My grandfather Obert Erland often told the story about his father Osmund Erland, an immigrant from Norway who one day received a visit from a man going door to door drumming-up votes for either himself or someone else who was running for public office in Illinois.

As the story goes Osmund was asked by the man if he might vote for him in an upcoming election and Osmund as the story goes said that he could not vote because he wasn't a citizen of the United States. The politician told Osmund that he may be able to assist him with citizenship and asked Osmund who he would vote for if he were able to help him become a citizen. Osmund understandably said that he would vote for him if that were the case. Later in time the politician returned with Livingston County, Illinois Naturalization papers to be signed.

This Livingston County, Illinois naturalization document dated October 10, 1898 has been among the important family documents retained through the years by my grandfather that are now a part of my family files. On the naturalization document is the name Joseph D. Mitchell who is listed simply as a witness and a Judge C.M. Barickman of the County Court in Livingston County, Illinois. The document indicates that Osmund appeared before Judge Barickman a fact that my grandfather claims was not the case and that all his father had to do was sign it when brought to him. All other information on the document is connected to Osmund and Norway.

I do not know if Joseph D. Mitchell is the politician or just a very busy constituent. Whoever Mr. Mitchall was, it appears he or someone had some sort of arrangement with Judge Barickman to be able to process papers without Osmund actually appearing in court assuming this fact to be true. One thing I can say for the stories told by my grandfather is that I do not recall a single one varying in any way, even at the age of 89 when he passed away. This is evidenced by another story of sneaking through Ellis Island in 1913 that I have documented and pretty convincingly been able to prove using official documents. In any case if the Naturalization paper was in fact processed outside the court then the vote getting door knocker was most likely a busy person, especially if the community was in any way an immigrant community.

Items for future research: