Von Fange Alien Enemies!

Hard to believe, but less than one hundred years ago, the US government required all non-naturalized citizens -- "enemy aliens" by definition -- to register with U.S. authorities in the interest of national security. This included all non-citizen males over the age of 14, and their wives, even those women born in the United States but married to non-citizens. The registration focused primarily on non-citizen German residents.

The information derived from this registration included immigration, birth and parentage, names of family members, address, occupation and employer; residents were also asked if they were sympathetic to the enemy and the names of any relatives serving in enemy forces. Registrations included a physical description, fingerprints and photograph.

According to the National Archives, most of these records were destroyed by authorization of Congress in the 1920s, but some survive, including state and/or local records for Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Phoenix, Arizona, and others that are scattered, some through state libraries and archives and elsewhere.

By sheer chance I came across an existing document for Lena Von Fange Wolting, daughter of William Von Fange. All Von Fanges who were not naturalized citizens in 1917/18 would have been in these documents. This may be the only one with family connections still existing.