Dr. John Van Dyke Gaddis, son of Andrew Gaddis and Margaret Bergen, was born on 26 August 1816.¹

     John married Julia Wilson in 1830.¹

     Matthew died young.¹

     Hildergard Gade was born circa July 1944 at New York.¹

     Nikolaus Gade, son of Diedrich Gade, was born on 22 August 1906 at Lamstedt, Germany.²

     Nikolaus was found on the "S. S. Deutschland" passenger list on 5 January 1926, sailing from Hamburg, Germany. He arrived at the Port of New York, 15 Jan 1926. His occupation was blacksmith. Nicolaus was to meet with his cousin, Joe Labenatein.³

     Nikolaus was naturalized on 17 July 1928, at New York.⁴

     Nikolaus married Madeline Van Dyke, daughter of Stephen R. Van Dyke and Selina Seaman, on 7 November 1938.^5,6

     The U.S. officially entered World War II on 8 December 1941 following an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Just about a year before that, in October 1940, President Roosevelt had signed into law the first peacetime selective service draft in U.S. history, due to rising world conflicts. After the U.S. entered WWII a new selective service act required that all men between ages 18 and 65 register for the draft. Between November 1940 and October 1946, over 10 million American men were registered. The Fourth Registration, often referred to as the "old man's registration", was conducted on 27 April 1942 and registered men who born on or between 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897 - men who were between 45 and 64 years old - and who were not already in the military. Nikolaus filled out a draft card for World War II on 16 October 1940 (at age 34), while living at 80 Tooker Ave, Oyster Bay, Nassau, New York. Nikolaus had his own business; blacksmith and service station.⁷

     Nikolaus died on 1 May 1985, at New York, at age 78.^8,9