1917: Kasper Zesut in the 1917 CT Military Census.

I was able to get to the Connecticut State Library for a few hours this weekend and was fortunate to locate Kasper Zesut’s questionnaire for the 1917 Connecticut Military Census.

“In February 1917 the Connecticut General Assembly directed Governor Marcus H. Holcomb “to procure certain information relative to the resources of the State,” especially about “men and materials available for use in the event of war.” Known as the Military Census, the most significant part was a manpower census of all male inhabitants over the age of sixteen taken in 1917-1918. However, additional surveys included such things as farms, crops, livestock, automobiles, doctors, nurses, and factories.”

Source: Unknown Author. (2/2002). CT State Library. In Research Guide To The Connecticut Military Census Of 1917. Retrieved 1/3/2008, from http://www.cslib.org/milcens.htm.

The library now has a microfilm reader that will digitally scan the grayscale film image directly to a file which produces a higher quality image than printing from the machine which can only output black & white.

Following is a scan of Kasper’s 1917 CT State Military Census Questionnaire.

 

SOURCE: Kasper Zesut 1917 CT State Military Census Questionnaire. CT Military Census 1917, Record Group 29, LDS# 1535728, Reel 40, Individual Sheets 62350-63799, Frame 2575.

 

The info populated on the document is:

State Of Connecticut

Military Census – Form No. 1 #63698A

RECD Feb 22, 1917

• Town Or City: Glastonbury
• Date: 2/17/17
• Full Name:Kasper Jessuit
• Post Office Address: Glastonbury
• 1. What is your present Trade, Occupation or Profession? Polisher
• 2. Have you any experience in any other Trade, Occupation or Profession? No
• 3. What is your age? 46 Height? 5′11″ Weight? 160
• 4. Are you married? Single? Widowed? Married
• 5. How many persons are dependent on you for support? 8
• 6. Are you a citizen of the United States? No
• 7. If not a citizen of the United States have you taken out your first papers? No
• 8. If not a citizen of the United States what is your nationality? Austria
• 9. Have you ever done any Military or Naval service in this or any other country?Yes Where? Austria HowLong? Two What Branch? Infantry Rank? Private
• 10. Have you any serious physical disability? No
• 11. Can you do any of the following: Ride a horse? Yes Handle a team? Yes Drive an automobile? No Ride a motorcycle? No Understand telegraphy? No Operate a wireless? No Any experience with a steam engine? No Any experience with electrical machinery? No Handle a boat, power or sail? No Any experience in simple coastwise navigation? No Any experience with High Speed Marine Gasoline Engines? No Are you a good swimmer? No

The form is signed by Herbert T. Calash – Military Census Agent

Clearly the Zesut Height Gene eluded me.

I was surprised and happy to find this as the information on it is painting a better picture of Kasper for me. We know his height and weight now and what’s especially interesting is that he spent two years in the Austrian Army. During Kasper’s time young men were conscripted into the army for a minimum of two years. There’s a possibility his military record exists in Poland so I’ll have to put that on my list of things to search for.

Comparing this to his son Anthony’s questionnaire points out that Kasper knew how to ride a horse whereas Anthony didn’t. It also indicates he couldn’t operate a car or motorcycle while Anthony could.

Zesut is misspelled….as usual. Kind of funny that even after Americanizing the name down from Rzeszut to Zesut people were still interpreting his name based on the phonetic pronunciation!

Kasper would die unexpectedly of pneumonia just two months later. I posted an article about his death here.