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University of Michigan William L. Clements Library

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William R. Antis collection, 1893-1961 (majority within 1917-1919)

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Summary

Creator:
Antis family
Abstract:
This collection pertains to William Ray Antis (1887-1943) of Detroit, Michigan, who served in the 484th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. The collection includes eight letters to his mother Jessie Antis Germond, two military documents, a scrapbook of postcards kept during his time in France, photographs, two printed maps, three books, and four cloth/embroidered/painted-cloth items (incl. sergeant's stripes and a handkerchief case). The materials also include items from 1961 related to Sergeant Antis' daughter Dorothy J. Antis and Gerald "Jerry" Dumas, including original artwork from a Beetle Bailey comic strip.
Extent:
29 items
Language:
English
French
Authors:
Collection processed and finding aid created by Cheney J. Schopieray, September 2022

Background

Scope and Content:

This collection pertains to William Ray Antis (1887-1943) of Detroit, Michigan, who served in the 484th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. The collection includes eight letters to his mother Jessie Antis Germond, two military documents, a scrapbook of postcards kept during his time in France, photographs, two printed maps, three books, and four cloth/embroidered/painted-cloth items (incl. sergeant's stripes and a handkerchief case). The materials also include items from 1961 related to Sergeant Antis' daughter Dorothy J. Antis and Gerald "Jerry" Dumas, including original artwork from a Beetle Bailey comic strip.

Antis wrote to his mother from San Antonio from December 1917 to January 1918; Aviation Branch, Virginia, in February 1918; and unspecified locations in France from May 1918 to December 1918. He wrote about his training in Texas, inoculation, carpentry, anticipation of leaving for the front, French farming and villages, expectation of getting a YMCA with a separate entertainment space, women's ability to wear service stripes corresponding to sons' and husbands' ranks, and more. He wrote several letters on printed "WITH THE COLORS" YMCA stationery. A final document is William R. Antis' selective service registration certificate, April 24, 1942, Detroit, Michigan.

One World War I era scrapbook contains largely souvenir picture photographs, with a number of greeting postcards, from Arcis-Sur-Aube, Vinets, Ramerupt, Lhuître, Mailly-le-Camp, Longeaux, Villers-Le-Sec, Ligny-en-Barrois, Bar-Le-Duc, Foug, Pagney-derrière-Barine, Bicqueley, Domgermain, Verdun, and Bezonvaux. The volume also includes several photographs and a French Woodrow Wilson postcard bearing a mounted silk portrait of the U.S. President.

The collection's newspaper clippings include recognition for Antis' service stripes and a published excerpt of one of his letters from France. It also includes two large, printed, detailed maps of France. A photographic portrait of William R. Antis is present.

A bundle of three items relate to Gerald "Jerry" Dumas during his visit to see his parents in Detroit in the spring of 1961. It includes a newspaper clipping and a manuscript letter from Jerry to Dorothy June Antis, accompanied by the original artwork for a 1960 Beetle Bailey comic strip.

Biographical / Historical:

William Ray Antis was born on February 15, 1887, in Sprakers, New York, to parents Augustus Antis and Jessie Chamberlain. After his father's death in 1894, his mother remarried, to Ezra Germond. On May 19, 1909, William Ray Antis married Phoebe Grace Crannell. At that time, he worked as a painter in Montgomery County, New York. The couple had at least three children, William, Lucy, and Everett Antis.

William R. Antis enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 11, 1917, at Toledo, Ohio. He trained in San Antonio, Texas, and departed for France on March 4, 1918. There, he performed skilled labor as a carpenter in the 484th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Forces. His unit was among those who built the Vinets Airdrome depot and other hangar and barracks construction projects. In August 1918, the 484th were ordered to Lay St. Remy and assigned to the First American Field Army. The following month, they moved to Noviant-aux-Prés. On December 1, 1918, he earned a promotion to Sergeant. He received his honorable discharge from the 72nd Aero Squadron on February 10, 1919.

After the war, William Antis worked as a carpenter and building contractor, then steel worker in Detroit, Michigan. He filed for divorce in September 1922 on grounds of desertion, which was granted in March 1923. On June 12th of that year, he married Jessie E. Coulson, a previously married woman who had at least one child of her own, Edwin Coulson. William and Jessie had at least one child, Dorothy June Antis (1925-2019). William R. Antis secured work as an elevator operator in the Detroit Edison Company. The family continued to live in their longtime home at 9199 Home Avenue in Detroit before William Antis' death on April 9, 1943.

Acquisition Information:
2021. M-7338 .
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged by type of material, then chronologically as much as possible.

Rules or Conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Contents

Using These Materials

Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open for research.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Copyright status is unknown

PREFERRED CITATION:

William R. Antis Collection, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan