Can anyone help prove or debunk my conclusion?

+5 votes

I believe Charles Hubert Anderson and Charles H. Swope were the same person. Any comments are welcome and I would appreciate any help given to either help prove or debunk my conclusion.

I have added research notes to his profile on how I arrived at this conclusion.  I would like some opinions before I change his LNAB.

Thank you in advance.

WikiTree profile: Charles Anderson
in Genealogy Help by Scott Anderson G2G6 Mach 1 (12.3k points)
Have you actually contacted the National Military Personnel Records Center and verified that his military records were destroyed? Even if they were, it is, I believe, possible to recreate them in some cases.

Have you tried to get his social security number application? The form has a place for parents names, and they are sometimes actually there.
The family has a letter from NMPR stating his military records were destroyed and are not recoverable.

The family also obtained his SS application and the parents names were not filled in.
Let me channel Seeley Booth . If you go with Swope/Zastrow, where does Anderson come from ? Both of your presumptive parents died after Charles reached legal age. So, no adoption if he's a Swope/Zastrow. He  had to have valid ID to enlist. Regs after the 1917 Russian revolution, American military demanded proofs to keep potential Commies out of the US Armed Forces.  Could his birth be illegitimate? A Swope or Zastrow father, an Anderson mother ? Or a mother with Anderson relatives like a sister who married an Anderson that took in the unwed mother's baby ?
Look for Swope/Anderson and Zastrow/Anderson associations ?
A John Howard Swope, brother of Miles Elmer Swope, married a Gertrude M. Anderson at Wisconsin in 1899

I don't see any mention of Charles Hubert Swope's birth date so not sure whether you had this already.

There is a baptism for him at the age of 5 .It notes his date of birth as 26 April 1902, which is same day and month but one year adrift from Charles  Hubert Anderson's grave memorial.

Text reads : Charles Hubert Swope (parents names ) Elmer and Rose Swope, April 26 1902. baptised June  2 1907

Other children baptised on the same day were

Hilton Swope, b  October 27 1906

Kathryn Nancy Swope b ( text originally says July 30,  but overwritten and unclear, possibly Mar 20  or Nov 1898)

Helen Gladys Swope b July 30 1895.

Presbyterian Historical Society; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Accession Number: VAULT BX 9211 .W64452 F51 v.1  First Presbyterian Church, Merrill, Wisconsin, viewed on

I appreciate all of the comments.  It gets me thinking.

I did have the information on the marriage of John Howard Swope/Gertrude Anderson.  John was indeed Miles brother.  They had a child 31 Aug 1900 which would almost certainly be too close to a Charles Anderson birth date of 26 Apr 1901.  They had another child on 13 Jun 1902 so she could not have had Charles on 26 Apr 1902.  The other issue with Gertrude as mother is I would not have a the Zastrow DNA matches I have.

I found a Charles Hubert Swope b.1869 d. 1888 who was another brother of Miles.  No doubt where Charles Swope 1902 got his name.

I had not found the baptism record for Charles Swope.  I believe this helps my case.  Charles Anderson's 1930 and 1940 Census indicates a 1902 birth date.  My family had no contact with Charles after he left my grandmother in the early 1940's.  When he died in 1968 the paperwork was completed with whatever identification he had.  It obviously had the 1901 birth date as that is what is on his death certificate and grave marker.

Why would he change his birth date to 1901?  I could be wrong but wasn't the age of majority in 1922 21 years of age?  He enlisted 16 Oct 1922.  If he was Charles Swope at birth he would only be 20 years old.

Rosalie Swope died 23 May 1922 leaving her 60 year old husband with Charles and 3 other minor children Hilton (15), Virginia(13) and Collins(10).  Perhaps Charles was not happy with the arrangement which probably entailed taking care of his younger siblings while his father was at work.  Perhaps he decided to enlist but his father refused to give his permission.  Perhaps Charles returned to Wisconsin to his uncle John and Aunt Gertrude and they falsified the paperwork or vouched for him to help him enlist giving him the Anderson name.  My father told me he thought the family had found something stating Charles Anderson enlisted in Wisconsin which would support this but I am still looking for it.

The only other possibility I can come up with that will not contradict the DNA matches I have is if Charles Swope is the product of an illicit affair between his uncle John and his mother Rosalie.  This seems unlikely as John and Gertrude had a newborn at the time.

What would occam's razor tell us?

On a side note, I found Charles Swope's youngest brother Collins lived in Des Moines, Washington just before he died in 2001.  My father has lived there since 1998.  Turns out, as of last October, Collins widow is still alive at 105 and living in a home about 4 blocks away from my dad.  He is going to visit the home today to see if she is still there and able to have visitors.

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