Finding Melville S. Bulmer in the 51st Pioneer Infantry and Beyond

Recently, I won auctions on ebay for a letter and some postcards written by a member of the 51st Pioneer Infantry. The letter was a pleasant, newsy conversation with the folks back home. The author mentioned the loss of his own Brother, his enjoyment of a pass to visit Coblenz on his birthday, and his goal of pastoral studies. At night he taught soldiers how to read and write. He mentioned his thoughts turning to his home “in the thick of the fight”.

 

 

I decided to do some investigation into the author of the letter. Since he was not in my family, I decided that constructing a skeleton of his timeline would be sufficient. Had he been a family member, the search would have been taken farther, using more and varied sources. The sources and techniques I used are suitable for beginners, and demonstrate how much you can learn about an ancestor’s life.

The first sources I used were:

1. New York State service summaries at Ancestry.com (New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919)
2. Census records
3. Newspapers
4. Google search

 

New York State Service summaries

At first I had a little trouble reading his handwriting. I have done enough transcription to know that you have to get to know the way letter are formed to decipher handwriting.

 

 

In this case, I knew that there would be a New York State Service Summary card for this veteran. These are most easily found on Ancestry.com, but they can be ordered from the New York State Archives. As an added check, I could compare the serial number he wrote on the letter with the one on the Service card. Cairo, NY, also matched the destination of the letter. I was able to use wildcards in my searches and came up with:

 

 

Some timeline dates extracted from this record are:

• 22 Jan 1894  – born
• 27 May 1918 – inducted
• 10 July 1919 – honorably discharged

 

The Census Records

Since I have a subscription on Ancestry.com, I was able to view the U.S. census records from 1900-1940, and the N.Y. Census records for 1905, 1915. I could not find him in the 1925 N.Y. Census, so I needed to find his location in that year to determine if he might be out of state.

The censuses are a wonderful backbone for a timeline.

• 1905 – living in Brooklyn, Kings, NY with his parents and siblings (May W, James W, Clarence H)
• 1910 – living in Cairo, Greene, NY with his parents and siblings (May W, James W, Clarence H)
• 1915 – living in Cairo, Greene, NY with his parents and two brothers (Wesley, Clarence)
• 1920 – living in Brooklyn, Kings, NY with his parents and one brother (James W), industry is export house
• 1930 – living in Ridgefield, Fairfield, CT with his wife, daughter and mother, occupation is clergman [sic], industry is methodist pic. [sic]
• 1940 – living in Stratford, Fairfield, CT with his wife and daughter, industry is clergy

From the 1930 U.S. Census, his marriage was estimated to be 1923.

• 1923 – marriage

Ancestry.com also had an index entry for his birth, which agreed with the date on his service summary.

• 22 Jan 1894 – born in Brooklyn

 

Newspapers

Ancestry.com

Several newspaper results showed up on Ancestry.com. I was conducting a search for vital information, so I selected a marriage announcement and a death notice. Since he was the pastor of a church, his name showed up as the officiant in some marriage stories.

 

 

So I can add to the timeline:

• 7 Dec 1960 – The Reverend Melville Stevens Bulmer died

 

And several other items without dates:

Served pastorates in: Kirkville, NY, Cold Spring Harbor, Westhampton L.I., Ridgefield

Graduate of: Syracuse University, Drew Theological Seminary, New York University

Studied in: Grenoble University, France

 

Fultonhistory.org

This website contains U.S. and Canadian newspapers, including Brooklyn Eagle.

 

• 15 Oct 1918 – his brother Clarence Bulmer died

An online family tree suggested that he died of influenza.

 

Ancestry.com Yearbook Collection

1919 – The school yearbook of Syracuse University, The Onondagen, lists him as a Junior. It had a picture of him.

 

1920 – He is listed in the Syracuse University Service List.

 

 

Other Vital Records

Indexes to New York vital records can be found at: http://italiangen.org

I was able to search for Melville Bulmer in the Grooms Index, and cross referenced it to the Brides record.

