Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 31 ● October 2015

Peterson-Anderson cars

After seeing photos of Rob Ostash’s Mustang in the Montrose Christmas Parade last December, I wondered what cars the Peterson- Anderson families owned in the distant past. Based on the scanning that I’ve done of photographs in our family albums, the first image that came to mind was of Grandpa Glenn. In the photo, he appears very dapper and is leaning against his Willy’s sedan, parked in front of Aunt Sophie and Uncle Joe Joranson’s house at 315 S. Liberty (Route 25) on the east side of Elgin. Their home was a frequent location for family dinners and picnics, Dapper Glenn and his Willy’s sedan, taken in front of Aunt Sophie and Uncle Joe’s home in Elgin on Easter Sunday, 1937. Glenn was especially around birthdays and holidays. On working at Colonial at the time and had graduated from high school several occasions, Grandpa Glenn said that his about two years before. Yes, his car has 1937 Illinois plates Great Aunt Sophie was a very happy, “jolly” person who loved to laugh. He also said that family members always looked forward to visiting Aunt Sophie. She and Joe had no children of their own, but they loved to host relatives at their home.

The Willey’s sedan was Grandpa Glenn’s second car. His first was a green 1929 Chevrolet. How do I know that? He left clues in an Army World War II letter he sent home to his parents. At the time he wrote the letter, he was stationed at Supply Depot G-47, near Westbury, England. Glenn was a member of Company A of the 1302nd Engineer General Service Regiment. As a member of “Service of Supply” (SOS), he worked there as a clerk, unloading and loading, sorting and shelving, assembling and routing, tabulating and inventorying supplies—primarily POL (petroleum, oil, and lubricants). Glenn’s unit was part of the supply chain for “Operation Overlord,” culminating in D-Day on 6 Jun 1944. Glenn spent much of his first six months in Europe unloading trucks, stacking pipe, assembling and packing pipe couplings.

In his off-duty hours, Glenn washed clothes, attended worship services, sang solos and duets for worship services, and explored other towns near their camp, 80 miles southwest of London. One of the cities that Glenn and his buddies visited was Salisbury, about 25 miles southeast of camp. At Salisbury, they toured the Cathedral and other points of interest. Because of censorship, he wasn’t permitted to describe the location in a letter to his parents. However, he said the Cathedral has the same name as “the dealer Green 1929 Chevrolet, similar to in Elgin from whom I bought that green ’29 Chevrolet” (4 Jul 1944). Orlo Glenn’s first car. Glenn Salisbury was a car dealer on South Grove Avenue for more than fifty years. purchased his car from Orlo Starting out with the “Elgin Six” in 1917, he later sold the Overland, Salisbury’s dealership in Elgin Willys-Knight, and Reo. He became the DeSoto-Plymouth representative in 1933, and switched to Lincoln-Mercury in 1960. Grove Avenue was the Elgin’s first street to be paved and the first to have electric street lights in 1922. Elgin’s “great white way” soon became “automobile row.”

Our family photo collection includes several cars older than Glenn’s first car. One with that honor goes to Godfrey and Christina. They owned a 1917 Chevrolet touring car. As shown in the accompanying photo, Christabel was in the driver’s seat for what may have been a July 4 parade. Note the US flags on the radiator. Christabel was born in 1911 and looks about 6 or 7 years old in the photo, so perhaps the photo was taken in 1917 or 1918, when she was visiting from North Dakota for a year. As a successful dairy farmer and breeder of horses and Holsteins, Godfrey could presumably afford an early automobile. However, in a 31 Dec 2008 interview, Grandpa Glenn said that Godfrey enjoyed farming and traveling with horses more than farm machinery and automobiles. Godfrey and Christina’s son, Roy (Melvin’s father), inherited that same love of horses. Roy, like his father, went on to farm This photo of Christabel in a 1917 Chevrolet was in a box of old photos stored in Grandpa Glenn’s desk for many years with horses at Oak Hill Farm, at the NE corner of Crane and Randall Roads. After he moved off the farm, he worked for Colonel Edward J. Baker on several of his farms, including Airport Farm (where Pheasant Run now stands), caring for his famous Belgian horses, well-known show horses. Roy later lived at Colonel Baker’s Red Gate Farm, caring for race horses, including Greyhound, Baker’s world champion trotter and owner of 14 world records, including one that stood from 1938 to 1969. When Greyhound died, Roy and Melvin hand-dug his grave and buried him on Red Gate Farm, 2 miles NW of downtown St. Charles. Grandpa Glenn said that his Uncle Roy was “a very good farmer. His first love was horses.”

Godfrey’s earlier transportation was a carriage pulled by a fine team of horses, which he likely bred and trained as a “road team,” but because of their large Godfrey’s transportation before he owned a car. This photo size (height and hooves) may have also been a “field was mounted in Great-grandma Mabel’s photo album; she team.” In the photo (left), Mabel’s youngest sister wrote the pencil notation on the photo. It was taken c. 1900 in Godfrey and Christina’s orchard Hazel is seated in the front seat between Godfrey and Christina. Two young women are seated in back, each wearing a white, high-collar blouse with puffed-out sleeves. Mabel often dressed like this in other photos. The young woman in the big hat and long dress is Ethel, Mabel’s younger sister.

Another older photo in the family collection shows Melvin standing next to an unidentified car or truck. The running board has a basket containing a bundle, perhaps a tire jack wrapped in canvas. Also in the running board basket is a tool box; both are useful on road trips. This photo was made from a scanned negative using Photoshop. It was found with other negatives in an envelope that Great Uncle Fridolph dated 4 August 1929. Melvin was born in 1921 and looks about 5 or 6 years old in this photo, so it was likely taken about 1926 or 1927. Other negatives in the envelope showed Mabel and Fritz’s family in North Dakota about 1925. According to Mabel’s family history notebook, Fridolph and Ida visited in North Dakota “twice when we lived on the old place [1912-18] and once when we lived on the Sanden Farm [1920-23].” Additional negatives in the envelope show Sunday school and church groups picnicking in Fridolph’s yard at 516 Prairie Street. As Sunday school superintendent from 1922 to 1945, Uncle Fridolph and Aunt Ida were active in hosting church groups at their home.

Perhaps the oldest car photo in the family collection is not of a Peterson- Anderson car, but rather one owned by a neighbor of Mabel and Fritz when they lived in the home that Fritz designed at 508 Prairie Street. The neighbor was Everett Johnson, who lived next door to the west of Fridolph and Ida. The photo (left), part of a page in Bertha’s first photo album, shows Bertha, Christabel, and LeRoy at the wheel of Everett Johnson’s old car. It looks old enough to have gas instead of electric lanterns on the front fenders. It appears to be a 1909 Brush runabout Model D. These early cars were made with wooden axels, not metal. Christabel was born in 1911 and looks about a year old in the photo, so perhaps the photo was taken in 1912, just before they moved to North Dakota. Also on the same page of the photo album were several photos taken the same day by Fritz. (Bertha, LeRoy, and Christabel are wearing the same clothes and the lighting looks similar.) Everett Johnson’s sister, Cleora, became a close friend of Mabel and Fritz’s family. Bertha’s album contains six to eight other photos of the Johnson family.

Two years later, Mabel and Fritz’s family were farming in North Dakota. Many of the families in Antelope Township of Richland From left, Fritz, Mabel, LeRoy, Bertha, Anna L., Mrs. Lillestol, County were of Norwegian origin, including Christabel, Harvey L., Olive L., and Myrtle L. This 1914 photo was the Lillestols. They, like Mabel and Fritz’s also mounted and labeled in Bertha’s oldest photo album family, attended Homestead Lutheran Church, where Mabel was organist and Fritz was choir director. In the accompanying photo, the two families are posing with Arne Hjelseth’s ragtop touring car, a 1911 or 1912 “Tin Lizzie” Ford Model T. (Arne was the Lillestol’s hired farm hand.) Eight years later, Olive F. Lillestol was Grandpa Glenn’s Sunday school teacher. On 2 July 1922, she signed a certificate attesting to Glenn’s perfect attendance the previous year.

Here they are again, five years later in 1919, this time with a larger Anderson family and a 1917 Ford Model T. By this time, Ethel (middle) and Glenn (left) have arrived on the scene. All are modeling sweaters knitted for them by Great Aunt Ida, Fridolph’s wife and Fritz’s sister. They look even better in hats and lace-up leather shoes— Glenn, Bertha, Ethel, LeRoy, and Christabel in 1919 nothing but the finest for this photo opportunity. Presumably, Mabel and Fritz sent these photos to Ida and Fridolph to confirm that the sizes worked for each of the Anderson children. They all have “room to grow,” especially Grandpa Glenn’s sweater. Both photos are from Bertha’s oldest photo album.

By 1929, Mabel’s oldest brother, Clarence, was having difficulty making a go of it on Godfrey’s farm. Godfrey died a year earlier and Clarence needed help. So Mabel and Fritz’s decided to move their family back to Illinois to Godfrey’s farm. The photo of Fritz below may have been taken in March, when he and Mabel were preparing for their farm sale and for their move back to St. Charles. The farm sale started 12:45 on Wednesday, March 6, 1929, and was held at the Shaw Farm (where they lived from 1926 to 1929). The Shaw Farm was located in Section 35 of Homestead Township, 4 miles east and 1 mile north of Wyndmere. The sale poster emphasized a “free noon lunch.” The sale included horses (one team, plus 2 mares, a gray gelding, and “one span of mules”), cattle (21 Holstein cows plus “one young bull”), sheep (including 6 breeding ewes), 3 Duroc sows, 5 turkey hens, machinery, and household goods (including a “Maytag washing machine”). (Brother Richard has the farm sale poster with more details.) In her family history notebook, Mable wrote, “the weather was “terribly stormy and cold, but there was a good attendance and the sale went well.”

In the photo at left, Fritz is posing in front of their hardtop, perhaps a 1926 Hupmobile 4-door sedan with a straight 6 engine. This may have been the car they drove back to Illinois—or perhaps I should say—part way. According to This 1929 photo of Fritz was in Bertha’s second photo album Great-grandma Mabel’s family history notebook, the first day of driving was quite foggy. After staying overnight with friends in Atwood, Minnesota, they continued the next day. Unfortunately, it rained hard as they left Atwood and the Minnesota roads became muddy very quickly. They pressed on slowly, “but we finally reached Minneapolis the next evening. We stayed over night there and went as far as Hastings, Minnesota. When we were told the roads were impassible, we returned to St. Paul, left the car there, and went by train to St. Charles. Later in the spring, Dad [Fritz] went to St. Paul and brought the car back.”

Now push the clock ahead to 1942. Grandpa Glenn and Grandma Violet were married in Bethlehem Lutheran Church on 22 Aug 1942. The original plan was for Violet and Mabel to ride in Glenn’s 1939 Plymouth sedan from St. Charles to Seattle, where Glenn was stationed in the Army at Fort Lewis. Everett and Bertha were to do the driving. But two weeks before the wedding, Great- grandma Mabel fell at church and ended up with a cast on her leg. Glenn was able to get a “family hardship” two- week emergency furlough to return to St. Charles for the wedding. Following the wedding reception in the church basement, Glenn and Violet struck out for Seattle on Glenn’s 1939 Plymouth 2 door sedan parked in Sunday morning at 9:00. They drove 500 miles to Sioux front of Colonial Dairies in Sep 1941, just before he City, Iowa, arriving at 11:00 pm. The next morning, they was drafted in the Army left Sioux City at 7:00, stopping for breakfast at Yankton, SD, 75 miles away. After a 2:00 lunch in Presho, they drove through the Badlands to Rapid City, where they arrived at Helen Murphy’s home for a 7:00 dinner. Helen was a close friend of Christabel from their grad school days together at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. After lunch, they visited the Mount Rushmore Memorial. By nightfall, they had driven 250 miles to Sheridan, WY.

On Wednesday, 26 Aug, Glenn and Violet left Sheridan at 7:00 am and drove through the Big Horn Mountains to Greybull, where they ate lunch. That night, they watched two eruptions of Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park, where they stayed over night in a park cabin. They left Old Faithful at 6:30 am, ate breakfast in Gardiner, ate lunch in Helena, MT, and ate dinner in Missoula. By nightfall, they pulled into Spokane and stayed at Hotel Davenport (“swanky and expensive, $7/night”), driving over 575 miles in 18 hours. The next morning, they left Spokane at 8:30 and arrived in Seattle by 4:00 pm, a 350 mile day. The total distance from St. Charles was just over 2500 miles, all on two-lane highways (no interstates at that time) in six days. What a honeymoon!

It’s only fitting that we include one of Bertha’s cars. After all, through her photo albums she supplied the most photos and labels of vintage family cars. Here’s her 1947 Oldsmobile 88 sedan parked on Second Street, behind Mabel and Fritz’s home at 617 Geneva Road. Behind the car we see the two-car garage that Fritz built in the summer of 1944 to replace the old barn. Because the garage was on the valley wall of the Fox River, Fritz designed it with a walk-out basement. This was where Great-grandpa Fritz had his shop, workbench, and garden tools. Bertha needed a Bertha’s 1947 Olds 88 in the snow behind 617 reliable car, because she Geneva Road, during the winter of 1950-51 worked in Chicago for many years and drove home on weekends. Bertha worked as manager of the Bertha and 1936 Ford Deluxe Augustana Women’s Home, sponsored by Rev. Arden’s church on the south sedan in Washington Park, side of Chicago. In 1953, she married Emmet Piper, who was a house Chicago, in the summer of 1939 painter. They lived in Lombard, Illinois, a Chicago suburb before moving to Wyoming, Iowa, Emmet’s home area.

In July, 1952, Christabel and Ed Grauer drove their new 1952 Pontiac Chieftain Catalina Deluxe from Los Angeles to St. Charles to visit Christabel’s family. Their visits included one to Red Gate farm, north of St. Charles, where Great- grandma Mabel’s brother, Roy, lived with his wife, Ellen (Melvin’s parents). As explained above, Red Gate was one of Colonel E.J Baker’s farms. At the time, Christabel was a home economist working for Southern California Gas Company. Ed was sales manager, Hotel and Restaurant Division, Los Angeles territory of the H.J. Heinz Company. Mabel, Ed, Christabel, Ellen, and Fridolph at Red Gate Farm in July, 1952 We end our survey of Peterson-Anderson vintage cars with one of Grandpa Glenn’s “kid haulers.” At the time, he was hauling four kids. Here’s Glenn leaning against his car again. He’s leaning against the fourth car he owned—a gray 1949 Dodge Coronet four-door sedan. It made many summer vacation trips to Camp Augustana, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and to the Olson Farm near Wyndmere, North Dakota (in sections 15, 16, 17, 21, and 22 of Homestead Township). Ethel and LaVerne Olson’s farm is only a few miles from the six farms where Ethel’s family lived. Ethel and Glenn were born at the Ditch Road Farm, the first of six farms that Mabel and Fritz rented. Ethel and LaVerne farmed the Olson family farm with LaVerne’s brother Milo and wife, Louise. In the 1950s and 1960s, the farm had a large herd of Hereford cattle and a diversity of crops, mainly small grains—wheat, oats, barley, rye, and flax. Farmall red and John Deere green were both represented in the machinery line. Also present was an old Allis-Chalmers orange set of Roto-Baler and WC tractor (with an elevator up the side for loading small round bales). The WC tractor had hand brakes (not needed very much) and a hand-crank starter (it was quite a challenge). David, son of Milo and Louise, is now living on and operating the Olson farm (I remember seeing a lot of “green” machinery in the new pole building).

Glenn and Violet drove their family to the Olson Farm in 1952, 1956, 1959, 1962, 1964, and one or two other years. Glenn donned his straw work hat and pitched in with the field work. Because most visits occurred in August, the field work consisted primarily of baling and hauling straw and combining and hauling small grains. Of course, there were also calves and hogs to feed, eggs to pick, garden peas to shell, and road dust to wash off the cars. When all the farm chores were done, there was time to visit friends and relatives—Gordon Olson family, Lorraine Krogness family, and others. In our drives, we also saw some of the old sights and sites—Homestead Lutheran Church, Homestead country school, Homestead Township Hall (formerly a country school), Rhodenbaugh Farm, Shaw Farm, Sanden Farm, Elk Creek Cemetery, Lutheran Church in Wyndmere, and Here are the four kids that Glenn and Violet hauled in their 1949 Dodge Sedan. In this August 1952 downtown Barney. We also made sure to wave to the Giljes, photo are Paul (2), David (3), Christine (9), and Gutzmers, Braatens, Sandens, Thompsons, and other Karen (almost 6). Notice our protective clothing neighbors as we drove past their farms. and accessories—long pants, hats, and sun glasses. We were ready to do our farm chores

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 32 ● November 2015

Peterson-Johnson-Abrahamson-Grove cousins in Nebraska

Godfrey Peterson, Grandpa Glenn’s maternal grandfather, immigrated to the US from Sweden in 1866. He was 12 years old. He was accompanied by his parents and siblings Charlotte Frances (age 23), Peter Adolph (20), Victor Nels (15), and Louisa Christina (9). Godfrey’s older brothers, John (26) and Andrew (28), had previously immigrated to the St. Charles area in 1860 and 1861, respectively. Parents Pehr Johan (57) and Lina Stina Johansdotter Peterson (52) established a farm in St. Charles Township, 1.5 miles northeast of downtown, on the east side of the Fox River in the vicinity of (now) Country Club Road. Their farm was near that of his brother, Nels (Uncle Fridolph’s father).

Unfortunately, on 22 May 1867, about a year after emigrating, Pehr Johan was kicked by a horse and died. He was buried in Little Woods Cemetery, 5 miles northeast of downtown St. Charles, on the east side of the north end of Dunham Road. Lina Stina did not have enough money to purchase a headstone, so she planted a tree next to Pehr’s grave. The family added a small headstone for Pehr’s grave. The grave is next to the family plot of Pehr Johan, Louisa Christina, and Lina Stina Peterson after arriving in St. Charles Pehr’s oldest son, Andrew (Mary and Jane Peterson’s grandfather). Township in 1866

Three of Pehr and Lina’s children—Andrew, John, and Godfrey—married, started a family, and farmed in St. Charles Township. Their other three children—Charlotte, Victor, and Louisa—moved to Phelps County, Nebraska. All established farms in the vicinity of Holdrege, Funk, Axtell, Wilcox, Sacramento, and Keene, an area filled with immigrants from Sweden. All three families homesteaded newly surveyed government land under the Homestead Act of 1862. The Act required a three step procedure: (1) file an application and pay a fee of $18, (2) improve the land, and (3) file for deed of title. Any citizen of the US (who had never taken up arms against the US government) and was at least 21 years old or the head of a household, could file an application to claim a free federal land grant of 160 acres (quarter section). The applicants had to farm and reside on the land for at least five years and show evidence of having made improvements (such as minimum 12’ by 14’ house, farm buildings, wells, windmills, fences, or orchards). After six months of residency, homesteaders also had the option of purchasing the land from the government for $1.25 per acre. However, this option was not exercised by the three families.

John Alfred Abrahamson and Johanna Carlson were married in Sweden. Together, they had three children, Elizabeth, Charles A., and Alfred A. After Johanna died, John A. brought his children to St. Charles about 1954 and became a naturalized citizen of the US at the Kane County courthouse in Geneva on 5 Dec 1859. On 8 Sep 1865, he married Charlotte (Lottie, Lotta) Frances Peterson, Godfrey’s sister, in St. Charles. Their five children (John F., Abner, Ruth, Jennie, and Mabel) were born in St. Charles. They all moved to Phelps County, Nebraska, between 1876 and 2 Apr 1878, about 10 years after the Union Pacific Son John F. and Mathilda Carolina Railroad was finished along the north side of the county. Settlement of Nelson Abrahamson in a (wedding?) the area began about 1873. Phelep was born in Phelps County 30 Apr portrait taken at Anderson Studio in 1878 and died 27 Dec 1879. John and Charlotte homesteaded 160 acres Kearney, NE, c. 1888 in the NW quarter of Section 12, T5N, R17W (Lake Township). On his Homestead Proof form, John A. (age 61) wrote that his 14’ by 20’ sod house with a door and two windows was built and occupied in May 1878. Before 12 Apr 1884, he built a 14’ by 18’ sod addition with a door and two windows, a 14’ by 24’ sod stable, a 12’ by 24’ wood frame granary, well and windmill, pasture of 55 acres surrounded by a wire fence, and 100 acres of cropland worth $600. In 1879, John and Charlotte were charter members of Fridhem Swedish Lutheran Church, 2 miles east of the town of Funk and 5 miles northwest of their farm. In 1882, they Interior of Fridhem Church in the 1880s. This sod building was were charter members of Salem Swedish replaced in 1891 by the wood frame church that stands today (though Methodist Church, a country church 2 miles it was moved two miles west to Funk in 1910). In the photo above, northeast of their farm. Salem Church closed Pastor Andrew Kinell is preaching. Except for the back row, women are seated on the left and men on the right. It is highly likely that at in 1972 and family members changed their least a few of our relatives are in the photo, most likely Victor Nels membership back to Fridhem Church. and Ida Christine Peterson’s family However, the 1898 Salem Church building, including the cemetery, has continued to be maintained. The cemetery includes graves of John and Charlotte, infant son Phelep, son Alfred and wife Adirene, and their son Jesse. The cemetery also includes the grave of Lina Stina Peterson, who died in 1898. She lived with Charlotte’s family after Pehr died near St. Charles.

Victor Nels became a naturalized citizen of the US at the Kane County courthouse in Geneva, Illinois, on 7 Mar 1878. Victor and Ida Christine Peterson married in early 1879, after Victor arrived in Phelps County, Nebraska (before 2 Apr 1878). Nine children (John Albert, Hanna Emelia, Marie Roselia, Esther (Ethel) Matilda, Anders Ernest, Julia Mable, Martin A., Evangeline, and Ida Christine) were born there between October 1879 and approximately 1905. An infant child was also born there, but soon died. Victor and Ida homesteaded 160 acres in the SW quarter of Section 2, T5N, R17W (Lake Township). On his Homestead Proof form, Victor (age 33) wrote that his 14’ by 20’ sod house with a door Victor and Ida Peterson’s family c. 1891. From left are Hanna (age 10), Anders (4), Victor (41), John (12), Esther (7), Marie (8), and three windows was built in Apr 1878 and Ida (32), and Julia (1) occupied on 30 Apr 1878. Before 12 Apr 1884, he built a 14’ by 24’ sod stable, a 14’ by 24’ wood frame granary, well and windmill, pasture of 65 acres surrounded by a fence, and 90 acres of cropland worth $600. On this and other homestead forms, Victor did not sign his name, only his mark. By 1903, Victor and Ida purchased an additional 160 acres across the road—the NW quarter of Section 11, T5N, R17W (Lake Township). Like Charlotte and John Abrahamson, in1879, Victor and Ida were charter members of Fridhem Swedish Lutheran Church, 2 miles east of the town of Funk and 3 miles north of their farm. In 1891, the sod church was replaced by a wood frame church building. In 1910, the wood frame church was moved 2 miles west to the town of Funk.

However, by that time (but after 1903), Victor and Ida sold their farm of 320 acres and moved their family to Township 16 (S, Range 22E, page 49, Atlas of Fresno County 1907, William Harvey, Sr.), Fresno County, California, with other Swedes near the grape farming community of Kingsburg (“Little Sweden”) in the San Joaquin portion of the Central Valley. At least one of their children stayed in (or returned to) the Funk area. Marie Roselia worked at the Bethphage Mission on the north side of Axtell (6 miles east of Funk). In 1916, Marie was consecrated as a Lutheran Deaconess at the Immanuel Deaconess Institute in Omaha, and graduated from the Immanuel School of Nursing in 1923. In 1919, Bethphage described itself as a “Christian, charitable home for the epileptics, feeble minded, destitute, and otherwise unfortunate.” It is now called Mosaic Bethphage Village, a faith-based organization serving people with intellectual disabilities. When Great-grandma Mabel (Grandpa Glenn’s mother) was active in Sister Marie (Mary) Roselia Peterson (upper right), daughter missions at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. of Nels and Ida Christine, was consecrated as a Lutheran Charles, Bethphage received regular donations. For Deaconess in 1916. She is pictured as one of the “Children example, in 1957 it received a major portion of the of Fridhem” in the Jubilee Album, Swedish Evangelical estate of cousin Emma Peterson Colson, daughter of Lutheran Fridhem Congregation of Funk, Nebraska, 1879- Peter A. Peterson (brother of Godfrey, Andrew, 1919 (lower part of page 82) John, Charlotte, Victor, and Louisa).

Louisa Christina Peterson married Carl (Charles) Frederick Johnson on 4 Feb 1878 in St. Charles, Illinois. They moved to Phelps County, Nebraska, between 4 Feb 1878 and 4 Apr 1878. From 1880 to 1891, five children (Lenus Emanuel, Arthur Laurence, Carl Elmer, Ethel Louisa, and Carl William) were born in Phelps County. Carl William died in infancy. Carl Frederick became a naturalized citizen of the US at the Phelps County courthouse in Holdrege, Nebraska, on 13 Nov 1883. Carl and Louisa homesteaded 160 acres in the NE quarter of Section 12, T5N, R17W (Lake Township). On his Homestead Proof form, Carl (age 38) wrote that his 14’ by 20’ sod house with a door and three windows was built and occupied in April 1878. Before 12 Apr Louisa and Carl Johnson’s family c. 1896. From left are Carl (age 1884, he built a 14’ by 22’ sod stable, a 12’ by 53), Arthur (14), Ethel (5), Lenus (16), Louisa (40), and Elmer (9) 24’ wood frame granary, well and windmill, pasture of 35 acres surrounded by a fence, and 100 acres of cropland worth $600. Like Charlotte and John Abrahamson, in 1879, Louisa and Carl were charter members of Fridhem Swedish Lutheran Church, 2 miles east of the town of Funk and 5 miles northwest of their farm. Like Charlotte and John, in 1882, they were charter members of Salem Swedish Methodist Church, a country church 2 miles northeast of their farm. Salem Church closed in 1972 and family members changed their membership back to Fridhem Church. However, the 1898 Salem Church building, including the cemetery, has continued to be maintained. The cemetery includes graves of Carl, Louisa, Arthur, and Elmer. Lenus was buried in Shenandoah, Iowa. Ethel was buried next to her husband, William Abrahamson, in Prairie Home Cemetery at Holdrege.

To submit their homestead applications, Charles Johnson, Victor Peterson, and John Abrahamson traveled together on 17 Apr 1878, to the Land Office in Bloomington, Nebraska, approximately 25 miles southeast of their farms. On their homestead application forms, they each alleged Salem Swedish Methodist Church and cemetery, 4 miles east of Funk settlement beginning 4 Apr 1878. Each of and 4 miles southwest of Axtell. The Johnsons and Abrahamsons were them listed their mailing address as Keene, charter members in 1882. Members of their families are buried here (in in Kearney County, Nebraska, a small town the foreground), as is Lina Stina Peterson, mother of Charlotte, Victor, Louisa, Godfrey, Andrew, John, and Peter. Regular services ended here approximately 7 miles east of their farms. in 1972. PFA photo taken 21 Sep 2014 To establish their final claim, each of them appeared on 12 Apr 1884 before County Judge Charles J. Backman of Phelps County, taking turns serving as witnesses for each other, along with neighbors Charles J. Lindquist and Andrew P. Falk. Under oath, they answered questions about citizenship(yes), house and other improvements, family and continuity of residence, crop acres and growing seasons (6 years each), presence of coal or mineral deposits (none), land mortgages (none), and other homestead applications (none). By law, their final applications for claims were published in the legal notices of the local newspaper, the Holdrege Equity. After review of all their homestead documents by the US General Land Office in Plattsmouth, their land patents (first deeds) were finalized on 20 Jan 1885. Six years later, all three were listed in the 1890-1891 Wolfe's Gazetteer Farmer's Directory of Phelps County, Nebraska.

