I do not know whether this question (in history of math) is proper for MathOverflow, but I know no other places where it can be asked with a hope to obtain an answer.


Reading the biography of Henry Maurice Sheffer (a famous logician whose name is attributed to the "Sheffer stroke", one of two binary operations that generate all other logical operations) in [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_M._Sheffer) I learned that ``Sheffer was a Polish Jew born in the western Ukraine''. The same information is repeated in [JewAge](https://www.jewage.org/wiki/en/Article:Henry_M._Sheffer_-_Biography). On the other hand, [MacTutor](https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Sheffer/) claims that Sheffer was born 1 September 1882 in Odessa, that time it was in Russian Empire, and not in western Ukraine at all (those times the western Ukraine was under Austrian Empire). The paper "[The known and unknown H.M. Sheffer](https://www.jstor.org/stable/27795017)" of M.Scanland writes simply that Sheffer was born in Ukraine in 1883.


So, what is the truth? Sheffer was born in Odessa (the south of Ukraine) or in the western Ukraine. If in the western Ukraine, then at which town or village? And what is the year of his birth? 1882 or 1883? Who can know this information?



The place and year of birth of Henry Maurice Sheffer
The confusion on the year of birth can be traced back to official records. The 1918 draft registration card of Henry Maurice Sheffer states September 1, 1883 as date of birth. However, the 1904 naturalization record states September 1, 1882. In one more document, a passport application from 1910, Henry Sheffer "solemnly swears" that he was born on September 1, 1882. I would consider that the most authoritative official source (even though it is at odds with the inscription on the tomb stone).


![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TQqd3.png)
![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NxbTJ.png)
![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pRd5U.png)
![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/z5VXs.png)
