Frank Anthony Gadren

GEDCOM Note

Name was originally Frank Giedraitis. Name was changed to Gadren when he immigrated to the United States from Lithuania. Unknown when the name was in fact changed. On his marriage certificate from 1897, it is listed as Giedraitis, and Cambridge, MA City Directories have him using Giedraitis until 1905. They also list various spellings, including Gedrytis and Gedrojtis. However, the birth registry for Frank Gadren in 1902 uses the name Gadren. It may be that he used his native Lithuanian name in the city directory so that people who knew him socially would recognize him.

Draft cards and death certificate give date as 23 June, though death certificate gives year as 1876, not 1874, which all other sources agree on. Naturalization Petition states 4 June 1874, but this is likely an inversion, as it has the date of his immigration as 23 June.

Immigrated to the United States in his late teens to avoid being drafted into the Russian Army.

Born in Lithuania, which at the time was part of the Russian Empire, and had been since 1795. Many records therefore list him as coming from "Russia". Lithuania achieved independence after World War I in 1918, but was reabsorbed by the Soviet Union in 1940. It achieved independence in 1990. In the year we believe he arrived, 1891, there were 47,426 immigrants from the Russian Empire. 40,662 of these were Russian Jews fleeing pogroms in Tsarist Russia, leaving 6,764 other immigrants. No immigration record has been found yet though despite a manual search of all June 1891 NYC arrival records (though not all are readable or have survived), and emigration from Russia was not tracked until 1892. Some evidence suggest he may have arrived in 1893.

Originally lived in New England, near Boston. Records from 1899 to 1908 have them living in various locations around Cambridge. His marriage certificate from 1897 also lists him in Cambridge. The location now is part of the MIT Campus. According to family history, ran a beer delivery service in or around Boston, decided to leave the city after paying graft to the police became too expensive. There are numerous newspaper articles in Cambridge in 1907 and 1908 about him attempting to get a license for his wagon and to transport liquor. He did finally get a license in April of 1908, but appears to have moved to Camden, NJ shortly thereafter - a 1909 newspaper notice states he did not vote in the 1908 elections that November. He may have first moved by himself, then bringing down his family to a series of rental homes, eventually buying a new house at 416 Viola Street.

Rented his home in 1910. Reported in 1910 Census that he had been unemployed for 8 weeks the previous year. He began working at the New York Shipbuilding Company in 1915, and worked there until his death in 1944. Took ownership of 416 Viola Street on 30 April 1919 - was living there as early as 1915 though, may have rented before purchasing. Purchased it from Ralph Donges for $1800. Donges had purchased the house in 1910 for $1100. Frank and Agatha took out a mortgage for $1000 from a building and loan at 6%, and a further $200 mortgage with Donges for $200. This additional mortgage also makes a rent-to-own situation more likely. The mortgage to Donges was paid off why December 1919. The mortgage to the Building and Loan does not appear to have been fulfilled until Agatha’s death in 1948.

In the New York Shipyards in Camden, worked a 5 and 1/2 day week, earning $29.92.