With an average annual rainfall of 22 inches, temperature extremes, high precipitation variability, average wind speed of 9 mph, high variability in groundwater supplies, and lack of timber, south-central Nebraska presented many challenges in producing crops and livestock. It was also a challenge to support a family and church. Here are several challenges, reported in the Jubilee Album, Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Fridhem Congregation of Funk, Nebraska, 1879-1919:

A devastating hailstorm, which totally destroyed the crops, visited the congregation just before harvest time in 1891. It came as the grain was ready for the sickle. Starting at the northeast corner of the territory occupied by the congregation, and moving south, it destroyed entirely the finest crop this country had ever seen. (p. 116)

The fateful year 1894 came and it will not be forgotten by those who passed through it, however long they may live. The previous year (1893) had been a dry one, but this was worse. During seven months of the fall and winter of 1893 and the spring of 1894 hardly any rain had fallen. Grain crops did not attain a growth of more than a few inches in height and did not produce heads. Corn was from two to five feet high when the dawn of the direful day of July 26 burst over the eastern horizon. The forenoon was not different from other days at this time of the year, but the afternoon proved a half-day of destruction. A strong hot wind which sprang up out of the southwest burnt every green thing out of doors: not one plant that was not in some way protected from this furnace blast was alive when the sun went down. This was a hard blow to the country. Seed to sow and plant the ground with there was none. It all had to be shipped in, and there was very little money, even the banks were in low funds. In 1894 a farmer here could not get money for a mortgage on his farm. (p. 117-118)

So, it’s not surprising that Victor and Ida Peterson decided, after farming in Phelps County for almost 30 years, to move to California. Likewise, it’s not surprising that none of the descendents of Charlotte and John Abrahamson decided to stay and farm in Phelps County. It is a credit to Louisa and Carl and their descendents that their homestead, now the Johnson “home place,” became a century farm in 1978. Today, the farm is owned by Lee Grove and his wife, Grace. Lee is a great-grandson of Louisa and Carl Johnson. About 2008, Lee and Grace replaced the frame house with their new home. Here’s a more complete lineage of the “Johnson home place”—

Date Event Farming Apr 1878 Sod house built Carl & Louisa Johnson Dec 1880 Homestead application Carl & Louisa Johnson Apr 1884 Final homestead fee paid Carl & Louisa Johnson Jan 1885 Land patent (first deed) received Carl & Louisa Johnson _?_ Wood frame house built Carl & Louisa Johnson Apr 1900 Charlotte’s husband, John Abrahamson, died Dec 1913 Carl died Louisa, Arthur, & Elmer Johnson 1903-1920 Arthur & Elmer bought 80 acres north of the “home place” Sons Arthur &Elmer Johnson Jun 1928 Louisa died Sons Arthur &Elmer Johnson Jan 1929 Charlotte Abrahamson died 1929-1948 Arthur & Elmer bought Carl &Louisa’s 160 & Lotta & John’s 160 Sons Arthur &Elmer Johnson Dec 1949 Retired from farming Sons Arthur &Elmer Johnson Jan 1950 Started farming the “home place” Grandson Paul &Laurene Abrahamson 1952-1963 Paul & Laurene bought Arthur &Elmer’s 160, 80, &160 Grandson Paul &Laurene Abrahamson 1978 Century farm Grandson Paul &Laurene Abrahamson c. 1985 Started farming the “home place” Great-grandson Lee &Grace Grove 1985-1995 Lee & Grace bought “home place” 160 Great-grandson Lee &Grace Grove c. 2008 Built new house Great-grandson Lee &Grace Grove

When Lee and Grace moved in to the old frame farmhouse in 1985, they found a large collection of family treasures in an upstairs bedroom. They and other family members had been previously forbidden to enter the room. The room contained so many family treasures that when they pushed the door open, they had to push furniture in the room to get the door open wide enough to enter. The room contained the foot-pump reed organ that Louisa and Carl brought with them from St. Charles, furniture, framed family portraits, correspondence from relatives in St. Charles, and other family items. Unfortunately, before Lee and Grace had a chance to examine all the items, Uncle Paul Abrahamson burned some, including letters and other documents.

Fortunately, Great-grandma Mabel (Grandpa Glenn’s mother) kept a few letters from Nebraska cousins. One of these letters was the key to finding Lee and our other third cousins in Phelps County. It was a 7 Feb 1956 letter from Lee’s mother, Violet Grove (Anna Louise Abrahamson), thanking Mabel for her condolences card following the death of Violet’s mother, Ethel Louise Johnson Abrahamson, on 23 Jan 1956. Ethel and Mabel were first cousins. Violet’s letter was accompanied by the printed program folder for Ethel’s funeral at Fridhem Lutheran Church on 26 Jan 1956. An on- Circa 1878 (wedding?) portrait of Carl and Louisa Peterson line search for Violet Grove resulted in her on-line Johnson. Their great-grandson, Lee Grove, found it in an obituary. It listed Violet’s relatives, including Lee. upstairs bedroom of the wood frame farmhouse at the Johnson “home place” near Funk, Axtell, and Holdrege A phone call to Lee and Grace set up a visit at the Johnson “home place” on 21 Sep 2014. Lee’s sister, Ruth, and her husband (Bill?) were able to attend the “reunion.” I quickly bonded with Lee after finding that we share birthday month and year (born two weeks apart); mothers named Violet; sisters named Ruth; relatives named Paul, Ethel, Louise, Christine, Anna, Carl, Charles, Frederick, Arthur, Elmer, William, Johnson, Peterson, Abrahamson; Anderson Township land; and other similarities. Ruth was surprised to find out that her first cousin twice- removed, Sister Marie Roselia Peterson, graduated from Immanuel School of Nursing in Omaha, as Ruth did some 40 years later. In fact, it is possible that Sister Marie was still working at Immanuel Hospital Paul with Lee Grove, his wife Grace, and his sister Ruth. when Ruth was studying there in the 1960s. We’re examining family records in the dining room of Lee and Grace’s home on the Johnson “home place.” PDA photo taken 21 Sep 2014 We have more cousins in Nebraska, South Dakota, and California from the Louisa, Victor, and Charlotte branches of our family tree. When additional genealogical research reveals enough information, expect to learn about more about them in another issue of the Peterson-Anderson family history newsletter.

Part of a 1903 plat map of Lake Township, Phelps County, Nebraska. It shows the farmland homesteaded and owned by Godfrey’s siblings and their spouses—Carl and Louisa Johnson (section 12), John and Charlotte Abrahamson (sec. 12), and Victor and Ida Christine Peterson (sec. 2 and sec. 11)

Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson January 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 27 28 29 30 31 1 22 Ethel Peterson Anderson 1888 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Carl Alfred 4 8 9 Anderson 1845 Anders Johansson 1813 Sven Andersson Ellen Dorothea Kraft 1885 Staaf 1825 9 10 1111 12 13 14 15 16 Pehr Johan Genevieve Ekstrom Fritz Anders Anderson 1874 Peterson 1809 Wilson 1920 17 18 19 2020 21 22 23 Alice Jankila Anderson Herman Svensson 1915 20 Kraft 1857 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Natalia Hawkinson Wilson 1883 27 Doris Lillian Margarette Anderson 31 1 2 3 19204 5 6 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson February 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stina Carlsdotter Anna Greta Olofsdotter Emily Bloomberg Staaf 1820 Johansson 1771 12 Wilson 1869 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Louisa Larsdotter Agnes Anderson 1829 Burns 1881 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Russel Wilson Charles Anderson 26 Carl Peter 1908 1861 27 Larsson 1818 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Melvin LeRoy Peterson 27 1921 Roy Leonard Peterson 26 1887 28 29 1 2 3 4 5 Marie Roselia 28 Peterson 1883 Karen Louise Dahlgren Peterson 1848 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson March 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 28 29 1 2 Mathilda E. Elf 18833 4 5 1 2 Anna Hildur Kraft 1889 Hilda Newman Joseph W. Blomgren Anderson 1857 9 1839 6 7 8 9 10 1111 12 Gregg Ziegler Ann Olson 9 1921 Peterson 1893 13 14 1515 16 17 18 19 Johannes Blomgren 1816 20 21 22 John Carlson 23 24 25 26 1860 23 26 Johan August Teckla Gustava Anderson 1839 Anderson 1876 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 Ned Wilson 1906 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson April 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 27 28 29 30 31 Johan Walter 1 2 ? Wilson 1857 Adolph L. Newman 1833 3 4 5 6 7 Olof Eriksson 8 Edith Cornelia 9 4 5 6 7 1710 8 Kraft 1857 Stina Ericksdotter Anna Stina Jonnson 1781 Andersdotter 1842 14 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Hazel Peterson Hyde 1896 Ardelle Minnie Hyde 14 1926 17 18 19 20 21 22 2323 Victor Nels Peterson 1850 2424 25 26 27 28 29 30 Christabel Frederica Lars Johansson Lars Henriksson 1739 Anderson 1911 1810 Jacob William Anderson 1873 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson May 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 1 22 3 4 5 6 7 Fritz LeRoy Anderson Sven Månsson 1910 1765 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 1919 20 21 Herbert F Peterson 1923 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Josef Nylen Per Erlandson Carlsson 1872 Axelson 1794 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson June 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 Josephine Axelson Blomquist 1874 5 6 7 8 9 Clarence10 Edward 11 5 7 Peterson 1883 Gustav Sanfrid Sven Gunnaar Carlsson 1859 Kraft 1894 17 12 13 14 15 16Sophie Newman 17 18 13 14 Joranson 1866 18 Mathilda Bengtdotter Lotta Nilsdotter Paul Emil Johanna Sophia Anderson 1846 Larsson 1834 Peterson 1880 23 17 Blomgren Wallin 1834 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 21 22 Carl Wilhelm Gustava Carlsdotter Larsson 1828 23 Wilson Kraft 1856 26 27 2828 29 30 1 2 Violet Wilson Torsten Gideon June Anderson Anderson 1919 Kraft 1891 Ziegler 1923 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson July 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 26 27 28 29 30 1 22 Peter Adolph Peterson 1845 Arthur Larson 3 4 5 6 7 1896 88 9 Lotta Wilda Anderson Nilsdotter Erickson 1922 14 1834 10 11 12 13 14 15 Earl Adolph 16 10 12 14 Peterson 1889 Ellen Hultine Everett Rydell Peterson 1893 Wilson 1914 17 18 19 20 21 Carl Wilhelm 22 23 21 Larsson 1828 Rose F. Carlson Larson 1897 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 John P. Elf Greta Johansdotter Sigrid Anderson 1821 Axelson 1796 Wilson 1872 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson August 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 31 1 2 3 Stina Larsdotter 4 5 Carl Richard 6 3 Gran 1787 5 Anderson 1878 Vivian Anderson Carl Frederick Fridolph Emil Sunleaf 1918 3 Johnson 1843 12 Peterson 1870 7 8 99 10 1111 12 13 Louise Peterson LaVerne Kermit Johnson 1856 10 12 Olson 1915 14 15 16 Hazel Wilson 17 1818 19 20 Kloempken 1928 Otelia E. Louise Axelson Glenn Fridolph Newman 1871 Newman 1833 19 Anderson 1917 2121 22 2323 24 25 26 2727 Märta Olofsdotter 1739 Johanna Charlotta Ida Josephina Jonas Dahlgren 1826 Andersdotter 1856 26 Carlsdotter 1862 28 29 30 Ida Anderson 31 1 2 3 Ethel Anderson Peterson 1871 Olson 1916 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson September 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 Emma Anna Charlotta Christenson Blomgren 1836 5 Peterson 1892 4 55 66 7 8 9 10 Lina Stina 8 9 Carl Robert Johansdotter Anna Charlote Johanson Gustavson 1922 Peterson 1813 Hawkinson 1838 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 John A. Abra- 11 14 16 17 hamson 1822 Johan Gustaf Larsson 1825 Kerstin Larsdotter Josephina Gustava Emmet Piper 1901 Albert J Wilson 1890 Stefansson 1700 Andersdotter 1847 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Kerstin Larsdotter Eriksson 1711 Lena Johansdotter Bertha Frederika Margareta Mansdotter Henriksson 1747 1816 29 Anderson 1879 25 26 27 28 29 30 1

Esther Valborg 29 Kraft 1896 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson October 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 25 26 27 28 29 30 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hedda Stina Blomgren 1844 9 1010 11 12 13 1414 15 Karl Johan John Birger Helen Linnea Hawkinson 1835 Wilson 1878 Anderson 1918 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Alexander Peterson Johan Gottfried Anderson 1846 Hawkinson 1877 23 24 25 26 27 2828 29 Hanna Caroline Louisa Mathilda Blomgren 1841 Johan Fritz Godfrey Peterson Hawkinson 1870 Frans Oscar Carlsson 1866 Anderson 1861 1853 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson November 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 30 31 1 2 3 44 5 Bertha Anderson Maria Wilhelmina Claus Wilhelm Carl Martin Ivar 6 Piper 1907 Anderson 1869 Anderson 1836 Kraft 1882 6 7 88 9 10 11 12 Robert William Donald Newman 6 Anderson 1923 Peterson 1926 13 14 15 16 1717 18 1919 Hulda Marie William Harrison Gustava Larsdotter Hawkinson 1875 Anderson 1883 Johansson 1815 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 1 2 3 John A. Anderson 1867 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson December 2016 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Augusta Sophia Carol Lynn Wilson 1946 27 28 29 30 1 Hawkinson 1865 2 Louisa Martina Andersdotter3 1851 Robert Clement Christina Newman Kloempken 1922 1 2 Peterson 1861 Lars Jonsson 4 5 66 7 1786 8 9 10 Jean Peterson Christina Charlotta Thomson Charlotte Peterson Martha Ericksdotter Larsdotter 1820 1919 Abrahamson 1842 8 9 Blomgren 1809 11 12 13 1414 15 1616 17 Mabel Peterson Mary A. Peterson Anderson 1880 1925 18 19 20 2121 22 23 24 Andrew Gustaf Peterson 1838 25 26 27 28 Oscar Carl 29 30 31 28 Wilson 1892 John Alfred 28 Peterson 1840

http://www.presentationmagazine.com/free-2016-monthly-calendar-template-14958.htm Anderson Family History Issue 34 ● January 2016

Nord relatives and Blomgren murder

In Grandpa Glenn’s World War II letters to his parents, he occasionally mentioned members of the Nord family. Through Bethlehem Church, members of the Nord family were close friends. For example, Glenn wrote letters to Irene, Amanda, and Othelia Nord and mentions the death of Jean and “Grandma” Nord (Amanda Gustafson, wife of Carl John Nord). “I’m sure that Irene will be of great help to Maurice (and two little ones) at a time like this” (31 Mar 1944).

We’re related to the Nord family through marriage. Specifically, our relationship is through great- grandpa Joseph Blomgren (b. 9 Mar 1839), who married Fritz’s mother, Mathilda (b. 13 Jun 1846). They were married on 7 Feb 1887, four months after Mathilda emigrated from Sweden with Fritz (13), and his sisters Maria (18), Ida (15), Teckla (10), and Bertha (4).

Joseph’s younger sister, Johanna Sofia (b. 18 Jun 1849), married Claes August Johansson Wallin (b. 14 Feb 1858) in 1880 in Sweden. Their oldest daughter, Teckla Albertina (b. 30 Dec 1882), married Carl William Nord (b. 10 Oct 1873) on 27 Oct 1906, the same year that Grandpa Glenn’s parents (Mabel and Fritz) were married on Godfrey and Christina’s farm in the farmhouse parlor (Durant-Peterson house).

Grandpa Glenn’s photo collection had at least two photographs that include members of the Nord family. The photo above was probably taken by Fritz (using a shutter timer?) in their home at 508 Prairie, next door to Fridolph and Ida’s home at 516 Prairie. Fritz designed both homes. The photo was likely taken between January 1906, when they were married, and March 1912, when they moved their family to farm in North Dakota. In the photo above, from left, are—

(John) Phillip Peterson—b. 1877, d. 31 Dec 1943, son of Andrew (great-grandpa Godfrey’s brother) and Karin. They were Mary and Jane Peterson’s grandparents;

Esther Rosene Nord—b. 16 Nov 1884, d. 31 Mar 1916, part of the August L. and Alice Anderson Rosene family who farmed across the road from Andrew and Karin north of St. Charles along Route 25 (East River Road), across the road from Adolph and Louise Axelson Newman (Grandma Mabel’s maternal grandparents), and next to John August and Caroline Christina Anderson Axelson (Louise Axelson Newman’s brother and sister-in-law);

Hulda Rosene Larson—b. Oct 1878, oldest sister of Esther and daughter of August L. and Alice Anderson Rosene. She married Carl J. Larson. They were parents of Robert Larson who was choir director at Bethlehem Church in the 40s, 50s, and 60s (Robert is on the right in the photo below);

(John) Albert Peterson—b. Oct 1879, son of Victor Nels (great-grandpa Godfrey’s brother) and Ida Christine. Albert was born in Phelps County, Nebraska, near Holdrege;

Mabel Peterson Anderson—b. 14 Dec 1880, d. 22 Oct 1972, Grandpa Glenn’s mother, daughter of Godfrey and Christina;

Ethel Peterson Anderson—b. 2 Jan 1888, d. 24 May 1941, sister of Mabel;

Fritz Anders Anderson—b. 9 Jan 1874, d. 11 Oct 1947, Grandpa Glenn’s father, husband of Mabel.

The other photo in Grandpa Glenn’s collection that includes a member of the Nord family was taken on Easter Sunday, 1937. The photo was taken at 625 Geneva Road, the home that Mabel and Fritz rented from the Alexander family after moving off Godfrey’s farm following its sale in 1931. The home in the background is 617 Geneva Road, which Mabel and Fritz bought from Mrs. Furnald in 1939. In the photo, from left, are—

Fritz LeRoy Anderson—b. 2 May 1910, d. 5 Jul 1994, brother of Grandpa Glenn;

Harold Walter Nord—b. 29 Apr 1913, d. 2 Jan 1986, many knew him as “Bud”;

Everett Rydell Wilson—b. 14 Jul 1914, d. 23 Jul 1995, brother of Grandma Violet;

LaVerne Kermit Olson—b. 12 Aug 1915, d. 16 Dec 2008, later married to Ethel, Grandpa Glenn’s sister;

Grandpa Glenn—b. 19 Aug 1917, d. 19 Jun 2013;

Robert T. Larson—b. 20 Jan 1923, d. 13 Oct 2004, son of Hulda Rosene and Carl Larson. Bob was choir director at Bethlehem Church in the 50s and 60s (Bob’s mother is third from left in the first photo above).

Another member of the Nord family we remember is Raymond Ellwyn Nord (b. 1 May 1909, d. 10 Nov 1977). According to Fred Nord (StC high school class of 1960?), Raymond Ellwyn was a watchmaker who worked at Elgin Watch until they moved watch-making out of Elgin in 1964. Raymond Ellwyn then opened a watch shop in his home to repair and build watches. Fred said that Raymond Ellwyn “was always a jolly guy.” I remember waiting in our family car while Glenn or Violet dropped off or picked up a watch from Raymond Ellwyn that needed cleaning or repair at his home at 818 Indiana Avenue.

While corresponding with Fred Nord by Email, he related a story concerning the Blomgren family that took place in Sweden. Grandpa Glenn’s paternal (step) grandfather, Joseph W. Blomgren, was born 9 Mar 1839 in Sweden to Johannes and Martha Ericksdotter Blomgren. According to the document that Fred Nord sent, crofter Johannes Blomgren was accused of murdering tanner Bengt Akerblad. (The term “crofter” refers to a tenant farmer. The term “tanner” refers to a leather worker. The term “carrying bar” refers to a short pole used to help lift and carry heavy objects. The term “household examination rolls” refers to church records compiled by Swedish clergy who systematically visited and surveyed households in the parish, noting the physical and spiritual conditions of family members.) Here is the entire document that Fred sent:

************************************* Christmas murder of Bengt Akerblad

Anna-Carin - the following record of Johannes Blomgren was found in the household examination rolls.

The district court handled the murder case on January 24, 1840. The case summarized as: “It was said that on the 2nd day of Christmas, December 26, 1839, after an argument, the crofter Johannes Blomgren had struck the tanner Bengt Akerblad so that he’d died thereof.” Johannes had been under arrest in the meantime. In the proceedings he’s described as a strongly built man of average height; 27 years old. Married since four years, and had two children. He’d stayed at his parents house all his life except for a period of two years when he’d farmed another farm. In 1836 he’d been accused of theft but been acquitted.

Blomgren, visibly remorseful and moved, declared himself guilty of the murder. He related the course of events: “On December 26 at church he’d met the crofter Stenvall and been invited to have dinner with the Stenvall family who lived in Fallesbacka. He followed Stenvall home and a while later Akerblad arrived, uninvited. He’d never had an argument or fight with Akerblad. During dinner; when they’d had a few schnapps, Akerblad started to abuse him, he talked back, and then Akerblad threatened him with his clasp knife. Stenvall intervened and declared that Blomgren was his guest, and that Akerblad mustn’t do him any harm there; if they wanted a fight they had to leave. Akerblad left and Blomgren followed him soon afterwards. Akerblad stood near the house, his knife open, and said he’d get Blomgren’s heart’s blood. Blomgren grasped a carrying bar that stood by the cottage and gave Akerblad a single blow. It hit Akerblad’s head but Blomgren said his intention was to strike the weapon from his hand. After the blow Akerblad took a couple of steps before falling to the ground. Blomgren was surprised and frightened and went back into the cottage where he told them what had happened. Soon afterwards he was arrested.

Documents attached to the court record: • Autopsy report • Physician’s certificate as to the cause of death based on the autopsy report. • Vital records for Blomgren, including parson’s description of his character. • Ditto for Akerblad • A letter to the court signed by 15 of Blomgren’s neighbors. • The parson’s request for advice from the court, on how to proceed with the burial of such an impious and sinful man as Akerblad.

It’s clear from the autopsy report that Akerblad didn’t suffer any violence in the fight beyond the single blow to the head. The parson describes Blomgren like this: "Approved in religion, receives the Holy Communion regularly, is too fond of strong drinks, known to be disobedient to his parents. In 1836 accused of theft but not prosecuted.”

The parson’s description of Akerblad, aged 54: “Had tolerable knowledge of religion; occasionally received Holy Communion but not properly, was known for an irritable and violent temper, prone to drink, quarrel and fight, during which he often threatened and attacked his opponents, noted in the parish meeting as violent and dangerous to society, accused of murder and other defamatory things, which he got a death sentence for but was acquitted by the Court of Appeal, undergone flogging and stood in view of the others during the Sunday Mass for abusing God’s Word and Name, and has generally been viewed as an impious person. In the past years his violent temper hasn’t caused him to act violently as often as it has in the past, but he has not earned the epithet of being an orderly and law-abiding citizen.”

The long letter written by Blomgren’s neighbors described Akerblad as a violent and impious man, posing a constant threat to the life and health of people in the area, pointing out that he’d been convicted for murder and recounting several rumors; including that he had murdered additional people elsewhere. Ten witnesses gave evidence; but the only one of them that had been present during the argument was Stenvall’s wife. Stenvall himself should’ve been summoned, but they hadn’t been able to reach him. The rest of the witnesses were largely those who had helped carry the body into the house. The prosecutor requested permission to call two more witnesses - Stenvall and his daughter. The request was granted, so the rest of the proceeding were postponed until January 30, 1840. On that date Stenvall was heard and so was his eight year old daughter, who is described as intelligent and fearless. When the two men had left the cottage, she went out too as she was curious to see what would happen, and so became the only eye witness to the fight. She confirmed Blomgren’s account of what happened when they’d stepped outside.

Blomgren’s parents had written a letter to the court, pleading for their son, “Most humbly To the Proceedings. As it has come to our knowledge that our Son Johannes Blomgren has been so unfortunate as to have killed the tanner B.M. Akerblad in a fight, and for which he is now prosecuted at the Court, and as it has also come to our knowledge that the Parson Lonnergren has declared that our son Johannes has been obstinate and disobedient to us as parents, this is something we have never experienced, as this our Dearest son always has helped us as tenderly as a Child possibly can, and the entire neighborhood who has signed this can testify to this, and gladly on their Oath verify this truth, as well as we, if needed. We do not know how Such a suspicion has been raised, as the Parish Clergy Neither on the Parish meeting nor Privately ever has bothered with such, nor has our Son Joh. Blomgren been insolent in word nor deed and we respectfully request that the honored Court Chooses to accept this as a Protest.” The letter was signed by both parents, and three additional people as witnesses.

Judicial Decision:

“By his own voluntary confession, supported by accounts of the circumstances, Johannes Blomgren is guilty of, last Second Day of Christmas, December 26, 1839, having in a fight given former tanner Bengt Akerblad a blow to the head with a carrying bar, and while the physician in his official report has certified that the blow was absolutely lethal, and as it has not been proven, or even shown a reason for, that the slaying has been done in deadly peril, as, according to Article 3, paragraph 6 and Article 24, paragraph 9 in the Misdeed Law, as well as the Royal Clarification of March 23, 1807, the District Court fairly sentences Johannes Blomgren, who’s also guilty of breach of the Sabbath, to the penalty of loss of life through decapitation.” The court specifies the compensation to the witnesses and for the autopsy, to be funded with the assets Blomgren leaves. They also point out that, “if Johannes Blomgren is dissatisfied with the verdict he can complain to the Court of Appeals before noon on February 19.” Apparently he did complain to the Court of Appeals as his sentence changed to: “Akerblad’s slayer, Freed from death sentence, instead got 28 days on bread and water plus had to stand in view of the others during the Sunday Mass.”

Martha and the youngest (Johanna Sofia) emigrated along with Claes Wallin in 1882, 30 years after Johannes. It was only found in August of 2012 that Martha’s son Joseph had come to St. Charles in 1869 when their graves were found in North Cemetery and compared to obituaries published in the Chronicle of the day which connected them to Johanna Blomgren Wallin. *************************************

Joseph Blomgren emigrated in 1869 at age 30. After Claes Anderson died of consumption (tuberculosis) in 1884, Mathilda Anderson emigrated in 1886 with their five children (Maria, Ida, Fritz, Teckla, and Bertha). Both Joseph and Mathilda attended Fivlered Parish church before immigrating to St. Charles. Four months after they met again at Bethlehem Church, they married in 1887. So the murderer, Johannes, is Joseph's father. They are related to us only through marriage ("shirt-tail relatives" in English or "släkting-släk" in Swedish).

However, there's at least a slight possibility that a blood-relative ancestor was involved in the case. The story above includes many references to the "court" and two references to the "district court." One of our ancestors, Anders Johansson (Claes Anderson's father), was a district court judge in Osbacken, a few miles SE of Fivlered Parish and a few miles south of Sandhem. (Anders is buried in Sandhem Parish cemetery and "remains" (double meaning) there because he was considered an important community leader in Sandhem.) His term as judge included the years 1851 and 1856 (when two of Claes' siblings were born), but likely includes a longer time span. Whether his term included Johannes' murder case in January, 1840, is unknown.

Fred Nord told me that there's evidence that Johannes Blomgren "disappeared" and may have immigrated to the US. His whereabouts were never conclusively documented. Perhaps he changed his name.

