Emigration/naturalization of William Foster a.k.a. William J. Dempsey

[eileenwilson]

And if we have the right Elizabeth Burke / Margaret Dempsey, in 1953:

Never mind ..... wrong women ....

[TreeDigger]

When was Elizabeth Howard Foster Burke born?  An interesting newspaper article from the Liverpool Echo in 1945:

Too old, she was born in 1900. But wouldn't that be a dramatic addition to the story..

[TreeDigger]

And if we have the right Elizabeth Burke / Margaret Dempsey, in 1953:

Never mind ..... wrong women ....

Yeah.. but wow!

[TreeDigger]

Possibly wife no. 1 declared William missing/dead and was able to remarry without being divorced?     Do you know the last time (year) they were actually living together?

I know the folks in the other post (mentioned at the start of this one) found William & parents in 1920 & 1921, and Elizabeth with hers in 1924 & 1925. Currently trying to find whether William was still in Liverpool in the 1922-1923 period, but there's a lot of them..

[eileenwilson]

I checked the declaration of intention for the 1898 William (says he's an 'oiler'), and he states he arrived on/about 01 July 1923 on the 'Franconia'. That checks out, so this really may be 'my' William!
[/quote]

Which declaration of intention?

[TreeDigger]

Naturalization declaration dated 24 Dec 1923, it's attached to the tree of a relative on Ancestry.

Turns out it's the wrong William attached to Thomas & Agnes Foster-Prince, that one born 19 Mar 1898 as the (illegitimate) son of Celia Hampton. The excellent sleuthing of other users in the post mentioned at the beginning of this one pointed out the error. That William married Mabel Otty and ended up in Ohio.

One of the few times I abandoned my usual (triple) fact checking 

[TreeDigger]

The time and circumstances really do fit this William Foster..

There is a reference on the ship record for the Homeric arriving in New York on 5 July 1923 for a William Foster who signed on 27 June 1923 who deserted (along with many others).  This would be the "trimmer" one.

If he'd entered the country legally there would've been a paper trail. Though he must've officially changed his surname at least, as 'Dempsey' was on his draft card. Could he have gotten away with lying about his citizenship on the 1940/1950 census?

[eileenwilson]

The citizenship question on the census would not have been questioned.

The one piece that still bothers me is why "Dempsey"?  If you wanted to get lost, why not "Smith"?

[TreeDigger]

Not a clue. There was a Peter Dempsey on the 'Belgic' William sailed with in 1919. Hypothetically he could've known the guy, discussed immigrating to the US with him.. maybe Elizabeth Howard was a 'shotgun wedding' because he got her pregnant, and he remembered the name from their talks when he decided to get out and follow his dream..