Mr. Blaine to Mr. Phelps.

No. 329.]

Sir: I transmit a copy of a letter of C. R. Miller, of Adrian, Mich, relative to a notice from an imperial court of Germany, served on Charles E. Heinzman, to report for military duty or suffer the penalty set forth.

As Charles E. Heinzman appears to have come to this country with his mother, then wife of a citizen of the United States (Mr. James Ellegat), when only 13 years old, and to have resided ever since in Illinois or Michigan, while he also holds a formal certificate of naturalization, dated October 4, 1889 (copy inclosed), it is not understood why this order for military duty in Germany has been issued. You will bring the matter to the attention of the foreign office.

I am, etc.,

James G. Blaine.
[Inclosure in No. 329.]

Mr. Miller to Mr. Blaine.

Dear Sir: I respectfully call attention to the accompanying papers:

  • No. 1. A notice from the imperial court at Bischweiler, Alsace, Germany.
  • No. 2. Affidavit by Charles E. Heintzman.
  • No. 3. Affidavit by Mrs. Frederika Ellegat.
  • No. 4. Certificate of naturalization of Charles E. Heintzman as a citizen of Michigan and of the United States.

The notice in suhstance orders him to report for military duty in the German army in fifty days from date of the citation or that his inheritance from his grandfather will he mulcted 600 marks. He respectfully requests the intervention of the State Department of the United States to protect him in his rights as a citizen of the United States.

C. R. Miller
,
for Mr. Charles E. Heintzman.

Affidavit of Charles E. Heintzman.

United States of America,
State of Michigan, County of Lenawee:

Charles E. Heintzman, being hy me duly sworn, deposes and says that he is the Karl E. Heintzman mentioned in the accompanying notice or citation. That he formerly resided at Bischweiler Alsace, Germany, after the death of his father in 1871, either with his grandfather, Charles Heintzman, or with his grandmother Frederika Lauft (part of the time with one and part with the other) until the year 1881 at which time he was thirteen years old. At that time my mother (then married to James Ellegat, a citizen of the United States) came and took me and my brother Alfred C. with her to the United States where she then resided, for a time at Chicago [Page 178] in the State of Illinois, and for the last ten years she and her husband hare resided and now reside at Adrian, Mich., United States of America. That from the year 1881 and up to the present time he has resided with his mother at the city of Chicago and at Adrian, Mich., and now resides with her at Adrian, Mich. That he is a fully naturalized citizen of the State of Michigan and of the United States, and for evidence thereof refers to his certificate of naturalization herewith forwarded.

Charles E. Heintzman.


C. R. Miller,
Notary Public in and for Lenawee County, Mich.

State of Michigan, United States of America, Lenawee County, ss:

Mrs. Frederika Ellegat, being by me duly sworn, deposes and says that she resides in the city of Adrian, in said county and State, and has resided therein over ten years and has resided in the United States for the last eighteen years.

That she is now the wife of James Ellegat. That she was formerly married to Charles Heintzman and lived with him at Bischweiler in the province of Alsace, Germany. That her said first husband died in December 1871. That deponent had by said Heintzman two children, Karl Emil, now twenty-three years old, and Alfred Christian, who died unmarried July 14th, 1891, at the city of Adrian, Mich.

That said two children remained at Bischweiler with their grandfather, Christian Heintzman, until on or about June 1, 1880, when this deponent took them with her to the United States, with her and her second husband, Jamas Ellegat, who is a native-born citizen of the United States. That from 1871 to the present date her said son Charles (or Karl) Emil Heintzman has resided with her and her husband at the city of Chicago, Ill., for one year, and for the last ten years at said city of Adrian in the State of Michigan, United States of America. That said Charles (Karl) Emil Heintzman is a duly naturalized citizen of the United States, having been admitted to full citizenship on October 4, A. D. 1889, at Adrian, Mich., as appears by his certificate of naturalization duly executed under the seal of the circuit court for the county of Lenawee, in the State of Michigan, which is herewith attached and forwarded.

That her said son, Karl Emil Heintzman, is one of the heirs at law of his said grandfather, Christian Heintzman, now deceased, late of Bischweiler, Alsace, Germany, and further says not.

Frederiqua Ellegat

Subscribed and sworn before me at the city of Adrian, State of Michigan, United States of America.

[seal.]
C. R. Miller,
Notary Public in and for Lenawee County and State of Michigan.

Certificate of naturalization of Charles E. Heintzman.

1776.

1812.

The United States of North America.

certificate of naturalization.

State of Michigan,
Lenawee County, ss:

I, George W. Fleming, clerk of the circuit court for the county of Lenawee and State of Michigan (the said court being a court of record, having common law jurisdiction, and a clerk and seal), do hereby certify that Charles E. Heintzman is a citizen of the United States of America, duly naturalized according to the laws of said United States, to which citizenship he was admitted in open court, held at the court-house in the city of Adrian, county and State aforesaid, on Friday, the fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, as appears from the records of said circuit court now in my office.


[seal.]
George W. Fleming,
County Clerk.