Tips from the Pros: Looking at Passport Applications, from Michael John Neill

J. Simeon Gentry applied for a passport to visit Cuba in December of 1919. There are two additional applications filed directly after his. The first is for his wife Lena, who indicates she is accompanying her husband on a visit to Cuba. The second application after Simeon Gentry’s is one for Dora Deatherage. All three were submitted in the same month and all three were acknowledged in a Knox County, Illinois, court on the same day. Based upon the relative ages of the applicants (and a look at the 1900 census), it appears that Dora Deatherage could be the mother of Lena Gentry. If individuals were traveling together, their applications might have been recorded in succession—make sure to look at records before and after the individual you find. The applications may not state they are traveling together, but look at their residences, destinations, and dates of application for further clues.

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3 thoughts on “Tips from the Pros: Looking at Passport Applications, from Michael John Neill

  1. Where or how does one find passport information? When were passports first required?

    Thanks,
    Kathleen Moran

  2. I would like to know where one can go and find passport information or to access via a computer without joining a search engine such as ancestry.com? Did everyone need a passport traveling to various countries? If they were here from a country in Europe would they need a passport to return to the U.S. if they were not citizens of the U.S.?

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