Did Joseph Markell Know His Birth Year?

I was a bit surprised to discover a discrepancy about the birth year of great uncle Joseph A. Markell (189?-1975) when I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for his Veterans Administration file yesterday.

Thanks to Reclaim the Records, it is now quick and easy to see whether a US military veteran might be in the database of the Veterans Administration. Read the fine print and try the nonprofit group's super-efficient website here.

Joseph goes to sea

With the 1920 US Census in hand, I already knew Joseph served in the Navy. He was enumerated on the U.S.S. Niagara off Tampico, Mexico after World War I, as the Mexican Revolution was underway. 

The backstory: Joe's mother died when he was a young teen, which must have been traumatic. His father remarried in Brooklyn, New York, five years later. 

His descendants told me Joe didn't get along with his stepmom and began to hang around the Brooklyn Navy Yard, making money by shining the shoes of sailors going on shore leave. Within a short time, he enlisted to get away from home altogether.

Born in 1894 or 1895?

The surprise was that according to the BIRLS record for Joseph (at top), he was 22 years old when he enlisted in the Navy on Oct 31, 1916 and left the Navy at age 26. Accordingly, BIRLS shows Joseph's birth year as 1894. 

However, on other documents, including Joseph's World War II draft registration card, his birth year is shown as 1895, born in Boston, Massachusetts.

Which birth year was correct, the one he gave the US Navy in 1916 or the one he gave the draft board in 1942? He was born on August 14, but which year?

Now I'm browsing page by page through Boston birth ledgers and indexes for 1894 and 1895 to try to find Joseph's name and date. Browsing page by page takes time and I'm doing it little by little.

Did great uncle Joe know?

Maybe Joseph wasn't sure of his actual birth year? Maybe he didn't know when his parents were married? 

It took me some time to track down, but I finally found their marriage recorded in Providence, Rhode Island as having taken place on October 21, 1895. 

Looking ahead, when the Veterans Administration file for my great uncle arrives in a few months, maybe an official birth document will be included. 

Surprise is Amy Johnson Crow's #52 Ancestors genealogy prompt for this week.

Pappy sailed on the USS Niagara in 1920

Looking at US Census data for 1920, I believe my great-uncle "Pappy" Markell (the nickname used by some of my cousins) served on the USS Niagara, anchored in Mexico during the Census period of Feb. 1920. The Niagara was a yacht purchased by the Navy from Howard Gould of NYC. 

Following WWI, the Niagara stayed in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean waters during early 1920s . . . when Pappy was on board. More about the USS Niagara here. Pappy was on back on shore for good, it seems, by 1921 when he married his wife, known in the family as Sweetie. (updated 2022 with image and new link).