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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: Dauro on Tuesday 29 April 14 21:05 BST (UK)
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Trying to find more information about the family of Lewis Charles Arlington.
Lewis was born in San Francisco October 1859 and died January 1943 in Shanghai.
He wrote several books on China. “In search of old Peking” is one of the better known.
As far as I know he had one son called Arthur, that's it.
I would like to know who his father and mother were and if he had any further relatives in the USA or in Asia.
The name of his wife is also unknown to me.
Who knows more?
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Hi,
On a passport application 1917 - Louis Charles Arlington - Born San Francisco 1860. Father L C Arlington born Alsace - Lorraine of Scotch Parents - Father has been dead for 40 years and unable to give further information regarding him.
Has been a resident in China for the previous 38 years. No marital status given.
Sandra
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There is also a Consular Registration Certificate - Certificate of Registration for American Citizen. Certifying that L Charles Arlington was born 2 October 1860 San Francisco (is a citizen by birth) Arrived Nanking China 1 st August 1909 where he is residing for the purpose of Imperial Postal Service. He is not married and no children are listed. Nearest relative xx Mr M D Charles Arlington, ??? Santa Barbara, California. Stamped March 1 st 1910.
Sandra
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Hi Sandra,
He was an Irish American.
I have him entering the US on the 5Th of may 1826 at the port of San Francisco, coming from Shanghai april 15Th 1826 S.S. "President Cleveland". At that time being single, given birth 10Th of february 1859 San Francisco.
He arrived in China in 1879 and stayed there for 50 years. Imperial Postal service fits.
Dauro....
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Hi Sandra,
He arrived in China in 1879 and stayed there for 50 years.
Dauro....
1879 seems to agree with the passport application info of 1917
Sandra
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Looking at a Consular Application from 1911, it looks like after "Address of nearest relative", it was written in "in U.S. Charles Arlington, Santa Barbara, California"
A Consular Application from 1917 says that his father was Charles Arlington, born in Strassburg of Scotch parents.
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That would explain why I find him sometimes as Louis...
Dauro.
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Are you in contact with the relatives who run this site? https://sites.google.com/site/miramarlb/
Surely this is him signing up to the military in 1878:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QJDR-3D28
Also a trip in 1897:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KYKP-BSF
Having real trouble finding him early on - perhaps listed under a name variant/stepfather's name or something?
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Went to sea as a boy according to this article - so perhaps that's why we are not finding more.... ???
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0z3o/
Sandra
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He spent most of his life in China,that's a problem. He probably married there and perhaps his son Arthur was also born there.
The question then is, what nationality would Arthur have had. Did he ever apply for a passport for his son or wife?
"Are you in contact with the relatives who run this site? https://sites.google.com/site/miramarlb/"
I cant find any form of communication with the writer of it Jorose.
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Figured they might be cousins you know. I can't find any trace of Arthur in the US but there are some good hints in the letters:
My cousin Mrs. Anna Cushing says she wrote to you and was waiting for a reply
Don't forget to write to my cousin in Frisco. No. 1015 Van Ness Ave. Mrs. Cushing, Anna.
also various mentions of "Uncle Charlie" (U.C.), who seems to have been in the US - this from Sep 1919:
Have you heard from U.C. recently? He has had a hard time. Katie blood-poised and nearly dead and himself dangerously wounded in both eyes by gas explosion etc! Herbert – for joy riding in other people’s motors and busting it up, he has been sent to a Reformatory. As place I think where he should have been years ago.
(of course he might not have been an actual relative but a close family friend or something)
Is this the cousin Anna Cushing? (b. Strasbourg):
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH49-W9N
http://www.ellisisland.org
shows her coming into the US in 1914 "Ama Cushing" - gives same address as in the letters. Contact address in Paris.
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I think Arthur may have been at MIT - there's a mention in the letters of "Tech" (Technique, the MIT yearbook), and Allen Addicks (Allen Drew Addicks was at MIT around this time)
http://technique.mit.edu/archive/
In 1920 "Tsu-Kuang Lin" is listed as a student - home address "Hanchow"
Here's the WWI draft card - name Arthur addedd, L.C. Arlington is on there as is "Y.W. Lin" (mother?)
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K6CT-WNV
He was at that point a student at the University of Virginia.
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On the San Francisco Chinese applications for admission, there is Tsu Kuang Lin who arrived and was admitted on 12 Dec. 1916. His residence was Charlottesville, Virginia.
There is an Arthur Tsu-Kuang Lin on the Australia electoral rolls from 1980 in Toorak, Higgins, Victoria.
