He was tall, slender, with light brown eyes and dark hair. So said his WWI draft registration, done in 1917. He lived with his mother in Oakland, elsewhere in Alameda County, working in auto repair.
He very clearly signed his name as "Forstelle," a more French spelling. (Forstell could also be spelled Forestell or Forrestell, with other variations possible, as the name is also Irish, not just French.) SOURCE: "WWI Draft Registration, 1917" www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-917M-8KF
Having moved, he filled out his second draft registration in 1942 (for WWII) while living at 415 Superior Avenue in San Leandro, Alameda County, California. He signed his name "M. J. Forstell," giving details not always revealed on death records, such as his employer (Southern Pacific in San Francisco). An image of the first of two pages is here: SOURCE: "WWI Draft Registration, 1942" www.FamilySearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-7J83-5
CHILDHOOD. There is only one birth record for Forstell/Forestell/Forstelle or similarly spelled birth that matches his draft card as to birthplace and date (in Minneapolis, March 4, 1893), where the surname is as uncommon as it is in California.
May and Mae were nicknames for Mary and Marie, beginning in the "Gay Nineties." His birth record listed his mother as "May," age 22, apparently using her middle name. That record listed his father only as "J.," age 28.
Someone told the birth clerk or hospital officials that both parents had been born in Minnesota. That disagreed with what his mother reported in later censuses, his father having been born in French Canada, his mother in Ohio. (It was common for young adults to guess the first time they were asked. Their parents were not around to consult. Births were not tracked as diligently by governments as today, there being fewer rules about ages for who could or must attend school.)
By the 1900 U.S. census, his mother, as "Ida E. Forestill," lived in Oakland, Alameda County, California, with Ida's mother and brother (Mrs. Conwell and Perry Conwell; he married a Claram born in September 1875; he died in Alameda County July 23, 1929, as "Perry L."). The women supported themselves by taking in boarders, common for widows in a day of no Social Security or widows' pensions. His mother listed only one child ever born: "1900 U.S. census" at www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D1V3-DZ7?cc=1325221
His mother seemed to be the unnamed woman who had married Michael J. in Minneapolis about a year before Maynard's birth. It was a time when few Forstells were in the state, much less in Hennepin County.
That 1900 census said his father came from French Canada. (The name is often Irish, with the Irish a big immigrant group to Canada in the potato famine years, going especially to Quebec and New Brunswick and to directly neighboring provinces. When instead spelled by French rules, the spelling may have been more like Forrestelle or La Faristelle or De Feristelle, etc.)
He very clearly signed his name as "Forstelle," a more French spelling. (Forstell could also be spelled Forestell or Forrestell, with other variations possible, as the name is also Irish, not just French.) SOURCE: "WWI Draft Registration, 1917" www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-917M-8KF
Having moved, he filled out his second draft registration in 1942 (for WWII) while living at 415 Superior Avenue in San Leandro, Alameda County, California. He signed his name "M. J. Forstell," giving details not always revealed on death records, such as his employer (Southern Pacific in San Francisco). An image of the first of two pages is here: SOURCE: "WWI Draft Registration, 1942" www.FamilySearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-7J83-5
CHILDHOOD. There is only one birth record for Forstell/Forestell/Forstelle or similarly spelled birth that matches his draft card as to birthplace and date (in Minneapolis, March 4, 1893), where the surname is as uncommon as it is in California.
May and Mae were nicknames for Mary and Marie, beginning in the "Gay Nineties." His birth record listed his mother as "May," age 22, apparently using her middle name. That record listed his father only as "J.," age 28.
Someone told the birth clerk or hospital officials that both parents had been born in Minnesota. That disagreed with what his mother reported in later censuses, his father having been born in French Canada, his mother in Ohio. (It was common for young adults to guess the first time they were asked. Their parents were not around to consult. Births were not tracked as diligently by governments as today, there being fewer rules about ages for who could or must attend school.)
By the 1900 U.S. census, his mother, as "Ida E. Forestill," lived in Oakland, Alameda County, California, with Ida's mother and brother (Mrs. Conwell and Perry Conwell; he married a Claram born in September 1875; he died in Alameda County July 23, 1929, as "Perry L."). The women supported themselves by taking in boarders, common for widows in a day of no Social Security or widows' pensions. His mother listed only one child ever born: "1900 U.S. census" at www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D1V3-DZ7?cc=1325221
His mother seemed to be the unnamed woman who had married Michael J. in Minneapolis about a year before Maynard's birth. It was a time when few Forstells were in the state, much less in Hennepin County.
That 1900 census said his father came from French Canada. (The name is often Irish, with the Irish a big immigrant group to Canada in the potato famine years, going especially to Quebec and New Brunswick and to directly neighboring provinces. When instead spelled by French rules, the spelling may have been more like Forrestelle or La Faristelle or De Feristelle, etc.)
