#NotMyWenkel August Wenkel Naturalization

August Friederic Andreas Wenkel arrived from Prussia about 1869.  There was no Germany at that time.  Germany was created about 1949 per Wikipedia.

 At first,  it looked like August became naturalized quite early in his American life.  I found his name in a Michigan naturalization index.  August Wuenkel.  I've seen Winkel, Wankel and Wenkel, but never Wuenkel.  This is why one must sometimes scroll through that long list of names to find the target name.

I spoke too soon.  His last name was spelled correctly here.  This is what the index looked like, sort of:

Last Name First Name Middle Name First Paper Second Paper

 Wenkel August  First Paper only -- V9, P551

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 Page 1410 of 1474

Oakland County Naturalization Index Order copies of records by calling (517) 373-1408

Archives of Michigan

Home page: www.michigan.gov/archivesofmi

E-mail: archives@michigan.gov

Unfortunately, I had to pay 10$ to get a copy of his record.

August Wenkel Naturalization
Stearns County Minnesota

What I always like to see is the signature.  I believe this is August Wenkel's personal signature.  But note:  he signed it as Winkel.  Also of interest is that he had his first papers drawn up in Minnesota.  I don't see (yet) any finalization papers.















Well, silly me.  When I put the naturalization image and date into Ancestry.com, I see that August would have been 8 years old.  This is not my August.  Let this be a lesson to you, to be careful of which August Wenkel you choose, it is not always what it appears.  I will leave this naturalization information here so perhaps another Wenkel descendant can make use of it.  If you do, please let me know so I can "close the loop" as they say.