship holding sails, rigging, etc up.

o Spar: A stout pole forming a ships mast, yard, gaff, boom, etc.

o Fore or Forward: Towards the bow of a vessel.

o Aft: Towards the stern of a vessel.

o Stern: The rear part of a ship.

ã Schooners have two or more masts of equal height (or the aft one

is higher) .

- Source: www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/schooner.htm

ã Schooner = Two masted vessel on which the sails are not square

Rigged.

- Source: http://users.accesscomm.ca/shipwreck/index7.htm

Tonnage	Length	Beam	Draft
100	52ft	19ft	7.5ft
200	66	24	9.5

b) Wosford Neal’s Schooner:

ã Name of Schooner: ELLANORA

- Size of Crew: 15 crew members

XI. Merchant Marine – Wosford “was a merchant marine for numerous years” (see article on 83rd Birthday “Surprise Fete”:

ã What is the Merchant Marine?
The Merchant Marine is the fleet of ships which carries imports and exports during peacetime and becomes a naval auxiliary during wartime to deliver troops and war materiel.

ã What do you call people who are in the Merchant Marine?
Mariners. Seamen. Seafarers. Sailors. Never marines. Mariners is the preferred designation, just like the Seattle professional baseball team. The term Merchant Marines is incorrect, but sometimes used by some old time mariners.

ã Source: www.usmm.org/

XII. Boxer Rebellion in China – Wosford “operated a dredge in China during the Boxer Rebellion” (see article on 83rd Birthday “Surprise Fete”:

ã 1898—1902 China: troops from the US and other nations put down the Boxer Rebellion – Source: www.easternct.edu/personal/faculty/pocock/milact.htm

ã At the end of the 19th century, bandit groups roamed the Chinese countryside terrorizing villages.

ã China's weak central government was unable (or perhaps unwilling) to act effectively.

ã various martial-arts groups literally took the law into their own hands to beat back the bandits. Because of the indoctrination they received, many in these groups, which became known as Boxers, believed they were invulnerable to swords, spears, and more modern Western weapons.

ã In May 1900, thousands of Boxers poured into Peking (Beijing), causing fear within the foreign communities. On 30 May, responding to a request from the foreign ministers, the local Chinese authorities allowed the Americans, British, French, Italians, Japanese, and Russians to augment their embassy guard forces.

ã The next day, 337 men arrived from foreign naval ships anchored off Taku (Dagu). Included in the contingent were 50 U.S. Marines, led by Captains John Myers and Newt Hall

ã Source: www.navyleague.org/seapower_mag/nov2001/marines_hold_the_line.htm

Canton, China: seawall and harbor crowded with sampans, c. 1895

Source: http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/fists.html

The capital of China at that time was called Peking. It is still the capital today, but it is now called Beijing – source: http://mebn.org/bxr.html

BOXER REBELLION
Violent uprising by Chinese nationalists opposed to Western commercial and cultural influence in China in the late 1890s. The Boxers were members of the I-ho Tuan ("righteous, harmonious fists"), a secret society which had vowed to drive all "foreign devils" from China. Encouraged by the Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi, they besieged the British legation and a Catholic Church in Beijing (then called Peking) on August 14, 1900. Over 900 foreigners had taken refuge in the stronghold, when an international relief force of British, American, French, German, Austrian, Italian, Russian, and Japanese troops drove the Boxers out of the city. The foreign troops then went on a rampage of looting nearby villages and killing many innocent Chinese. In crushing the rebellion, the new western coalition used the incident to strengthen an "Open Door" agreement. This agreement preserved Chinese territorial and administrative unity and guaranteed that all western powers had equal commercial rights to trade with China. The Chinese government was also required to pay an indemnity of $333 million for damages inflicted by the Boxers, including $25 million for damages to U.S. property.