• 4 May 1923 – marriage to Bertha Margaret Whiting

 

Google

Through a few Google searches, I learned more about Melville Bulmer. He was a:

• Pastor in Westhampton, NY
• Pastor in CT

He was mentioned in a page about the 300th anniversary of Stratford, Connecticut. There was a picture of him on the page, but it was a small one of him sitting on a stage at a presentation.

One result included a short biography which mentioned his and a chapel named for him. He and his wife both died in 1960. The Stratford United Methodist Church named the Bulmer Memorial Chapel for him.

• 1935 – 1960 Rev. Melville Bulmer, Senior Pastor, Stratford United Methodist Church

So we can add to the timeline:

• 1923-27 Pastor at Westhampton United Methodist Church in Westhampton, NY
• 1935 – 1960 Rev. Melville Bulmer, Senior Pastor, Stratford United Methodist Church
• 1960 – he and his wife passed away

He graduated Syracuse University cum laude.

After graduation, he worked in the financial department of the American Trading Co

He graduated from Drew Seminary

1953 he was ordained

He received a Master’s Degree in Social Psychology from New York University.

He preached in Methodist Churches in:

Northampton, NY, Ridgefield, CT, and Stratford, CT

 

 

Going Deeper

If he were my ancestor, I would search deeper by examining more sources:

• Birth, marriage and death records in the appropriate archives
• City Directories
• School yearbooks
• Back to NARA for additional information in RG165
• Contacting the Churches where he served as Pastor
• Connecting with other descendants through online family trees
• Finding the newspaper and article he mentioned in his letter

 

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USAHEC Visit – Day 1

We entered USAHEC, and asked the Information Desk to direct us to the Archives. We reported to the Reference Desk. We were issued a key for a locker, and our Research Cards were created.

 

The Specialist had to take my list and translate it into the locations of the material. Then we took the list to the Circulation Desk.

The materials were brought out to us after a very short wait.

 

 

This box held SGT Mansfield’s diary. I scanned it for the events and dates that were included, and to see if Joseph McMahon was mentioned by name. (He was not.) The events described in the diary had been outlined in the 51st Pioneer Infantry history that was found at NARA.

 

 

This was the folder.

 

 

The staff was incredibly helpful with helping us set up to photograph items in the folder. They have camera stands and lights available. We got to work photographing the diary for future research.

 

 

Diary in the WWI Veterans Survey Collection, Army Heritage and Education Center

Transcribing that diary will be on my to-do list.

 

 

Using the document setting on my digital camera, and hand holding the camera, I photographed the 51st Pioneer newspaper, published during the occupation of Germany, in Cochem. These newspapers will eventually be digitized.

 

Newspaper in the Periodical Collection, Army Heritage and Education Center

 

There were few columns about Company B, but none of them mentioned Joseph F. McMahon.

 

Newspaper in the Periodical Collection, Army Heritage and Education Center

 

The Moses Thisted Collection had only one folder for 51st Pioneer Infantry.

 

 

 

In it was only one picture.

 

Photo in the Moses Thisted Photograph Collection, Army Heritage and Education Center

 

Photo in the Moses Thisted Photograph Collection, Army Heritage and Education Center

 

When you are done for the day, you will clear out the locker, return the key, and sign out. If you are done with the materials, you wheel your cart back to the Circulation Desk for refiling. If you are coming back, the Specialists will ask you to fill in a hold slip that includes the date that you are returning. Your materials can be kept for you for a maximum of ten calendar days.

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USAHEC Visit – Homework

The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) holds a tremendous amount of information that may assist you in your research about U.S. Army ancestors. They may not have an image of your ancestor, or papers with you ancestor’s name, but there may be material from contemporaries that will shed light on your ancestor’s experience. The Staff is extremely knowledgeable and is available to help you.

There are books about military history, and Army publications. There are extensive collection of unit histories and photo archives. There are veterans’ surveys from the Spanish-America War to the Cold War. There are oral histories. There are collections of personal papers, diaries, and letters. U.S. Army doctrinal, training, and administrative publications. Most post-WWII U.S. Army Chiefs of Staff have donated their personal papers to USAHEC. This is a brief description.