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Hmm. Getting really quite suspicious here now about the name "Arlington". I'm noting a few things:
1) The closest marriage I can find for Anna is this one, in 1883 - note she is "Kroffig"
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-29894-8490-89?cc=1804002
Note witness "Charles Apelnstall"
If this is her then she was actually b. Dec 1852 according to the 1900 census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M9GH-QYK
2) There is this family "Aplustrell" in 1860, with an infant son son "Louis C"
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MDK2-7V3
Apalestel in 1870:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MNX9-7SZ
I can't find them in 1880 - I can later find at least son Ernest, the remarriage of the father, but no trace of "Louis C".
http://etat-civil.bas-rhin.fr
Now, here we can search the births for Strasbourg.
4 Dec 1852 - Anna Kroffig
she was the daughter of Jean Joseph Kroffig and Salome Amelie Aplustill.
4 July 1848 - marriage of Jean Joseph Kroffig to Sophie (mistake?) Amelie Aplustill. Hard to read but shows that she was b. 3 Sep 1816, father (?name) d. 27 August 1838, mother Marguerite Salome Tr????r d. 26 May 1832 (all events in Strasbourg()
15 Feb 1831 - birth of Charles Aplustill to Jean Aplustill aged 40 and Margeurite Salome Tranner
3 Sep 1816 birth of Salome Amelie - to Jean Aplustill aged 26 and Marguerite Salome Tranner
So if "Lewis Charles Arlington" was actually "Louis Charles Aplustill", he was cousins with Anna Cushing nee Kroffig as his father Charles and her mother Salome Amelie were siblings.
As to "Uncle Charlie", there was a man going by the name "Charles Martin Applestill" who appears to have been born slightly after the 1870 census sometime. In 1910 father Charles b. France is living with him:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MV2V-F8V
Note wife "Katy" and son "Herbert" - as mentioned in the letters.
If this is the right family, it appears the first wife of Charles (Louis C. Aplustill's mother) died probably mid 1870s - that might have had something to do with his going to sea/changing his name.
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https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://64.62.200.70/PERIODICAL/PDF/SaturdayRev-1932jan30/12-13/ This review of L.C. Arlington's book quotes him as saying his father was of English & Scotch parentage and born in Dolores, Spain and his mother was part French & part Irish and born in Strassburg in Alsace-Lorraine. It says his family came west during the Gold Rush, and he went to China in the latter part of 1879.
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Can't the Arlington's just keep it simple....? ::)
Jorose, pfeww, quite a job!
This is getting tricky Shellyesq. Siblings of his father, born in Spain, might be hard to find.
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Photo of Charles M Applestill http://www.oocities.org/icsodotorg/new_page_26.htm
and announcement of the death of his father in 1910 http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=IVP19100507.2.49.3
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Re that 1917 passport application, there is an affidavit there from his half brother Charles Martin Applestill
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Ooh, nice! Interesting that he's "half-brother"... (or is that to explain away the different names?) "Dolores, Spain" I would take as fictional, personally.
Ah, found Charles sr in 1880 as "Afrastel" in San Jose.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6PJ-GLR
widowed, daughter Louisa (aged 16), son Charles (aged 8)
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0z4d/
- death in Santa Clara of Maria L. Aplustill, aged 43, Jan 9 1876 ("Louis C" would have been 15 or 16).
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The San Jose Evening News has a slightly different death announcement for Charles Applestill senior on May 6 1910:
Aplustill: In Elcentro Cal., on May 5 1910, Charles Aplustill, a native of Alsace, aged 79 years.
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I'm lost here...
I can see that Louis Charles Aplustill is the cousin of Anna Cushing (néé Kroffig) , but why should he be Lewis Charles Arlington? ( am I missing something here? 8))
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There is no trace of "Louis/Lewis Charles Arlington" in California 1860/1870 census records.
There are, however, census records for the Louis Charles Aplustill b. 1860 California, whose father was Charles, and whose (half?)brother was Charles Martin Applestill/Aplustill (this man also recorded as "half-brother" on 1917 passport application of L.C. Arlington ). "L.C. Aplustill" disappears some time after the 1870 census.
The letters from the family on that website confirm that your "L.C. Arlington", whose Chinese-born son was studying in the US in 1920:
1) had a cousin, "Anna Cushing", just the same as Louis Charles Aplustill did (the address makes it clear this must be the same woman who arrived in 1914 and was born Strasbourg).
2) had a brother, or at least someone in that role, referred to as "Uncle Charlie" in the letters, in whose family was a Katie, and a Herbert - Charles Martin Applestill's wife was Katy/Katie and he had a son Herbert.
Therefore, one possible conclusion is that "Lewis Charles Arlington" was simply an alias of "Louis Charles Aplustill". It would have been very simple at the time to change his name, for any number of reasons, without leaving much (any) of a paperwork trail. Perhaps he had a falling out with father Charles after his mother's death, or ran off to sea as a lad and was trying to hide his real age.
