Annie Raulinitis

When the Rolwichs visited for Easter we talked for a long time about the people in our family tree.  As it turns out, they were completely unaware that Zose had existed.  In fact, they didn't know that Margaret Raulinitis had existed either (meaning the branch that split off and became Flanagan is also "lost" for the time being).  They told me that they only knew of one of Peter's sisters, Annie, and that she had gone to the United States.  Ellen, Peter Jr's widow, recalled that Annie had been in occasional contact with Peter Sr., and she believed she had settled in California.

I had no reason to think she'd left Scotland, so I hadn't searched anywhere but here.  But her departure explains why I wasn't able to find a marriage or death record.  So I made a trip to the Genealogy Centre to see what I could find on ancestry.com.

I didn't find much, unfortunately.  In all, I found three trans-Atlantic transit records.  Annie left Glasgow in 1928, at the age of 18, by herself, on the SS Letitia (third class), with £2 in her possession.  Her name is misspelled as "Rawlinities", but Matthew is listed as her father at 178 Rose St., so I'm certain it's her.  She arrived 9 days later in Quebec, bound for the C.W.L. Hostel in Montreal, and it says she "intends to reside permanently in Canada".  On a side note, she was also apparently neither mentally nor physically "defective", something they deemed pertinent to note on the immigration form.

Arriving in Canada, 1928.

Despite what the first document said, she didn't stay in Canada.  In 1932 she pops up on a ship bound for Glasgow from New York City.  And just 12 days later, she was on her way back to New York.  What could have possibly justified the expense and the time to make that journey for such a short time?!  Especially since she was probably in transit longer than she was in Scotland.  It doesn't appear to coincide with any deaths or marriages, so it's a mystery at this point.

Visiting Home, 1932.

Returning to New York, 1932.

A different mystery might be solved, however.  Her return journey to the US was on the SS California.  It looks like she didn't live in California, but rather traveled over there on a ship by that name.  It's easy to see how knowledge passed through the years can retain bits of truth despite not quite being entirely accurate.  Of course, this doesn't rule out that she may still have eventually ended up in the state of California.  The third document does, however, indicate her "last permanent residence" as Scarsdale, an upper class neighborhood in New York where most households had/have servants.  All three documents indicate her occupation as a domestic servant.

SS California

I have so much more I want to know about Annie now.  Could there be more family in New York that we never knew about?  Unfortunately, I've had no luck finding any other trace of her.  It will take persistence.