James Joseph Calnay was born 19 Apr 1890 in Szabadska, Hungary.
Inmate: #22511 Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas
Rec: 25 Jan 1925
Crime: Mail Fraud
This was not his first rodeo, he had been in trouble for this off and on since he arrived in America.
I did not find his Passenger list but I found his Naturalization records and several newspaper articles
These are from 1916-1919 click on the links to read the articles.
1916
1917
1918
Here are his advertisements' he put in the newspapers that got him his fraud charge
Nashville Banner
Nashville, Tennessee
Tue, Dec 19, 1916 · Page 16
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati, Ohio
Mon, Jan 15, 1917 · Page 5
The Courier-Journal
Louisville, Kentucky
Sun, Jan 07, 1917 · Page 20
Wellsville Globe
Wellsville, Kansas
Fri, Mar 21, 1919 · Page 3
1924 the Federal Government get wind from a post office about James' scheme and he is in a boat load of trouble. But his wife sticks to him like crazy glue.
I found his criminal records online at the National Archives. In his records are telegram correspondences between him and his wife Dorothy.
The following are forms James had to fill out and get approval from the warden to send the telegram.
His brother-in-law wrote a letter to the warden
This next letter is talking about his deportation. I can not find anything on James after his release from prison, so he may have been deported.
The following are records in his file I thought I would share some, there were about 60 documents I am not posting them all here, but I have them all attached to his tree on Ancestry, and it looks as if the tree I made is the one only one.
Here are letters from the U.S. Immigration Office about him being deported and they have a first name of Emmerick. There are a few other letters to the prison as well I have posted below.
This letter was not in his records and I am wondering who this could be, maybe his first wife or a daughter, he and Dorothy didn't have any children.
I am going to make an educated guess that he was deported, now whether he stayed in Hungary or not is a huge question, or if he even made it back to Hungary he could of gotten off that boat at any port and stayed wherever he wanted to. So let's discuss Dorothy. Her father was Herman W Ewald he was born in Germany they lived in Minnesota and moved to California, her Father Herman (Full name Carl Wilhelm Hermann Ewald) worked for the railroad. She may not have gone with James, I think she stayed here and may have divorced him, I am not 100% sure.
What a story this man made for his ancestor's tree.
Here's Calnay Vs United States
Hre's another blog that mentions him but is mostly about a man named William Haas, I don't want to give too much away so click on the link and read his story and a little more about James.
Hope you enjoyed this story and there's more stories to come soon.
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