This Makes No Sense
Why did Grandaunt Mary Anthony Gremmel have to become a naturalized citizen when none of her siblings did? All 10 siblings were born in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Their parents were born in Germany (Gertrude Schmidt emigrated in 1869 and John Peter Anthony emigrated in 1880; they married in 1886). Both Gertrude and John were naturalized citizens.
Well, Mary’s problem was that she married a man from Germany. Mary Anthony married Henry Fred Gremmel on November 22, 1910 when she was 19.
It seems that in March 1907, Congress passed the Expatriation Act which declared that when a woman who was a U. S. citizen married a man who was not, she lost her citizenship (Brown). This act gave her the right to take on her husband’s nationality. However, not all countries chose to accept this so some women became women without a country. In fact, things became worse. “During WWI, any woman married to a German national was required to register as an ‘enemy alien’ and was subject to having property confiscated by the U. S. government (Expatriation Act).”
(Just so you know, this did not apply to a man who married a woman who was a citizen of another country; he could keep his U. S. citizenship.)
The way around the citizenship conundrum was for the husband to become a naturalized U. S. citizen, then the wife could also petition to become a naturalized citizen.
So… Henry Gremmel applied for citizenship on March 27, 1917. Since he had been born in Germany, the petition specifically required the petitioner to sign that “It is my intention to become a citizen of the United States and to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and particularly to THE GERMAN REICH.
Of course, there was a twist even to this. The San Bernardino Sun reported on August 8, 1917 that Henry, along with a couple of colleagues, was arrested for theft from the Santa Fe rail yards. He was sentenced to the penitentiary for a felony but was given three years probation.
Because of this, on February 16, 1918 the Los Angeles Times reported that Henry’s citizenship papers were revoked. Now, since Henry is not able to claim U. S. citizenship, neither can Mary. Naturalization rules required a clear record for at least five years.
Henry and Mary continued to live in San Bernardino, California and had three children: Henry was born in 1912; Bernard in 1914; and Bernardine in 1918.
Henry and Mary later reapplied for naturalization in 1935 and this time were approved, Mary in 1937 and Henry in 1938.
Sources
Brown, Tanya Ballard. “That Time American Women Lost Their Citizenship Because They Married Foreigners.” NPR, NPR, 17 Mar. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/03/17/520517665/that-time-american-women-lost-their-citizenship-because-they-married-foreigners.
“Expatriation Act of 1907.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 May 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriation_Act_of_1907.