Sunday, February 3, 2008

Anthony DeCosta: My Grandfather, a Stranger to Me


Never having known my Grandfather DeCosta, it's been impossible to form any of my own feelings about him. He and my grandmother divorced when my mother was eight years old; therefore, he had been out of the picture for a long time before I was born.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, families of the servicemen stationed there were shipped stateside. My grandmother (then married to a sailor), my mother, and her younger half-brother left Honolulu to stay with family near San Jose, California. My mother returned to Honolulu months later to attend school and lived with her father until her mother returned to the Islands. The next (and last) time Grandfather DeCosta made an appearance in family lore was when he came to San Diego for my mother's funeral in 1963. He might have seen me during that visit; but since I was only four, I don't have any memory of a meeting.

When I asked my grandaunt and father about my grandfather they both gave me pretty much the same reply:

He had told them he was born in Lisbon and that as a teenager he stowed away on a ship bound for the U.S. mainland, where he ended up working in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. He became a soldier in the early 1920's and was sent to Honolulu where he was stationed at Ft. Ruger. There he was part of the 16th Regiment Band, and that is where he married my grandmother in 1929. They knew that he was married two more times and had children (they only knew two of the three.) After being discharged from the Army, he went to work for Hawaiian Electric Company.

I have photos of my grandfather that belonged to my mother. I have always thought he was a very handsome man. I still wonder what his voice was like. Was he quiet or boisterous? What were his interests? Things like that. Through the years I've added to my grandfather's history solely with documents I've uncovered. Just last night, my first day as a Footnote member, I found his declaration of intention. The history I had been given was so vague that I had been unable to find it previously. I don't know if I'll ever find out about his childhood and family in Portugal, but this latest find will be incentive enough to keep me searching for more.


My Timeline of My Grandfather's Life in Documents and Photos
(Click images to view larger sizes.)


Crewman on the SS Carolyn - 1920

Marriage Record - 1929

Enlisted Man - 1930 Census
 

Married Man - 1930 Census
 

Anthony and Patricia - 1930

Anthony and Patricia - 1932  
 

*Certificate of Arrival - 1934


 Declaration of Intention - 1934


*Certificate of Examination - 1937

*Affidavit of Support - 1937 


*Petition for Citizenship - 1937


*Oath of Allegiance - 1937



*Naturalization Index Card - 1937



*Divorced Boarder - 1940 Census

Anthony - 1944
 

Anthony and Clara - 1960
 

Death Cerficiate - 1976 


Obituary Abstract - 1976
 

Laid to Rest - 1976

Related Link:

Geni Profile: Anthony DeCOSTA, Sr.

*documents uploaded May 2017

No comments: