Don't Cry for Me Argentina

I wrote another story a while back about finding a photo of a distant relative from old Passport applications. I happened on another file for Guy Willis from Carteret County, North Carolina. He would have been my first cousin, 3 times removed. He was born in 1881 and died in 1946.


His mother, Susan Fulford Willis was the sister of my great great grandfather, David Fulford. As far as I know Guy never married. He was always listed as single on census records and on his death certificate.

In 1921 he was working as an accountant for Armour and Company of Chicago, Illinois and they sent him on an extended trip to Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. I found the original passport application he sent in on September 24, 1918 and then this one, dated April 17, 1921.

He had been living abroad for two and a half years and lost his passport. So had the US Embassy in Buenos Aires replace it so he could go home.

The Armour Company was a meat packing company and slaughterhouse that was started in Chicago in 1867. I guess they sent Guy to South America to keep up with the finances of animals or meat they were sending to the US.

An interesting story about the company is that they started making consumer products from what was left over after they sent the good parts of the animal to the butchers. In 1948 they figured out how to put an anti-bacterial agent into the mix and named it Dial soap. Maybe you can find some of it in your shower.

When he died in 1946 Guy Willis was listed as the Credit Manager for the company.