Golding / Golden / Goulding et al Family History on Facebook
Boris Golding, born April 20, 1889 in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunas, Lithuania), applied to become a naturalized U.S. citizen at Richland County (Columbia), South Carolina on July 14, 1918.
Boris claims in his paperwork that he has continuously resided in South Carolina since January 8, 1910, and that he has neither a wife nor children. The clerk processing Boris’ paperwork notes that he is 5 feet, 6 inches in height, White (Caucasian), has fair skin with blue eyes and brown hair.
NOTE: Boris’ 1917 World War I Draft Card shows that his residence was not South Carolina but Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
Boris’ occupation is ‘Soldier’ with assignment to the B.C.T.C. of the 7th Regiment F.A.R.D. at Camp Jackson (now Fort Jackson).
Boris’ Petition for Naturalization paperwork was filed with the Circuit and District Court at Columbia, South Carolina, Naturalization Record Number: 1249M.
Boris Golding was successful in getting his naturalized U.S. citizenship.
Boris completed his World War I military service and returned to Chicago where he lived at 3260 W. Maypole Ave., Chicago, Illinois.
When World War II rolled around, Boris again registered for the military draft on April 27, 1942 in Chicago. His place of birth was listed this time as Warne, Lithuania. There is no Warne — but if you change the ‘W’ to a ‘V’ which is the common pronunciation of ‘W’ then the reference is probably to Varena, Lithuania , which is to the southeast of Kovno/Kaunus which is where Boris claimed his birthplace was in his 1918 naturalization paperwork.
I have not been able to identify any family members associated with Boris. However, there was a large influx of Russians born around or after 1870 into the Chicago, New Jersey and New York areas.
Many of these immigrant Russians were not actually Russian, they were citizens of Imperial Russia. Their immigration or naturalization papers probably indicated Russia as their place of birth. However, many were actually Polish, Latvian, and Lithuanian — census records from 1920 onward often shows a change in their place of birth as new countries were formed with the collapse of Imperial Russia and the formation of new countries, or with resulting changes in the borders of some countries in the area. This was the case with Boris Golding.
It is very unlikely that the original names of these immigrants was Golding.
You are welcome to add to or to correct this story by contacting: Bill Golden, Norfolk1956@gmail.com
BTW – I look forward to sharing your stories, photos and in-search-of quests. Contact me at the email address above.