<Begin Segment 4>

DG: So, how did you get to Hawaii now?

SS: Then mom didn't like living in Peru, so her sister Helen worked on trying to verify Dad's citizenship because Dad was born in Waimanalo. And she went all over and finally she found two elderly people who lived close by to Grandpa's family, and they were able to verify, certify, that he was born in Waimanalo. And... from and after that, he was able to get a birth certificate.

DG: This is your father?

SS: My father.

DG: But your mother had hers...?

SS: My mom had hers and my mom's was fortunate because when -- there was an old woman -- and they used to live near where the national cemetery is in Hawaii right now, Punchbowl? Close by there, and whenever Grandma used to go to the store, I guess, there was this Hawaiian man sittin' on a bench and told Grandma, "When you have the baby be sure to let me know the name and the day the baby was born." And so, when Grandma had my mom and she saw the man, she said, "Oh I had a baby girl named Michiyo and was born on July 7th," I think it was, 1901. And she just let it go, so when my mom was ready to go to school and they said to bring the birth certificate, they went to get it and sure enough the man had her registered.

DG: But your father's wasn't...

SS: No, uh-huh.

DG: Because in those days they didn't...

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.