1966 Road Trip Across the United States

Just the other day I decided to go through an old box of receipts (1960’s) that belonged to my parents, Bill and Helen Condit.  My brother, Tom, had found it in the garage.  His wife, Vicki, went through it first and took out any kind of document that pertained to the house, which at one time belonged to our parents and now them. In amongst the papers were gas receipts from a trip we took across the US in 

1966 in our 64 Mercury wagon.

I really don’t remember much of this trip or even why we drove.  I could only find a few photos of when we visited family in New Jersey and Chicago at that time, not any of the trip itself.  But I thought it would be fun to see the states we drove through according to the gas receipts.

This is how I think it went….

Day 1 – June 11, 1966 – Saturday -  Bill (47), Helen (41), Crystal (11) and Tom Condit (10) left Torrance(A) California and drove down HWY 15 to HWY 40 for 405.7 miles. Stopped in Seligman, Arizona and bought 17.2 gal gas @ .45 gal plus 2 shock absorbers. The next stop was Gallup, New Mexico (262.61 miles) and bought 12.3 gal.gas @ .39 gal.

Day 2 – June 12, 1966 – Sunday – Still on Hwy 40 - Gallup New Mexico to Santa Rosa, New Mexico (253 miles) and bought 17 gal gas @ 39.9 gal plus 1 qtr. oil.  Next stop was Groom, Texas (212 miles) for 15.7 gal gas at 35.5 per gal then onto Clinton Oklahoma where we stayed at a Holiday Inn costing $12.75.

I found a receipt with no date stamped on it from the Oklahoma Turner Turnpike.  I’m pretty sure it was from this trip. Now Hwy 40 turns into Hwy 44 out of Oklahoma City. 

Day 3 – June 13, 1966 – Monday – From Clinton to Tulsa, Oklahoma (A))(190 miles) stopped for 13.9 gal of gas @ .36. From here we left Hwy 44 onto Hwy 70 heading NE.

Day 4 – June 14, 1966 – Tuesday – filled up in Brighten, Indiana (807 miles – there must have been a few other stops in-between Oklahoma and Indiana but the gas receipts weren’t here). Gas in Brighton was 15.6 gal @ 36.9 gal plus 1 quart of oil.  On to Cambridge, Ohio (305 miles) and stopping for 14.8 gal of gas @ .37 gal. I think we must have stopped to visit my mothers brother, Stanley Motyka and family, in Chicago at this time. Why else would we have gone this far north?

 

Day 5 – June 15, 1966 – Wednesday – From Cambridge, Ohio (A) to Colonia, New Jersey (B) (457 miles) where we got 16.4 gal gas at .37 gal.

                                                                           

We must have spent a few days in New Jersey visiting family.  Bill and Helen are both from New Jersey and most of the family lives here. I'm wondering if we came for a wedding or something.

Day 9 – June 19 , 1966  -Sunday- This day we got gas in Irvington, New Jersey as 12 gal @ 35.7 gal.  This is where my mom’s parents, Valentine and Mary Motyka, live.

               

Crystal & Rosemary Bush               unknown & Mary Motyka

Day 11 – June 22, 1966 - Wednesday - Gas in Garwood, New Jersey 14 gal @.37 plus a oil filter. Herbert and Elsie Condit , my dad’s parents’, live in Garwood.

Diana Zink, Bill, Helen, Tom 

  Bill & Herbert

Day 12 – June 23, 1966 – Thursday - gas in Union (A), New Jersey. 

Day 13 – June 24, 1966 – Friday - heading home on Hwy 80 from Garwood to Elyria (B)(468 miles) where we stayed at a Travel Lodge for $16.48.

I don’t have any gas receipts until …

Day 16 – June 27, 1966 – Monday -We stopped in Clinton, IA (461) for 16.9 gal. of gas @.38 gal. , still on Hwy 80.  You have to go through Chicago on Hwy 80 from Elyria, Ohio to Clinton, Iowa (B) so I think we stopped to visit Uncle Stanley again and stayed a few days. 

From Clinton, IA we traveled to Des Moines, IA (198) for 16.9 gals of gas @ .38 plus a qt. of oil.

Day 17 – June 28, 1966 -Tuesday -Still on Hwy 80 the next stop was North Platte, NE (412 miles) getting 7.12 gal. of gas @ 39.9 gal then onto Cheyenne, WY(221 miles) where we got 16 gal of gas @ 37.9 gal plus 2 quarts of oil.  Here we stayed at a New Motel in Evanston, Wyoming (B) (357 miles) for $14.42 for a party of 4

Day 18 – June 29, 1966 – Wednesday -From Evanston we left Hwy 80 and headed south on Hwy 15, the next stop was Fillmore, Utah (201 miles) getting 12.6 gal of gas @ 38.9 plus 1 quart of oil and a T-29N F costing $28.90 (I don’t know what that is, something to do with the car). Then on into St. George, UT (158) for 11.2 gal of gas @ .41 and continued into Las Vegas (120 miles).

Day 19 – June 30, 1966 – Thursday - Starting in Las Vegas with a fill up of 14.3 gal of gas @ .34 we continued on for 225 miles till we got to Fontana, CA where we got 18 gal of gas @ .36 gal and the last 66.5 miles back to Torrance, CA.

We drove across the country by car in 19 days.  I don’t think I would want to do that again in 19 days.  But I would love to do it with unlimited days! To see our country by auto would be such a memorable trip. I’m sure during this cross-country trip I was sleeping, reading, fighting with my brother in the back seat the whole time, as kids normally do on a road trip, missing the scenery and the beautiful countryside.  Hence I don’t remember this trip hardly at all.  What a shame! I wonder if my brother does?

Thank you Tom and Vicki for saving these receipts for me.  

Please leave a comment if you wish. Let me know you enjoyed the trip!

Is James Hinchcliffe of Canada part of my Hinchcliffe family?

In our local newspaper, Record Searchlight, dated Monday, May 23, 2016 there was an article in the sports section " Indianapolis 500 Hinchcliffe edges out Newgarden".  There is a picture of a gentleman holding a trophy above his head and the caption reads  " James Hinchcliffe, of Canada, celebrates winning the pole during qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 auto race Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway".

This article caught my eye ( Hinchcliffe is not a very common name).  My great grandfather , Ezra A Condit, had a sister, Mary Cornelia Condit  who married a James Henry Hinchcliffe on 21 Oct 1877 in New Jersey.  This sent me on a quest to find out if this James Hinchcliffe was connected to James and Mary Condit Hinchcliffe, in my family tree.

James (Henry or Harry) Hinchcliffe (1877 - before 1930 census) married Mary Cornelia Condit (of Asa F and Susan Keefer) on 21 Oct 1877.  They had 3 children:

1.James Henry Hinchcliffe (1878 -~), born NJ,  married Jessie May Baden 
     on 12  June 1906. They had 2 children:  
       - Harold N (Harry) Hinchcliffe (1908-1995) who married Florence M 
        (unknown).  They had a daughter Beverly D. Hinchcliffe. Since she is 
         female and would have changed her name at marriage I ruled her out.
       - Hazel A. Hinchcliffe (1912-~)born NJ could have also married and
         changed her last name.  So she out.

2. Herbert Albert Hinchcliffe b:1880 Newark, NJ (1904), married 
      Clara M Gleichmann (1882-~), on 19 Oct 1904 in Newark, NJ. The had one
      child: L. Shirley Hinchcliffe (1907-~), born Newark, NJ.  Since she is also 
      female and would have changed her name I ruled her out as well.

3. Lillian Pearl Hinchcliffe (1883-~) married Walter M Dennison on Oct 21, 1903. 
      She has been ruled out too.

So my conclusion...... no we are not immediately related.  But it was fun looking for information anyway.  I did find a few Hinchcliffe's in Family Search in Canada.  I also found in the 1880 US Federal Census that James, Mary and H James Hinchcliffe lived at 40 Prince St., Newark, NJ.   At that same address was another Hinchcliffe family that consisted of Abraham b:1847 England, his wife Mary b:1845 NJ, their daughter Mary b:1881 NJ, his mother Louisa b:1823 England and a sister J Sarah b:1863 NJ.  They must be family some how.  But since I pretty much answered my question about the Indianapolis 500 driver Hinchcliffe not being immediate family I didn't fill the need to research any longer. What I will try and do is fill in the death dates for the people listed above.

If you are interested in reading the newspaper article, I have found it by just Googling Hinchcliffe or James Hinchcliffe.  It came up in a The Chicago Times article with this search. I didn't print the entire article because of copyright infringement .

Mary Cornelia Condit Hinchcliffe taken in New Jersey about 1929.

Occupations

I was looking at some old papers of mine and one contained all the places I have worked.  My first job was right after high school graduation. Not knowing what I wanted to do with my life I tried working in a ladies dress shop.  GiGi Fashions on Torrance Blvd and Anza in Torrance.  I only worked there a couple of months, just long enough to find out working with people was not my thing.  

Made me wonder what my ancestors occupations were. I did a search on my Reunion program and this is the information I have so far. Also this report told me I have much more information to find and enter about what my ancestors did for a living.

Spoke turner I found was a lathe turner, possible making wagon wheels (Ezra F. Condit)  

Japanner - one who covers with a hard brilliant coat of any of several varnishes (Ezra A. Condit)

National Grocery Store for my father, Wilbur Condit (age 17) was possibly his first job in New Jersey.  He would tell us his job would be to gather the goods people wanted from the store, tie them up with brown paper and string so the people could carry their goods home.

My first job was at the dress shop, then I went into accounting. This I found to enjoyed even though during high school I swore I was not going to work inside an office. I stayed with accounting till my retirement.

What was your first job?   Do you remember? Would you be willing to share in the the comments section below?

Happy 4th of July everybody.

Longevity Pedigree

I first read about this Longevity Pedigree chart idea from the organizeyourfamilyhistory.com blog.  According to the blogs owner, Janine Adams, you sketch a pedigree chart with just your ancestors name, age at death, and some even included cause of death.

This is my Longevity Pedigree chart.

What I can see is I have a lot of question marks. But what I also see is the average life span of my family is the age of 70 (20 names with death ages added together equals 1396).  Most likely filling in the question marks with more death ages will up that average death age of 70.   I need to do this.  

2nd Document - Valentin Motyka's Petition for Naturalization

  Valentine Motyka – Petition For Naturalization

Valentin Motyka (e was left off his name)

Lived at 29 Ann St, Newark, NJ

Declared Intention on 17^th of June 1924

Married to Marya (looks like this is how it was spelled)  born 10^th of Mar 1892 in Pruchnik , Poland

Had 3 children (all born dates were blocked out by Homeland Security)

Stanley born (blank) at New York

Henry born (blank) at Newark

Hellen (2 ll’s) born(blank) Newark

All resides with me

Renouncing all future allegiances to The Republic of Poland

Resided in the United States for th term of 5 years starting 6^th of Mar 1910 in the state of New Jersey to the date of this petition the 2^nd day of July 1912

Declaration of Intention No. 15067 and Certificates of Arrival  signed on 24^th of Mar 1927

Signed : Valentin ( not sure if there is an e there or not, but in his own handwriting)

Witnesses were Stanley Grusjkos (hard to read) R.E. residing (blocked out by Homeland Security)

                                August Deisdzia (hard to read), machinist residing (blocked out by Homeland Security)

Source: photo copy of document from US Dept o Homeland Security, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Offic of Records, Genealogy Program, C-File for Valentine Motyka

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 What new information I discovered from this document....

     1. his name was spelled without a e at the end.  This my be typographical error.

     2. his wife name, Mary, was spelled Marya

     3. her place of birth is Pruchnik.  On her papers it states she was from Czelatyce. Found both places on a map.  Czelatyce is approx. 8 miles south of Jaroslav and Pruchnik is approx. 11 miles souht-west of Jaroslav. So they are close.  

     4. this document states he's from Tarnobrazeg, Poland. Mary's document says Nagnajow, Poland

     5. all of the children birth information is blocked out but I have that so no big deal

     6. his daughter's name is spelled with two ll's - Hellen - may be typographical error

     7. one of the witnesses name was Stanley Gruszkos. I found a WW1 Draft Registration Card for a Stanislaus Gruszkos that was born in Newark, NJ and was a machinist.  Possibly Stanley and Valentine worked together. 

     8. Found a website "Old trunk" - the history of the town of Pruchnik, Jodlowki.  Had to have translate.google turned on to read, it was in Polish.  On a tab for Book of Marriages I found a Wojciech Motyka, a widower marrying a Jadwiga Piczula Miss 1783.01.02. So there were or are Motyka's in that town. But I could not find a Leszczak . I wonder if Valentine and Mary knew each other before coming to the United Stated?

  Sorry, I could not get the document image or the map image to post here.

So to conclude.  Not too much new information found on this document but enough to send me searching in Poland for more documents.

Petition for Naturalization for Valentine Motyka - amended

The transcription of document and photo of document were not included in the first post. This is to correct that error. 2/5/16  Also to correct children of Valentine Motyka.  Should have read Stanley, Henry and Helen.



I finally received the Naturalization papers for my grand father, Valentine Motyka.  

There were 3 steps of the naturalization process.  

   1. Declaration of Intention - the immigrant filed a declaration of intention ( also called first papers) to renounce allegiance to foreign governments and to later prove he or she had resided in the country long enough to apply for citizenship. Generally speaking, an immigrant filed a declaration of intention up to two years after he immigrated to the United States.  

   2. Petition - the immigrant had to wait anywhere between one to three years after he filed his declaration to file his petition for citizenship ( also called second or final papers). Most often the petition was filed in a court nearest to the town where the immigrant settled. An Oath of Allegiance was also signed to pledge the immigrants allegiance to the United States and sign a written oath.

   3. Certificate - after all requirements were completed, the immigrant was sworn in as a citizen and issued his or her certificate. The certificate is given from the same court the petition is filed in. It is called the Certificate of Citizenship or Certificate of Naturalization.

This is the first transcription of the three papers received.