As mentioned above, Johanna Sophia Blomgren married Claes Wallin in Sweden in 1880. That was two years before they emigrated to the St. Charles area in 1882. Johanna died 31 Dec 1923 and Claes died 21 Feb 1935. They are buried in Union Cemetery in St. Charles, near where Grandpa Glenn and Grandma Violet are buried. Johanna’s and Joseph’s mother, Martha, died 15 Dec 1896. She is buried near the SW corner of North Cemetery, across the street north of Bethlehem Church. Next to her grave are those of Joseph and Mathilda Anderson Blomgren and three of Mathilda’s daughters (Mary, Teckla, and Bertha— Fritz’s sisters). (Fritz’s sister, Ida, is buried next to great uncle Fridolph in Union Cemetery.) Other family members buried in North Cemetery include Godfrey and Christina Peterson, Hazel Peterson Mack, Bertha Anderson Piper, Ardelle Hyde, Fridolph Peterson’s parents and siblings, Roy and Ellen Peterson, and other family members.

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 35 ● February 2016

Camp Wallace – Fort Crockett revisited

During World War II, Grandpa Glenn entered the US Army on 23 September 1941. After 16 days at the Camp Grant processing center near Rockford, he was sent by troop train to Camp Wallace for basic training. Camp Wallace was located between Galveston and Houston, Texas, about 14 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

Camp Wallace was hastily constructed in the spring of 1941 as a basic training facility for the US Army, specializing in coast defense – coast artillery (CA) and anti-aircraft (AA) weapons. It was named to honor Col. Elmer J. Wallace, a World War I coast artillery hero. Camp Wallace's personnel supported the much-older Fort Crockett on the Gulf coast in Galveston, just 12 miles away. The initial concern was protecting the oil refineries along the Gulf coast from German U-boat attacks. Later, the primary concern was aerial attacks by German aircraft.

Camp Wallace consisted of 3,300 acres of flat coastal plain agricultural fields dissected by Highland Bayou and its tributaries. Much of the land had been used to graze cattle. Other agricultural uses were a few rice fields and pecan orchards. The 3,300 acre camp was assembled through purchase of eight parcels from local Glenn at Camp Wallace, Texas, 21 Oct farmers and ranchers. Site selection was heavily influenced by rail 1941. Notice the oyster shell roads access. The Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe (GCSF) railroad bordered the east edge of the site. It served the grain elevators and oil refineries at nearby Texas City on Galveston Bay. A 3.9 mile spur was built into Camp Wallace to deliver personnel, equipment, and supplies. Although the spur is gone, the GCSF railroad, now owned by Burlington Northern-Santa Fe (BNSF), is still active with shipments of oil and grain.

At it peak in 1944, Camp Wallace included nearly 400 structures, 29 miles of electric lines, and 17 miles of roads. Structures included 161 barracks, shower and latrine facilities, classrooms, administrative and headquarters facilities, mess hall, hospital, auditorium/theater for training and entertainment, gymnasium, swimming pool to teach water rescue, service clubs, warehouses, and several chapels. At its peak, over 10,200 personnel were stationed there. The walks and roads were surfaced with a common coastal material—oyster shells hauled from the Gulf.

Outdoor facilities included parade grounds for Paul at Camp Wallace sign in Jack Brooks park, about 1/2 mile reviews and close-order drills, bivouac areas for south of Glenn's location in the first photo. Taken 1 Jan 2016 training in field maneuvers, shooting ranges for rifle and pistol target practice, fields for sports and outdoor recreation, undeveloped areas for orienteering, motor pool, and equipment storage. Grandpa Glenn's training included classes on military courtesy and rank, chemical warfare, use of gas masks, motor transportation, first aid, and personal hygiene. One of the other required classes was on the subject of marriage. The class was conducted by Chaplain Hartman, the first of many army chaplains that Grandpa Glenn befriended. See family history newsletter issue 13 (FHN_Issue_13_FamilyHistory_GlennArmy_1a_CampWall ace.pdf).

During the last month of Grandpa Glenn's basic training, the Gun Commander Anderson with Gun Crew No. 1, emphasis changed to coast defense. Almost every day, he Ft. Crockett, TX, Dec 1941. This 3-inch gun was at traveled 12 miles by train from Camp Wallace to Fort Battery Laval near Stewart Beach in Galveston Crockett on the Gulf coast of Galveston Island. He traveled to Fort Crockett by train because the only bridge to Galveston Island was a railroad bridge. Fort Crockett was built in the late nineteenth century to protect the Galveston area. Among other facilities were large-bore artillery guns mounted on massive concrete foundations, called batteries. There were four:

Hoskins – two 12-inch guns Izard – eight 12-inch mortars Wade Hampton – two 10-inch "disappearing" guns Laval – two 3-inch guns

Grandpa Glenn trained at Battery Laval, on Stewart Beach, using the 3-inch guns. He fired both live and “dry” shells. His training included elements of gunnery, care and cleaning of 3-inch AA guns, defense and camouflage, gun position and aiming, 2nd class gunnery, reconnaissance, and ammunition. He became so proficient firing the 3-inch guns that he was selected as one of three in basic training to remain at Camp Wallace and Fort Crockett as an artillery instructor and rifle range coach. For the duration, he was promoted to temporary sergeant.

While stationed at Camp Wallace and Fort Crockett, Grandpa Glenn attended worship services regularly, always in uniform. The first worship service he attended was at the Augustana Lutheran Church on the south side of Houston (he hitched a ride part of the way and walked the remaining 35 blocks to church). He was invited to dinner at the home of church members Bob and Evelyn Ohls and supper at the home of Sid and Helen Bengtson. These were Paul at Ft. Crockett's Battery Hoskins on the grounds of San Luis resort on the seawall in Galveston. Taken 1 Jan 2016 the first two of many local church families who “adopted” Grandpa Glenn while he was in the service in the US and England. Other Augustana church families that adopted him were the Biraths, Scotts, and Wicklunds. The original church building that Glenn attended has been replaced and the neighborhood has changed significantly.

Grandpa Glenn also attended services at Zion Swedish Lutheran Church in Galveston, It was close to downtown, only about 30 blocks away from the gun batteries at Fort Crockett. Glenn met more adoptive families, spending the most time with the Reinhart family. Mrs. Reinhart was organist at Zion Church. By the way, the current bishop of the Texas- Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the ELCA is Mike Reinhart. He may not have a relationship to Zion in Galveston, but there's a possibility. Zion was founded in 1881 by Swedish Lutherans. They were part of the Texas branch of the Augustana Synod. In 1894, they built a small chapel at 402 18th Avenue, the SE corner of 18th and Market. By 1926, the congregation outgrew its small chapel and replaced it with a modest frame church building with a steeple, stained glass windows, and “expensive pipe organ.” Unfortunately, the building was significantly damaged in 2008 by Hurricane Ike. The Zion congregation eventually Zion Lutheran Church, Galveston, TX, 14 Dec 1941. Mrs. morphed into a social services organization, Reinhart, the church organist and choir director, invited Glenn to have dinner with her family at home Zion Retreat Center, located at 6910 Yucca Drive. Zion's 1926 building was purchased by master carpenter, John Charon, and his wife, Kerry. Additional funding was provided through the Swedish Club of Houston. After extensive stabilization and restoration work, it opened as Christ Chapel, a wedding and family activity venue. See http://www.chapelgalveston.com/

Only Battery Hoskins remains as of January, 2016. It was the largest, anchoring two 12-inch guns. The massive concrete foundation presents a formidable obstacle because of its size. Apparently, the cost of removal has been a deterrent to its removal. The posh resort hotel, San Luis, built its building and pool around it. A seating and viewing platform sits atop it. It is sometimes used for (small) weddings. The other three batteries have been removed to make way for other high-dollar Gulf-front development, mainly hotels and restaurants. Fortunately, a bit of open space remains along the Gulf seawall. Fort Crockett Park is a very small turf (weed) area with no facilities, not even a sign or walking Paul at Zion Church, now Christ Chapel, in Galveston. path. It is surrounded by Fort Crockett Taken 2 Jan 2016 Apartments, a run-down, but low rise neighbor to the park. Behind the Fort Crocket Apartments are a dozen or so other remnants of Fort Crockett—administrative buildings now used as offices and laboratories for several state and federal agencies:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) Marine Fisheries Service Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Texas Institute of Oceanography Texas A&M Maritime Academy

Fort Crockett was originally established in the 1890s, a few years after the July 1891 hurricane made landfall. It was established as a coast defense installation, first by the city to help protect Galveston harbor and bay, and then by the US Secretary of War as a military installation. It was named Fort Crockett in 1903 to honor David Crockett, 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. During World War I, US and French artillery trained there. During World War II, it served as a German POW camp in addition to a training center for coast artillery.

Camp Wallace also served as a German POW camp in addition to a blimp mooring facility and a Navy training and distribution center. The blimps patrolled the Gulf coast looking for wolf packs of German U- boats. At the end of World War II in 1945, Camp Wallace was used as a personnel separation center, primarily for Navy sailors. However, in 1946 it was declared surplus by the federal government in 1946. A year later, the Red Cross used Camp Wallace facilities as a hospital and refugee center for those residents and workers who evacuated Texas City after two massive explosions in the harbor. Two Liberty ships, the Grand Camp and the High Flyer, were loaded with ammonium nitrate, a component of agricultural fertilizer. The force of the explosion was recording setting—the anchor of one of the ships was found three miles away. The explosion of the first ship was bad enough, but the second killed even more people who had rushed to the aid of those killed and injured by the first explosion. All told, over 600 people were killed and 3,500 were hospitalized.

Today, there are very few visible remnants of Camp Wallace. Many of the buildings were removed about 1950 and relocated in the Paul at Camp Wallace remnants in Jack Brooks park. The surrounding area to serve as schools, community concrete posts and beams supported freight docks and centers, warehouses, businesses, and homes. warehouses along the spur from the Gulf, Colorado, and However, the foundation of the Santa Fe railroad. Taken 1 Jan 2016 auditorium/theater is still visible. A few drainage structures remain in the county park (Jack Brooks) that occupies the south half of the property. An archery range in the park was converted from the Camp Wallace rifle range. Also visible are extensive concrete posts and beams that supported the freight docks and warehouses along the former railroad spur. In the north half of the property are oyster shell roads that serve the agricultural test plots managed by the University of Houston Coastal Center.

Glenn's training and service at Camp Wallace and Fort Crockett ended 31 Dec 1941. On New Year’s Eve, Glenn boarded a troop train for Camp Davis, North Carolina. In a letter to his parents on 30 Dec 1941, Glenn said that he wasn’t sure where he was headed next, but closed his letter with a blessing and quotation from scripture, as was his custom:

“May God grant that the New Year 1942 will bring us a just and Holy Peace and the fulfillment of our many dreams and hopes. ‘They that seek the Lord understand all things.’ Prov. 28:5”

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 36 ● March 2016

Mabel Peterson Anderson’s inheritance

For many years, it was common for newspapers to publish a weekly list or description of actions in probate court. These civil actions reported decisions of judges regarding wills, trusts, and estates after someone died. According to federal and state laws, probate courts assist in distributing assets of the deceased. For example, the St. Charles Chronicle regularly published probate actions “for all the world to see.” In fact, the St. Charles History Center keeps an index of published probate actions as an aid to genealogical research. These detailed articles are quite useful genealogical data sources which can help family members in identifying heirs, inheritances, and heirlooms. More recently, published notices are less detailed. However, they still are published to notify not only potential beneficiaries, but potential creditors wishing to file claims against the estate of the deceased.

Through newspaper articles and family records, we know that Mabel Peterson Anderson, Grandpa Glenn’s mother, inherited assets from at least three estates: her parents, Godfrey and Christina; her cousin Emma; and her aunt Sophie. The primary asset from her parents involved the farm that we now know as the LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve, a Kane County park two miles west of downtown St. Charles. After five growing seasons as the Durant’s’ tenant farmer, Godfrey and Christina purchased the farm from Bryant and Jerusha Durant on 20 October 1886. They paid $9,800 for the 212-acre farm (about $46 per acre). Christina died 13 Dec 1910 from a year-long battle with cancer, just a few months after the “new house” was built (designed by Fritz, Grandpa Glenn’s father).

Godfrey developed the farm into a successful dairy operation. He built a large, efficient dairy Godfrey on his farm c. 1896 barn, the largest in the county when it was built. It was eventually equipped with modern vacuum milking machines. According to Grandpa Glenn, Godfrey’s Holstein herd included about 75 milkers and 25 breeding stock. Godfrey also developed a successful breeding operation, for which he was well-known throughout Kane County.

Godfrey died of pneumonia on 3 April 1928. Mabel and her brothers and sisters then inherited the farm. Mabel’s brother, Clarence, had been farming with Godfrey after Christina died. However, according to Grandma Mabel’s family history notebook, Clarence suffered from severe arthritis, so Fritz and Mabel returned with their family from North Dakota in March of 1929 (a few months before the stock market crash in October of 1929). Fritz tried to rebuild the dairy herd, but could not make a go of it during the Great Depression. After two years, the family sold the farm to Archibald M. Sheldon of Geneva on 23 Feb 1931, for $10 ($0.05/acre). Mabel and each of her siblings inherited about $1.67 from the sale. In the late 1960s, the Sheldon family sold the farm to the county. On 13 July 1969, the farm was dedicated as Leroy Oakes County Forest Preserve. LeRoy Oakes, a distant cousin through Grandpa Fritz’s mother, was a long-time member of the county forest preserve commission. Grandma Mabel was present for the dedication and brother Dave and I sang at the dedication ceremony.

Grandma Mabel’s family records included newspaper clippings from local papers, presumably the St. Charles Chronicle and the Elgin Courier, about the estates of relatives. The first two concern Emma Peterson Colson, Mabel’s cousin. Their fathers were brothers. In fact, their farms were adjacent. Peter’s farm of about 230 acres was north across Ferson Creek from Godfrey’s farm. Peter and Wilhelmina “Minnie” Nelson Sederstram were married in 1868. Emma was born in 1871. Sometime after 1894, she married John Gustaf Colson, whose first wife Hedda died, leaving him with eight children. (By the way, her husband was not John Fabian “Foby” Colson, born 8 years earlier and founder of In this c. 1890 photo, Emma is standing on Colson’s department store in the farmhouse porch, flanked by her St. Charles, a favorite parents Minnie and Peter. Grandma Nelson is on the right. The hired man shopping destination among (probably Erland Johnson) is on the left. our family members.)

For many years, before and after her husband died, Emma lived at 318 S. Fifth Street, on the NE corner of Fifth and Oak. Her home was one block south of Shelby School, half way between school and Uncle Fridolph’s house.

According to the newspaper article, when Emma died her personal property totaled $68,913.84 (about $570,000 in today’s dollars) and her real estate was valued at $13,000 (about $108,000 today). Distribution of the assets to relatives was listed in the article:

Name Relationship Amount Emma Colson Carlson Step-daughter $1,000 Alma Colson Carlson Step-daughter $1,000 Anna Colson Peterson Step-daughter $1,000 Children of Frank Colson Step-son’s children $1,000 Ed Sederstram Cousin thru mother $1,000 Mabel Peterson Anderson Cousin thru father $1,000 Ruther Lindquist Cousin thru mother $500 Albert Sederstram Cousin thru mother $500 Vida Sederstram Cousin thru mother $500 Elsie Sederstram Cousin thru mother $500 Total $8,000

The residual of the estate (approximately $74,000) was divided among two organizations and the executor:

Name Relationship Amount Bethlehem Lutheran Church Family’s church $44,400 Bethphage Inner Mission Orphanage $14,800 Robert M. Robinson Executor $14,800 Total $74,000

Our family has at least seven connections to Bethphage Inner Mission and its location in Axtell, NE. First, according to Grandma Mabel’s daily journal, she was active in several local and state mission societies through Bethlehem Lutheran Church. She said that Bethphage was a long-time charity for Bethlehem’s mission program. Bethphage was founded in 1913 by William Dahl, a Lutheran pastor. “Bethphage soon became known as the ‘miracle of the prairie’ for its dedication to helping people with disabilities grow toward independence” (http://www.mosaicinfo.org/axtell/). Second, Godfrey’s sister, Charlotte Frances Peterson Abrahamson, and their mother, Lina Stina, are buried near Bethphage, in Salem Community Cemetery, at Salem Methodist Church, two miles SW of Axtell. Third, Grandma Mabel’s cousin, Marie Roselia Peterson, worked at Bethphage (c. 1916). Marie, daughter of Godfrey’s brother Victor Nels, was a Lutheran deaconess and nurse who worked most of her career at Immanuel Hospital in Omaha. Fourth, three Emma Peterson Colson of Godfrey’s siblings (Charlotte, Victor, Louisa) c. 1890 homesteaded several miles SW of Axtell. Fifth, we Sister Marie Peterson have a third cousin, Lee Grove, who currently farms a c. 1923 few miles SW of Axtell. Lee's sister, Ruth, lives nearby. Ruth and Lee are great- grandchildren of Louisa Christina Peterson Johnson, Godfrey’s youngest sister. Sixth, we have a third cousin, Janice M. Abrahamson, who lives in Axtell. Seventh, she has two sisters, Harriet and Wendy, who live a few miles west in Holdrege, NE.

Another newspaper clipping in Grandma Mabel’s collection provides details on her inheritance from her Aunt Sophie. Born 23 June 1866, Sophia Carolina Newman was a younger sister of Christina (Godfrey’s wife; Mabel’s mother). Sophie married Joseph Joranson and they lived for many years at 315 S. Liberty Street (Route 25) in Elgin. Their home was a frequent location for family dinners and picnics, especially around birthdays and holidays. On several occasions, Grandpa Glenn said that his Great Aunt Sophie was a very happy, “jolly” person who loved to laugh. He also said that Standing: Sophie, Ethel, Mabel, Christabel family members always looked forward to visiting Aunt Seated: Helen, June, Doris Sophie. She loved to host her relatives. She and Joe June 1932 (Sophie’s 66th birthday, perhaps) had no children of their own.

Uncle Joe died 4 August 1932 and Aunt Sophie died 21 June 1941 in Elgin. They are buried in the Newman family plot at Little Woods Cemetery, 5 miles NE of downtown St. Charles, on Dunham Road. The cemetery is within a mile of the Newman family farm on Route 25 (East River Road).

According to the newspaper article in the Elgin Courier, Aunt Sophie’s estate included $6,000 in real estate (about $102,000 today) and $3,000 in personal property (about $51,000 today). Kenneth Edward Anderson, grandson of Sophie’s oldest sister, Hilda, received $2,000. Mabel Peterson Anderson, Grandpa Glenn’s mother, received $1,000 (according to Mabel's daily journal, the check arrived 27 May 1942). Agnes Cornelia Anderson Burns, Hilda’s daughter, also received $1,000. Melvin E. Burns, Agnes’ son, received $500. Hazel Otelia Peterson Mack, Grandma Mabel’s youngest sister, received $200. The remainder of Aunt Sophie’s estate, $4,300, was divided in equal shares (approximately $270 each) among Sophie’s 16 grandnieces.

Name Relationship Amount Kenneth E. Anderson Grandnephew $2,000 Mabel P. Anderson Niece $1,000 Agnes Burns Niece $1,000 Melvin E. Burns Grandnephew $500 Hazel P. Mack Niece $200 Approx. $270 to each of 16 Grandnieces $4,300 Total $9,000

The 16 grandnieces included Grandpa Glenn’s six sisters; Earl’s daughters Adele and Jean Peterson; Ethel’s daughters Vivian and Wilda Anderson; Hazel’s daughter Ardelle Hyde; Hannah’s daughters Gertrude, Selma, and Adele Lundquist; Hilda’s granddaughter Virginia Anderson; and Hilda’s granddaughter Lucille Burns (Melvin’s sister).

Apparently, Lucille was something of a debutante (or at least a contestant). In 1925, she was selected as the first Miss Elgin. But that’s another story and the subject of a future family newsletter. Stay tuned.

To be continued . . .

Kenneth Anderson, Aunt Sophie’s grandnephew at her home in Elgin on Easter 1937 Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 37 ● April 2016

Emma Peterson Colson—“Alone and Forsaken”

Last month’s newsletter featured Grandpa Glenn’s mother, Mabel, and two relatives who bequeathed a portion of their estate to Mabel. One was Mabel’s cousin, Emma Peterson Colson. Their fathers were brothers. Emma was the daughter of Peter and Minnie Peterson. Peter was a brother of Godfrey. Peter and Minnie farmed north across Ferson Creek from Godfrey and Christina.

Emma’s parents, Peter and Wilhelmina “Minnie” Nelson Sederstram, were married in 1868. Emma Alvida was born 23 Jan 1871. Sometime after 1894, she married John Gustaf Colson, whose first wife Hedda died, leaving him with eight children. (By the way, her husband was not John Fabian “Foby” Colson, born 8 years earlier and founder of Colson’s department store in St. Charles, a favorite shopping destination among our family members.) For many years, before and after her husband died, Emma lived at 318 S. Fifth Street, on the NE corner of Fifth and Oak. Her home was one block south of Shelby School, between school and Uncle Fridolph’s house.

According to a 1957 newspaper article, when Emma died her personal property totaled $68,913.84 (about $570,000 in Emma Peterson Colson, c. 1890, several years today’s dollars) and her real estate was valued at $13,000 before she married John Gustaf Colson (about $108,000 today). Distribution of the assets to relatives was listed in the article: Mabel received $1,000 from Emma’s estate.

She also received a framed painting that hung in Emma’s home for years. Mabel hung it in her home at 617 Geneva Road in the NW corner of the “front room” (I have two photos that show it there). When Mabel and Helen moved to 212 No. 4th Avenue in 1967, Bertha was given the painting. When Bertha died, Grandpa Glenn received the painting and hung it in his home at 813 W. Indiana Street in St. Charles. When Grandpa Glenn moved into his retirement apartment in the Hunt Club in 2003, we were given the painting.

The painting, “Alone and Forsaken,” is mounted in an ornate gold frame. The original was painted by Alfred Wahlberg (1834-1906) from Stockholm, a Swedish landscape painter. The original was painted in 1887. It features a young woman in a small, flat-bottom row-boat (punt) with her head bowed, on a lake in the moonlight. In the later 19th century, Nordic landscape paintings were popular, and this Swedish landscape is typical of the Dusseldorf art school of “wilderness” paintings. Emma’s painting appears to be a museum- Bertha (right) visiting the Anderson quality reproduction on canvas. Apparently, it is one of many art family in Ames in July, 1986. Standing, museum reproductions sold in that period. Although it is on canvas, it Paul, Paula, and Glenn. Seated, Violet, lacks the tell-tale brush strokes and texture of an original oil painting. Fluffy, Julie, Mark, and Bertha The ornate gold frame is in fair to good condition, especially considering it is over 100 years old. As a dedicated Public Television and “Antiques Road Show” viewer, I would not be surprised if the frame was worth more than the painting reproduction.

A Google search resulted in several other reproductions for sale through art auction houses and eBay for prices ranging from $100 to $500. New inexpensive prints on thin poster paper were for sale for as little as $5.00. Apparently, this was (and still is) a popular scene in Europe and in the US.

Herman Alfred Leonard Wahlberg was born 13 Feb 1834 in Stockholm, Sweden. According to Wikipedia, his father painted with oils and his mother sculpted with wood. Wahlberg learned his father’s painting profession as a child, then became a student at Royal Swedish Academy of Music after showing precocious musical talent. He studied piano and clarinet at the academy. After finishing his music studies, Wahlberg joined the orchestra Göta gardes musikkår [Göta Military Band], and earned Informal sketch portrait of money (25–50 öre per hour) by teaching piano lessons. [Göta is a small Professor Alfred Wahlberg, at work at his easel. It was drawn town near Göteborg, in western Västra Götaland County, Sweden, where our by his student, Fritz von Dardel Anderson and Wilson ancestors lived.] Wahlberg received preparatory education at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts at the same time as his musical education, although he never became a full-time art student.

Wahlberg’s paintings reflect his fondness of romantic, dreamy, lyrical, and musical atmospheres. For example, his paintings depict the evening twilight glow and the moonlight’s play with tones and light. The most well-known paintings Wahlberg made while living in Düsseldorf include Solnedgång i Bohuslän and Vinterlandskap med björnjakt, both of which depict Swedish forest landscapes. After his return to Stockholm in 1862, Wahlberg painted Storm på holländska kusten (1863), Fors i svensk obygd (largely influenced by Alone and Forsaken, by Albert Wahlberg (1887) Andreas Achenbach), Borgruinen Niedeck vid Rhen (1863), Skogsparti från Särö (1865), Hörningsholm i månsken (1866), and Svenskt insjölandskap från Kolmården (1866). The latter is a carefully composed view of an infinite forest (Kolmården), a lake, and a summer sky. The evening sky and the moonlight are depicted in mild, melting colors. The painting became very famous and was displayed at the National Museum of Arts. Although Wahlberg was still restricted by the limits of his technique, the painting was important in his development as a painter.

Wahlberg moved to Paris in 1866, and displayed two Label on back of painting: paintings at the 1868 Paris Salon—both depicting a Oil painting by Emma Colson—Lady fishing place in Bohuslän; one of them takes place during In Boat the night and one during a sunset. These two paintings Bertha’s mark Wahlberg’s transition from a Düsseldorf technique to a modern French technique. He learned the French school’s techniques and approach to studies, without imitating the well-known French painters. Wahlberg earned success and was awarded with medals at the Paris Salon in 1870 and 1872, and was credited for bringing the then modern techniques of landscape painting to Sweden. Almost every summer he returned to Sweden to paint landscapes in the Stockholm archipelago, Skåne, Halland, and Värmland.

Among his most famous paintings from this period are Fiskläge vid bohuslänska kusten (1869, bought by Charles XV of Sweden), Utsikt i Södermanland (view Fjällbacka i månsken (in the moonlight, 1881) exhibits of a meadow and a lake in Södermanland, 1870), Wahlberg’s fondness for maritime subjects in twilight. Fjällbacka is located along the North Sea in Västra Landskap i månsken (landscape in moonlight, 1870), Götaland County, 95 miles north of Göteborg Månsken från södra Frankrike (moonlight in southern France, 1870), Nääs (a summer evening, 1871), I Vaxholm (an autumn day in Vaxholm, 1872), I Fontainebleauskogen (Fontainebleau forest, 1874), Maj i Nizza (May in Nice, 1878), Afton på Hallands Väderö (evening at an island, 1880), Fjällbacka i månsken (in the moonlight, 1881), and Svensk björkhage (1882) . At the 1878 World’s Fair in Paris, Wahlberg was recognized with a first class medal. Starting in the late 1880s, Wahlberg’s work includes Stockholms ström (1888), Månsken på Hallands Väderö (1889), Oktobernatt (1893), Popplar (1893), Sol på snö i Marstrand (1901), and Svensk sommarnatt (1901). He died on 4 October 1906 in Tranås, a small community in Jönköping County, 145 miles SW of Stockholm.

Although “Alone and Forsaken,” is not well-known among art critics, it is well-known among historians—for one reason. Historians associate the painting with Lizzie Borden (1860-1927). Lizzie is well-known in popular culture—music, poetry, literature, television, and film. Lizzie was an American woman who, at age 32, was tried and acquitted for the 1892 grisly axe murders of her father and her stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one.

