Nelson Scanlan

Source Citation:
Year: 1900; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 24, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 0575; FHL microfilm: 1241466

ear: 1910; Census Place: Fairhope and Zundels, Baldwin, Alabama; Roll: T624_1; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0009; FHL microfilm: 1374014

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Washington, D.C.; The National Archives and Records Administration; Application for Seaman´s Protection Certificates; NAI: 2788575; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation; Record Group Number: 41; Box Number: 506 - New York

Ancestry.com. U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

     Nelson Pearson Scanlon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 31st of July 1898 to parents Frank (Francis) Joseph Scanlan, a man of Irish descent and Eliza Scanlan, a native New Yorker.  Nelson had eight siblings:  Sister (name unknown), Clara, Frank, Raymond, Charles, William, Allen, and Archie.

In 1900 the family lived in Philadelphia where Frank Sr., worked as a "Park Guard," however, by 1910, according to the census, the family was now living in Fairhope, Alabama, a city located on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay, and Frank Sr., was working his own farm.

In 1918, on his WWI Draft Registration Card, Nelson states he is employed by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) in East Boston, Mass. Wikipedia states that "The United States Shipping Board task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War I efforts. United States Shipping Board program ended on March 2, 1934."

Nelson went on to work as a merchant seaman for many years.  Signing on for numerous ports of call, many of which are documented at Ancestry.com.

In 1942, Nelson registers for the WWII draft in New York.  He is 43 years old and described as being 5 feet 9 inches tall, with blue eyes, gray hair, and a dark complexion.  It is also noted that he has a scar on his left hand.

Nelson Pearson Scanlan died at St. John's Episcopal Hospital in New York on the 3rd of July 1981 and was buried on Hart Island on the 2nd of September 1981.