Not yet fully verified. Facts are tagged with their confidence level; family-supplied details have not all been checked against a primary record.
Biographical Information
Vera Clarice Phillips was born in Bristol, England, on 18 July 1922 Confirmed, a daughter of Alfred Phillips and Edith Jolliffe Confirmed and one of six siblings. She married the American serviceman Carl Russo at Bristol early in 1945 Confirmed, and in November 1946 sailed to the United States aboard the SS Washington Confirmed with their infant daughter Paula. She lived out her life in Illinois and died in Will County on 10 May 2009 Confirmed.
Confidence of each fact: Confirmed primary record · Probable strong but unproven · Inherited family knowledge · Conflict sources disagree · Hypothesis working theory
Married US serviceman Carl Russo, US Army Signal Corps, in England during the Second World War.Inherited
CONFIRMED - EMIGRATION RECORD FOUND. VERA C RUSSO, age 23, appears on the passenger manifest of the SS WASHINGTON arriving at the port of NEW YORK, NY, within the film segment covering 24-26 NOVEMBER 1946. Her infant daughter is entered on the line immediately below as PAULINE ANN RUSSO, sharing case number 32418. NARA microfilm publication T715, roll 7228; FamilySearch DGS 007252649, image 1279.Confirmed
The header of the sheet reads MANIFEST OF ALIEN PASSENGERS and Vera is marked A (ALIEN) while her daughter is marked C (CITIZEN) - the classic war-bride-and-American-child pattern. A handwritten alien registration number, read as A6574958, appears beside her name.Inherited
Age 23 on the manifest is consistent with a birth of 18 July 1922 (she turned 24 in July 1946 - so the age was most likely taken from her paperwork earlier in the year, or is simply approximate).Inherited
[CORRECTION TO THE FAMILY ACCOUNT] THE SHIP WAS THE SS WASHINGTON, NOT THE GEORGE WASHINGTON. The manifest names the vessel plainly as 'Washington'. These were two entirely different ships. The SS WASHINGTON was a 24,189-ton United States Lines liner which had served the war as USS Mount Vernon, was returned to the Maritime Commission in January 1946 under her old name, and resumed the NEW YORK-SOUTHAMPTON run on 2 April 1946 - precisely the route and period required. The GEORGE WASHINGTON, by contrast, was the ex-German liner then serving as an Army transport; she was decommissioned in April 1947 and scrapped in 1951. The similarity of the names is the obvious source of the family's memory.Inherited
[SUPERSEDED] An earlier draft of this file asserted that the GEORGE WASHINGTON ran regular UK service from January 1944 and was therefore the likely vessel. That reasoning was sound but the conclusion is now overtaken by the manifest itself. Retained here so the reasoning trail stays visible.Inherited
The War Brides Act question is now settled. An earlier draft said she could NOT have travelled under the Act because it was signed 28 December 1945, after a November 1945 arrival. With the arrival now fixed at NOVEMBER 1946, that objection falls away entirely: she arrived almost eleven months AFTER the Act came into force, and was very probably admitted under it.Inherited
CONFIRMED - US Social Security Death Index: VERA C RUSSO, born 18 JULY 1922, died 10 MAY 2009, Will County, Illinois. The birth date matches the family chart EXACTLY. First independent confirmation of any inherited fact in this project. The death date is new information.Confirmed
CONFIRMED - 1950 US Census, Melrose Park, Cook County, Illinois, house 1513, ED 16-289, page 9 line 1: VERA C RUSSO, female, age 27, born ENGLAND, married, relationship to head DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, CITIZENSHIP STATUS: NO. Father's birthplace ENGLAND, mother's birthplace ENGLAND.Confirmed
Age 27 at 4 April 1950 is exactly consistent with a birth date of 18 July 1922.Inherited
Both parents recorded as born in England - corroborates Alfred Phillips of Bristol and Edith.Inherited
Not yet a US citizen in April 1950, which is exactly what one expects of a woman who arrived in late 1945.Inherited
Living in her father-in-law John Russo's household with her husband Carl on the adjacent census line.Inherited
CONFIRMED - GRO/FreeBMD marriage index: PHILLIPS, VERA C married RUSSO - BRISTOL district, MARCH quarter (Jan-Mar) 1945, GRO Volume 6a, Page 335. CROSS-CONFIRMED from the other side: RUSSO, CARL J, spouse PHILLIPS, identical reference Bristol 6a/335. Same district, volume and page = they married each other.Confirmed
Their marriage certificate is ORDERABLE by exact reference: GRO, Bristol, 1945, 6a/335. It would name BOTH FATHERS with occupations - independently confirming Alfred H. Phillips and giving John Russo in an English record.Inherited
CONFIRMED - GRO civil birth index: PHILLIPS, VERA CLARICE, registered September quarter 1922, BRISTOL district, GRO Reference Volume 06A Page 305, mother's maiden surname JOLLIFFE. The Jul-Sep registration is consistent with her SSDI birth date of 18 July 1922. This independently confirms her birth in the English civil record and names her mother's maiden surname.Confirmed
Her GRO reference (06A/305, 1922) means her full birth certificate can be ordered if desired - it would give Alfred Phillips's occupation and the family's Bristol address.Inherited
CONFIRMED sister: MAUREEN AUDREY PHILLIPS, registered December quarter 1928, Bristol, GRO 06A/73, same mother's maiden surname JOLLIFFE. Family placed her birth at 1929; registered late 1928.Confirmed