Source: www.americanpresident.org/kotrain/courses/TR/TR_Foreign_Affairs.htm

In 1842, near the end of the Opium War, Shanghai's garrison surrendered to the British fleet. From that point until 1949 the city developed largely as an enclave for Western commercial interests in China. Lying off the sea and just upstream from the Yangtse—a river that could be navigated several hundred miles into the interior on oceangoing vessels—Shanghai provided a gateway to a vast internal market. Each of the major foreign powers claimed a section of the city. Residents of these infamous "international concessions were exempt from the laws of China, and Chinese were subjected to the added humiliation of being barred from free access to large portions of their own territory. Shanghai soon surpassed Guangzhou as China's most important foreign trade center. Numerous traders and speculators-French, US, and Japanese-soon joined the British. By 1936, the Western population of Shanghai numbered 60,000. Source - www.chinaprivatetours.com/Chapter8/chapter8_8.html

XIII.Panama Canal – Wosford “worked on the Panamal Canal when it was being built” (see article on 83rd Birthday “Surprise Fete”:

ã 1900 Panama: permanent US military bases protected US-controlled Panama Canal Zone – Source: www.easternct.edu/personal/faculty/pocock/milact.htm

ã The most spectacular of Roosevelt's foreign policy initiatives involved the Panama Canal. It had been the dream for years of U.S. naval leaders and internationalists to build a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Central America. During the war with Spain, American ships in the Pacific had to steam around the tip of South America in two-month voyages to join the U.S. fleet off the coast of Cuba. In negotiations with Britain, the U.S. secured support for an American controlled canal (Hay-Pauncefote Treaties, 1901) that would be constructed either in Nicaragua or through a strip of land (Panama) owned by Colombia. In a flourish of closed-door maneuvers that favored special interests, the Senate approved a route through Panama if Colombia agreed. When Colombia balked at the terms, Roosevelt supported a Panamanian revolution with money, naval support, and mercenaries. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama gave the U.S. perpetual control of the canal for a price of $10 million and an annual rent of $250,000.

ã Completed in 1914, the $400 million project was greeted in America as one of the world's greatest engineering feats—equivalent in resources and technology to placing a man on the moon in the 1960s.

Source: http://www.americanpresident.org/kotrain/courses/TR/TR_Foreign_Affairs.htm

XIV. South America – Wosford “explored in the Amazon and Andes

regions of South America” (see article on 83^rd Birthday “Sons Honor

Neal at Surprise Fete”:

XV. Louisiana – Wosford “operated a plantation in Louisiana” (see article

on 83^rd Birthday “Sons Honor Neal at Surprise Fete”:

ã Plantation – n. 1 an estate on which cotton, tobacco, etc., is

cultivated esp. by resident (formerly slave) labor. 2 an area planted with

trees, etc., for cultivation – Source: The Oxford Dictionary and

Thesaurus, pg. 549.

a) Louisiana Plantations:

ã Plantation agriculture in Louisiana dates to the early 1700s

when the territory was a French colony. After abortive attempts to populate the colony by emptying France's prisons and slums into Louisiana, large tracts were offered to men who would bring in tenants to work the land. But only those who were able to get enough slaves succeeded. By the end of the 1790s, the invention of the cotton gin and the discovery of a way to granulate sugar from Louisiana's sugar cane firmly established the system of cultivating a single crop on large estates as a means to riches and power.

ã In the 1850s, for example, sugar cane fields were worth as

much as $100 an acre, while swamp land on the same estate was valued at $10 an acre. A sugar plantation might easily represent an investment of more than $200,000, including slaves and equipment. But the rate of return was a handsome 9 percent. The investment in a cotton plantation was cheaper because less skilled labor and fewer special tools were needed. A 1,500-acre cotton plantation would represent a total investment of about $100,000, and yield a 7 percent profit.

Source: www.rootsweb.com/~afamerpl/plantations_usa/LA/LA_plantations.html

XVI. Wosford Neal’s wife: Grace Sweeney

b) 1900 US Census – New Jersey

ã Wife: Grace Aloysius Sweeney

ã DOB: November 1, 1883 in Jersey City, NJ

ã Source: 1900 US Census – Fourth Precinct, Jersey City, Ward

#2, Hudson Co., NJ SD #164; ED #87; Sheet # 18)

ã Age: 16 in 1900, Grace worked in a Novelty Factory.

ã Literacy: She could read, write and speak English.

ã Parents: Dennis and Mary Sweeney (both of whom were born in New

York).

c) Social Security