Other Events:

• Baptism: St Mary Catholic Church, 794 Pearson Street, Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois
• Residence: 7 Feb 1920, Thacker St, Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois
• Residence: 2 Apr 1930, 1064 Thacker St, Des Plaines, Illinois
• Residence: 11 Apr 1940, 1691 Van Buren Avenue, Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois

Family/Spouse: Earl G. Haas. Earl 8 Mar 1917; 12 Apr 1985Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois; 15 Apr 1985Ridgewood Cemetery, Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Robert Carl Haas
2. Diane Haas

Other Events:

• Also Known As: James Schimka was originally Vaclav Simka (accent marks ommitted - see image of name). Early documents from ships passenger manifests to naturalization records show a wavering between names, including various spellings, but a quick adoption of the name James is evident. The name Vaclav originates from an older form of the name, Venceslav, which when taken in its parts, vence = wreaths (plural) and slav = celebration (masculine form), slava = celebration (feminine form), means, "wreaths designed for celebrations." Vaclav was probably a common name given in honor of Saint Vaclav, also known as Wenceslas, who was a 10th century duke of Bohemia murdered by his brother. Several Bohemian Kings have also born the name. Saint Vaclav is the patron saint of the Czech Republic. Some early records in America for James Schimka Sr. also bear the name Wenceslaus or Wenceslas. How James was chosen, we do not know but, there are no easy variations or conversions of Vaclav in the English language, so we can speculate that the name James was simply adopted due to the difficulty presented by the foreign sounding name of Vaclav in his new homeland. The pronunciation of Simka is as we pronounce Schimka today.
• Immigration: 16 Nov 1912, Bremen, Germany; Departure from Bremen, Germany for New York.
• Immigration: 25 Nov 1912, Ellis Island, New York, New York; Arrives in the United States of America aboard the vessel, S.S. George Washington.
• Naturalization: 16 Feb 1917, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; Declaration of Intention; : 34; Address:
  Des Plaines, IL
• Residence: 7 Feb 1920, Thacker St, Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois
• Naturalization: 23 Jan 1923, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; Affidavit to replace lost naturalization application forms
• Naturalization: 19 Apr 1923, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; Petition for Naturalization
• Naturalization: 28 Sep 1923, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; (A) Oath of Allegiance
• Naturalization: 28 Sep 1923, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; (B) Certificate Number: 1777486
• Residence: 2 Apr 1930, 1064 Thacker St, Des Plaines, Illinois
• Residence: 10 Apr 1940, 750 South State Street, Elgin, Kane County, Illinois; Elgin State Hospital
• Residence: 17 Apr 1940, 1064 Thacker St, Des Plaines, Illinois

Notes:

Known Address: 1064 Thacker St, Des Plaines, Illinois

James Schimka Sr had Bronchoneumonia for three days. He died at 1:30 AM at the Elgin State Hospital at 750 So. State St., Elgin, Illinois.

The Vessel George Washington

Built by A/G Vulcan Shipyard, Stettin, Germany, 1909. 25570 gross tons; 723 (bp) feet long; 72 feet wide. Steam quadruple expansion engines, twin screw. Service speed 18 1/2 knots. 2679 passengers ( 568 first class, 433 second class, 1678 third class ).

Built for North German Lloyd, German flag, in 1909 and named George Washington. Bremerhaven-New York service. Interned at New York at the start of World War I in 1914. Seized by United States Lines, in 1917 and renamed USS George Washington. Also Bremerhaven-New York service. Assigned to United States Lines; began Bremerhaven-NY sailings 1921. Laid up Additional Arrivals, in 1932. Renamed Caitlin in 1940. Refitted as troopship in 1940; World War II service. Reverted to George Washington. Completely destroyed by a fire at Baltimore; wreckage scrapped in 1951.

While in Germany, the Schimka family may have lived in town called Castrop-Rauxel which is a former mining city in the eastern part of the Ruhr Area.

Birth:
About the place of birth. A colleague who is from the Czech Republic looked over the historical documents that I have found and assisted with the place names as they exist today. To the best of our knowledge, this is the correct place of birth. However, it is important to note that during the span of time encompassing the immigration, the area was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Naturalization:
Declaration Number: 62533

Naturalization:
Petition No: 55250

Naturalization:
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has a fee-based service to obtain copies of the Certificate of Naturalization of deceased individuals. Some of the documents related to naturalization were obtained from this service while others were obtained from the Cook County Clerks office.

Main USCIS Page:
http://www.uscis.gov

Genealogy Info Page:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=d21f3711ca5ca110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=d21f3711ca5ca110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

Record Order Page:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=0b03299f81bb8210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0b03299f81bb8210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Reference is made to Certificate of Naturalization No: 1777486

James Anna Frana about 1902Austria. Anna (daughter of Jakob Frana and Marie Schafarschik) 24 Jul 1883 Tu; 12 Jan 1947Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; 16 Jan 1947Bohemian National Cemetery, Chicago, Cook, IL, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Miscellaneous: Death Certificate Number: 0001322
• Immigration: 16 Nov 1912, Bremen, Germany; Departure from Bremen, Germany for New York.
• Immigration: 25 Nov 1912, Ellis Island, New York, New York; Arrives in the United States of America aboard the vessel, S.S. George Washington.
• Residence: 7 Feb 1920, Thacker St, Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois
• Residence: 2 Apr 1930, 1064 Thacker St, Des Plaines, Illinois
• Naturalization: 1 Jan 1931, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; Petition for Naturalization
• Residence: 1 Jan 1931, 1132 Thacker Street, Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois; Home address given on the date of filing her Petition for Naturalization.
• Residence: 17 Apr 1940, 1064 Thacker St, Des Plaines, Illinois
• Naturalization: 24 Jun 1941, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; Naturalization; Address:
  1132 Thacker Street
  Des Plaines, IL

Notes:

Birth:
About the place of birth. A colleague who is from the Czech Republic looked over the historical documents that I have found and assisted with the place names as they exist today. To the best of our knowledge, this is the correct place of birth. However, it is important to note that during the span of time encompassing the immigration, and since, the area was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany and the Soviet Union. The Germans used their names for Czech towns on records making in necessary to find lists of these town names and the corresponding Czech place names.

Anna's Death Certificate reports her date of birth as 24 July 1882.

Anna's Naturalization records report her birth as 24 July 1883. Since the naturalization documents were created with direct interaction with Anna, the date on these records should be considered the most accurate at this time.

Died:
Anna's residence at the time of her death was 1132 Thacker street, Des Plaines, Ill., so Chicago as the place of death might be incorrect.

Anna. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jakob Marie Schafarschik 4 Sep 1870. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Johannis Anna Mertl. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jakob Anna B. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]