As the story goes, Lizzie had some work done at her house she named “Maplecroft” at 306 French Street in Fall River, and it was a Mr. Barrows who did the work – handyman work, not major construction. The painting “Alone and Forsaken” apparently hung in Lizzie’s house and she gave Mr. Barrows the painting as partial payment for his labor. Just exactly when this occurred is not known. Mr. Barrows brought the actual painting to Jeff Masson, of Somerset, Massachusetts, and allowed him to photograph it. Remarkably, Mr. Barrows stated the painting had been appraised for $8,000.

The handwritten notation on the back of the painting reads as follows:

This picture framed for the house of Lisbeth and Emma Borden, 306 French St. Fall River, Mass, whose father Andrew Jackson Borden and stepmother Abby Durfee Gray Borden were murdered at their house, 92 Second St., Fall River, Mass, Aug. 4, 1892. The trial was held in June 1893.

“Alone” by [unreadable] Art Supplement to the New York Recorder Sept 30th, 1894. The Knapp Co. Str. N.Y. Famous Paintings of Europe.

The painting certainly evokes melancholy sadness. What did it mean to Lizzie? Perhaps not a great deal, because she gave it away as partial payment to a handyman. Giving it away indicates that it did not have a strong emotional attachment. Perhaps this painting was a gift she received rather than a purchase made. . Perhaps it was of little value because it was free as an “Art Supplement to the New York Recorder.” Perhaps gazing upon it evoked emotions for an already sad and depressed woman to be even sadder. Maybe it clashed with that garish wallpaper of Victorian times. Who knows, but it’s a great story, isn’t it?

Undoubtedly, the painting had value to Emma Peterson Colson and had a positive meaning. Its origin, with a Swedish landscape by a Swedish painter, must have been meaningful to her. With (1) the popularity of Nordic landscape paintings during the Victorian Era and (2) a young female subject dressed in traditional clothing and traditional braided hair, it must have appealed to Emma and many other Swedish immigrants to the US. A “bit of the old country” created strong nostalgia and pleasant thoughts of the homeland—Sweden.

Belated thanks, Emma, for such an interesting heirloom. Belated thanks also to Mabel, Bertha, and Glenn for passing it along.

Ruth, Christine, Mary, and Richard in the front room at 617 Paul, Karen, Ruth, Glenn, Richard, Violet, David, and Geneva Road, Christmas, 1962. Emma’s framed painting in Christine in the front room at 617 Geneva Road, partially hidden behind the Christmas tree. These two photos Christmas, 1965. Emma’s framed painting in partially were in one of Aunt Ethel’s snapshot albums hidden behind Glenn’s head

Anderson Family History Issue 38 ● May 2016

Fritz’s chickens

Grandpa Glenn’s father, Fritz Anderson, raised chickens in St. Charles, in North Dakota, and (though we have no way of knowing for sure) in Sweden. Before covering those details, we start with some context.

Paula and I walk every evening for exercise. We usually walk 30 to 45 minutes in our neighborhood. (However, in the winter, when it’s slippery outside on sidewalks, trails, and streets, we walk indoors.) Often our outdoor route takes us next to a chicken coop with about a dozen hens. Apparently, our neighbors love fresh eggs. Our neighbors across the street also have urban chickensa few hens in the backyard. They operate an in- home day care and the hens provide both nourishment and entertainment Fritz at work in Cable Piano Company, c. 1910, at a time when he was for the children at the day care. Both raising chickens in his backyard. The Cable factory was just a 10 minute families must guard against predators walk down the Fox valley wall from his new home at 508 Prairie Street. It because we all live within two blocks was located next to the new home of his sister, Ida, and her husband, of a stream corridor that provides Fridolph. Fritz designed both homes and C.A. Anderson, contractor who had recently finished building Bethlehem (Swedish) Lutheran Church on 7th habitatfood, cover, and waterfor a Avenue in St. Charles (Fritz was on the building committee), built them. variety of wildlife. As for predators When I showed this photo to our piano tuner/technician, Tom Russell, he that may bother chickens, we’ve seen said without hesitation that Fritz is regulating that piano--adjusting its many raptors (primarily hawks) and mechanical action. (Tom is also a professional classical guitarist who some larger mammals (primarily foxes, performs in concerts and at weddings.) Fritz began working in the cabinet department at Cable about 1903 (with “fem finger Charlie”). Fritz was coyotes, and raccoons)and you promoted to the stringing department, then tuning department, then know the stories and songs about foxes regulation department, then finally to the final inspection department, where “guarding” the chicken coop! pianos that passed inspection were loaded on Chicago & Northwestern (C&NW) box cars for shipment. In 1912, Fritz and family moved to North Despite predators, there is a resurgence Dakota, where they farmed for 17 years of interest in urban chickens (and not just among predators:). One of my colleagues in the ISU Landscape Architecture department has raised “suburban” chickens (at the edge of town) for several decades. Many communities, including Ames, have enacted local ordinances allowing urban chickens. The Ames ordinance requires (a) that they be kept in housing that is safe, sanitary, and appropriate size, (b) that they be fed, watered, given appropriate veterinary care and (c) that they be kept reasonably quiet and secure. Ames Municipal Code Chapter 3 details standards of care, nuisance issues, and penalties for non-compliance. Roosters are not specifically prohibited, but discouraged.

Although ISU closed their poultry farm and research center (now the site of several dormitories), ISU Extension caters to poultry producers from the backyard scale to commercial flocks. ISU Extension small- farms specialist, Christa Hartsook, provides assistance to those interested in urban chickens. In 2007, she and others in USDA started a small, nationwide forum with 50 members. “Three years later, they were up to 50,000 members. Today’s membership is more than 300,000.” ISU economics extension specialist in local food systems and small farm sustainability, Andy Larson, helps “crunch the numbers” and provides advice on “neighbor relations.” He says don’t expect to save money on eggs and chicken unless you have a “very large family,” but you’ll enjoy fresh food. Andy also has a video series posted on ISU and YouTube servers. Another source of videos and other information is our local food coop (or perhaps I should say co-op), Wheatsfield. Also, Ames is the home of the Iowa Egg Council, provider of information on chicken and egg production, and the ISU Egg Industry Center, provider of research on food safety issues.

Grandpa Glenn’s sister, Bertha (BA), included this c. 1910 Of course, at the time that Fritz raised chickens, life photo in one of her many snapshot albums. Bertha was a was different, Yes, times have changed in many ways shutterbug, like her father, Fritz. Many of the photos in since the late 1800s and early 1900s. Back then, Fritz our family collection come from her albums. Grandpa Bloomquist enjoyed sharing his (Guernsey?) cow's fresh didn’t have to deal with city ordinances regulating milk with Bertha when she was young. He was actually chickens in town. Domestic animals were more Francis Bloomquist's grandpa, so he was related to us common. Horses were still common elements of through marriage personal transportation. Cows in town provided fresh milk before Colonial Dairy offered home delivery. Even racing pigeons were common in town . For example, even into the 1950s and 1960s, I remember homing pigeon and racing pigeon lofts in St. Charles, particularly two in the vicinity of Elm Street. Around 1900, barns were common in town to protect domestic animals (more on that later). On-line forums and Web pages weren’t yet available to educate the uninitiated. Land grant universities and their cooperative extension services were just getting started. However, in 1900, about two-thirds of the US population lived in rural areas, so raising chickens was common knowledge. Even though the old days were different in many ways, Fritz still had to deal with some of today’s issues: predators and neighbor relations. A chicken coop and run were as necessary then as today. Similarly, an occasional gift of a dozen fresh eggs went a long way to keeping neighbor relations friendly.

What did it take to raise chickens back then? Before 1900, most chickens were raised on small family farms (www.thehappychickencoop.com/a-history-of-chickens/). This would also include Hyltan, Fritz’s family farm in Sweden, where he lived until age 10, two years before his mother, Mathilda, and four sisters immigrated to the St. Charles area in 1886. Before 1900, those without chickens considered chicken meat a rare delicacy and chicken eggs a luxury. At that time, the typical hen laid about 100 eggs per year for five to seven years. After that, they became a delicious meal. Despite the food value of a flock, some chicken raisers were in it for “fun” rather than foodjust a hobby. More commonly, chicken raisers on farms appreciated the economic diversification advantages of layers and broilers.

Another snapshot from Bertha’s photo albums, c. 1910. Here she is with Fritz’s chickens in the backyard of their home at 508 Prairie Street Here’s Bertha again, this time feeding the Godfrey and his chicken flock, c. 1915. These appear to be New chickens, c. 1910. The other girl is probably Hampshire Reds or Plymouth Rocks breed her Aunt Hazel, Mabel’s youngest sister. They’re at Godfrey and Christina's farm What did they use for chicken feed? In 1900, chicken feed was basically whatever they could forage with occasional handouts of grain, scraps and waste kitchen products. A hen destined for the pot in the kitchen could be fattened up with extra grains and buttermilk, if available. Chicken coops and hen houses were rare then, so barns and sheds were common shelter for these free-range chickens. The trade-off for this freedom was a high mortality rate due to predatorstypically 30 to 50 percent. At that time, chickens also didn’t do well over the winter months due to a lack of vitamin D (which is provided during the summer months through sunlight). In the early 1920s, vitamin D was discovered to be essential; this led to a small revolution in poultry keeping. Hens could then survive better through the winter months with vitamin D supplements and go on to produce healthier chicks in the spring. This also doubled the typical number of eggs per year to over 200. As coops came into more common use, mortality typically dropped below 10 percent. At that time, 50 laying hens were considered a large flock.

Where did people get chickens to raise? Wild chickens were domesticated about 7000 BC in India and east Asia. Ancient Egyptians and Romans developed techniques for raising large flocks of broilers and layers. By the time chickens reached North America (on the Mayflower, some say). Apparently, knowledge of using incubators came with the chickens. By 1900, home and farm incubators were eventually replaced by hatcheries. By this time, to start or supplement a flock, it was also common to order chicks by mail. It’s still true today. Our per capita consumption of chicken is now 85 pounds per year. Compare that to one pound per year in 1900. By 1926, it was 26 pounds per year.

Although we don’t know whether Fritz started his flock with chicks from a commercial hatchery or from a friend, we know that he raised the breed White Leghorns (pronounced “LEG-erns”). More specifically, he raised Rose-Comb White Leghorns. How do we know this? Grandma Mabel included a photo Fritz’s chicken exhibit for the Elgin Poultry Show. The last line of the sign means Rose-Comb White Leghorns. Did he buy the cage? Probably not, in her snapshot album that provides the considering he built more difficult things, such as piano cases at the clue. She labeled the photo, “Dad’s “bottom” of the Prairie Street hill, at Cable Piano Company. Photo taken chicken exhibit at the Elgin Poultry c. 1908-1909 Show.” With hundreds of breeds of chickens to choose from, it’s not surprising that Fritz chose White Leghorns. Why? Because that’s one of the most common breeds, then and now. White Leghorns are prolific producers of large and x-large eggs. These medium-size chickens are quite winter-hardy, adaptable to coops and runs, have a reasonably-friendly personality, and are active and intelligent. Plus, they have good PRhave you ever seen Foghorn Leghorn in a cartoon? What a voice! He was originally voiced by Mel Blanc (who else?) for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons (Warner Brothers Pictures) and, as the star of over 25 cartoons, was quite a spokes-rooster, with phrases such as “That’s a joke, ah say, that’s a joke, son!”

Although Mabel did not date the photo, other evidence provides a clue. It’s a newspaper article that was published in the Belvidere Republican-Northwestern on 2 Feb 1909 (page 3). The article includes a full accounting of the Northern Illinois Poultry Association show held 25-30 Jan 1909 in Adelphi Hall, Belvidere, Illinois, judged by G.D. Holden. The article describes attendance, winners of classes, ribbons and premium awards, and exhibitors. Fritz A. Anderson (St. Charles) is listed as one of 62 exhibitors. There was one other exhibitor from St. Charles in the listChrist Dahlgard (622 Fifth Street, cabinet maker in 1910 census). In the “R.C. White Leghorn” class, Fritz’s display pen placed first, hens placed first and second, chicks placed first and second, and pullets (females < 1 year old) placed first and second. The article lists winners of 23 other chicken classes, two goose classes, three duck classes, and one class each of turkeys, pigeons, rabbits, Guinea pigs, and white rats.

In 1912, Fritz, Mabel, and family moved to the Barney, North Dakota, area to farm. In March, Fritz rode in a railroad car from St. Charles to Barney. In her family history notebook, Mabel wrote, “Dad and Mr. Sundberg went up first with a carload of machinery and horses [two teams each]. Mrs. Sundberg, Edith, and Everett went up there in May and I and Bertha, Christabel, and LeRoy went up there in July, in time for the Fourth.” I suspect that chickens and Holstein milk cows accompanied the horses and machinery in that railroad car with Fritz and Fridolph “Fred” Sundberg. Although Fritz and Mabel bought a quarter section of prairie to harvest hay as winter feed for their livestock, they rented a series of six farms, each with a house/shack, Philip Lillestol and June Anderson buildings, pasture, and additional cropland. playing among the chickens in the farmyard of the Fritzsche farm, where In a 31 Dec 2008 interview, Grandpa Glenn talked about their food June was born in 1923. 1925 photo supply. He said that eggs were very plentiful for the Anderson family. He said that there were always plenty of chickens around, not only for egg production, but so they could have fried chicken. “We ate chicken every Sunday. When a hen was no longer laying enough eggs, it went to the ‘old chopping block’.” In their daily journal, they wrote “set two hens in shed” (9 Apr 1915). Six weeks later, they “set three hens.” They also set hens on duck eggs and turkey eggs. On his farm sale poster for 6 Mar 1929, Fritz listed a “No. 18 King cream separator” for sale. He also listed a “Muckle cream cooling tank, 6 cream cans, milk cart, 15 gallon barrel churn, 250 egg Queen incubator, and 300 chick kerosene brooder.” They were well-equipped to produce dairy products, eggs, and fried chicken.

In April of 1928, Godfrey died of pneumonia. In March of 1929, Fritz, Mabel, and family moved back to St. Charles to run Godfrey and Christina’s farm. Unfortunately, their move was only nine months before Black Friday and the stock market crash. After two years of Great Depression economic challenges, Mabel and her siblings sold the farm to the Archibald Sheldon family. Fritz, Mabel, and their family moved into town, renting the Alexander house at 625 Geneva Road, then buying Mrs. Furnald’s home next door at 617 Geneva Road in 1939. That property included an old barn at the west edge with direct access to South 2nd Street. That gave Fritz the opportunity raise chickens at 617 Geneva Road.

Were there any commercial hatcheries in St. Charles? Apparently, notthe commercial hatcheries closest to St. Charles were the Fox River Hatchery, Klingberg Hatchery, Baiers Ad for White Leghorns at a hatchery in Elgin. It appeared in the May 1922 Hatchery, and F.D. Rogers White issue of the American Poultry Journal (Vol. 53, no. 5, page 598). A similar ad Leghorn Farm, all in Elgin. By the in The Leghorn World (Vol. 5, no. 9, page 320) proclaims “Now [May] is the 1930s, as veterinary knowledge and time to hatch Leghorns to win at winter shows. My strain is noted for broad backs, real saddles, large and profuse tail furnishings” feed sources increased, so did flock size. The Great Depression of the 1930s increased interest in raising chickens for eggs and meat. Raising chickens during World War I and World War II was considered patriotic, just like tending a Victory Garden. However, by the late 1940s, large commercial operations became more common for both layers and broilers. Concurrently, barns, hen houses, and chicken coops were replaced by garages, as family automobiles became more common in the 1940s. This happened to Fritz and Mabel.

In Mabel’s daily journal on 16 Apr 1945 she wrote, “Fridolph came down. June went over to Gustavson’s to stay for two weeks. Violet stopped in for a few minutes as Christine wanted to see the ‘chickers’.” On 7 Aug 1943, she wrote, “Dad’s vacation started. He began work of taking barn down.” On 15 Sep 1944, “Contractors laid cement foundation for garage.”

Fritz and Mabel’s garage project happened while Grandpa Glenn was away, serving in the Army. In a letter to his parents from Ft. Lewis near Seattle, dated 26 Jun 1942, Grandpa Glenn commented that “it will be fine to have a new garage on the place. It will add a lot to the value of our property.” On 16 Jul 1943, “I’m glad to hear of the good progress Dad is making toward a new garage. I’ll bet those eggs really come in handy now, too. I know I’d like to get a hold of some.” On 25 Jul 1944, “How are you coming with the basement digging on the new garage location, Dad? Will you be able to get the materials you need when you are ready to build?” On 25 Aug 1944, “I’m always glad to hear of the fine progress you are making with the garage, Dad. Where do you keep the chickens now? Do you have a little pen for them or have you left them in the battery coop? It surely must give the backyard a different appearance with the old barn gone. Violet tells me that Chris always wants to see the chickens when visiting Grandma and Grandpa. She seems to be a lover of all animals and swimming pools, doesn’t she?” On 31 Aug 1944, “It sounds like things are really changing in the backyard of the old homestead. I’ll be anxious to see the new garage when I get home.” Violet and Skippy playing ball in the yard at 617 Geneva Road. Note the On 21 Sep 1944, “In an airmail letter from Violet a couple days ago old barn in the background. The photo was the second group of pictures taken at home one Sunday not long was taken in 1942 ago. I got a couple good views of the backyard. It looks so different with the old barn gone and I can see the excavation for the new garage. I hope the contractor gets that poured so you can get most of the work done before winter sets in, Dad. Say, does Christine still like to feed the chickens when she comes down? I imagine she is pretty much taken up with her new family of pets, but of course she’ll have to part with them soon.” On 3 Nov 1944, “Let me know how the garage is coming along and be sure to Fritz and Mabel’s new garage in November 1944. Christine is walking where send me a picture of it when the work the concrete driveway would soon be poured. Notice Fritz’s chicken coop in the lower right corner of the photo. To the left of the garage is a small is finished.” structure on stilts. I'm not sure what it is, but my guess is that it is the neighbor’s loft for homing/racing pigeons On 16 Dec 1944, “Violet’s airmail of Nov. 20th came with three swell pictures in it. That one is fine of you folks and Chrissy in front of the new garage. I had to look twice to make sure that was at home. It surely looks fine. Violet said the sidewalk must be for the benefit of herself and Christine when they come down to visit.” On 11 Jan 1945, “I am really surprised that the garage costs so much. I thought it might be $400 or thereabouts. But even at the present cost I’m sure it will add a great deal more to the value of the place and thus it will pay for itself in a way.” On 7 Apr 1945, “From what I am told, I gather that Chrissy rather enjoys visiting you and your chicks, Dad. Violet told me about the candy chick she finally ate and then wondered if Chrissy would try to eat one of your live ones next time she went down to visit you. How did it turn out? How many chicks did you get this year, Dad?”

Glenn, Violet, Christine, Mabel, Fridolph, Karen, and Helen with Christabel and Ed Grauer partially hidden in the backyard of 617 Geneva Road on 4 July 1950. Notice the completed garage in the background

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 39 ● June 2016

Grandma Mabel’s cousin May Anderson Shoberg

Grandma Mabel Peterson Anderson (Grandpa Glenn’s mother) enjoyed her family, not only her nuclear family but her extended family. Extended family included grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Mabel visited them whenever possible. When personal visits were not possible, Mabel corresponded with them through letters and postcards. Mabel received some from her cousin May Shoberg.

Born May Anna Julia Anderson, she grew up on a farm south of Wasco (5 miles west of St. Charles) on 22 Jun 1881, about six months after Mabel. Her parents, Alexander Anderson and Anna Gustava Eckman (Carlsdotter), emigrated separately from Sweden soon after the US Civil War. Anna was born 9 Jun 1859 at Älghult (Elghult, Eljahalt) in Källeryd Parish, Jönköping County, Småland historic province. The village of Älghult is about 4 miles SSE of Nissafors and 40 miles S of Sandhem. Anna immigrated at age 10 to St. Charles in 1869 with her father Carl Gustaf Eckman (b. 6 Feb 1827) and mother Sara Lisa Jonsdotter (b. 28 Feb 1832). Alexander was born 17 Oct 1847 in Hycklinge Parish, Östergötland County. The town of Hycklinge is about 35 miles SSE of Linköping and 80 miles E of Sandhem. In 1865, Alexander immigrated at age 19 to the Wasco area. Alexander and Anna were married in St. Charles on 19 Jul 1879. Apparently, Alexander’s father, Anders P. Peterson, Cousin May Anderson Shoberg (left, age died in Hycklinge, where Anders worked as a horse doctor. 70) with Mabel Peterson Anderson However, Alexander’s mother, Anna Lisa Jonsdotter, immigrated to (Grandpa Glenn’s mother, age 70), and the US and is listed on the 1880 census as living with Alexander and Deaconess Sister Marie Roselia Peterson (age 68). The three cousins met when his wife, Anna Gustava. Mabel traveled to California in 1951

In Hycklinge, Anders and Anna had two other children who immigrated to the St. Charles area. The two are quite important to the Anderson and Peterson families—Per Johan Peterson and Nels Peterson. Per Johan married Lina Stina Johansdotter in Hycklinge, and bore our great-great-grandpa Godfrey Peterson and his six siblings there. The family immigrated to the St. Charles area starting in 1860 and 1861 (John Alfred and Andrew Gustaf) and ending in 1866 (the remainder of the family). In February 1867, Nels Peterson married Sophie (last name unknown) in Sweden and they immigrated to the St. Charles area the same year. Within a few years, they had three children together, including great-great uncle Fridolph. Notice that Alexander Anderson followed the Swedish patronymic custom by using the last name made from his father’s first name. In contrast, Pehr Johan and Nels followed the US naming custom by using their father’s last name as their last name. So May and Mabel were first cousins sharing the same grandparents—Anders P. and Anna Lisa Peterson.

May’s parents, Alexander (age 33) and Anna (listed as “Emma,” age 20), are listed in the 1880 US census as farmers in Campton Township, just west of St. Charles Township. Alexander’s mother, Anna Lisa (age 70), is listed as living with Alexander and Anna Gustava. Also listed in the household is Andrew Lodern (age 22), a “servant” and “farm laborer” from Sweden. By 1900, Alexander (age 53) and Anna Gustava’s (age 40) family had grown considerably. In the 1900 US census are four children: Anna May J. (age 18), Nena A. (age 17), Sadie A. (age12), and George A. (age 5). Also listed in the household is Axel Anderson (age 27), a “farm laborer” from Sweden who immigrated in 1897.

Mabel (age 25) received a postcard from May (age 25), postmarked 28 Aug 1906 in Stockholm and 10 Sep 1906 in St. Charles. “Greetings! We are enjoying Sweden so much. Have been in Stockholm three weeks. Start for Gothenberg tomorrow. Down Göta Canal. Your cousin, May.” Stockholm is Sweden’s capital city. Gothenberg is Sweden’s second largest city and the port through which many of our ancestors emigrated to the US. Göta Canal is a 19th century waterway connecting Stockholm with Gothenberg and a series of lakes, totaling a 380 mile water route. The postcard photograph shows a street scene in Stockholm, “View of the Zoo Bridge and Oscars Church.” Djurgårdsbron (Zoo Bridge) links downtown Stockholm with Kungliga Djurgården (Royal Game Park), an island public park, containing historical buildings and monuments, museums and art galleries, amusement park, forests and meadows, and recreational boat harbor.

Four years later, Mabel (age 29) received a postcard from May (age 29), postmarked 30 Jun 1910 in Coronado, California. “Received your card. Many thanks. We are all well and having a good time. “Tent City” here in Coronado opened June 18 so people from far and near have come to “tent” for the summer. We have band concerts every evening now. Enjoy them so much. Greetings to all. May A.J.A.” Ten years earlier, in 1900, “Sugar King” John D. Spreckels started Tent City, a self-operating summer settlement of several hundred tents and thatched roof cottages south of the Hotel del Coronado. Tent City was created for families on a budget who couldn't afford the luxurious hotel. It grew quickly. The number of tents grew from 300 initially to over 1,000 just three years later. Many of the Tent City residents also had a home in San Diego. According to several sources, band concerts were one of the major sources of entertainment. Within a few years, a large bandstand and dance hall building was constructed. Tent City flourished for nearly 40 years, until it was closed in 1939 to make room for new Highway 75.

By 1910, Alexander (age 63) and Anna Gustava (age 50) moved their family to 1125 Ninth Street in Coronado, San Diego County, California. Alexander’s mother, Anna Lisa, is not listed. Their four children are listed: May A.J. (age 28), Nena E.A. (age 26), Sadie A.A. (age22), and George A. (age 15). Occupation is not listed for any family member. According to a death certificate on file with the Illinois Secretary of State, Alexander died 12 Sep 1916 at St. Charles, Illinois. A family tree on file at Ancestry.com lists his death location at San Diego, California.

May married Albin John Shoberg on 12 Jul 1910, about two weeks after she sent the second postcard (above) to Mabel. Albin was born 17 May 1873 on a farm in Campton Township, just west of St. Charles Township. In the 1880 US census, Albin’s parents, John (age 66) and Gustava (age 47) farmed south of Wasco with their four children: Alfred (age 21), Hannah (age 19), Charlie (age 16), and Albin (age 7). All except Albin were born in Sweden. Their farm was close to the John Mongerson farm and Alexander Anderson farm. In the 1900 census, John is not listed and Gustava is listed as widowed. The census form lists Gustava (age 67) as head of household. Sons Alfred J, (age41) and Albin J. (age 27) are listed as farmer and farm laborer, respectively. Gustava and Alfred were born in Sweden and immigrated in 1869. Albin was born in Illinois. In the 1910 census, Albin (age 36) was listed as “head of household,” “single,” and “farmer.” Gustava (age 76) was listed as “mother” and “widowed.” Alfred (age 51) was listed as “brother,” “single,” and “farmer— home farm.” Another person, Fritz L. Brenstrom (age 42), was listed as “cousin,” “single,” born in Sweden, immigrated in 1907, and “farm laborer working out.” Also, Hemming Bergson (age 25) was listed as “hired man,” “single,” born in Sweden, immigrated in 1910, and “farm laborer working out.” The designation “working out” may refer to working off a debt incurred when the Shoberg family funded transportation from Sweden to the US. The 1910 census form was completed 5 May, about two months before Albin Shoberg married May Anderson in Los Angeles.

Albin’s World War I draft card was dated 12 Sep 1917. His residence address was West 6th and Indiana in St. Charles, Illinois. (Years later, I and my siblings walked by the house they occupied in 1917 when we walked from our home at 813 W. Indiana Street to Shelby School on South 5th Street.) Albin’s occupation was listed as “truck driver, employer Kane County.” May Anna Julia Shoberg was listed as his nearest relative.

In the 1920 census, Albin and May resided at 5057 Narragansett in San Diego, California. Albin’s (age 47) occupation was listed as “none.” May was age 35 and their son, Wendell A., was age 8 Here again are Mabel and her cousins, Marie (b. 8 Nov 1912). His birthplace was listed as Illinois. In the 1930 Roselia and May, during a 1951 visit to nd California. The two on the left are unidentified. census, Albin (age 48) and May (age 48) resided at 2227 32 in Second from left is likely Amelia, Marie San Diego. Wendell was age 18 and single. No occupation was Roselia’s sister. They are probably at the home listed for any of the three. In the 1940 census, May (age 58) was of their mother, Ida Christine Peterson, who the only resident of their home at 2227 32nd. She was listed as a with husband, Victor Nels, moved from Funk, widow. On 9 Apr 1938, Wendell (age 26) married Thelma Nebraska, to Kingsburg, California, between Louisa Teresa Nelson (age 26) in San Diego. Thelma was born 1900 and 1910 and raised in San Diego and worked as a pipe organ technician. She died 24 Jan 1979 in San Diego. Wendell worked as a clerk, salesman, teacher, and appraiser. He died 4 Nov 1997 in San Diego. Together, Wendell and Thelma bore one son, John Wendell Shoberg, born 22 Jul 1941 and died three days later. Albin died in 1939 and May in 1971. They are buried in Glen Abbey Memorial Park at Bonita, San Diego County, with their son, Wendell, and infant grandson, John.