He was tall, slender, with light brown eyes and dark hair. So said his WWI draft registration, done in 1917. He lived with his mother in Oakland, elsewhere in Alameda County, working in auto repair.
He very clearly signed his name as "Forstelle," a more French spelling. (Forstell could also be spelled Forestell or Forrestell, with other variations possible, as the name is also Irish, not just French.) SOURCE: "WWI Draft Registration, 1917" www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-917M-8KF
Having moved, he filled out his second draft registration in 1942 (for WWII) while living at 415 Superior Avenue in San Leandro, Alameda County, California. He signed his name "M. J. Forstell," giving details not always revealed on death records, such as his employer (Southern Pacific in San Francisco). An image of the first of two pages is here: SOURCE: "WWI Draft Registration, 1942" www.FamilySearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-7J83-5
CHILDHOOD. There is only one birth record for Forstell/Forestell/Forstelle or similarly spelled birth that matches his draft card as to birthplace and date (in Minneapolis, March 4, 1893), where the surname is as uncommon as it is in California.
May and Mae were nicknames for Mary and Marie, beginning in the "Gay Nineties." His birth record listed his mother as "May," age 22, apparently using her middle name. That record listed his father only as "J.," age 28.
Someone told the birth clerk or hospital officials that both parents had been born in Minnesota. That disagreed with what his mother reported in later censuses, his father having been born in French Canada, his mother in Ohio. (It was common for young adults to guess the first time they were asked. Their parents were not around to consult. Births were not tracked as diligently by governments as today, there being fewer rules about ages for who could or must attend school.)
By the 1900 U.S. census, his mother, as "Ida E. Forestill," lived in Oakland, Alameda County, California, with Ida's mother and brother (Mrs. Conwell and Perry Conwell; he married a Claram born in September 1875; he died in Alameda County July 23, 1929, as "Perry L."). The women supported themselves by taking in boarders, common for widows in a day of no Social Security or widows' pensions. His mother listed only one child ever born: "1900 U.S. census" at www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D1V3-DZ7?cc=1325221
His mother seemed to be the unnamed woman who had married Michael J. in Minneapolis about a year before Maynard's birth. It was a time when few Forstells were in the state, much less in Hennepin County.
That 1900 census said his father came from French Canada. (The name is often Irish, with the Irish a big immigrant group to Canada in the potato famine years, going especially to Quebec and New Brunswick and to directly neighboring provinces. When instead spelled by French rules, the spelling may have been more like Forrestelle or La Faristelle or De Feristelle, etc.)
He very clearly signed his name as "Forstelle," a more French spelling. (Forstell could also be spelled Forestell or Forrestell, with other variations possible, as the name is also Irish, not just French.) SOURCE: "WWI Draft Registration, 1917" www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-917M-8KF
Having moved, he filled out his second draft registration in 1942 (for WWII) while living at 415 Superior Avenue in San Leandro, Alameda County, California. He signed his name "M. J. Forstell," giving details not always revealed on death records, such as his employer (Southern Pacific in San Francisco). An image of the first of two pages is here: SOURCE: "WWI Draft Registration, 1942" www.FamilySearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-7J83-5
CHILDHOOD. There is only one birth record for Forstell/Forestell/Forstelle or similarly spelled birth that matches his draft card as to birthplace and date (in Minneapolis, March 4, 1893), where the surname is as uncommon as it is in California.
May and Mae were nicknames for Mary and Marie, beginning in the "Gay Nineties." His birth record listed his mother as "May," age 22, apparently using her middle name. That record listed his father only as "J.," age 28.
Someone told the birth clerk or hospital officials that both parents had been born in Minnesota. That disagreed with what his mother reported in later censuses, his father having been born in French Canada, his mother in Ohio. (It was common for young adults to guess the first time they were asked. Their parents were not around to consult. Births were not tracked as diligently by governments as today, there being fewer rules about ages for who could or must attend school.)
By the 1900 U.S. census, his mother, as "Ida E. Forestill," lived in Oakland, Alameda County, California, with Ida's mother and brother (Mrs. Conwell and Perry Conwell; he married a Claram born in September 1875; he died in Alameda County July 23, 1929, as "Perry L."). The women supported themselves by taking in boarders, common for widows in a day of no Social Security or widows' pensions. His mother listed only one child ever born: "1900 U.S. census" at www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D1V3-DZ7?cc=1325221
His mother seemed to be the unnamed woman who had married Michael J. in Minneapolis about a year before Maynard's birth. It was a time when few Forstells were in the state, much less in Hennepin County.
That 1900 census said his father came from French Canada. (The name is often Irish, with the Irish a big immigrant group to Canada in the potato famine years, going especially to Quebec and New Brunswick and to directly neighboring provinces. When instead spelled by French rules, the spelling may have been more like Forrestelle or La Faristelle or De Feristelle, etc.)
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
