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Who is my Biological Grandfather - Naval Clues

Brick Walls

Tim Firkowski

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

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This is the third in a series of Brick Wall posts about my Biological Grandfather (William D. Bond). You are invited to read the first and second parts.

I contacted the County courthouse in Manitowoc, WI in hopes I may find the paperwork dealing with the childsupport case for my mother, but was informed that those records were not required to be kept any longer. Those records would have been destroyed years ago. I had no idea who the lawyer was that handled the case for my grandmother, so any hopes of acquiring information that way was out of the question (if any of those records would have survived). I would also like to note that if I can find Naval records for William D. Bond, I may find financial records that will show he had to pay child support and of course will be a key link in confirming him as my biological grandfather.

With very little information to work with in finding my biological grandfather (William D. Bond), my only option appeared to be to any information dealing with the Navy. I noted that if William was in the Navy, then he probably would have had to have something to do with submarines. The Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company located in Manitowoc, WI was the only military operation going on in that area and they were building submarines. William could have been stationed on one of the new submarines that were being built or he could have been part of a support team. Another possibility is that maybe he was on a vessel that came in for repairs. If he was stationed on one of these new submarines he would be listed on the crew for its maiden voyage and I could find this information from the Navy. Years ago I looked on the internet to see if I could find out what submarines where being built at the time William would have been stationed in the Manitowoc area and I found nothing. A few years later I searched the internet again and viola, I found something. I found a detailed list of the submarines that were built by the Manitowoc company during WWII. I concentrated on those vessels that were nearing completion at the time William would have met my grandmother, which would have been in about mid 1943. Here is the list of the new submarines that William may have been associated with while he was in Manitowoc.

USS Puffer (SS-268), launched 22 November 1942, commissioned 27 April 1943
USS Rasher (SS-269), launched 20 December 1942, commissioned 8 June 1943
USS Raton (SS-270), launched 24 January 1943, commissioned 13 July 1943
USS Ray (SS-271), launched 28 February 1943, commissioned 27 July 1943
USS Redfin (SS-272), launched 4 April 1943, commissioned 31 August 1943
USS Robalo (SS-273), launched 9 May 1943, commissioned 28 September 1943
USS Rock (SS-274), launched 20 June 1943, commissioned 26 October 1943
USS Golet (SS-361), launched 1 August 1943, commissioned 30 November 1943

Before I knew the middle initial of William Bond, I had looked for him on the Fold3 website, but there were many William Bonds listed. After I found out his middle initial, I looked on Fold3 again, but did not find anything. The years passed and last year before Thanksgiving, I looked again and voila I found some information for a person named William D. Bond who was in the Navy and was stationed on submarines during WWII. There is a lesson here... If you looked for a piece of information years ago, and you still have not found that information, it is VERY important that you look again & again especially in the case of a brick wall. Although there are many digitized documents available on the internet, those digitized documents are only a drop in the bucket of historical documents available in various repositories. Every day new documents are being digitized and are made available. It is almost impossible to be able to keep up on what new documents are being made available.

Follow me in future Blog posts about my search for my biological grandfather as I report the search process I took and the results of the search.

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About the author

Tim Firkowski

I have been doing genealogy research since 2002 & have worked full time as a Professional Genealogist since 2008. I specialize in Polish and American-Canadian Genealogy. As a member of APG, I was the 2010/2011 President of the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG). I have Certificates of Completion for studies in "Foundations of Forensic Genealogy" and "Advanced Forensic Genealogy Techniques". I have been a volunteer librarian at the local Family History Center, and a genealogy research consultant at “Ask the Expert” Ancestry Road Shows. I have traveled to Poland numerous times & researched in churches and archives. At conferences and special events, you may find me dressed up in my Sherlock Holmes outfit, or my Kujawy (the folk costume from the region in Poland where my ancestors came from).