Before May married Albin, she attended Augustana College in Rock Island. She graduated about 1903. At graduation, May and four classmates started a “round-robin” letter circle—an early form of social networking—that continued for more that 52 years. This was not a chain letter that builds like a pyramid scheme. In contrast, it was a closed loop that continually renewed itself with a new letter each month.

The newspaper and date are not noted on Mabel’s clipping. Some of the article is cut off. However, the address in the article, 4959 N. Kenneth, is in Chicago, about nine miles NW of the Loop. Racine is mentioned, probably Wisconsin, because it’s just north of Chicago. According to the 1940 US census, Mrs. Marie Lofgren lived in Racine, Wisconsin, with her daughter, Ruth, who was born in Illinois (and whose occupation was listed as “piano teacher”). The year of publication is probably 1955 or 1956, based on Mrs. Lofgren’s age and likely graduation year.

Apparently, Grandma Mabel last saw May when Mabel (age 70) traveled by train to California to visit our Aunt Christabel (age 40) and Uncle Ed (age 38) in 1951, a year after they were married on 19 May 1950. In Mabel’s daily journal entry for that wedding day she wrote, “Christabel and Ed’s wedding day. Sent some tulips by air parcel post. Busy cleaning.” Three days later, she wrote, “Letter from Betty Lloyd telling about Christabel’s wedding. Busy cleaning.” (Four days later, she wrote, “Ethel painting in kitchen. Had Paul with me for a while in the afternoon. Helen went with Bob Stevens to ball game in Aurora.” I was certainly no help painting the kitchen because I was only 4½ months old at the time).

In Mabel’s 1951 daily journal, she described her trip to California. On 8 Mar 1951, she wrote, “Getting ready to leave for Los Angeles at 12:41 from Geneva [Chicago & Northwestern passenger depot]. June, Brian, and Zell [Ziegler] came to bring me to the station. Helen and Glenn’s [family] also came down to see me off. A beautiful day. A great experience for me—never thought I would be going to California! Everything fine on the trip. Dinner 7 pm at Boone, Iowa [12 miles west of Ames].”

Mabel was a passenger on The City of Los Angeles, a streamlined passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles via Omaha, Nebraska, and Ogden, Utah. East of Omaha, it ran on the Chicago and North Western Railway. Between Omaha and Los Angeles, it ran on the Union Pacific Railroad. The train was the top-of-the-line for UP, which marketed it as a competitor to the Super Chief, a streamlined passenger train on the Santa Fe. Her train, UP 103, stopped briefly in Ogden, Utah, on her second day of travel. On her third day, she wrote, “Saw such wonderful scenery—mountains and such deep gorges. Came into L.A. about an hour late. Christabel and Ed there to meet me. Went home for lunch, then called for Signe Brodine and went out to the International Flower Show at the Surf Club. Such beauty! Home for supper and the evening. Early to bed after a busy day.”

The next day, 11 Mar, they attended services at the First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, drove along the Pacific Ocean Christabel (2nd from left) and three and on Sunset Blvd., and then hosted friends for dinner. In the next colleagues at their cooking school, “I week, she attended a cooking school taught by Christabel at her Remember Mama’s Cooking.” It was held office in Hollywood, shopped at the local farmer’s market, visited in the Campus Theater in Hollywood on the Orange Show in San Bernardino. On 17 Mar, she traveled to 11 Mar 1953 Pasadena to visit Aunt Ida Peterson (wife of great-grandpa Godfrey’s brother, Victor Nels, who died in 1933), and several of their children, including Amelia (Hanna Emilia) and Marie Roselia (Lutheran Deaconess). After touring more local sights, Mabel attended a home economists’ conference at Roosevelt Hotel. She also was invited to view a television (“new technology”) at Betty and Glenn Lloyd’s house. They watched a special program on the unveiling of “The Crucifixion.”

On Sunday, 25 Mar, they all awoke early to attend the Easter sunrise service at the Hollywood Bowl. She “had a bad fall” as they left the house, but attended the service in spite of her fall. After the service she rested for several days, then had her glasses straightened, shoe repaired, and called cousin Amelia to postpone her visit. Mabel listened to a special program the radio with Betty Lloyd. KECA (Hollywood) radio host Bob Moon interviewed Christabel about food and nutrition topics (she “did very well”). They then went out to dinner with Ruth and Al Schafer. On Saturday, 31 Mar, Mabel, Christabel, and Ed went to the “Three Crowns” Swedish tea room for lunch. The next day, they attended the service at the First Congregational Church (“very formal and much ritual”) and Dr. Seabury’s class on Christian psychology. After church, they were invited to Signe Brodine’s for chicken dinner.

On Wednesday, 4 April, Ed drove Mabel to Pasadena to visit Aunt Ida, Amelia, and Marie. That evening, Christabel, Ed, and others from Ed’s company (Heinz Company) had dinner with Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Mabel called them “radio folks.” Their radio show was sponsored by the Heinz Company. The following day, Christabel took Mabel and Signe to the Angelica Church to attend the Ladies Guild meeting. The speaker was Mrs. Aderman, the wife of an Estonian minister. After the meeting, they visited more old friends from St. Charles. On Saturday, 7 Apr, Ed and Christabel took Mabel to Knott’s Berry Farm. On the way home, they ate dinner at Welch’s Restaurant, then stopped to visit Walter Peterson (perhaps the half-brother of Uncle Fridolph; at the time, Walter lived in Bell Gardens, California). The next day, they attended the worship service at First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood. The sermon was a series of short talks by youth in the church—they described their experiences at church camp the previous year. In the afternoon, Mabel and Christabel drove to Glendale to visit June Osburn. On the way home, they visited the Griffith Observatory. Then Ed met them at the Miramar Hotel restaurant.

While visiting in California, Mabel received cards and letters from Ethel, Helen, Uncle Fridolph, June, Ruby, Edith F., and others. She wrote letters in return and also wrote a card to Mrs. Gilge, a former neighbor in North Dakota. Perhaps the most interesting letter that Mabel received was a group effort. It was dated “Easter Sunday 1951” [25 Mar]. The letter was written both on front and back sides of three sheets of stationary, bringing Easter greetings from family members at home. Writing a paragraph (more or less) each were June Anderson Ziegler, Brian Ziegler (via June), Bob Anderson, Glenn Anderson, Karen Anderson (name only), Gregg Ziegler, Christine Anderson, Violet Anderson, Helen Anderson, Ethel Anderson, and Bertha Anderson. Christine (age 7) wrote, “Dear Grandma, I hope that you had a nice Easter Day. I had a very nice Easter Day. Uncle Fridolph gave us an Easter lily. Love, Christine.” At the time, Bertha, Ethel, and Helen were living at home at 617 Geneva Road.

On Tuesday, 10 Apr, they hosted Signe Brodine and Walter Peterson (age 73) for dinner. The next day, Mabel spent the day with Mabel Sestrich. They had lunch at Clifton’s on Olive Street and then visited an ostrich and alligator farm (“interesting”). The following day, Mabel and Christabel attended the WMS meeting at Angelica Church. They met the daughter of Pastor Sodergren, who “lived in St. Charles years ago.” On their way to San Diego, the stopped in La Jolla to visit Marie Colgren. Upon arrival in San Diego, they checked in at their hotel, El Cortez. They traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to tour and buy souvenirs. Back at the hotel, they enjoyed the sunset view from the Sky Room—both the city and the ocean (“many ships”). After attending the service at Bethesda Lutheran Church, they toured Balboa Park, and returned to LA with views of the ocean, orange groves, mountains, cattle, and crop fields.

Back at home, they were invited the next day to Betty Lloyd’s house to watch General Douglas MacArthur’s arrival in San Francisco. The next day, Mabel and Betty watched television Ed and Mabel on the front walk with again—General MacArthur’s speech to the US Congress. On Mabel’s suitcases on the porch. Note the th hat box. Also note that in every photo of Tuesday, 24 Apr, they celebrated Christabel’s 50 birthday at Mabel in this newsletter, she is wearing a Lowry’s restaurant, all ordering prime rib roast. Friends Lee and different hat. It was a sign of the times (as Georgia were already there, surprising Christabel, who received a was Ed’s hat). This photo was taken 2 new camera as a gift from Ed. Did Mabel go shopping? Yes, she May 1951 did. Among other shopping trips, on 30 Apr, “we went over to Hollywood Blvd. and bought suits for the little boys (grandsons).” The next day, she “went to some of the shops to look at hats. Bought one on Hollywood Blvd.”

After more touring with Christabel and Ed, attending more church services, and more visiting with cousins, Aunt Ida, Signe Brodine, Mabel Sistrich, and others, Mabel was ready to return home by train. On Tuesday, 1 May, “did some packing.” The next day, Ed brought her to the train station (Christabel was teaching a home economics class at Fairfax High School). “Had a wonderful visit and it was hard to say goodbye.” The train left Los Angeles at 12:01 pm. Two days later, it crossed the Mississippi River at Clinton, Iowa. She detrained in Geneva at 1:00 pm, where she was met by June, Brian, and Helen. “Vi, David, Paul, and Karen came to the house and we had a lot of fun opening my suitcases. Lovely and green in the yard. The house in such good order. Thanks!”

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 40 ● July 2016

Grandma Mabel’s Uncle Frank — the Newman family in Iowa

Grandpa Glenn’s mother, Mabel Peterson Anderson, had many relatives—especially aunts, uncles, and cousins. She enjoyed spending time with them and keeping in touch through correspondence. When she traveled, she made a point to visit her relatives whenever possible. Based on the photos, postcards, letters, newspaper clippings, daily journals, and family history notebooks in her collection, there were several relatives she particularly enjoyed developing and maintaining her relationships with them. Grandpa Glenn’s mother, Mabel Peterson Anderson (right) (age 20), with her aunt Hannah (2nd from left). With them in this c. 1900 Mabel’s aunt Hannah, Christina’s youngest sister, photo are Robert Lundquist’s sisters, Adele (16), Selma (20), and lived with Mabel’s family “for some time” after Gertie (22). They probably made the clothing that they’re wearing. their mother, Louise, died. That was in 1885, This photo was likely taken in a Chicago portrait studio when Hannah was 10 years old. Then, before Hannah married Robert Lundquist in 1905 and before Mabel married Fritz in 1906, they spent several years living with Robert’s sisters in Chicago, where they all worked as professional dressmakers. At that time, the Lundquist family lived in Chicago at 330 Hudson Avenue, about a mile NW of the Chicago Loop. According to a label in Aunt Bertha’s photo album, they “sewed for a Mrs. Swanson.” According to Mabel’s family history notes, Mrs. Swanson was the daughter by the first marriage of Godfrey Peterson’s brother’s (John Alfred Peterson’s) second wife, Christine Lawrence. Selma and Mabel corresponded often through letters and postcards. Why Selma? Perhaps it was because they were the same age—Selma was only six months older than Mabel.

Another one of her mother’s sisters, Sophie Newman Joranson, loved to entertain family members in her home. Sophie married Joseph Joranson and they lived at 356 Prairie Street in Elgin and then for many years at 315 S. Liberty Street (Route 25) in Elgin. Their home was a frequent location for family dinners and picnics, especially around birthdays and holidays. On several occasions, Grandpa Glenn said that his Great Aunt Sophie was a very happy, “jolly” person who loved to laugh. He also said that family members always looked forward to visiting Aunt Sophie. She loved to host her relatives. She and Joe had no children of their own. Sophie and Mabel corresponded often through letters and postcards.

The remainder of this newsletter concentrates on another member of the Newman family—“Uncle Frank.” Like Sophie and Selma, Frank corresponded often with Mabel. Why? I’m not certain. It seemed unlikely to me, especially when I learned that Frank Newman was not Mabel’s uncle. He was not Christina’s brother. He was Christina’s first Mabel (age 58) with her aunt Sophie Newman cousin and Mabel’s second cousin or, as Family Tree Maker Joranson (age 74) in the back yard of the home of indicates, “First cousin once removed.” Frank was the son of Mabel’s sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and Bill Christina’s uncle, John Peter Newman. John Peter was the Anderson, at 728 Prairie Street in St. Charles. older bother of Christina’s father, Adolph. Johan Peter The original snapshot was dated 1939 Nyman was born 19 Nov 1830 in Tjarstad Parish in Östergötlands län, Sweden. Tjarstad Parish is about 120 miles SW of Stockholm and about 70 miles E of Sandhem. In 1853, John married Carolina Amalia Johansdotter (b. 2 Jan 1833). Twelve children were born before the family immigrated to the Des Moines, Iowa, area in July 1880. Two children died on the voyage and were buried at sea. According to John and Carolina’s great-grand-daughter, Marjorie M. Anderson, “they came to seek employment, as many had done before them and as many did later.” At the Frank’s parents, John Peter and Carolina Amalia Newman, time he emigrated, Frank (Frans August Nyman) was of Stratford, Iowa (about 50 miles NNW of Des Moines). 13 years old and his parents were age 50 and age 47. This is an undated photo, but it may help to know that John Peter was age 50 at the time of immigration to the US The family came to the US for economic opportunities. In Sweden, this was a time of economic hardship, with inflation and lack of jobs. It was also a time of widespread famine in Sweden. This was the time of emigration for many of our Swedish ancestors.

According to John Peter’s obituary, the family moved directly from Des Moines to Douglas Township in Boone County, perhaps to farm. This was noted five years later in the 1885 Iowa state census. Carolina’s father, Johan Johansson, had emigrated with the rest of the family from Sweden. Douglas Township includes the town of Madrid, at that time named Swede Point, about 20 miles NW of Des Moines, on the east valley rim of the Des Moines River valley. At that time, the area contained three coal mines, which may have provided employment for the Newman family, as they did for other Swedish families and Italian families. Swede Point was founded in 1846 as the second oldest Swedish settlement in Iowa.

In 1891, the family moved about 30 miles N to Swede Bend (founded in 1849 as the third oldest Swedish settlement in Iowa) near Stratford, about 50 miles NNW of Des Moines. They farmed 81 acres located 2 miles SW of Stratford (N½ of the SE¼ of section 23, T86N, R27W Hardin Township), near the east valley rim of the Des Moines River valley. In the 1900 census, John Peter’s occupation was listed as farmer. Son Charles was listed as a farm laborer. A boarder was also listed in the Newman home. It was John Peter and Carolina’s niece, Hattie Anderson, who was born in March 1881 and who immigrated to the US in 1892 at age 11. Hattie’s occupation was listed as servant. Son Axel Lewis and his wife, Anna, also farmed nearby John Peter and Carolina.

Carolina died at home 8 Sep 1909 at age 76. John Peter died 7 Mar 1925 at age 94 at the home of son, Frank, who farmed John Peter's land SW of Stratford. “He was one of the early pioneers of this section, a fine old gentleman and a true Christian character. Funeral services were held Monday from the Swedish Mission church and interment was made in Swede Bend Cemetery” (Jewell Record, March 1925). Swede Bend Cemetery is also known locally as Hardin Township Cemetery, Richey Cemetery, and Johnson Cemetery. (The Newman farm was next to the (John?) Richey farm.) At the time of John Peter’s death, Frank August (age 58) lived on the family farm SW of Stratford; Albert Gustaf (age 54) lived a few miles away in Stanhope; Axel Lewis (age 51) lived in Amiret, Minnesota; Charley A. (age 62) lived in Truman, Minnesota; and Mathilda “Tillie” (age unknown) lived in San Franciso, California. Little else is known about Tillie, except that she married a Mr. Eckman. Son John Oscar died 11 years earlier at age 57—he opened the first Ford dealership in the Stratford area in 1910, a pioneering effort before roads were paved or graveled. (In a 22 Nov 1968 letter to “Cousin Newman,” Mabel said that her “Aunt Hannah and cousin Josie Axelson [Francis Blomquist’s mother] were out in Iowa and I think that they visited at Oscar Newmans.”) Son Göran Gotfried “Fred” died 33 years earlier in Marshalltown, Iowa. Daughter Elizabeth died between 1892 and 1909. Son Otto Ferdinand died 51 years earlier at age 5 in Sweden and was buried Kinda kommun, Tjarstad Kyrkogard, Östergötlands län, Sweden. Son Axel Fritof died 51 years earlier at age 1 in Sweden and was buried with Otto Ferdinand. As mentioned above, two children died and were buried at sea.

Apparently, Frank (b. 6 Jan 1867) and his younger brother, Albert (b. 9 Aug 1870), kept busy in the Des Moines area before they were married. Great-grandma Mabel’s photo collection includes a photo of the two Newman brothers with six friends taken at the Kramer Studio at 607 Walnut Street in Des Moines. Isaac W. Kramer’s portrait studio was located at this address from 1889 to 1904. Note that all are wearing white dress shirts, stiff collars, ties, and vests, a few with pocket watch chains and fobs. All but Frank (on the left) are wearing their hats (bowler or stovepipe) or have them close at hand. The Victorian-era backdrop is accompanied by a floral cutout prop in the foreground, used by one friend in the front row as a hat rack. These young gentlemen were definitely “out on the town.”

Apparently, Frank and Albert enjoyed being part of the Des Moines social scene. Perhaps they were living and working in Des Moines in the 1890s. The 12 Aug 1892 edition of the Daily Iowa Capital newspaper reported on their society pages that Frank and Albert attended a “moonlight picnic” in Des Moines:

A party of East Side young people enjoyed a moonlight picnic Frank (extreme left) and Albert (extreme right) at Prospect Park last evening, among the number being Frank with six friends c. 1890 E. Johnson, Miss Emily [?], Chas. Thompson, Miss Hulda Johnson, John Bunning, Miss Hulda Peterson, Mr. Albert Newman, Miss Emily Carlson, Frank Newman, Miss Caroline Johnson, Anthen Johnson, Miss Marie Norberg, Mr. John Ostberg, Miss Emma Larson, Chas. Stenstrom, Hattie Larson, Mr. Chas. Norton, Miss Francis Newlen, Mr. Carl Olson, Miss Hattie Newlen, Mr. N. Olson, Miss Lucie Carlson, Mr. Edward Engdale, Miss Elda Peterson.

Miss Emily Carlson was to become Frank’s wife in 1900. Notice that most of those listed in the article have names associated with Scandinavian heritage.

Could this be the “moonlight picnic” of 12 Aug 1892 at Prospect Park? If so, the photograph was taken early in the evening. Frank is in the back row, 4th from left. Albert is on the left end of the row in front of Frank. In addition to food and drink, other picnic equipment includes picnic baskets, baseball caps, a baseball bat, catcher’s mitt, and hammocks

Five years later, the 9 Jun 1997 edition of the Des Moines Daily News reported on their society pages an elegant evening. Again, Frank and Albert were in attendance:

Miss Maggie Bermingham of Eighth Street entertained a company at cards last evening. The prizes were won by Misses Mary Flynn and Alberta McNulty and Messrs. Will Hallgren and Frank Flynn. Elegant refreshments were served. Miss Bermingham was assisted in entertaining by Mr. and Mrs. D.J. Bermingham and Misses Helen and Beatrice Bermingham. Those who enjoyed a delightful evening were Nell Kennedy, Nell Newman, Kittie McNulty, Alberta McNulty, Margaret McNornay, Kittie Flynn, Mary Flynn, Nora Brennan, Margaret Brennan, Calla McKerin, Hara McKerin, Messrs. Tom Brown, Frank Flynn, James O’Donnell, Frank Newman, Albert Newman, M. Foley, Ed Cooghan. W. McNerney, Bart Cavanaugh, James Br[?], Tom Brennan, Frank Miley, and Will Hallgren.

Unlike the previous list of 1892 party attendees, this list contains only a few names associated with Scandinavian heritage.

In the 1900 US census, Frank (age 33) was listed as a hardware salesman. He was a boarder at the home of Frank Hanson in Kanawah, Iowa, 90 miles N of Des Moines. After Frank and Emily Clara Carlson (b. 17 Dec 1869) were married in 1900, a son, Earl Frederick, was born on 5 May 1901 in Kanawah. Five years later, Frank, Emily, and Earl sent a congratulatory letter following the marriage of Mabel and Fritz on 17 Jan 1906. It was sent from Frank and Emily’s home at 424 31st Ave. N in Minneapolis, Minnesota (about 3 miles N of downtown Minneapolis and 7 blocks W of the Mississippi River).

Their letter was addressed to Mabel and Fritz at 161 Prairie Street in St. Charles. They lived here prior to building their home at 508 Prairie, next to Fridolph and Ida at 516 Prairie. The address of 161 Prairie would have been north across the street from the old Sinclair filling station in the triangle across the Geneva Road from 625 and 617 Geneva Road. For many years, there was an automobile tire and brake shop at that location.

By the time of the 1910 US census, Frank, Emily, and Earl were back in the Stratford, Iowa, area. This was a few months after Frank’s mother, Carolina, died on 8 Sep 1909. Perhaps Frank was called home to help his aging father (age 78) operate the family farm.

While Frank was back on the family farm, Albert may have served in the army during World War I. The 17 Jan 1919 edition of the Fort Des Moines Post reported the following:

“It has been noticeable that the nurses have not visited the Red Cross building so frequently last week. We do not know the cause, but we strongly suspect that it was due to the fact that Pvt. Albert Newman, the “wireless operator” of the Red Cross building, left for Omaha, Neb., on a five-day pass.”

From the same edition of the post newspaper was this article:

“Pvt. Albert Newman has officially denied the rumor that the Red Cross contemplates giving a civilian suit and a Ford to retired medical corps men. He says that clothing is too expensive.”

Are these two articles about Frank’s brother, Albert Gustaf Newman? We may never know for sure, but probably not. At the time, he was 49 years old and he and Josephine A. Hanson of Stanhope, Iowa, had been married for over three years.

In the 1920 and 1930 US census, Frank and Emily were listed as living on the family farm near Stratford. However, by 1930, Earl had moved south. The 1930 US census form listed Earl (age 28, single) as a boarder in the home of RH and Bertha Helm at 1522 Felicity Street in New Orleans. His 1930 occupation was listed as “aeroplane pilot.” However, in the 1940 US census, Frank (age 73) was listed as a resident of Ward 4 in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. On the census form, he reported that five years earlier, he was a resident of rural Webster County, Iowa, undoubtedly on the family farm near Stratford. He also reported being a widower—Emily had died 5 Oct 1935. The 1940 census form listed their son, Earl (age 39, single), living with Frank. Five years earlier, Earl lived in New Orleans, Louisiana. Earl’s 1940 occupation was listed as retail salesman of adding machines. Their street was listed as “Highway 190.” Perhaps they resided between Slidell and Lewisburg, Louisiana.

A year later, Frank (age 74) sent a postcard to Mabel (age 60), postmarked 28 Aug 1941 at Lake Ozark, Missouri. “Have been to Iowa. On my way back to New Orleans. Arrived here 5:30 pm. Had fine weather and roads and beautiful scenery. Hope you are all well. Your Uncle Frank.” Apparently, Frank had visited his relatives in Iowa. These would likely have included his brother Albert and wife Josephine in Ft. Dodge, sister-in- law Hilda near Stratford, and several nieces and nephews. Notice that he signed the card as “Your Uncle Frank,” even though he was a “first cousin, once removed.” This is another indication of a special relationship that Frank and Mabel maintained for many years.

In 1951 and 1954, Frank’s address was reported in city directories as 2735 O’Reilly in New Orleans. Frank died 17 Mar 1960 in New Orleans at age 93. He was buried next to wife, Emily, and his parents John Peter and Carolina, in Swede Bend Cemetery (Hardin Township Cemetery, Richey Cemetery, or Johnson Cemetery). Also buried there is Göran Gottfried "Fred" Newman, Frank's older bachelor brother.

Earl married Georgia W[?]. They continued corresponding with Mabel. In October of 1966, Georgia wrote to thank Mabel for sending such a beautiful card. She also wrote that Earl was planning to retire soon. They had moved into an apartment from an older home where she and her sisters, Nell and Jane, grew up. They had “so much old stuff from generations ago.” The return address of the new apartment was 731 Park Box 114, Mandeville, LA. Unfortunately, one week later, Earl died on 27 Oct 1966. In a letter dated 21 Dec 1966, Georgia informed Mabel that Earl (age 65) died of a coronary occlusion. Earl was out on a sales call in Baton Rouge and died on the way to the hospital there. After a funeral conducted by “a wonderful Lutheran minister,” Earl was buried “next to his father at Lakelawn Park Cemetery in Metarie,” near the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and Interstate 10. Finally, Georgia asked Mabel to “keep in touch because a link to the past means so much to me, especially with the Newman family.”

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 41 ● August 2016

Grandma Mabel’s Cousin Bertha — the Newman family in Iowa

Grandpa Glenn’s maternal grandmother, Christina Albertina “Tina” Newman (1861-1910) was born in Dalhem, Kalmar, Sweden, and came with her family to the St. Charles area in 1869 at the age of 8. Christina was one of six children born to Adolph L. Newman and Louisa Sophia Axelson, who farmed in the Little Woods area, west of Route 25 and south of Brewster Creek and the Illinois Central Railroad. Their home was about four miles north of downtown St. Charles, along the west side of the “East River Road,” now Illinois Route 25. In addition to the Axelson and Newman cousins in St. Charles Township, Christina had other cousins. Bertha Mae Lunbom Newman was among her cousins who were “Iowa Newmans.” Last month’s Family History Newsletter (Issue 40) featured several of the “Iowa Newmans,” including John Peter Newman, the older brother of Christina’s father, Adolph.

John Peter, his wife Carolina Amalia, and their children immigrated to the US in 1880 and by shortly after 1885 had settled in Swede Bend along the Des Moines River. Swede Bend was the third oldest Swedish settlement in Iowa, following New Sweden in southeast Iowa and Swede Point in central Iowa. Swede Bend was not a town or village, but rather a rural area. It encompassed approximately six miles of the Des Moines River valley in three counties—Boone, Hamilton, and Webster. The greatest concentration of Swedish Christina Albertina "Tina" Newman immigrants was in Hardin Township in the SE corner of Webster after her family arrived in St. Charles Township in 1869 County and Marion Township in the SW corner of Hamilton County. The northern part of Swede Bend included the confluence of the Des Moines River and the Boone River. By the way, the Boone River, Boone County, unincorporated Booneville, and the city of Boone were all named after Captain Nathan Boone, the youngest son of Daniel Boone, American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman. Nathan was a member of the First Dragoons (mounted infantry) sent to explore and map the Des Moines River Valley in 1835.

Swede Bend was home to Swedish immigrants who came to the area beginning in 1849. It eventually included hundreds of farms, four Swedish immigrant churches (Lutheran, Covenant, Methodist, Baptist), and eight one-room country schools. At the perimeter were several towns that provided food staples (coffee, sugar, flour) and basic medical care. The closest town is Stratford to the northeast. Others nearby are Stanhope to the east, Ridgeport and Pilot Mound to the south, Boxholm to the southwest, Dayton to the west, Lehigh to the northwest, and Homer to the north.