 

Homework:

Before your visit, locate it of items or collections of interest using USAHEC’s online catalog. Tutorials to help find material are available here.

When you have located material of interest, contact USAHEC by e-mail or phone to verify that the materials are available. Also ask what other material they might recommend for the topic you are researching.

The list of documents I wanted to view were:

1. The 51st pioneers [weekly]
2. The Moses Thisted photograph collection
3. The WWI Veterans Survey Pioneer Infantry documents for SGT John Mansfield
4. The SGT John Mansfield photographs (Photographs from the survey had been transferred to the Photo Archives.

I had e-mailed a Technical Information Specialist to check if these materials would be available on the dates of my visit. As it turned out, Item #4 did need to be cleared and would be before I came.

 

NARA II, College Park Visit – Day 3

We returned to NARA several days later to view the boxes in RG120 that held records from the 51st Pioneer Infantry.

In this part of the record set, the documents were arranged by company.

 

 

There were twelve boxes in all. (Company B was on the desk.)

 

 

One of the interesting things was the correspondence books. Before computer indexing, people had to know how to locate items in their records. I have used index books for land and probate records. (See the tutorials.)

 

 

There was my Grandfather’s name as his records were transferred from the IV Corp vocational school in Mayen Germany.

 

 

 

 

 

There was an earlier letter acknowledging the transfer of their records. Joseph McMahon was detached to the IV Corps Vocational school at Mayen Germany, on 31 Mar 1919.

 

 

Fourteen Jewish soldiers from Company B requested leave to attend the Jewish Festival in Coblenz on 14 Apr 1919. The 51st Pioneer Infantry Entertainment Officer asked the YMCA to furnish a concert model guitar to Company B; they were planning to have a show ready by the first of April, possibly after the recovery of a cast member from an accident.

Much of the 51st Pioneer Infantry Headquarters’ correspondence dealt with promotions, demotions (some voluntary), transfers, requests for leave and cancellations of Liberty Bonds. The correspondence included stations before Camp Wadsworth, including Camp Meade and Lemoyne, PA (as the 10th NY Infantry).

The Summary Sheets for the Courts Martial of the 51st Pioneer Infantry were also in this record group. There was an index by last name to help locate the sheets to learn the details of the charges and the findings. Punishment might be fines, forfeiture of pay, or hard labor.

At some time in the future, I will head back to digitize all the folders in RG165 for the 51st Pioneer Infantry, and to read more about the 51st Pioneer Infantry in RG120.

NARA II, College Park Visit – Day 2

Day 2

I went directly to the Research Consultation room, and got help to order the RG120 boxes to find the ones for the 51st Pioneer Infantry.

Since there are limits on the number of boxes, from a number of areas, I went back to the RG120 boxes to copy the interesting documents. This required a stop at the copying desk for them to approve the copies. Those documents required declassification markings when copying and photographing.

The records will be held for three days, unless you sign to return them. I returned those five boxes.

 

 

Then I asked for help ordering the next box in the RG165 series. Hopefully, that box would contain folders with information about the 51st Pioneer Infantry.

It was time for lunch while waiting for the document pull.

The first box we checked was the RG165 box.

 

 

There were twenty folders about 51st Pioneer Infantry. One of them was the history of the 51st Pioneer Infantry. That was a great document. I copied it and photographed it with my digital camera. One page highlighted the activities of Company B.

Another interesting folder contained the Station Lists for Headquarters, Supply and each Company of the 51st Pioneer Infantry.

There’s still more records in RG120 to view!

3 Reasons to use WorldCat (and a Tutorial)

Have you been using WorldCat? If not, you need to be.

1. WorldCat is the world’s largest library catalog. It spans many libraries, including those at the Family History Library, the Allen County Public Library, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
2. WorldCat lets you search for publications of interest. It lets you save lists of the publications. You can also save your searches to run them again at a future time.
3. Last, but not least, WorldCat helps you find where the materials are located. You can enter your zip code and find out if there is a copy near you. If none is nearby, you can also investigate an inter-library loan.

Give the new WorldCat Tutorial a try. In it, WorldCat is searched for publications about the 51st Pioneer Infantry.