Petition for Naturalization  for Valentine Motyka

What Do You Already Know? - Valentine Motyka was born 27 Oct 1892,Tarnobrzeg, Poland - (Austria, Galicia (marriage cerif.))  - Baptized in Galicia pow. Tarnobrzeg in Miechocin (church marriage record) - His fathers name was Paul (Pawel) Motyka, his mothers name was Mary Narieracz (marriage certificate) - He was 24 when he married Mary Leszczak, who was 23 also from Austria, Galicia (marriage certif.) - He and Mary were married at the St. Stanislaus church in Manhattan, City of New York on 22 October, 1918 (marriage cert) - Mary and Valentine were both listed on the marriage cert. as living at 503 E. 6th St., Manhattan, New York - Immigrated to New York 06 Mar 1910, age 18, from Hamburg on the President Lincoln, he was single - Had 3 children, Wilbur, Doris and Kenneth - Died 04 Apr 1967
What Is It You Hope to Learn or to Prove? ☐Anything new ☐What date he was Naturalized ?
Timeline from my records 1892 - born in Tarnobrzeg, Poland to Pawel and Maria Napieracz Motyka 1910 - traveling from Hamburg to New York on the President Lincoln 1916 - Married Mary Leszczak (born 1893) (Marriage Certif)            living at 503 E. 6th St., Manhattan, New York 1917 - first son born - Stanley          - living at 426 E. 9th St., New York, NY 1920 - living at 47 Tyler ST., Newark, Essex, NJ (1920 US Census) 1921 - second son born Henry Paul,  1924 - daughter, Helen born 1930 - living at 29 Ann St., Newark City, Essex, NJ (1930 census) 1938 - living at 374 Elm St., Newark, Essex, NJ (US City Dir) 1940 - living at 374 Elm St., Newark, Essex, NJ (1940 Census) 1942 - living at 574 Grove St., Irvington, Union, NJ (WWII) 1967 - died in Irvington, Essex, NJ - buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery
What Resources Are Available to You to Address This Research Goal?    ☐ City Directories ☐    New York Census ☐
Transcription  No. 15067 Declaration of Intention stamped “ Invalid for all purposes even years after the date hereof" I Valenti, Motyka, aged 31 years, occupation Machinest, do declare on oath that my personal description is: Color White, complexion Light , height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 150 pounds, color of hair Brown , color of eyes Gray other visible distinctive marks (nothing recorded). I was born in Tarnolorzeg, Poland on the 27th day of October, anon Domini, 1892; I now reside at 29 Ann Street, Newark, New Jersey . I immigrated to the United States of America from Hamburg, Germany on the vessel President Lincoln; my last foreign residence was Poland ; I am married; the name of my wife is Maria; she was born at Poland and now resides at Newark, New Jersey. It is my bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to REPUBLIC OF POLAND , to whom I am now a subject; I arrived at the port of New York , in the State of New York , on or about the 7th day of March, anno Domini 1909; I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to be a citizen of the Unite States of America and to permanently reside therein: SO HELP ME GOD.                                 signed by   Valentine Motyka Subscribed and sworn to before me in the office of the Clerk of said Court this 17th day of June, anno Domini 1924. Deputy Clerk of the U.S. District Court No. 41739 (Original document at bottom of this page)
Evaluation of the Data and the Materials Used Obtained from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security                               U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services                               Office of Records, Genealogy Program                               1200 First Street NE                                Washington, D.C. 20529-2206 Case Number: GEN-50098899 First requested October 28, 2015 Letter with documents dated November 18, 2015 from the Dept. of Homeland Security.   “ This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request received in this office November 16, 2015, Regarding Valentine Motyka.     We have completed the review of all documents and have identified three pages that are responsive to your request. Enclosed are two pages released in their entirely and one page released in part. We have reviewed and have determined to release all information except those portions that are exempt pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552 of the FOIA." Received 3 photocopied documents on January 6, 2016 - C-File, File# C-2477707, Declaration of Intention (in full), Petition for Naturalization (some information blocked out), Certificate of Naturalization (in full).
What Did You Learn? This Petition for Naturalization document verifies:     1. Birth date - 27 Oct 1892 of Valentine Motyka     2. Gives me the place that Helen was born in 1924 - 29 Ann Street, Newark, New Jersey ( should would have been 4 mo old)     3. Gives me a different spelling of this birth town of Tarnolorzeg. My records have it as Tarnobrzeg, Poland.      4. Verifies the information that he arrived from Hamburg to New York upon the President Lincoln, Mar 7 1909                New York Passenger list has him arriving into New York on 6 Mar 1910, listed as Walenty Motyka     5. His height was 5’6” weighing 150 lbs, with brown hair and Grey eyes.                 WWII Draft Card (1942) states same height of 5’6", weight 178lbs and eyes of Blue     6. Listed as his wife’s name as Maria.  Most information we have lists her as Mary.
What Is the Next Step to Take?    ☐1. Try and verify the spelling of his birth town Tarnolorzeg or Tarnobrzeg ( could just be a spelling error)    ☐2. Learn more about the history of Poland and when the boundaries changed. How Tarnobrzeg was effected.                  Maybe do a timeline. (Some documents state, Galicia Austria, some Poland)    ☐ 3. What was Valentine doing between his arrival in 1910 and his marriage to Mary in 1916?    ☐ 4. and from 1942 to 1967 the date he passed?   Reviewed and recorded:  21 January 2016