Frank’s parents, John Peter and Carolina Amalia Newman, Farm sizes were typically in the range of 40 acres to of Stratford, Iowa (about 50 miles NNW of Des Moines). 320 acres. John Peter and Carolina Amalia’s farm This is an undated photo, but it may help to know that John was 81 acres (originally part of the D. Johnson farm). Peter was age 50 at the time of immigration to the US This was the farm that Frank August and Emily Clara operated after John Peter’s death in 1925. The Public Land Survey System location is N½ of SE¼ of Section 23, T86N, R27W, Hardin Township, Webster County, Iowa. Two miles east was John Oscar and Hilda Sophia’s farm (originally part of the C.F. Hall farm or O. Ferleen farm). Oscar and Hilda’s farm was 80 acres, the most common size on the 1918 plat map of Marion Township. The Public Land Survey System location is S½ of the SE¼ of Section 19, T86N, R27W, Marion Township, Hamilton County, Iowa. Despite their locations within a mile of two of the steep and forested Des Moines River valley, both farms are quite flat, with no trees. Both farms have several small prairie potholes, created by glaciers that finally melted over 9,000 years ago. The The Newman farm in Swede Bend, 2 miles SW of Stratford, Iowa. The sign shows the way to potholes have been tiled to make it possible to harvest a crop Hardin Township Cemetery where some of the in the dry years. Both farms were located in an area that had "Iowa Newmans" are buried. 2016 photo been native prairie grasses for 9,000 years, until the prairie sod was broken with a John Deere plow when the first Swedish immigrants arrived at Swede Bend.

John Peter and Carolina Amalia’s farm was located one mile west and 1.5 miles south of Stratford, the nearest town. Their church, Swede Bend Mission Covenant Church, was one mile south of the farm. This church was the social and religious hub of the Swede Bend rural community. It was organized in 1868 by Carl August Björk, who served the congregation for 18 years. The Mission Covenant congregation bought the Swedish Methodist church building, the first in Swede Bend, built in 1861. In 1976, the church building was moved to Twin Lakes Bible Camp, near Manson, Iowa, about 40 miles to the northwest. The camp is owned by the Iowa Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. The Swede Bend congregation was historic in another way—the first US church of the Mission Friends (Covenant). It is considered the “Jerusalem” of the Covenant Church of America. That’s why the church moved and restored the building at the church’s family camp.

Early transportation to the area was provided by foot, horseback, flatboat, and steamboat. By the 1860s, dirt roads (trails?) were created for wagons, carriages, and stagecoaches. In 1881, just before the Iowa Newmans moved to Swede Bend, the Swede Bend Mission Covenant Church, where the Newmans were Chicago and Northwestern Railroad members. John Peter's funeral was held here 9 March 1925. The subsidiary, Toledo and Northwestern, built building was moved to nearby Twin Lakes Bible Camp in 1976. This photo was taken at a funeral service on 1 August 1937, two years after an east-west branch line through the Swede Emily died and Frank retired and moved from the Newman farm to Bend area. The railroad’s real estate New Orleans to live with their son, Earl, a professional pilot division created nearby Stratford as a company town. Because of the railroad, Stratford grew quickly. “J. W. Lee reported that in December, 1880, there was not one stick of lumber in all of what would become Stratford. One year later, there were ten businesses and two hotels. One hotel, the Stratford House, was new; the other, the Central House, was moved from Hook’s Point.” The first schoolhouse in town was built in 1882 for $2,200 and housed all grades. In 1889 the Hook’s Point school was moved to Stratford as an additional school. The first high school graduates graduated in 1898. By that time, there were three teachers and 117 students. The 1900 census listed Stratford’s population as 458.

After the Chicago and Northwestern main line 17 miles to the south was double-tracked by 1910, rail traffic declined on the branch line through Stratford. In 1938, regular passenger service ended. In 1976, the line was abandoned, the rails removed, and the roadbed returned to cropland. After that, the town’s major freight loads, corn and soybeans, were transported by truck. By 2010, Stratford had 743 residents, an elementary school, four churches, a small main street business area, and a strong community spirit. Local history is interpreted at the Swedish Immigrant Museum next to Stratford’s main street, Shakespeare Avenue. A group of retired first-generation Swedes living in Stratford in 1909. Unfortunately, the photo does not contain any of our Iowa Cemeteries in the Swede Bend area include Newman relatives headstones with familiar surnames—Newman, Gustafson, Anderson, Peterson, Larson, Carlson, Hanson, Erikson, Nelson, Olson, Gabrielson, Isaacson, Patterson, Ackerson, Munson, Swedlund, Lundstrom, Engstrom, Bjurstrom, Holstrum, Ristrum, Lundberg, Lundquist, Lindquist, Barquist, Carlstadt, and other Swedish family names. Other surnames indicate immigrants also came to the area from England, Ireland, and Germany.

Many of the Iowa Newmans were buried in the Stratford area. John Peter, Carolina Amalia, Frank August, Emily Clara, and Goran Gottfried “Fred” are buried in what is now called the Hardin Township Cemetery. It was formerly known as Swede Bend, Richie, and Johnson. Hardin Township Cemetery is located a mile north of the church site and a half mile west of the Newman farm. As Swede Bend Cemetery, it was the earliest multi-family The Newman lot in Swede Bend (Hardin Township) cemetery in the area, with graves dating back to 1855, Cemetery. The tall obelisk in the center is Fred's The cemetery is on the timbered rim of the Des Moines headstone. The flat stone on the right is Frank and Emily's headstone. Both headstones are surrounded River valley and is less than a mile from the river. The by many Andersons (no relation). Headstones for Newman family lot is near the SW corner of the cemetery, Peter and Carolina are missing. 2016 photo near the fence and tree line. The lot contains only two headstones. The older headstone is a four-foot tall obelisk with the text, “Fred G. Newman, born Aug. 27, 1864, died Jan. 3, 1892, aged 27 yrs. 4 ms.& 6 ds.” Fred died in Marshalltown (40 miles east of Ames), where he worked (perhaps for one of three railroads). The newer headstone is lower, longer and flatter with the text, “Newman, Emily C., 1870-1936, Frank A., 1867- 1960.” Though there are currently no headstones for John Peter and Carolina, the cemetery lot is easily large enough to hold their graves. Find-a-Grave.com and John Peter’s obituary confirm this—

Birth: Nov. 19, 1830, Tjarstad, Östergötlands län, Sweden Death: Mar. 7, 1925, Webster County, Iowa, USA ------Stratford Courier, March 12, 1925

PASSING OF PIONEER SETTLER SATURDAY NEARLY 95 YEARS OLD

J.P. Newman passed away at the home of his son, F.A. Newman southwest of town, about noon last Saturday. He had not been in the best of health for a number of years being nearly ninety-five years old at the time of his death. He was not ill the day he passed away but lay down on a couch to rest and thus passed away quietly and peacefully. He was one of the early pioneers of this section, a fine old gentleman and a true Christian character.

Funeral services were held Monday from the Swedish Mission church and interment was made in Swede Bend Cemetery. ------Jewell Record, March 1925

NEWMAN

John Peter Newman was born in Linköping Län, Sweden, on November 19, 1830, and died here at the home of his son, F.A. Newman, on March 7, 1925. He had lived to attain the ripe old age of 94 years, 3 months, 16 days. In July 1880 he came to America and located at Swede Point, now Madrid. He resided there for eleven years and then moved into the community where he lived until his death, thirty-four years in all. His wife, Mrs. Carolina Newman, passed away about sixteen years ago, at the age of 76 years. Since that time the deceased had made his home with his children.

He leaves to mourn his passing, four sons and one daughter. They are as follows: Frank of Stratford; Albert G. of Stanhope; Axel of Amiret, Minn.; Charley of Truman, Minn., and Mrs. Tillie Eckman of California. Besides he leaves several grand children, eight great grand children, and many friends to mourn his death.

Deceased was a good Christian man of high standing in the community. Although he was not among the earlier settlers of this section of Iowa, he was one of those who came and saw and conquered this vast prairie and he leaves as a memento of his work here on earth a place in the hearts of all of his friends as a man of character and real worth.

Funeral services were held Tuesday, March 10, from the home and the remains were interred in the Hardin Township Cemetery. - Courier ------Family links: Spouse: Carolina Amalia Johansdotter Newman (1833 - 1909)*

Children: John Oscar Newman (1857 - 1914)* Albert Gustaf Newman (1870 - 1954)* Göran Gottfried Newman (1864 - 1892)* Axel Fritof Nyman (1872 - 1874)* Frank August Newman (1867 - 1960)* Axel Lewis Newman (1874 - 1947)* Otto Ferdinand Nyman (1869 - 1874)* *Calculated relationship

Burial: Hardin Township Cemetery, Stratford, Webster County, Iowa, USA

Four miles NE of the Swede Bend (Hardin Township) Cemetery is the Oakwood Cemetery. The small portion on a narrow wooded ridge is older, containing 19th century graves of local pioneers. The large portion close to Stagecoach Road (county R21) is newer, containing 20th century graves. This newer portion (near the center) contains the graves of John Peter and Carolina Amalia’s oldest son, John Oscar, and his wife, Hilda Sophia Lunbom Newman. After their marriage in 1885, they farmed in western Iowa for about five years. After returning to the Stratford area, John Oscar opened the first Ford dealership in the Stratford area in 1910, a pioneering effort before roads were paved or graveled. (In a 22 Nov 1968 letter to “Cousin Newman,” Mabel said that her “Aunt Hannah and cousin Josie Axelson [Francis Blomquist’s mother] were out in Iowa and I think that they visited at Oscar Newmans.”) Oscar died only four years later in 1914, according to Find-a-Grave.com and Oscar’s obituary,

Birth: Aug. 19, 1857, Tjarstad, Östergötlands län, Sweden Death: May 8, 1914, Hamilton County, Iowa, USA

John Oscar Newman, born in Tjärstad Socken, Sweden, and his wife-to-be, Hilda Sophia Lunbom, born in Odangla, Sweden, came as a young people to Des Moines, Iowa, to seek employment as many had done before them and as many did later. They met and were married in 1885. In the early 1890s, they moved to Pocohantas County and later to Manson, in Calhoun County where they farmed. It was while living near Manson, Hilda's sister-in-law died leaving a family of small children. Oscar and Hilda took the baby, Bertha, and raised her as their own child.

In 1896, they came to Stratford, locating on a farm in Marion Township, two miles south of town where they farmed for several years, moving into Stratford in 1910. After moving into Stratford into the home that was Mrs. Newman's until her death in 1950 and Bertha's (Mrs. J. Rudolph Gustafson) until her death in 1981, Oscar Newman established the first Ford Car Agency in this area.

For several years, Oscar Newman conducted prosperous business as there was only one other agency in the county managed by Hood and Snyder in what was known as Jewell Junction at the time. Records show that Newman's business extended throughout the county and sold a number of cars to people as far away as Webster City [15 miles north]. He was a pioneer in the car sales business at a time when cars were beginning to become popular and when roads were mostly impassable. At the peak of his career, he became ill with cancer and died in 1914.

The farmstead he and his wife established was occupied by Bertha and Rudolph and their family from 1917 until their retirement in 1950 and is presently occupied by their daughter, Marjorie M. Anderson.

By Marjorie M. Anderson

Family links: Parents: John Peter Newman (1830 - 1925) Carolina Amalia Johansdotter Newman (1833 - 1909)

Spouse: Hilda Sophia Lunbom Newman (1859 - 1950)*

Siblings: John Oscar Newman (1857 - 1914) Albert Gustaf Newman (1870 - 1954)* Göran Gottfried Newman (1864 - 1892)* Axel Fritof Nyman (1872 - 1874)* Frank August Newman (1867 - 1960)* Axel Lewis Newman (1874 - 1947)* Otto Ferdinand Nyman (1869 - 1874)* *Calculated relationship

Burial: Oakwood Cemetery, Stratford, Hamilton County, Iowa, USA

Oscar’s obituary was written by their granddaughter, Marjorie. Marjorie Mary Gustafson was born in 1917, the same year as Grandpa Glenn. In 1935, she married Russell Raynold Anderson (1910-1974). Both Marjorie and Russell are also buried in Oakwood Cemetery, across the driveway from Oscar and Hilda, near the cemetery’s south fence line. Marjorie and Russell lived in Boone, 17 miles south. After Marjorie worked in the dietary department of the Boone County Hospital for over 15 years, she retired in 1978. Also in the Anderson lot is the grave of Marjorie and Russell’s son, Edwin “Ed” Russell (1949-1976). In 1873, Ed married Billie Davis. Together, they had a son, Jason. Ed worked for the Chicago and Northwestern (C&NW) Railroad, initially as a brakeman, then as a locomotive engineer. Unfortunately, Ed died in a train derailment.

Birth: Jan. 26, 1949, Boone, Boone County, Iowa Death: Jul. 25, 1976, Clinton County, Iowa, USA

Dayton Review, August 4, 1976

Services held for Edwin Anderson

Funeral services for Edwin Russell Anderson, 27, Boone, were held Friday, July 30. Rev. Maynard Spitzack, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran, Boone, Ed Anderson headstone in Oakwood Cemetery. Note the image conducted the 10 a.m. services at the Trinity of a CNW locomotive below his name. 2016 photo Lutheran Church, Boone. Interment was in the Oakwood Cemetery, Stratford. Arrangements were completed by the Schroeder Funeral Home, Boone.

Mr. Anderson was the engineer of a train that plunged into the Wapsipinicon River in western Clinton County [between Calamus & Wheatland] on Sunday night, July 25. His body was found on Wednesday, July 28.

Mr. Anderson was born January 26, 1949 in Boone, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Russell R. Anderson. He was graduated from Stratford High school. On July 29, 1973, he was married to Billie Davis.

He is survived by his wife, Billie; son, Jason; mother, Marjorie, Stratford; four sisters, Mrs. Jay McDonough, Canaan, Conn., Mrs. W.H. Marzolf, Tucson, Ariz., Mrs. Paul E. Swanson, Tucson, Ariz., and Kathryn Anderson, Ames; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father.

Family links: Parents: Russell Raynold Anderson (1910 - 1974) Marjorie Mary Gustafson Anderson (1916 - 1995)

Burial: Oakwood Cemetery, Stratford, Hamilton County, Iowa, USA

Five miles to the southeast is the Olson Cemetery, on the west side of Hamilton County road R27 (Fenton Avenue). Near the northwest corner is the large red granite marker for the Hanson family, who immigrated from Norway. There are smaller flat headstones for “Grandfather” Ole Hanson (1824-1906), “Grandmother” Sara Olson Hanson (1824-1913), “Father” Olof Hanson (1845-1926), “Mother” Betsy Hove Hanson (1848- 1924), brothers Clarence (1874-1874), Henry (1877-1952), Joel (1879-1961), and Joel’s wife Hilda Alvina Johnson Hanson (1881-1970). Missing are headstones for Ole and Sara’s daughter, Josephine, and her husband Albert Gustaf Newman (1870-1954), younger brother of John Oscar and Frank August. Find-a- Grave.com and Ancestry.com both confirm their burial there, although the headstone is missing. The large Hanson family lot has a large portion without headstones, so perhaps Albert and Josephine are buried there. According to Find-a-Grave.com,

Birth: Aug. 9, 1870, Tjarstad, Östergötlands län, Sweden Death: May 2, 1954, Fort Dodge, Webster County, Iowa, USA

Jewell Record, May 13, 1954

NEWMAN RITES HELD AT FORT DODGE

Funeral services for Albert G. Newman, 83, of Fort Dodge, were held Wednesday afternoon, May 5, at the Epworth Methodist Church in Fort Dodge, with the Rev. Warren S. Paige officiating. Music was provided by Mrs. Robert Schweiger, who sang, “God Be With You,” accompanied by Mrs. Don Johnson.

Mr. Newman passed away in his sleep on Sunday morning, May 2. He had been in failing health and under his doctor's care following a heart attack last February. He was a brother-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Hanson, Jewell; Mr. and Mrs. Dave Hanson, Roland; and a nephew of Clarence and Carl Newman of Amiret, Minn.

Burial was made in the South Marion [Olson] Cemetery near Stratford. Six nephews served as pallbearers. They were: Clarence Hove and Merle Barkema of Jewell, Donald Hanson of Roland, Herman Hanson of Stratford, and Leslie Johnson and Orin Hanson of Stanhope.

Mr. Newman was united in marriage to Josephine Hanson of Stanhope on November 24, 1915. Three children were born to this union, one daughter, Mrs. Hilden Nordene and two sons, Archie and Myron, all of Fort Dodge, all of whom survive with the widow. Two grandchildren, Charles Lee and Donald Eugene survive together with one brother, Frank Newman of New Orleans.

The Newmans lived in the Stanhope community for about 10 years, until 1925, when they moved to Fort Dodge, where Mr. Newman was a salesman for a hog and poultry remedy which he manufactured.

Family links: Parents: John Peter Newman (1830 - 1925) Carolina Amalia Johansdotter Newman (1833 - 1909)

Siblings: John Oscar Newman (1857 - 1914)* Albert Gustaf Newman (1870 - 1954) Göran Gottfried Newman (1864 - 1892)* Axel Fritof Nyman (1872 - 1874)* Frank August Newman (1867 - 1960)* Axel Lewis Newman (1874 - 1947)* Otto Ferdinand Nyman (1869 - 1874)* *Calculated relationship

Burial: South Marion [Olson] Cemetery, Stratford, Hamilton County, Iowa, USA

Across the road, is the newer and larger South Marion Cemetery. It contains the graves of Albert’s niece, Bertha Mae Lunbom Newman Gustafson, adopted daughter of John Oscar and Hilda Sophia Lunbom Newman, who were buried in Oakwood Cemetery, five miles to the north. John and Hilda adopted their niece Bertha because her mother, Christina Sophia (Hanson) Lunbom, “died shortly after” Bertha’s birth. Bertha’s father, Otto Lunbom, could not adequately care for her, so John Oscar and Hilda Sophia adopted Bertha and raised her as their own. In 1915, Bertha Mae (1894- 1981) married John Rudolph Gustafson (1894-1956). Five of John Rudolph’s siblings and three spouses are also buried in the family lot.

The family lot also contains a brass marker for Bertha Mae and John Rudolph’s son, Donald Raymond Gustafson (1924-1945). The brass marker was provided by the US Army. Donald was killed during World War II near Bastogne, Belgium. He was a private first class in Company E, 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, US Army. Donald’s unit trained Bertha Mae's father-in-law, his mother (left), his at the Tennessee Maneuver Area and Camp Forrest, daughter, and his grandson. J.F. farmed and was Tennessee. After training, they departed the Boston Port justice of the peace in Stratford for 24 years of Embarkation on 20 Aug 1944 and arrived in England on 28 Aug 1944. They were transported to Camp Chisledon, the 17th Airborne Division staging area. Flight and tactical training continued and night maneuvers were added to the training schedule. When Operation Market Garden was initiated, the 17th Airborne Division was still in training and was held in strategic reserve as reinforcements. The Battle of the Bulge—the Ardennes Offensive—began in December of 1944. Donald’s unit was quickly flown to Reims, France, and trucked to Bastogne, Belgium. Donald was killed on 7 Jan 1945 near “Dead Man’s Ridge” west of Bastogne, where over 1,000 US soldiers were killed in three days of intense fighting. For the US, this was one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.

While visiting Oakwood Cemetery on 14 May 2016, Paula and I met Rick Woodard, who was mowing around the headstones. He asked us if he could help us find a grave. We had already found the graves of John Oscar and Hilda Sophia Newman the week before and were back to find the graves of Marjorie and Russell Anderson and their son Edwin. After directing us to their graves, he asked if we had visited the graves of John Oscar and Hilda Sophia’s daughter, Bertha Mae Lunbom Newman Gustafson, at South Marion Cemetery. We told him that we had just come from there. Then he told us a story about Andrew August “Andy” Gabrielson, the brother of his great-grandfather, John Thomas Gabrielson. It seems that Andy courted Bertha Mae. Rick didn’t know if there was a proposal of marriage. If there was, it was not accepted, because a few years later Bertha Mae and Andy eventually married others. From that point, I considered Rick as our “almost cousin.”

Rick is a realtor and insurance agent in Stratford. He said that in his office desk, he had an original postcard that Andy sent to Bertha Mae while they were courting. I gave him my business card with our home address. Within a few days, an envelope arrived with photocopies of two postcards. The first was postmarked 19 Apr 1911. “Hello Bert: How are you? Had some pictures taken of Daisy. Thot I would send you one for you to remember her by. Come and see me when you can. Ans this. Girlie be good. A hello from Andy too. Your Pal, Alyce G.” Alyce was Andy’s youngest sister, the same age as Bertha Mae (Andy was nine years older). According to Rick, both Andy and Alyce enjoyed having fun and each had a great sense of humor.

The second postcard was postmarked 23 May 1911. “Hello Bert: How you was? Say, you asked me once, if I would not come and give you a ride after Daisy. Here is your chance. There is to be a sociable in South Marion Wed. eve., May 31 and if you want to go I will bring you. Let me know. Your Pal, Andy G.” Apparently, the “sociable” was at the South Marion Methodist Church, 3.5 miles SE of Stratford. The church still stands and is one mile west of the South Marion Cemetery, where Bertha Mae is buried. The church is 1.5 miles SE of John Oscar and Hilda Sophia’s farm, where Bertha Mae was raised, and later raised her family.

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 42 ● September 2016

Cousin Lucille Burns─Miss Elgin

Great-grandma Mabel’s mother, Christina Albertina Newman, was born on 2 Dec 1861 in Dalhem, Kalmar, Sweden, 115 miles SSW of Stockholm. In 1869, she came to the St. Charles area with her family. Christina was one of six children born to Adolph L. Newman (1833-1887) and Louisa Sophia Axelson (1833-1885), who settled in the Little Woods area, 4 miles NNE of St. Charles and a half mile east of the Fox River. The Little Woods area was favored by Swedish immigrants who farmed and cut timber in a landscape resembling their native Sweden. The Newman’s small 48-acre farm was along the west side of East River Road (now Route 25) and just south of Brewster Creek and the Illinois Central Railroad. Louisa’s brother, John August Axelson (1832-1903), and his wife, Carolina Christina Andersdotter (1837-1918), were married in 1859 and immigrated in 1866. They farmed 32 acres across the road from Christina’s family.

Christina’s oldest sister, Hilda, married Eric Warren Anderson in 1880. Hilda operated a catering business in Elgin while Eric was a machinist, probably at Elgin National Watch Company. Hilda and Eric’s Louisa Sophia Axelson Newman, Christina’s mother. granddaughter, Lucille Burns, was selected as the first Miss Elgin in Photo taken about 1880 1925─more on that story later. Christina’s younger sister, Sophie, married Joseph Joranson. Both worked at Elgin Watch. They lived in a large home at 315 South Liberty Street (Route 25) in Elgin. They had no children and enjoyed entertaining relatives at dinners in their home and picnics in their back yard. Grandpa Glenn said on more than a few occasions that Aunt Sophie had a wonderful sense of humor. Everyone in the family considered her “jolly” and loved to be invited to family gatherings in her home.

Christina’s brother, Luther, worked as a cook in “Town’s Block” in Elgin, then moved to Oregon, married, and had one son. Christina’s younger sister, Otelia, worked at Elgin Watch. She never married. She died in 1892 at age 21, perhaps from the materials (some radioactive) used at the watch factory. Her namesake was Grandma Mabel’s youngest sister, Hazel Otelia. According to Mabel’s history notebook, Christina’s youngest sister, Hannah, “lived with us for some time.” Hannah married Robert Lundquist. Together they had three Family gathering at Aunt Sophie’s home on Easter Sunday, 1937. From left, Fridolph, daughters (Gertrude, Selma, Glenn, Mabel, Doris, Sophie, Ethel, June, Norma Olson, Christabel, LeRoy, LaVerne and Adele) and one son Olson, Helen, cousin Kenneth Anderson, and Fritz (Robert) who died in infancy. For years, Hannah, Gertrude, Selma, and Adele worked as seamstresses in Chicago. Their cousin, Mabel Peterson (Grandpa Glenn’s mother), worked with them in Chicago, making dresses for wealthy clients, especially for Mrs. Swanson, a distant relative.

Christina’s oldest sister, Hilda, and husband Eric Warren Anderson had three children. Agnes Cornelia was born in 1881 and died in 1964. Edward Warner was born in 1882 and died of “a lingering illness” in 1915 in Chicago’s Norwegian Deaconess Hospital. For several years, he lived at 421 Dwight Street in Elgin, but between 1900 and 1910, he married Martha D. Strandt and moved to Chicago, where he was employed at a Quaker Oats processing plant. Edward and Martha had one child, Kenneth Edward, born in 1912. Four of Christina’s siblings. Hannah (b. 1875), Mortimer Walter was born in 1886 and married Hazel Otelia (1871), and Luther (1870) were born near Remmer[?]. Together, they had three children: Verle, St. Charles. Sophie (1866), along with Christina Virginia, and Edward. After a career as a tool maker and (1861) and Hilda (1856) were born in Sweden. machinist at Elgin Watch, Mort died in 1970. Photo taken about 1890

Before she was married, Agnes worked at Elgin Watch. Many family members and friends also worked at Elgin Watch. Several couples in our family met at Elgin Watch and later married. (More about that in a future family history newsletter─stay tuned.) It was at Elgin Watch that Agnes met Edward J. Burns (1881- 1945). They married in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 16 July 1902, but lived the rest of their lives in Elgin. Their first child, Malvin (Bud), was born in 1903. He and a high school classmate, Reggy Marlow, opened an interior design studio that operated at 305 E. Chicago for many years. Bud also served in the US Army during World War II. In her daily journal on 17 Aug 1943, Grandma Mabel wrote, “Went to Elgin with Violet & Christine. At cousin Agnes’s while Violet went downtown. Bud Burns Christina’s oldest sister, Hannah (b. 1856), with her home from Army. Ed B. was at work.” three children, Agnes, Edward, and Mortimer. Photo taken about 1900 Lucille Charlotte was born in 1905. She graduated from Elgin High School in 1923 and worked as a sales clerk at Swan’s department store. For 30 years, Swan’s was located at 51 South Spring Street in the Henrietta Building, built in 1908 for Swan’s store. From 1867- 1908, Theodore F. Swan’s store was located on North Grove Ave. Swan was the first Elgin merchant to introduce the “cash railway system” to send money from any part of the store to the only cashier. He also was the first to abandon evening hours in the interest of his employees. Unlike many other stores of the time, Swan’s terms were strictly cash. Carrie Jacobs Bond, the composer of “I Love You Truly”, “Just a Wearying for You”, and “The End of a Perfect Day”, plugged sheet music sales at Swan’s store in the early 1890s. After 1938, the Henrietta Building was occupied by the Sears store, then by Elgin Community College, and now by Artspace, a non-profit organization providing studio, apartment, and retail space.

According to “Elgin: A Women’s City” (E.C. Alft, 2008), Edward and Agnes Burns with their children, Lucille entered the first “Miss Elgin” contest in 1925. It was Melvin “Bud” and Lucille. Photo taken about 1912 one of the activities in the city-wide Pageant of Progress, sponsored by the Boosters’ Committee of the Elgin Motor Club. The Pageant of Progress was a six-day event designed to increase visibility of business and industry in Elgin. It featured a merchant’s and manufacturers’ exhibition, a display of new automobiles, a carnival, a nightly musical review, and a competition to select the city’s “100 Perfect Baby.”

However, it was the “Miss Elgin” bathing Lucille in a family beauty contest that aroused the most interest portrait taken about and controversy. This was a daring venture, 1914, at age 8 considering only the year before the City Council had ruled that both men and women bathers in the new Wing Park pool Cousin Lucille as a Miss America must have suits with skirts. “The contestant in 1925, at age 19 Boosters took a forthright stand about the display of feminine pulchritude, announcing that ‘only real men can sponsor a National Beauty Pageant. Small ones scoff at it.’ They nonetheless assured parents ‘they could see nothing but beauty when these young ladies appear in their bathing attire, for...where the environment is cheerful, no smallness of thought can exist.’”

