Susumu (also written Susuma) Kobayashi (January 25th, 1892 or 1893-1970) was born in Inaba-Mura, Japan. He went by the name George Kobayashi in the United States. After arriving in the United States in 1909, he lived and attended school in Montana and then worked as a laborer.
By 1915, he had moved to Seattle, Washington but his work often caused him to relocate. He worked for the Oriental Trading Company and the Union Pacific Railroad in Pleasant Valley, Oregon as a section foreman until the outbreak of World War II.
After the war he lived in Vale, Oregon. By 1947 he was living in Payette, Idaho, where he had a beet farm with John Kobayashi. In the mid-1950s he moved to Ontario, Oregon.
George Kobayashi married Martha Masako Kajikawa (nee Ono) (1901-1992). They had six children: Ethel (March 19, 1919), Ruth (January 10, 1923) , Grace (November 4, 1924), John Maasaki (March 26, 1921), George Jr. (May 22, 1938) and Carol Sachiye (November 23, 1941).
Sources: The National Archives at Seattle; Seattle, Washington; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009; Record Group Number: Record Group 21
Year: 1930; Census Place: La Grande, Union, Oregon; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0027; FHL microfilm: 2341690
Number: 712-07-8846; Issue State: Railroad Board (Issued Through); Issue Date: Before 1951
Correspondence, financial records, legal documents, ephemera, miscellaneous, and a photograph from a Japanese-American railroad worker and farmer. Materials include documents relating to the immigration and naturalization of Kobayashi, a photograph of a Buddhist convention, and legal documents relating to compensation for internment during World War II. Some documents also relate to John Kobayashi.
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Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.
Donor: Dee Goto, 1975?