[FREE-vs-PAID, clarified 22 Jul 2026] There is NO free full birth-CERTIFICATE image for an English birth. Unlike the FamilySearch Cook County death images (free at an affiliate library), England & Wales GRO certificates are held by the GRO and are NOT digitised for free viewing anywhere - not FamilySearch, not Ancestry, not a library. What IS free is the GRO/FreeBMD civil-registration INDEX, which we already hold: PHILLIPS, Vera Clarice, Sep quarter 1922, Bristol, GRO 06A/305, mother's maiden name JOLLIFFE.Inherited
CHEAPEST ROUTE TO HER ACTUAL CERTIFICATE: because her birth (1922) falls in the 1837-1934 window, it qualifies for the GRO's DIGITAL PDF at 8 pounds - much cheaper than the 12.50 paper certificate, and e-mailed rather than posted. Order at gov.uk quoting GRO reference 06A/305, 1922. It would add Alfred Phillips's occupation and the family's exact Bristol address.Inherited
SIBLINGS (family knowledge, 22 Jul 2026): Vera had THREE older siblings - brothers RAYMOND and LESLIE PHILLIPS and sister ELSIE PHILLIPS - and a younger sister, MAUREEN AUDREY PHILLIPS (b.1928, Bristol). All children of Alfred Phillips & Edith Jolliffe (m.1911). Raymond, Leslie and Elsie were born between the 1911 marriage and Vera's 1922 birth. TO VERIFY / get birth years: FreeBMD births, Bristol, surname Phillips, mother's maiden name JOLLIFFE, c.1912-1921 (the same method that confirmed Vera and Maureen).Inherited
SIBLINGS CONFIRMED via FreeBMD (22 Jul 2026, Bristol births with mother's maiden name JOLLIFFE) - the complete family of Alfred Phillips & Edith Jolliffe, with GRO refs for ordering: EDITH R.D. (1911, 6a/305 - a newly found ELDEST sibling, named after her mother; not mentioned by family, survival to confirm); ELSIE M. (1914, 6a/50 - m. Christopher Mortimer); LESLIE A. (1915, 6a/250 - m. a Vera, 4 children); RAYMOND F. (1920, 6a/455 - never married); VERA CLARICE (1922, 6a/305, our line); MAUREEN AUDREY (1928, 6a/73 - m. Gordon Wagner).Inherited
[CLARIFIED] Edith (1911) and Vera (1922) both carry GRO reference 6a/305 but are NOT twins - the register page numbers restart each year, so identical vol/page in different years is coincidence. Spouses are family knowledge (Mortimer, Wagner, Leslie's Vera); their marriage records would confirm surnames/dates.Inherited
MARRIAGE CONFIRMED via FreeBMD: MAUREEN AUDREY PHILLIPS married WAGNER in the JUNE QUARTER 1953, Bristol district (GRO 7b/192) - confirming the family's 'Gordon Wagner'. ENGLISH FOLLOW-UPS still open (FreeBMD marriage/death indexes): confirm Elsie x Mortimer and Leslie x Vera marriages; death dates for all six siblings; and whether the newly-found eldest, Edith R.D. (1911), survived to adulthood (check the 1921 census / 1939 Register / a childhood death).Inherited
Sources & Documents (9 sources)
GRO birth index — Vera Clarice Phillips, 1922 ↗General Register Office, England & Wales birth index: PHILLIPS, VERA CLARICE, Sept quarter 1922, BRISTOL district, Volume 06A, Page 305. Mother's maiden surname: JOLLIFFE. (GRO (index reference))
GRO marriage index — Carl J Russo & Vera C Phillips, 1945 ↗General Register Office / FreeBMD, England & Wales marriage index, March quarter 1945: RUSSO, Carl J, spouse Phillips — BRISTOL, Volume 6a, Page 335; and PHILLIPS, Vera C, spouse Russo — BRISTOL, Volume 6a, Page 335. Identical reference = married each other. (FreeBMD / GRO (index reference))
Passenger manifest — SS Washington, arriving New York, November 1946 ↗"New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1958", entry for Vera C Russo (age 23) and, on the line immediately below, Pauline Ann Russo, ship WASHINGTON, arriving New York, NY; film segment "New York. Passenger Lists Nov 24, 1946-Nov 26, 1946". NARA microfilm publication T715, roll 7228. FamilySearch digital folder 007252649, microfilm 002295965, image 1279.FamilySearch / NARA T715
Passenger manifest — original image (SS Washington, Nov 1946) ↗Digitised original of the Manifest of Alien Passengers, SS Washington, arriving New York, NY, 24-26 November 1946, image 1279 of 1,411. The Russo entries are the last two lines of the left-hand sheet.FamilySearch / NARA T715 roll 7228
SS Washington (United States Lines) — ship history ↗SS Washington, 24,189 tons, United States Lines; served the war as USS Mount Vernon, returned to the US Maritime Commission and resumed her old name in January 1946, and returned to the New York-Southampton run on 2 April 1946. Establishes that a Washington arrival at New York from England in November 1946 is exactly what the record should show.Wikipedia / greatships.net
USS/SS George Washington (ID-3018) — ship history ↗The ex-German liner George Washington, used as a US Army transport in the Second World War, decommissioned 21 April 1947, laid up at Baltimore, burned 16 January 1951 and sold for scrap 13 February 1951. Cited to show that the GEORGE WASHINGTON is a different vessel from the WASHINGTON named on the family's manifest.US Naval History and Heritage Command
US Social Security Death Index — Vera C RussoUnited States Social Security Death Index, entry for Vera C Russo, born 18 July 1922, died 10 May 2009, Will County, Illinois.FamilySearch / SSDI
1950 US Census — Vera C Russo ↗United States Census, 1950, entry for Vera C Russo, 4 April 1950, Melrose Park, Cook, Illinois; ED 16-289, page 9, line 1.FamilySearch
Family knowledge — supplied by BasileOral/handed-down family information supplied by P.J.B., July 2026, and the original family chart (Family Tree.rtf / FamilyTree.html).Family