Attracted by local prizes and the dream of becoming Miss America, 36 contestants between the ages of 16 and 30 entered, among them a “Girl in the Golden Mask.” Each was given an Annette Kellerman two-in-one bathing suit. To insure impartiality, the judges were all from out of town (Chicago), and the participants were introduced by number rather than by name.

A preliminary round of judging took three hours and resulted in the selection of 24 semi-finalists. The semi-finalists were evaluated on “grace of carriage, form, and facial beauty.” The application of these criteria resulted in narrowing the field to four finalists. However, the judges were deadlocked. After considerable discussion, they agreed on only one thing─an additional criterion. By today’s standards, this seems quite odd. The judges had agreed to ask one of Elgin’s most respected dentists to examine the teeth of each of the four finalists.

Apparently, cousin Lucille met all the criteria, including the “best” teeth of the four finalists. Lucille was declared the winner and crowned the first “Miss Elgin.” She was awarded a sash, scepter, and robe at a coronation ball. “Many of the losers refused to attend. Apparently believers in quantitative standards, they held a protest meeting because measurements had not been taken.” The contest was denounced as “demoralizing” and “debasing” by the Elgin Ministerial Association. The clergymen’s statement quoted a businessman’s This appeared on the opinion that, “It was disgusting to go up there and see a lot of half-naked girls “Cameragrams” photo page parading about.” The Boosters replied by asking the question, “Is the objective of the Helena Daily of Elgin’s citizenry to have a live or dead city? Let us not be prudes but rather Independent on 2 Sep 1925 broad-minded and progressive.” (page 6) and at least a dozen other newspapers across the country “A bobbed hair brunette, Miss Elgin had an extensive wardrobe to wear at pageant festivities: a red crepe de chine gown with silver stockings and slippers and a hair band to match; a sports outfit of British tweed with black hose and slippers; a flesh colored beaded gown, silver stockings and slippers; a gown of yellow georgette crepe, trimmed with gold and metallic lace, with gold colored stockings and shoes; and a peach colored silk dress with filigreed lace covering with matching peach hose and a black lace hat. Her bathing suit was purple and green iridescent taffeta with black silk stockings.”

There was not a Miss Illinois contest until 1927. It was unusual in the 1920s for the Miss America contest to include winners statewide competitions. In fact, winners of the first four contests (1921-1924) all represented cities, not states. In any case, Lucille and Margarita Gonzales, Miss There she is...Miss Elgin. Lucille is near the middle of the front row, wearing a dark bathing suit. She was one of 66 Miss America Chicago, traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, contestants pictured in the entire photo. See for the Miss America contest, held starting https://www.loc.gov/item/2007663333/ 11 Sep 1925. Lucille was accompanied by her mother, Agnes. None of the contestants were permitted to leave their hotel rooms without their chaperones. Lucille reported to her Elgin sponsors that she was required to appear at the official judging in her bathing suit. She quickly added that the judges were required to remain at least five feet away from the participants.

Unfortunately, Lucille was eliminated in a preliminary round of judging. She and the other contestants lost to Fay Lanphier, Miss California, amid charges of a predetermined outcome (though the charges were never substantiated). However, Lucille reported to her Elgin sponsors that she was quite resourceful in proclaiming her loyalty to her city’s major industry. At every opportunity, she pointed to the Elgin watch on her wrist. She repeatedly provided those around her with the correct time (even if they hadn’t asked). The members of the Boosters’ Committee were quite pleased.

In 1926 or 1927, Lucille married Clifford W. Krueger (1900-1980), an Elgin native. Like his father, Herman, Cliff started his career as a grocery clerk. Cliff also was the chauffer for William Grote, grocer, banker, realtor, developer, business entrepreneur, and Elgin’s former mayor. Cliff was soon promoted to a sales position in Iten Biscuit Company. By 1931, Cliff was in a sales position for The Texas Company, also known as Texaco. By 1934, Cliff and Lucille had moved to Davenport, Iowa, and Cliff continued working for Texaco. The next year, they moved to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1938, Cliff, Cliff pictured in the 1918 “Maroon” yearbook of Elgin High School. Cliff Lucille, and Robert moved to graduated in 1918 Normal, Illinois. In the 1940 census, Cliff and Lucille were listed as residing at 18 Clinton Place, Normal, Illinois. Cliff’s occupation was listed as “state superintendent, oil business,” likely Texaco. In 1951, Cliff and Lucille resided in Colorado. In 1962, Lucille (age 57) and Cliff (62) were listed on a passenger list for AAL flight 52, with a home address of 819 Chatham Rd., Glenview, Illinois (16 miles NNW of downtown Chicago). Cliff and Lucille had one child, Robert, born about 1932.

Lucille and her parents, Agnes and Edward, continued to attend family gatherings, particularly at the home of In June, 1932, seven years after Lucille competed in the Miss America Great Aunt Sophie. Uncle Joe died in contest, she attended a family picnic in her Great Aunt Sophie’s back yard. 1923 at age 55. Sophie died of a stroke Pictured are Bertha, Lucille, Mabel, Sophie, Agnes, and Edward in 1941 at age 74. Even after Joe died, she continued to live in her home at 315 South Liberty Street in Elgin and entertain her relatives for picnics and dinners, celebrating birthdays and major holidays. Apparently, Bertha made a special effort to attend gatherings with Lucille because the two were nearly the same age.

Cliff died in 1980 and Lucille died in 1992. They are buried in section 18 of Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin. It’s just a few blocks south of many of the family homes on Prairie, North, Park, Dwight, St. Charles, Chicago, and Liberty Streets, all a few blocks east of the Fox River. In section 16 are Hilda and Eric Anderson, Edward and Martha Anderson. Mort and Hazel Anderson are in section 14. Lucille’s parents, Agnes and Edward Burns, are buried in section 4N, as are Edward’s parents, Robert and Mary Burns, and Robert’s mother, Rosanna. Cliff’s parents, Herman and Mathilda Krueger, are also buried in section 18.

Sophie and Joe Joranson are buried in Little Woods Cemetery, 5 miles north of St. Charles on Dunham Road. Also buried there are Godfrey’s father (Pehr Johan), along with Andrew and Karin Peterson (Godfrey’s brother and sister-in- law) and four of their children, Adolph and Louise Newman (Christina’s parents), Otelia Newman (Christina’s sister), J. August and Carolina Axelson (Christina’s maternal uncle and aunt) and their son (Oscar Edwin), and other relatives.

According to Family Tree Maker software, Lucille is our “second cousin, once removed.” Who would have guessed that we had a Miss America contestant in our family?

Bonus photo on next page  This photo is a recent find. It was published in the San Bernardino County Sun on 18 Sep 1925 (page 8), a week after the pageant. Contrary to the photo cutline/caption, Cousin Lucille is second from right--wearing the Elgin Watch. Yes, she's the shortest one, even shorter than Aunt Bertha, but slightly taller than Grandma Mabel (see photo above)

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 43 ● October 2016

Grandma Mabel’s Postcards — St. Charles

Grandpa Glenn’s mother, Mabel Peterson Anderson, was talented in many ways—church pianist and organist, painter in oils, poet, professional seamstress, church leader, caring mother, homemaker, and active family member. Another talent involved recording family activities. These records help us understand her life and the lives of other family members. Most of these describe activities in and near St. Charles, but some describe activities in North Dakota, where Mabel and Fritz’s family lived from 1912 to 1929.

(A brief aside—one of Grandma Mabel’s favorite poems was “Trees,” written in 1913 by Alfred Joyce Kilmer. “I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree / … / Poems are made by fools like me / But only God can make a tree.” At Grandma Mabel’s request, brother Dave and I sang and played a musical setting of that poem at the 13 July 1969 dedication ceremony for LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve (Great- grandparents Godfrey and Christina Peterson’s farm, 2 miles NW of St. Mabel Lydia Peterson at the time of Charles). Grandma Mabel attended the ceremony and addressed the her high school graduation in 1897 audience, describing the history of that farm where she grew up and later farmed with Fritz and family from 1929 to 1931. By the way, LeRoy Oakes is a distant cousin of ours through Fritz’s mother, Mathilda. We also have several connections to the Kilmer family. First, after WAAC basic training at Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia, Aunt Doris (Grandpa Glenn’s sister) was stationed as a records clerk at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, during World War II. Second, Grandpa Glenn stayed a few days at Camp Kilmer for Army records processing, both on his way to England and on his way back. Third, for the past eleven years, Joyce’s descendent, Jim Kilmer, has played tuba along side me in the Ames Municipal Band.)

The first group of family history records produced by Grandma Mabel included her daily journals. The earliest year in the collection is 1915. Mabel’s journaling influenced other family members to do the same. Fritz kept a daily journal to help him track weather, significant cropping dates and livestock breeding dates. Only one of Fritz’s journals remains in our family collection. Grandpa Glenn kept a daily journal while serving in the Army during World War II. It has 1,512 entries (no entry for 5 Jan 1942) that chronicle his daily routine, accomplishments, thoughts, concerns, and significant family contacts while in the service.

Second, Grandma Mabel saved 491 letters that Grandpa Glenn sent home during World War II. These include letters that Glenn mailed from Camp Wallace, Texas, (basic training) and from Fort Lewis, Washington, (barrage balloon battalion). These also include Vmail letters that Grandpa Glenn sent while stationed in England. Grandma Mabel also saved letters sent by friends and relatives, primarily cousins who lived out of state. Examples include Earl Newman (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1906), Frank Newman (Mandeville, Louisiana, 1941), Irene Peterson Gabrielson (Lynn Center, Illinois, 1954), Lenus Johnson (Shenandoah, Iowa, 1955), Violet Grove (Funk, Nebraska, 1956), Dorothy Clark (Boise, Idaho, 1959), Mabel Otelia Newman Reber (Missoula, Montana, 1968), and Mildred Newman Wadleigh (Long Beach, California, 1969).

Third, Grandma Mabel saved newspaper clippings, primarily those from the St. Charles Chronicle about her family and friends. Examples include St. Charles high school commencement exercises (1897), towel shower for Miss Mabel Peterson at the Swedish Lutheran Friendly Society (1906), Bill and Ethel Anderson’s family visit to Mabel and Fritz’s farm near Barney, ND (1928), Minnie Dudenhofer honored for eight years of service to Godfrey Peterson’s family (1929), Uncle Fridolph’s retirement from the post office (1940), Grandpa Glenn’s departure to the US Army (1941), 35th wedding anniversary of Mabel and Fritz (1941), nuptials of Grandpa Glenn and Grandma Violet (1942), Grandpa Fritz’s obituary (1947), marriage of Aunt June and Uncle Gregg (1949), engagement of Aunt Christabel to Ed Grauer (1950), my baptism at Bethlehem Church (1950), Aunt Ethel’s coronation as queen at Owens-Illinois manufacturing plant (1951), estate of Mabel’s cousin Emma Peterson Colson (1957), Earl and Ann Peterson’s 50th wedding anniversary (1965), and Roy and Ellen Peterson’s 50th wedding anniversary (1965).

Fourth, Grandma Mabel wrote two family history notebooks. Her “ringbinder” notebook is dated Nov. 12, 1942, and is entirely manuscript (hand-written). Pages are 3-hole punched. The first 33 pages describe their children (births, baptisms, medical issues, schooling, employment, “specials” (trips, visitors, homes)), her siblings and their families, and Fritz’s family. The last 6 pages were written in the 1950s and describe Godfrey’s family and her grandchildren’s birthdays. Grandma Mabel’s “spiral” notebook is dated Nov. 12, 1942, “began this” and also is entirely manuscript (hand-written). Pages are bound with a spiral metal wire. The brown cover has a pencil notation “June Anderson, 617 Geneva Road, St. Charles, Illinois, Phone 322. The first 15 pages have similar content but different organization than the “ringbinder” version. The last 17 pages are inserts, mostly scraps of paper, with family members’ birthdays, newspaper clippings, names of insurance companies, graduation dates, Uncle Fridolph’s family, and a type-written poem that Grandma Mabel composed to honor Rev. and Mrs. Ekstrom’s 10th wedding anniversary (17 Apr 1934).

Fifth, Mabel collected postcards she received in a postcard album. It has 28 pages, 8 inches by 10.75 inches. The pages are sewn and glued in a hard-bound cover, with cardboard spacers to allow for that additional thickness of the volume when postcards are added. The pages are pre-cut with slots to hold standard postcards, 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches. The dark brown fabric cover has the white-embossed title, “Post Cards” on the front. At the bottom of the back cover is embossed (but without color) “Pat. March 1876.”

The album contains 94 postcards. Almost all are picture postcards, although a few have a message only and no photograph. Some lack message, addressee, postmark, or all three. Some of the postcards with photographs have identifiers indicating a local photographer and printer. Others indicate national, or at least regional, photography and production.

Most postcards are from or about St. Charles, bearing a local postmark, photo, or message. Others are from or about North Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, California, Texas, or outside the US. Some glowingly describe activities and scenery of vacation locations. Others tersely describe daily activities or rather mundane minutia. Most of the photos are black and white. Others are color photos or hand colorized black and white photos typical after 1920. Today, postcards are not as commonly used to transmit short messages—instead of postcards, we use Email, texting, and other forms of electronic communication.

Most of the early postcards with photographs are called “real photograph postcards (RPPCs)” by postcard experts. RPPCs are “continuous-tone” photographs printed on photographic paper using a negative. “Negatives were commonly exposed with the 1903 Kodak 3A Folding Pocket camera and printed with Velox photo paper with a pre-printed postcard form on the reverse side.” RPPCs were common from 1899 until 1934, quickly replacing “cabinet cards” that were common from 1860 to 1900. Some RPPCs were hand colored. After 1934, screened photographs were common on postcards, identified using magnification as a grid pattern of different sized dots. Screened photographs were less expensive than RPPCs because screened photographs could be cheaply mass-produced.

“Postcards without a date in the message or postmark area typically have characteristics that can help date them within a range. Sometimes the message describes an event, person, or location that can be associated with a known date. Sometimes the photo on the postcard includes an object (such as structure or motor vehicle) or a person with known dates. In all cases, postcard printing dates can be estimated because of US Postal Service regulations that directly affected the design of postcards.”

Postcards printed before 1893 were government printed with pre-printed postage stamps. Postcards printed from 1893 through 1901 were printed with the message “Private Mailing Card” and required a 1 cent postage stamp. Postcards printed from 1901 through 1907 did not have the message “Private Mailing Card” and required a 1 cent postage stamp. Postcards printed after 1907 had a divided back for the message to the left of the vertical line and address to the right. With the exception of World War I and 1925-27, the postage rate for postcards was 1 cent (hence, the designation “penny postcard”) until 1952, when the rate was raised to 2 cents. Postage rates have climbed several cents every 5 five years or so.

Postmarks in Grandma Mabel’s postcard collection range from 1904 to 1938, although the majority of postcards were mailed from 1912 through 1919 (while Fritz and Mabel’s family farmed in North Dakota). The earliest date, 23 Jan 1904 is a postcard from “A.—” to Grandpa Fritz (age 30), Grandpa Glenn’s father. “Do not want you to get the impression Rockford is the only place. This being a part of Beloit and Rock River. Do you not think it equal to Fox [River]. Nearly froze coming to town although enjoyed the ride. Sat. 3 pm. Sincerely A.— ” It’s uncertain who sent this message to “Mr. Anderson.” Because of this salutation, it’s more likely a friend (who knew his middle initial), rather than a close relation. Beloit, Wisconsin, is 17 miles N of Rockford, Illinois, and 55 miles NW of St. Charles. Note that the address occupies one entire side (before divided backs were used after 1907) and the address lacks house number and street. Perhaps Great-uncle Fridolph directed this to the correct address. Fridolph worked for the St. Charles post office from July 1900 through September 1940, serving most of that time as assistant postmaster. This postcard was mailed two years before Fritz and Mabel were married. At the time, Fritz was likely working at Moline Malleable or Cable Piano Company, serving on the building committee for Bethlehem Church (completed about 1905), and living with his sister Ida and brother-in-law Fridolph in the 400 block of west Cedar Street.

A few years later, Grandma Mabel (age 25) received a postcard from Cousin May Anderson Shoberg (age 25), postmarked 28 Aug 1906 in Stockholm and 10 Sep 1906 in St. Charles. May was the oldest daughter of Godfrey Peterson’s uncle Alexander. “Greetings! We are enjoying Sweden so much. Have been in Stockholm three weeks. Start for Gothenberg tomorrow. Down Göta Canal. Your cousin, May.” Stockholm is Sweden’s capital city. Gothenberg is Sweden’s second largest city and the port through which many of our ancestors emigrated to the US. Göta Canal is a 19th century waterway connecting Stockholm with Gothenberg and a series of lakes, totaling a 380 mile water route. The postcard photograph shows a street scene in Stockholm, “View of the Zoo Bridge and Oscars Church.” Djurgårdsbron (Zoo Bridge) links downtown Stockholm with Kungliga Djurgården (Royal Game Park), an island public park, containing historical buildings and monuments, museums and art galleries, amusement park, forests and meadows, and recreational boat harbor. Cousin May was born and raised on the Alex and Anna Anderson farm south of Wasco, near the Mongerson and Shoberg farms. She graduated from Augustana College (Rock Island) about 1903. May and four classmates started a round- robin letter circle—an early form of social networking—that continued for more that 52 years. She and Albin Shoberg were married in 1910 in San Diego, CA, where they lived until Albin died in 1939 and May in 1971. Apparently, Grandma Mabel last saw May when Mabel traveled by train to California visit Aunt Christabel and Uncle Ed in 1951, a year after they were married. May’s postcard is the first of nine in Grandma Mabel’s album from her cousins, sent from Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, California, Wisconsin, Virgin Islands, and Sweden.

A few years later, Grandma Mabel (age 28) received a postcard from Cousin Ethel Johnson Abrahamson (age 17), postmarked 15 Sep 1908. Ethel was the only daughter of Carl Frederick Johnson and Louisa Christina Peterson, youngest sister of Great- grandpa Godfrey Peterson. “Dear Mabel: How are you getting along? We are feeling good. Suppose you have heard the folks have gone to Texas. Had mission meeting at church Monday, Tuesday & Wed. last week. How are Rev. Mellanders? Are the girls home yet? Love from us all, Ethel.” Carl and Louisa were married in St. Charles on 4 Feb 1878. In the next month, they moved to south-central Nebraska and homesteaded 160 acres in the NE quarter of Section 12, T5N, R17W (Lake Township, Phelps County). (That farm is still in the family and is farmed by their great-grandson, Lee Grove.) Also homesteading there were Godfrey’s older sister, Charlotta, and older brother, Victor. Godfrey’s mother, Lina Stina, lived with Charlotta’s family after his father, Pehr Johan, died near St. Charles. The homesteaded farms of Louisa, Charlotta, and Victor were between Axtell and Holdrege, Nebraska, and 3 miles south of Funk. The postcard photograph shows Bethany Swedish Evangelical Church in Axtell. Axtell is also the home of Bethphage Mission (now called Mosaic). Grandma Mabel’s cousin, Marie Roselia Peterson (daughter of Victor, Godfrey’s brother), worked there before becoming a Lutheran Deaconess in Omaha. Bethphage Mission received many donations from Bethlehem Church in St. Charles, where Mabel was active in missions work. Rev. John Mellander served Bethlehem Church in St. Charles for many years. He also officiated Mabel and Fritz’s wedding in the parlor of Godfrey and Christina’s home (Durant-Peterson house) on their farm (now LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve).

The next summer, Grandma Mabel (age 29) received a postcard from Cousin Selma I. Lundquist (age 29), postmarked 25 Jul 1909. Selma was the middle daughter of Robert A. Lundquist and Hannah L. Newman, youngest sister of Great-Grandma Christina Newman Peterson. “Dear Mabel, Am in Milwaukee today having one good time!” At the time, Selma’s family lived in Lockport, IL, just north of Joliet and about 26 miles SE of St. Charles. As a young woman, Selma, her sisters, Gertrude and Adele, and their mother, Hannah, lived and worked in Chicago as professional dressmakers. Before Grandma Mabel was married in 1906 (with Selma as maid of honor), Mabel lived in Chicago with Selma’s family (perhaps at 330 Hudson Ave.), making dresses for Mrs. Swanson and other wealthy clients. Hannah died about a year after this postcard was sent.

The next year, Grandma Mabel (age 30) sent a postcard to her aunt Sophie Newman Joranson (age 44) in Elgin, postmarked 14 Oct 1910. Sophie was a younger sister to Mabel’s mother Christina Newman Peterson. Sophie and Joe had no children, but they loved to entertain family members at their home. “Will you be at home Saturday afternoon? I plan to come up for a hat and could you meet me at the three o’clock [interurban street] car? Will bring Bertha with. Mabel.” At the time, Bertha (Grandpa Glenn’s oldest sister) was about to celebrate her third birthday. Apparently, five-month old LeRoy was left at home (perhaps with Ida, his aunt (Fridolph's wife) who lived next door). The postcard photograph was probably taken by Fritz, Grandpa Glenn’s father. Photography was one of his hobbies. The location was 508 Prairie Street, in the house that Fritz and Mabel built in 1907. Seated from left are Lucille Burns (age 4 years, grand-daughter of Hilda Newman Anderson, Christina’s oldest sister), Bertha (age 3), Hazel A. (neighbor?), LeRoy (age 5 months), and cousin Newman Lundquist (18 months). On the porch are Mathilda (age 64, Fritz’s mother), Ed Burns (age 29, Lucille’s father), and Hannah Newman Lundquist (age 35, Christina’s youngest sister).

Less than a week later, Grandma Mabel (age 30) received a postcard from Great Uncle Fridolph (age 40) and Great Aunt Ida (age 39), postmarked 19 Oct 1910. They mailed the postcard from Wasco, 5 miles west of St. Charles on Route 64. “We arrived O.K. Train 25 min. late. Mr. Mellander was on, bound for Sycamore. Fridolph and Ida.” The postcard photograph shows Wasco Church along the east side of LaFox Road, a block south of Route 64. We now know this as Wasco Baptist Church, on the west side of Wasco Elementary School. I drove past this church regularly for nine years, while I worked with cousins Melvin and Tom Peterson at the Wasco Blacksmith Shop, just two blocks north. “Mr. Mellander” was most certainly Rev. Mellander, pastor of Bethlehem Church in St. Charles. The train that Fridolph and Ida referred to was a passenger train on the Chicago Great Western Railroad. Passenger service was offered from Chicago, through St. Charles, Wasco, Sycamore, Byron, Dubuque, Oelwein, and Rochester, to Minneapolis. The CGW passenger depot in St. Charles was on East 9th Avenue, a block north of East Main Street (Route 64). The CGW passenger depot in Wasco was on the west side of LaFox Road, 0.25 miles north of Route 64. CGW offered passenger service until 1956. Freight service continued a few years after it merged with the Chicago & Northwestern in 1968. Subsequently, the rails were abandoned and removed, making way for a recreation trail. By the way, the trail right-of-way connects to the SE corner of great- grandparents Godfrey and Christina Peterson’s farm, now the LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.

Two days later, Grandma Mabel (age 30) received a postcard from Great Uncle Fridolph (age 40), postmarked 21 Oct 1910. Fridolph mailed the postcard from Sycamore, 20 miles west of St. Charles on Route 64. “We have changed plans, are going to stay until Sunday eve. Will you tell Fritz to dig up my geraniums if he should think that there is danger of a hard frost, but I don’t hardly think there will. Fridolph.” The postcard photograph shows a doodlebug, Woodstock & Sycamore Traction Company 711. A doodlebug is a self-propelled passenger rail car. This doodlebug, powered by a 200 HP gasoline engine, was made by McKeene Motor Car Company of Omaha, NE. McKeen doodlebugs are known for having a nautical design, with a knife nose and round porthole windows. It was later sold by W&STC to a railroad in Alberta, Canada, in 1914. Note the postcard street address is 161 Prairie Street. This is curious because Fritz and Mabel and Fridolph and Ida built homes next to each other in 1907 at 508 Prairie and 516 Prairie, respectively. In addition, Mabel and Fritz didn’t move their family (Bertha, LeRoy, and Christabel) to North Dakota until March of 1912.

Grandma Mabel’s album contains several postcards without a postmark or postage. Here is one of them that has a rather unusual message. The RPPC photograph shows a rather pastoral scene along the Fox River, labeled “The River Road.” It is sometimes called “East River Road.” We know it as Riverside Avenue or Route 25, a state highway we drove to visit relatives on the east side of Geneva or the east side of Elgin. The view looks NW toward the Cable Piano Company factory, where Grandpas Fritz and John worked in the first decade of the 20th century. They both began in the cabinet shop. Eventually, Fritz worked in the stringing department, tuning department, and regulation department. His last position was final inspector, just before the pianos were loaded on box cars. These box cars came to the Cable factory via the Chicago & Northwestern spur from the main line through Geneva. The spur ran across the street from 625 and 617 Geneva Road, where Mabel and Fritz’s family lived after returning from North Dakota in 1929. I haven’t been able to decode the scribbling. It is not signed. However, based on the typography, design of the address side, and the postmark dates (1910-1912) of other postcards in Mabel’s collection by the same photographer, my best guess is that it was penciled by Bertha, Grandpa Glenn’s oldest sister, when she was 3 to 5 years old.

Future newsletter issues will focus on the period 1912 to 1929 (when Mabel and Fritz’s family lived and farmed in North Dakota) and 1930-1940 postcards mailed from other states or outside the US.

To be continued . . .

Peterson-Anderson Family History Issue 44 ● November 2016

Grandma Mabel’s Postcards — North Dakota

In March, 1912, Mabel and Fritz moved their family from St. Charles to North Dakota. This began a flurry of postcards and letters flowing via US Mail railroad cars between St. Charles and Barney, North Dakota. Barney is a small community located in SE North Dakota, along the Northern Pacific Railroad, 40 miles S of Fargo, 19 miles W of Wahpeton/Breckenridge, and 6 miles E of Wyndmere. Barney provided few services, so the Photograph from Aunt Bertha’s (Grandpa Glenn’s oldest sister) first photo album. family often traveled to Like other photos in this album, Bertha meticulously labeled each photo with white ink. Fritz and Mabel’s family are posing in Dakota with Olive Lillestol’s family on Wyndmere for trading, medical Arne Hjelseth’s car. Arne was the Lillestol’s hired hand care, and high school (Bertha, LeRoy, and Christabel graduated there). Grandpa Glenn said in a 9 Aug 2008 interview and a 17 Mar 2009 interview that their last rented farmstead was close to the NP railroad that connected Wahpeton, Barney, and Wyndmere. At night, he could look south across the fields and prairie from their farmstead and see the fire glowing in the fireboxes of the steam locomotives. Glenn said his father, Fritz, had a fine sense of humor and told Glenn and his siblings that “NP” on the steam locomotive tenders were the initials of Uncle Fridolph’s father, Nels Peterson. Grandpa Glenn also said that farmers were careful to avoid getting their wagon teams too close to moving steam engines, because the teams would shy away, if not run away, from the “iron horses.”

Fortunately, Mabel and Fritz’s family were not alone in “Dakota” (Grandpa Glenn’s family never said “North Dakota”). In addition to the many Norwegian families who became fast friends through Homestead Lutheran Church, Mabel, Fritz, and family were accompanied to Dakota by the Sundberg family from St. Charles. Fridolph “Fred” was a long-time blacksmith in St. Charles. His shop was on West Second Street. According to his print ad in the 1910-1911 St. Charles City Directory, he advertised “horse shoeing, rubber tires sold and fitted, all work guaranteed, first class.” Together, Fred and Hattie had two children, Everett (later a mason) and Edith. Later in life, Edith lived at 309 8th Street, around the corner from Glenn and Violet’s house at 813 W. Indiana Street. For many years, Grandpa Glenn mowed Edith’s lawn. After returning from North Dakota, the Sundberg family lived at 320 7th Street, almost across the street from the house at the corner of 7th and Indiana Streets, where Melvin, Ruth, and Tom Peterson later lived. Now you know why Edith attended the first few Peterson Family reunions at “Grandpa’s Farm.”

Fritz and Mabel moved household items, some furniture, farm equipment, livestock, and their children, Bertha (age 5), LeRoy (age 2), and Christabel (age 1). Fritz and Fred led the way by riding with their livestock, machinery, and furniture in a railroad car from St. Charles to Barney. It’s no wonder that they brought Holstein milk cows and draft horses. Godfrey, Mabel’s father, was a well-known breeder of Holsteins and draft horses. Grandpa Glenn said that farmers from Kane County and beyond bought livestock from Godfrey. Grandma Mabel said in her family history notebook that “both bought a quarter section of land. Mrs. Sundberg, Edith, and Everett went up there in May. I, with Bertha, Christabel, and LeRoy, went up in July.” Each family used their quarter section (160 acres) to harvest prairie hay, which they put in their barn’s hay mow as winter feed for livestock.

Their first growing season in Dakota, the summer of 1912, the Andersons and Sundbergs rented the Ditch Road farm, 8 miles N of Barney. Both families lived together in “the little shack by the drainage,” a remodeled granary. The Sundbergs spent the winter back in St. Charles. When they returned to Dakota for several growing seasons, they rented the Baird farm, then the Glassier farm, the Allen farm, a house in Wahpeton, a house in Minneapolis, and finally returned to St. Charles. After Ethel (b. 1916) and Glenn (b. 1917) were born at the Ditch Road farm, the Andersons moved to the Rhodenbaugh farms for the 1918 and 1919 growing seasons. This is where Helen was born. The family rented the Nelson farm for the 1920 growing season. Doris was born here. They spent the 1921-22 growing seasons on the Sanden farm—no new children there. June was born while they rented the Fritzche farm for the 1923-25 growing seasons. Their sixth farm was the Shaw farm—no children were born here—for the 1926-28 growing seasons. Godfrey died 3 April 1928. Mabel’s oldest brother, Clarence, operated “Grandpa’s Farm” for a year, but his severe arthritis influenced Mabel and Fritz to move back to “Grandpa’s Farm” in March 1929. A few months later, Wall Street experienced Black Friday and the entire country reeled from the stock market crash. Fritz and Mabel sold the farm in 1931 to the Archibald Sheldon family from Geneva and moved into St. Charles. They rented a house at 625 Geneva Road. Their farming days were over.

Why did the Andersons and Sundbergs decide to try their hand at farming in Dakota? They were familiar with farm life. Fritz spent the first 12 years of his life on his parents’ farm west of Sandhem, Sweden. Mabel spent the first 26 years of her life on her parents’ farm (“Grandpa’s Farm”) 2 miles NW of St. Charles (now LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve). Earlier, Fred had a bit of wanderlust in the form of “Klondike Fever,” as indicated by an article on page 10 of the St. Charles Free Press. On 6 March 1898, Fred, along with August and William Nord (our distant cousins) and Philip Warren, left St. Charles on a Chicago Great Western passenger coach for St. Paul and points beyond. They traveled by steamer from Vancouver, BC, to Fort Rango (now Wrangell, AK). Then they walked over 20 miles on the frozen Spikeen (now Stikine) River, built their own boat and rowed up-river to the Klondike area in the Yukon Territory. “They were filled with hope and high ambition. They were bound for a land of gold, of hardship and suffering, of death. August Nord died in Dawson City of typhoid fever.”

Before Grandma Mabel (age 31) moved the children to Dakota, she sent a postcard, postmarked 28 May 1912, to Grandpa Fritz (age 38), who had moved to Dakota several months before. “Dear Fritz: I have intended to write and will do so soon. Have been busy with [sister] Hazel’s confirmation and company. We are all well. Received your letter when I was out home. [Sister] Ethel & I are going up to the cemetery this afternoon. We are going to Elgin Thurs. and stay till Saturday night. Does this card make you home sick? Greet Hattie and her family. With love from all. Mabel.” The postcard photograph shows the footbridge across the Fox River in St. Charles. It was located between West Indiana Street and East Ohio Avenue. The building in the background is Cable Piano Company factory, where Fritz worked for a decade before moving to Dakota. Like Grandpa John Wilson, Fritz worked in the cabinet shop. Fritz then worked in the stringing department, tuning department, and regulation department. Before moving to Dakota, Fritz worked as a final inspector, before the pianos were loaded onto railroad boxcars. Notice the boxcar crossing Indiana Street in the background with a railroad flagman “providing protection.” The limestone home on the right side of the photo was occupied in the 1950s and 1960s by an African-American family whose children attended Shelby School with us. The house has since been removed. Whether walking or riding our bicycles, this was a favorite route between our house at 813 West Indiana Street and the pool at Pottawattomie Park. The footbridge now is part of the St. Charles recreational Fox River Trail system along the east bank of the river.

Two week before, Great Uncle Fridolph (age 41) sent a postcard to Fritz (age 38), postmarked 16 May 1912. “This was the scene when the ice went out. It’s done considerable damage to the dam and it looked at one time as though it was going out. Well, I suppose that you are busy and have been all spring. I bet it was a treat to get a cook. Last week was nice and warm, but this week so far has been cold. Mon. & Tuesday frost. Today the wind is in the N. and it is cloudy and looks & feels like snow. Had the furnace running a week now. Best regards, Fridolph—all OK.” The postcard photograph shows the Fox River, just above the dam near Main Street. On the left is the embankment for the Chicago Great Western railroad bridge, just out of the photo on the left. An industrial spur track along the east bank of the river was used to deliver lumber and coal to the lumber yard and coal company. Note that there are three boxcars and a flat car used to deliver lumber and other materials. The building with the “Bull Durham” ad appears to be a warehouse served by the rail spur. The houses in the background are homes built on the east rim of the valley along North 2nd Avenue. The commercial and industrial buildings were soon replaced by civic buildings—fire department, police department, and municipal building.

Several months later, Great Uncle Earl (age 23) and Lillie Kraft Peterson (age 19) sent a postcard to Grandma Mabel (age 31), postmarked 13 Aug 1912. “Dear Mabel, I received your card and was glad to hear from you. Adele is well again. She had poison in her hand. Earl hasn’t been well for the last week. From Lillie and Earl.” Earl and Lillie were Grandma Mabel’s youngest brother and sister-in-law. Their daughter, Adele, Mabel’s niece, was about 16 months old at the time. The postcard photograph shows Jones Woods (background), Fox River (middleground), and mouth of Ferson Creek (foreground). Ferson Creek flowed through “Grandpa’s Farm” about 2 miles upstream, where Earl, Mabel, and their four siblings were born and raised. Jones Woods was a Lester and Delora Norris property which stretched from the east bank of the Fox River, up the valley wall, to North Cemetery on the rim of the valley. We have many ancestors buried in North Cemetery, both on the Peterson side of the family (such as Godfrey and Christina, Roy and Ellen, and Fridolph’s siblings) and the Anderson side (such as Fritz’s mother, sisters, and step-father).

While Mabel (age 32) and Fritz’s (age 39) family were in North Dakota, Great Uncle Fridolph (age 43) kept the family informed of events in St. Charles. The postcard is postmarked 15 July 1913, during Fritz and Mabel’s second growing season in North Dakota. “Dear Folks. Many thanks for the letter we have rec’d. We should have written long ago but have been so very busy for so long that it is hard to get started to write. Alma and Frank are here now—came last Sat. eve. Last Sunday we had quite a number for dinner. It was very warm early Monday AM. We had a heavy rain & elec. storm and it’s certainly done much good. With love to you all. Ida and F.” The postcard photo shows what could have been the July 4 Independence Day parade in St. Charles. The parade marshall on horseback may be a Civil War veteran. If so, perhaps he served under General John Farnsworth, who trained the 8th Illinois Cavalry at Camp Kane (now Langum Park) just across the Fox River from Mabel and Fritz’s homes at 625 and 617 Geneva Road. The Farnsworth mansion was a few doors south. The mansion later served as parochial schools, Mount St. Mary and Fox Valley Lutheran Academy. General Farnsworth served in the US Congress for 14 years. He died in Chicago in 1897, about 16 years before this photo was taken. Of course, what would a patriotic parade be without a marching band? This appears to be the St. Charles Silver Cornet Band. Great-grandpa Fritz played trombone in the band a decade earlier. This 14-piece band (plus a drum major with an orb-festooned marching baton) includes primarily brass and percussion instruments, plus at least one reed instrument (clarinet) bringing up the rear. Based on the shadows, the photo was taken in the afternoon, looking west on (unpaved) Main Street across the Fox River bridge. Notice the tracks for the Elgin, Aurora & Southern streetcar, including the west switch for a passing track. Who are Alma and Frank?. I’m not certain. Perhaps they are the step-daughter and step-son of grandma Mabel’s cousin, Emma Peterson Colson. Perhaps they are friends from Bethlehem Church.

Here’s another exciting event in St. Charles—a runaway locomotive. Apparently, Fridolph (age 44) enclosed the postcard in an envelope, because it has no address, postage, or postmark. However, the incident is clearly dated and is described in Great-uncle Fridolph’s usual restrained, understated way: “This accident happened 2:30 pm Nov. 16, 1914. The engine came within 3 feet of hitting the store windows. It caused considerable excitement. It is something that one doesn’t see on Main Street every day.” The locomotive stopped just before it damaged the Osgood Building. This building was the location of the Anderson Dress Shop on the second floor, behind the corner turret at East Main and South 1st Avenue. Grandpa Fritz’s sisters, Ida and Teckla, made dresses there for their clients. Unfortunately, in April 1895, embers from a fire that destroyed the Adolph Fredenhagen Flour Mill also damaged the Osgood Building and other buildings on the south side of Main Street. Despite the damage, Teckla, Ida, and others continued to occupy the buildings until a major storm with strong winds occurred on 4 May. During the storm, the walls of the Osgood

Building collapsed, killing Teckla and three other people. According to Grandma Mabel’s family history notebook, it was fortunate that Ida was “out on a dress call,” probably at a client’s home for a fitting. Osgood, Hunt, and Morse replaced the building before this incident. The Chicago Great Western 214 was switching freight cars on an industrial lead, the one pictured above on the east bank of the Fox River. Because the track from the main line descended the valley wall, it was frightfully steep. It had a bad reputation among CGW switching crews, who called it “The Hole.” George Westinghouse’s newly-invented air brakes were better than the old manual friction breaks, but were not always strong enough to hold back loaded freight cars. The CGW 214 had a Mogul wheel arrangement, 2-6-0, having two pilot wheels at the front, then six driving wheels, and no wheels under the firebox and cab. This relatively small locomotive was used for switching a few cars, rather than pulling long trains on the main line. The CGW 214 was one of 12 Moguls purchased from Alco (American Locomotive Works) in 1914, the same year as the accident. Notice that the 214 is blocking two street car tracks. This is the Fox Valley’s Elgin, Aurora & Southern line that began service in 1896 and came into St. Charles from Geneva on Anderson Boulevard, which transitioned to South 3rd Street in St. Charles. After turning east on Main Street (near Colonial Dairy’s former location), it crossed the Fox River bridge, climbed the valley wall and turned north on North 5th Avenue. It bridged over the Chicago Great Western tracks, continued north past the Norris Estate, the location of our “new” Bethlehem Church, between North Cemetery and Union Cemetery, north past the west edge of Andrew Peterson’s farm (Godfrey’s oldest brother), and finally across the Fox River to South Elgin. Passenger service ended in 1937. The bridge still remains as part of the Fox River Trail. My guess is that many copies of this postcard were sold in the months following the accident, perhaps as many as the postcard showing the streetcar that fell through the bridge into the Fox River.

Strictly speaking, this next postcard does not qualify for this newsletter because it was not found in Grandma Mabel’s postcard album. Instead, it was found in Bertha’s photo album. Fritz sent this postcard to his mother, Mathilda (age 67), and step-father, Joseph (age 75), in 1914. The Swedish text translates something like this: “Dear Parents: Just a few words to let you know we are all well. Now we are out haying. We will begin to harvest in two weeks. All the corn looks good so far. Do you know someone on this postcard? Fritz.” It’s not surprising that Bertha saved this postcard. The photograph shows not only family members (LeRoy (age 4), Bertha (age 6), Christabel (age 3), and Fritz (age 40)), but some of the many farm animals that Bertha loved. In addition to Rover, there are two teams of work horses harnessed to pull the two-bottom sulky plow (perhaps a John Deere). The lead team includes Mike and Queen with Queen’s colt, King, perhaps born earlier in late winter or early spring. The wheel team includes Pete and a mare, with Belle, a filly a few months older than King. The photograph was probably taken by Mabel using Fritz’s camera. In 1914, they were on the Ditch Road Farm, where they lived from their arrival in Dakota in 1912 through the 1917 growing season (when Grandpa Glenn was born). After Bertha graduated from Wyndmere High School, she left the farm and “went to Minneapolis to enter Deaconess Hospital for nurses training,” according to Mabel’s family history notebook. Bertha continued to care for and own other animals—particularly dogs and horses. While living in Chicago suburbs (Lombard and West Chicago), she cared for a paint, Amigo, a beautiful riding horse. After Uncle Emmett died in 1972 in Wyoming, Iowa, she moved into a mobile home on the farmstead of her step-daughter, Barbara, near Anamosa, Iowa. Barbara and her husband, Dick, had a menagerie of interesting animals, including jack and jenny donkeys.

Mabel and Fritz’s children received postcards also. Here’s an example—a postcard sent to LeRoy (age 6) by Roy Peterson, Mabel’s brother (age 29). It’s postmarked 29 Sep 1916. “Well, how are you. I’m fine. Wish you had been here with Bertha to visit with us but I’ll have to bring you next time. Be a good boy. From

Uncle Roy.” There are other postcards in the collection that Roy wrote to family members. Because Roy worked on large farms in Canada during the growing season, he was a visitor to the Anderson family in North Dakota. For example, we have photographic evidence of Roy’s visit in the fall of 1918, when he held Grandpa Glenn (age 1) for an exterior photo at the Rhodenbaugh farm. In this postcard message, Roy may refer to bringing Bertha (age 8) back to St. Charles for several months. In fact, we have photos of young Bertha at Godfrey’s farm. Christabel (age 5) was also brought back to St. Charles, in this case, by Ethel in 1917. So through the years in North Dakota, it was not uncommon for the Anderson children to spend time in St. Charles. The postcard photograph shows the “Elgin Road at Ferson Creek Bridge, St. Charles.” The bridge was about a mile north of Main Street. This road was also called the “West River Road.” We now know it as Illinois 31. Ferson Creek flowed through “Grandpa’s Farm” about 2 miles upstream, where Roy, Mabel, and their four siblings were born and raised. On a similar postcard photo in the collection postmarked 16 Mar 1914, Roy wrote to Fritz, “How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood days.” It makes me think of the many times our family visited “Grandpa’s Farm” and waded in Ferson Creek. It also makes me think of the times that brother Dave and I fished in Ferson Creek, just upstream from this bridge in the backyard of Bethlehem Church members Carl and Ferris Harper.

Next is a postcard written to June (age 3) by her mother, Mabel (age 45). It was postmarked in Elgin on 28 July 1926. “Dear June: How is my little girl getting along? I am getting lonesome for June. I will leave here Saturday evening on the Great Western and spend Sunday with Bertha and leave Mpls. Monday morning so I will be in Wyndmere Monday eve. Love to all. Mother.” Apparently, Mabel was visiting relatives in St, Charles (father, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends) and Elgin (perhaps Aunt Sophie (age 60) and Uncle Joe (age 58)). The postcard photo shows the Elgin National Watch Works administration building with its Romanesque Revival clock tower. The company was founded in Chicago in 1864 and move to Elgin in 1867. Elgin factory closed in 1964. For many years, Elgin National Watch Company made more than half the jeweled watches made in the US. Some of our relatives who worked at Elgin Watch included great-grandpa John Wilson, great-grandma Tollie Hawkinson Wilson and her sister Hulda Hawkinson, uncle Everett Wilson, great-great aunt Otelia Newman, great grandma Mabel’s cousin Agnes Anderson Burns, uncle Bob Gustavson’s mother (Viola Anderson Gustavson), Ezra Philpott (first husband of great uncle Earl’s sister-in- law, Hilda), distant cousin Ray Nord, and others. Note that this postcard and the next were sent with 2-cent postage stamps.

Finally, here’s the postcard that ended the Dakota Era of the Mabel and Fritz Anderson family. It was sent by Fritz (age 54) to Mabel (age 47), postmarked 12 Jun 1928. “Fredericksburg, June 12, Noon. Just arr. here. Will take G.W. from here to St. C. Had fine trip. Stopped at this church this AM. Stayed at Miller last nite. Drove 400 miles yesterday. Fritz.” Fritz was driving their family car from St. Paul. It was left there several months earlier while moving from North Dakota back to St. Charles. According to Grandma Mabel’s family history notebook, “In March 1929, we had an auction sale…there was good attendance and the sale went well. We went to Wahpeton the next day. The following day, we left on the way back to Illinois. The first night it became very foggy early and we stayed at Attwood, Minn. Mr. Hedner’s sisters and mother lived there, so I called on them. The roads were very muddy, so traveling was slow. We finally reached Minneapolis the following evening. Stayed over there and went as far as Hastings, Minn. When we were told the roads were impassible, we had to go back to St. Paul and leave the car there, and go by train to St. Charles. Later in the spring, Dad went to St. Paul and brought the car back.” Apparently, Fritz drove through Nashua, Iowa, home of the Little Brown Church (30 miles N of Waterloo). Fredericksburg, Iowa, is 15 miles east of Nashua and is a station stop for the Chicago Great Western railroad, which had frequent passenger service to St. Charles on their St. Paul-Chicago trains. Did Fritz leave their family car in Fredericksburg and take the train? Did he sell it and take the train? Did he load their car on a CGW freight car and bring it back to St. Charles? I’m not sure. By the way, the distance from St. Paul to Fredericksburg is about 140 miles (as the crow flies).

Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson January 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 1 22 3 4 5 66 7 Ethel Peterson Anders Johansson 1813 Frank August Anderson 1888 Ellen Dorothea Kraft 1885 Newman 1867 8 9 Carl Alfred 10 11 12 13 14 8 9 Anderson 1845 11 Sven Andersson Pehr Johan Genevieve Ekstrom Staaf 1825 9 Peterson 1809 Wilson 15 16 17 18 19 1920 2020 2021 Alice Jankila Fritz Anders Anderson Anderson 1874 20 Herman 1915 22 23 Svensson 24 25 26 27 28 Robert T. 23 Kraft 1857 26 Larson 1923 Natalia Hawkinson 23 Wilson 1883 27 29 30 31 1 2 3 Doris4 Lillian Margarette Anderson Emma Peterson 1920 Colson 1871 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson February 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 29 30 31 1 22 33 4 Marvin Garfield Stina Carlsdotter Anna Greta Olofsdotter Peterson 1884 Staaf 1820 Johansson 1771 125 6 7 8 9 10 11 Louisa Larsdotter 1829 Russel 12 Emily Bloomberg13 14 15 16 17 Wilson 18 12 Wilson 1869 17 1908 18 12 Agnes Anderson 17 Charles Anderson Burns 1881 1861 19 20 2121 22 23 24 25

Melvin LeRoy Peterson Lucille Burns Axel Mauritz 1921 Carl Peter Kreuger 1905 Peterson 1875 Larsson 2626 27 1818 2828 1 2 3 4 27 Karen Louise Dahlgren Peterson 1848 26

Marie Roselia Peterson 1883 Roy Leonard Peterson 1887 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson March 2017 Sun Mon Tues 1 Wed Thurs Fri Sat 26 27 28 Hilda Newman 1 2 Mathilda E. Elf 18833 4 Anderson 1857 2 Anna Hildur Kraft 1889 Walter Oscar 1 Joseph W. Blomgren Peterson 1878 9 1839 5 6 7 8 9 10 1111

Norma Olson Gregg Ziegler Pearce 1917 1 9 1921 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Ann Olson 14 Peterson 1893 Johannes Blomgren 1816 15 19 20 2121 22 23 24 2525 Bothilda Lawson John Carlson Johan August Peterson 1925 1860 Anderson 1839 Simon Anderson 2626 27 28 29 30 31 1 1879 Teckla Gustava Ned Wilson Anderson 1876 1906 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson April 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 26 27 28 29 30 31 Johan Walter 1 ? Wilson 1857 Anna Mongerson Adolph L. Newman Anderson 1855 1833 2 3 4 5 66 7 Olof Eriksson 8 Edith Cornelia 4 5 7 1710 8 Kraft 1857 Stina Ericksdotter Anna Stina 14 Jonnson 1781 Andersdotter 1842 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Hazel Peterson Hyde 1896 14 Ardelle Minnie Hyde 1926 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Victor Nels Christabel Frederica Peterson 1850 Anderson 1911 2323 2424 25 26 27 28 2929 Lars Johansson 1810 Harold “Bud” Nord 3030 1 2 3 4 5 6 1913 Lars Henriksson 1739 Jacob William Anderson 1873 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson May 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 30 1 22 3 4 5 6 Fritz LeRoy Anderson Sven Månsson 1910 1765 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Herbert F Peterson 1923 21 2222 23 24 25 26 27 Josef Nylen Per Erlandson Carlsson 1872 Axelson 1794 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson June 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 28 29 30 31 1 2 3

Josephine Axelson Marvin Garvin Blomquist 1874 Peterson 1899 4 5 6 7 8 169 Clarence10 Edward 5 7 Peterson 1883 Gustav Sanfrid Sven Gunnaar Mildred Olman 17 Carlsson 1859 Kraft 1894 Frey Larson 1913 11 12 1313 14 15 Paul Emil 16Viola Peterson 1902 17 Peterson 1880 Sophie Joranson 1866 Mathilda Bengtdotter Lotta Nilsdotter 22 17 Anderson 1846 Larsson 1834 23 18 19 20 21 Carl Wilhelm 22 23 24 18 21 Larsson 1828 Johanna Sophia May Anderson 22 Gustava Carlsdotter Blomgren Wallin 1834 Shoberg 1881 23 Wilson Kraft 1856 25 2626 27 2828 29 30 1 Edward “Junior” Violet Wilson Torsten Gideon June Anderson Mack, Jr. 1931 Anderson 1919 29 Kraft 1891 Ziegler 1923 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson July 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 25 26 27 28 29 30 1

Peter Adolph Peterson 1845 2 3 4 5 Arthur Larson 6 7 8 2 1896 6 8 Lotta Wilda Anderson Nilsdotter Erickson 1922 14 1834 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Earl Adolph 10 12 14 Peterson 1889 Ellen Hultine Everett Rydell Peterson 1893 Wilson 1914 16 17 18 19 20 2121 2122 Rose F. Carlson Carl Wilhelm Larson 1897 Larsson 1828 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 John P. Elf Greta Johansdotter Sigrid Anderson 1821 Axelson 1796 Wilson 1872 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson August 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 30 31 1 2 3 Stina Larsdotter 4 Carl Frederick 5 Carl Richard 3 Gran 1787 Johnson 1843 Anderson 1878 Vivian Anderson Sunleaf 1918 3 11 12 6 7 8 99 10 11 12 Fridolph Emil Peterson 1870 Louise Peterson 10 Johnson 1856 18 12 13 14 15 16 Hazel Wilson 17 18 19LaVerne Kermit Kloempken 1928 Olson 1915 Otelia E. Louise Axelson 18 19 Newman 1871 Newman 1833 20 2121 22 2323 24 25 26Glenn Fridolph Anderson 1917 Märta Olofsdotter 1739 Johanna Charlotta Nels Peterson Ida Josephina Jonas Dahlgren 1826 Andersdotter 1856 1833 26 Carlsdotter 1862 27 28 29 30 Ida Anderson 31 1 2 27 Peterson 1871 Ethel Anderson Olson 1916 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson September 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat

27 28 29 Anna 30 31 1 2 Charlotta Blomgren 6 Emma Christenson 5 1836 Peterson 1892 3 4 55 6 7 88 9 Lina Stina Carl Robert Johansdotter Anna Charlote Johan- Gustavson 1922 6 Peterson 1813 son Hawkinson 1838 10 1111 12 13 14 15 16

“Cousin Tilford” Johan Gustaf Larsson 1825 Kerstin Larsdotter Emmet Piper 1901 Arthur “Holly” Albert J Wilson 1890 Stefansson 1700 Swanson 1904 17 John A. Abra- 18 19 20 21 22 23 17 hamson 1822 19 21 Josephina Gustava Kerstin Larsdotter Eriksson 1711 Lena Johansdotter Bertha Frederika Andersdotter 1847 Margareta Mansdotter Henriksson 1747 1816 29 Anderson 1879 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Esther Valborg 29 Kraft 1896 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson October 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Jane M. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Peterson 1921 7 Hedda Stina Nettie Larson 14 Blomgren 1844 Peterson 1873 13 8 9 1010 11 12 13 14 Karl Johan John Birger Helen Linnea 14 Hawkinson 1835 Wilson 1878 Anderson 1918

15 16 17 18 19 2020 21 Johan Gottfried Alexander Peterson Erick Gotfrid Hawkinson 1864 21 Anderson 1846 Larson 1877 22 23 24 25 26 2727 2828 Hanna Hawkinson Louisa Mathilda Blomgren 1841 Johan Fritz Carlson 1870 Frans Oscar Carlsson 1866 Anderson 1861 Godfrey Peterson 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 1853 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson November 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat 29 30 31 1 2 3 44 6 Bertha Anderson Maria Wilhelmina Claus Wilhelm Piper 1907 Anderson 1869 Anderson 1836 5 6 7 88 9 10 11 Carl Martin Ivar 6 Robert William Kraft 1882 Anderson 1923 12 13 1414 15 16 1717 18 Donald Newman Hulda Marie William Harrison Gustava Larsdotter Peterson 1926 Hawkinson 1875 Anderson 1883 Johansson 1815 1919 2020 21 22 23 24 25 Ethel Johnson Abrahamson 1891 26 27 28 29 30 1 2

John A. Anderson 1867 Anderson-Peterson Family History Birthdays Wilson-Hawkinson December 2017 Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri CarolSat Lynn Wilson 1946 26 27 28 29 30 1 Augusta Sophia 2 Louisa Martina 1 Hawkinson 1865 2 Andersdotter 1851 Robert Clement Kloempken 1922 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lars Jonsson 8 9Christina Newman 4 6 1786 Jean Peterson Peterson 1861 Christina Charlotta Thomson Charlotte Peterson 9 Martha Ericksdotter Larsdotter 1820 1919 Abrahamson 1842 8 Blomgren 1809 10 11 12 13 1414 15 1616 Mabel Peterson Anderson 1880 Mary A. Peterson 17 18 19 20 2121 22 23 1925 Andrew Gustaf Peterson 1838 24 25 26 27 28 Oscar Carl 29 30 28 Wilson 1892 John Alfred 28 Peterson 1840 31 1 2 3 4 5 6

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