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Thank you Jorose for the very clear explanation!! I was lost for a moment ;)
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Hi
I'm the owner of Google site MiramarLB, Great Grand-daughter of L. C. Arlington, Granddaughter of Arthur TK Lin, daughter of Renee Liang (90). We reside in California, USA. I read your findings about my ancestors with great pleasure & surprise. Recently I ran across a 2014 master thesis about Lewis Charles Arlington by a Chinese student in Beijing Foreign Studies University. I'm in the process of contacting the advisor & author in hope to learn more interesting things about Great Grandfather L.C days in China. Stay tune!
-MasterMoo
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Hi Mastermoo, finally after two years :)
Dauro...
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Douro,
Will see what I can find about Catherine Stewart Arlington (néé Young). As it happens, my paternal Great Grandfather (Po TingHai) & Grandfather (Cheng JinYi) were closely associated with LMS (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Jingyi). Until then be well!
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"4 July 1848 - marriage of Jean Joseph Kroffig to Sophie (mistake?) Amelie Aplustill. Hard to read but shows that she was b. 3 Sep 1816, father (?name) d. 27 August 1838, mother Marguerite Salome Tr????r d. 26 May 1832 (all events in Strasbourg()"
Jean Joseph KROFFIG, né le 15 janvier 1820 à Strasbourg, fils de + Jean KROFFIG, cocher, décédé à Strasbourg le 22 février 1824, et d'Anne Marie BECKER,
Sophie Amélie APLUSTILL (Salomé Amélie APLUSTILL in the margin as you noticed), née le 3 septembre 1816 à Strasbourg, fille de Jean APLUSTILL, serrurier, décédé le 27 août 1838 à Strasbourg, et de Marguerite Salomé TRENNER, décédée le 27 août 1838 à Strasbourg.
Jean APLUSTILL got married to Marguerite Salomé TRENNER in Strasbourg in 1815 (07/DEC/1815).
Jean APLUSTILL, 31 years old, garçon serrurier, born in Brünn (Moravia), son of the late Jean APLUSTILL, serrurier, and Elizabeth SCHOEN.
Marguerite Salomé TRENNER, born in Strasbourg 17 brumaire an II, daughter of Nicolas TRENNER, armurier, et de Madeleine DURR
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Children of Jean APLUSTILL and Marguerite Salomé TRENNER, born in Strasbourg
Salome Amélie in 1816
Jean George in 1818
Conrad Gaspard in 1820
Marie Sophie in 1822
Marie Joséphine in 1826
Charles in 1831
There is also Madeleine APLUSTILL dead in 1830 (22/JAN/1830) at the age of 2 years, 1 month and 14 days.
In the margin it's written hydrocéphale (hydrocéphalic child)
and a stillborn boy in 1832 (20/MAY/1832). In the margin it's written avortement (understand a spontaneous abortion, a miscarriage).
It's unusual in the French records to add the cause of death. Medical details are seen as a private matter.
Marguerite TRENNER died in 1832 in Strasbourg (26/MAY/1832) and Jean APLUSTILL remarried in the same city in 1833.
Marriage of Jean APLUSTILL and Madeleine SPECK (27/NOV 1833), daughter of Louis SPECK and Elisabeth FEIG, a native of Klausendorf (Bas-Rhin), widow of Joseph Maximilien EGGER.
The marriage record mentions Jean APLUSTILL as born in the year 1784 in Brünn in Moravia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brno
He died in Strasbourg in 1838 (27/AUG/1838). A native of Brünn in Austria.
Madeleine SPECK remarried in 1842 in Strasbourg (03/OCT/1842) with André SCHWAB, also a widower.
In 1872, Jean Georg APLUSTILL took the decision to remain French after the annexation of Alsace by Germany
In 1856, birth in Strasbourg of Amélie Joséphine KROFFIG to Jean Joseph KROFFIG and Salomé Amélie APLUSTILL
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So we have Jean APLUSTILL, a locksmith, (Brünn 1784 - 1838 Strasbourg) and Marguerite Salomé TRENNER (Strasbourg 1793 - Strasbourg 1832)
He became French in 1828
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65288948.image.r=Aplustill.f507.hl
Marguerite Salomé TRENNER had a sister Marie Madeleine Thérèse TRENNER (x Strasbourg 06/FEB/1815 Nicolas BECK)
Parents Nicolas Thiébaud TRENNER and Madeleine DURR
http://gw.geneanet.org/jlwahl?n=trenner&oc=&p=nicolas+thiebaud
http://gw.geneanet.org/jbinettarbevauxclair?lang=en&pz=brigitte+marie+germaine&nz=olivier&ocz=0&p=marie+madeleine+therese&n=trenner
Nicolas Thiébaud TRENNER died in 1831 in Strabourg (01/AUG/1831). He was 83 years old. Parents
Joseph TRENNER and Elisabeth MEYER. In the margin vieillesse (old age).
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I can't read a gothic handwriting but it seems to me that Jean APLUSTILL doesn't sign APLUSTILL, his signature starts with a ABL or sometimes OBL...