Topic: Moe's WW1 Draft Registration card

[falsealarms]

http://www.archives.gov/southeast/wwi-draft/horwitz.html - bigger images

Notice the incorrect DOB. Should be 6-19-1897, not 6-30.

[curlysdame]

WOW!!!     This is amazing!  How did you ever come across this?  I would've never thought to put these two together.  It gives us a little more insight on the young Moe Howard; he was still going by 'Harry' and he was living at his family's Chatham farm at the time.  Although, why did he put down the wrong birth date?  Either way, kudos for finding and posting this!    

[Fake Shemp]

Geez, as if Shemp's incorrect birthdate wasn't enough. How can we be so sure that Moe's birthdate is still June 19th if he signed it as the 30th? I just seriously doubt that Moe would get his own birthdate wrong. Unless we come across his death certificate that says his birthdate as the 19th, I might begin to think his birthday is on the 30th. 

[Justin T]

Major Props for digging this up False, its very cool.

Reminds me of when I saw Shemp's Discharge Paper from the Army at the Stoogeum last year.

[IFleecem]

Very interesting and informative, thanks for finding this.

Robin

[Giff me dat fill-em!]

Geez, as if Shemp's incorrect birthdate wasn't enough. How can we be so sure that Moe's birthdate is still June 19th if he signed it as the 30th? I just seriously doubt that Moe would get his own birthdate wrong. Unless we come across his death certificate that says his birthdate as the 19th, I might begin to think his birthday is on the 30th. 

The following blurb in its entirety can be found here ...

History –
The 1890 U.S. Census was essentially destroyed by fire making it difficult to determine genealogical information about ancestors during this period.  Because all men of draft age had to register for the World War I draft registrations, the draft registration cards can be looked upon as a quasi-census of males in the U.S. who were at least 28 years old in 1900.  There were three registrations in which registration cards were filled out by the applicants typically in their own hand which makes some of the information difficult to read occasionally.  In some cases the information was printed or typed on the cards.  These apparently were done by the applicant, but in all cases, the applicants were required to sign the cards.
Registrations -
As mentioned, there were three World War I draft registrations.
The 1st draft registration was held 5 June 1917 for all men aged 21 through 30.
The 2nd draft registration was held 5 June 1918 and included all men who had become 21 since 5 June 1917.  A supplemental registration was held 24 August 1918 for all men who had turned 21 since 5 June 1918 and that supplement is considered part of the second registration.
The 3rd draft registration was held 12 September 1918 for all men ages 18 through 45.

I can't find any relevant info in the above site that would prompt Moe to make himself 11 days younger. He was obviously required to register on Aug. 24 - the "supplemental" registration mentioned above. If the date for registration was all men born after June 19, making himself younger would have meant he could have registered, and not be skipped. But, of course, that didn't happen ...

[jrvass]

Geez, as if Shemp's incorrect birthdate wasn't enough. How can we be so sure that Moe's birthdate is still June 19th if he signed it as the 30th? I just seriously doubt that Moe would get his own birthdate wrong. Unless we come across his death certificate that says his birthdate as the 19th, I might begin to think his birthday is on the 30th. 

I think the Russians didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar, which we did in 1752, until the revolution in 1917. The difference was eleven days.

Here is Moe's Death Certificate: http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/s/The%203%20Stooges/Moe%20dc.JPG

James

[Fake Shemp]

I think the Russians didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar, which we did in 1752, until the revolution in 1917. The difference was eleven days.

Here is Moe's Death Certificate: http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/s/The%203%20Stooges/Moe%20dc.JPG

James

OK, thanks for the clarification.

[archiezappa]

Wow!  Such great artifacts.  I've never been to the Stoogeum.  I've got to go sometime.

[curlysdame]

I think the Russians didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar, which we did in 1752, until the revolution in 1917. The difference was eleven days.

I didn't know that before.  But that does make sense....

[curlysdame]

I think the Russians didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar, which we did in 1752, until the revolution in 1917. The difference was eleven days.

You were definitely on the right track, jrvass.  I emailed the link to Moe's draft card to Joan Maurer, to see if she had ever seen it before.  I usually wouldn't post something like this, but I thought it would add some further clarifications.  Here is part of the response she sent me:

"Moe's mother bought the Chatham farm so the boys could work on the farm and not be drafted so none of the boys went to war.  ...Because the Jewish calendar is not that accurate, Moe celebrated June 30th until he went to get his passport to go to England in 1939.  That's when he realized he was celebrating the wrong date.

Back to work.

JOAN"

...And if I'm not mistaken, I believe the same thing happened to Larry when he went to get his passport for their '39 UK tour.  I remember reading it in "Stooge in the Middle," the book that Larry's brother wrote.  ...Apparently, he found out that his actual birth date was really September 5th, and that he had been celebrating it on October 5th the whole time.  However, he still chose to 'keep' his birthday on October 5th. 

[jrvass]

You were definitely on the right track, jrvass.  I emailed the link to Moe's draft card to Joan Maurer, to see if she had ever seen it before.  I usually wouldn't post something like this, but I thought it would add some further clarifications.  Here is part of the response she sent me:

"Moe's mother bought the Chatham farm so the boys could work on the farm and not be drafted so none of the boys went to war.  ...Because the Jewish calendar is not that accurate, Moe celebrated June 30th until he went to get his passport to go to England in 1939.  That's when he realized he was celebrating the wrong date.

Back to work.

JOAN"

...And if I'm not mistaken, I believe the same thing happened to Larry when he went to get his passport for their '39 UK tour.  I remember reading it in "Stooge in the Middle," the book that Larry's brother wrote.  ...Apparently, he found out that his actual birth date was really September 5th, and that he had been celebrating it on October 5th the whole time.  However, he still chose to 'keep' his birthday on October 5th. 

No, I think Joan is wrong in placing blame on the Jewish calendar. I tried that route originally by asking the question originally to an old Detroit bukkor. He drew a blank. And who would know better than a student of the Torah?

When I said that "the person's father was from Russia", someone else chimed in with the explanation of the Russian/Gregorian calendar 11-day difference.

Now Larry Fineberg (sp?) may be a different situation altogether. Without knowing his ancestery or seeing documentation, I'm inclined to believe that his parents or Larry himself made up the exactly 1 month difference. Perhaps to get him in grade school a year earlier?

James