August Kaup

August Kaup, aka August G. Kaup (expansion of middle name unknown)
Born in Tartu, Tarumaa, Estonia on 9 August 1913
Son of Josep and Ksenia Kaup, who were both Russian optants.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/optant
Joosep Kaup went missing after June 1920.
Brother of Hilda Marie Kaup (later Hilda Marie Schirmer)
His mother, Ksenia and step-father Paul Eck, as well as his sister Hilda's later husband Frederick Schirmer and three of her children, Stanley Babbitt, Novy Lea Schirmer, and John Schirmer, are all interred at the Union Cemetery in Middle Island, New York. Hilda's own final resting place is currently unknown.
August emigrated to New York City, USA, at age 16 in October 1929 with his sister Hilda (then 17) to join their mother who had emigrated in 1926. It is not known exactly when or how they traveled to Gothenburg, Sweden, but they travelled from there to America on the Swedish-American Line ship SS T.M.S. Kungsholm between 26 October and 4 November 1929. Their USA visas were issued at Reval (Tallinn) on 25 July 1929. According to USA census records of 1930 and 1940, August lived with his sister, mother, and step-father (Paul Eck) in New York City. August’s occupation in 1940 was shown as a dress fitter at a wholesale dress factory, probably the same factory where his sister was working as a dress maker. During World War Two, August served in the Merchant Marine as an able bodied seaman (AB) (low level position). His home port was apparently New York, but the records of out bound voyages are often missing and most of the information about his service only shows voyages into New York from overseas.
August joined the Holland America Line ship SS Edam at Hoboken, New Jersey before its departure for Liverpool, England on 15 March 1941. He returned to New York on this ship on 18 May 1941, and left the ship before it departed again in late May/early June 1941. During his service on this ship, it was part of a very famous convoy (convoy OB 318) during the Battle of the Atlantic during WWII. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_OB_318) (http://www.halpostcards.com/unofficial/edam4.html )
August signed on the U.S. Army Transport (U.S.A.T.) Sloterdijk on 3 February 1943 and sailed from Oran, Algeria to New York, between 6 March and 11 March 1943. His listing on the manifest claims 8 years of sea duty at that time. This is probably the return voyage to New York after he originally signed on the ship on 3 February 1943. At the time of leaving the ship in New York on 3 August 1943 after arriving in New York from the “high seas” (in other words, the actual port of departure was not given on the manifest) his position was described as a cooks mate. It also stated that he had been a member of the crew on its last previous voyage to the USA, so he apparently made at least two round trip voyages on this vessel. This ship was apparently on a charter to the US Army to transport troops and cargo. (It was probably the Holland-America Line liner SS Sloterdyk (or Sloterdijk) which served as a troop ship for the USA, Canada, and the Netherlands during and after World War Two. Apparently August liked to serve on Holland-America Line ships, as the SS Edam was also a Holland America Line ship. (http://www.halpostcards.com/unofficial/line6.html http://qoop.nl/showimage.php?artikelID=10434927 http://www.halpostcards.com/unofficial/sloter2.html)
He joined the M.V. Norlys on 9 June 1944 as an AB at Grangemouth, Scotland bound for New York between 16 June and 2 July 1944. This ship carried a U.S. Navy gun crew and was probably part of a convoy. It is interesting that on the “Manifest of Aliens Employed on the Vessel as Members of the Crew” his “length of service at sea” (basically how long he claimed to have been a seaman) was 10 years. Perhaps he exaggerated his qualifications when he signed on with the ship. His nationality was still Estonian. He left this ship at New York prior to 24 July 1944. (This is a photo of a model of the ship August was apparently serving on, registered as a Tanker Corporation Panama ship during the war. http://www.flickr.com/photos/9269118@N08/6700706785)
Based on personal letters August sent to refugee relatives in Germany after the war (in 1947), he used a return address in Elmhurst, NY (near NYC) and an apparent reference to a Merchant Seaman organization, so at that time, he may still have been a merchant seaman. While these letters indicated that August may have become a USA citizen in the 1950’s, no confirming official documents have been found. Someone named August Kaup did file a declaration of intent to become a citizen, but it is not certain whether it is the same person or not. His sister Hilda definitely became a US citizen in 1944. At the time of his mother’s death in 1963, August may have been living in the New York area, as a funeral memorial notice referred to it being placed by Ksenia’s “son and daughter and her children”.
Nothing is known of August's life between 1963 and 1993 when he died at St. John's Episcopal Hospital and was then interred in the New York City Potter's field on Hart Island.