Peder and Regina LERFALD's 50th Anniversary

Source: 50th Anniversary of Peter and Regina Lerfald. Photograph. 7 June 1931. Original in the possession of Troy Midkiff [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Vancouver, Washington. 2008.

The couple sitting on the bench are my husband's great-great-grandparents, Peder Johnsen LERFALD (1855 - 1936) and Regina Olasdotter LERFALD (1859 - 1943), celebrating the 50th anniversary of their marriage, which took place 7 June 1881, probably in Goodhue Co., Minnesota. The photograph was likely taken at their home in Woodville, St. Croix Co., Wisconsin. Peder and Regina are not only husband and wife; they are also first cousins. But not, despite their surnames, are they both related on their fathers' sides.

Peder was born 25 April 1855 to John Nilssen LERFALD and Sigrid Lassesdotter LERFALDBJØRG, near Trondheim, Norwary. He was the fourth of seven children (one died in infancy) in a family that immigrated to America in 1866. His mother appears to have died shortly after they arrived, and his father remarried to Randa [--?--].

Regina was born 2 Apr 1859 to Ola Pedersen FORDALSHAUGEN and Ane Nilsdotter LERFALDHOLMEN, also near Trondheim. In fact, both Peder and Regina likely were born in or around the community of Lerfald, to the east of Trondheim. Regina was the sixth of nine children and her mother and siblings immigrated to the U.S. in 1874 after her father's death two years previously.

Peder's father John and Regina's mother Ane were brother and sister. You can see they both had the patronym "Nils...", meaning of course, their father's name was Nils. But they had different surnames because Norwegians at that time and place used the surname for the location in which they lived or the farm on which they worked. Their surnames would change with their location. When they immigrated to the United States, sometimes they used their latest surname, and other times they used their patronyms. The ladies often used the masculine version of their patronyn, becoming Ane "Nilssen" instead of Ane Nilsdotter, even though it didn't make sense. Americans were used to names ending in -son or -sen, not -dotter. I've found Regina in records where she used Lerfald as a surname and at other times used Olsen. Because of the many different names that were used, I've actually had a harder time finding my husband's ancestors after they arrived in the U.S. Their family histories in Norway have been very easy to trace using bygdebøker, a unique combination of census, family histories and farm histories within a parish.

Peder and Regina had six children: Sofia, John, Anna, Ole, Rena (my husband's great-grandmother), and Nannie, who died in infancy. John and Ole never married and are pictured in the photograph above. The woman is probably Anna, who lived nearby in Eau Claire, Eau Clair Co., Wisconsin with her husband and family. Sofia lived in Montana and Rena lived in Washington State - both with their respective husbands and families, so it's unlikely they were present for this celebration. We have a few other photos from this day, and neither Rena nor Sofia appear in them. The photos were probably sent to the daughters to share with them the celebration.
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We've had some interesting conversations at my home regarding this photo:

"Norm, do you realize you're your own 5th cousin to yourself, and to your siblings? And our kids are 6th cousins to themselves and each other. You and the kids aren't just father and children, you're 5th cousins, once removed!"

"Look at the size of Peder's hands! Holy cow!"

"Wonder what the dog's name was?"

Postcard from Sophie ALMLIE to Randi LERFALD, 2 Aug 1908

Here is the third and last of the 1908 postcards I found I had scanned out of date order.

(front)


(back)

Source: The Westaby-Lerfald Postcard Collection. Privately held by Troy Midkiff, Vancouver, Washington.

I've been puzzled by this postcard ever since I read it. Dated 2 August 1908 from Baltic, Minnehaha Co., South Dakota, it is written by Sophie ALMLIE to her cousin Miss Randi LERFALD of Baldwin, St. Croix Co., Wisconsin, care of "S. LOKKE." It appears to have been postmarked 3 August 1908, but Rena has written "Aug 8," probably misreading the 3. Originally, the postcard was addressed to Woodville, also in St. Croix County, but as you can see, the city name was crossed out and Baldwin written instead. In fact, it appears that "Baldwin" and "c/o S. Lokke" were written by a different person than Sophie, as if it had been mailed to Woodville and someone there (the postmaster, a relative?) had readdressed it. The card reads:

Dear cousin,

Its a long time since I sent you a picture but I havent herd any about it so you must write tell me. we are all well from,

Sophie Almlie

I simply have no idea who Sophie nor Randi are, nor why Rena had this postcard in her possession. Rena did not have any siblings named Randi, and I cannot find any of her cousins with that name, although it is entirely possible, since the information on her family tree is incomplete enough that I could be missing many relatives. Rena did have an older sister named Sophia, but she married an Alpha LINE, so ALMLIE was not her last name. I can't find any cousins with the name Sophie or Sophia, either, and no one with the last name LOKKE. You'll notice the English grammar and punctuation aren't very good, so it's possible that Sophie was a native speaker of Norwegian. I'll have to do some digging in the census records to see if I can uncover some answers, and perhaps future postcards will reveal more clues to help me solve this little mystery! The next group featured will be from the year 1909.

Postcard from John LERFALD to Rena LERFALD, 1 Apr 1908

Here is the second of the 1908 postcards I found I had scanned out of date order.

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(back)

Source: The Westaby-Lerfald Postcard Collection. Privately held by Troy Midkiff, Vancouver, Washington.

This postcard appears to be from Rena's older brother, John LERFALD. There is obviously no message, so I am wondering if the purpose of this card was to show Rena where he lived, worked, or attended school in Valley City, Barnes County, North Dakota. John would have been 23, almost 24, at this time, so it is doubtful to me that he was attending school here, although not impossible. I haven't researched enough of his life to really know; I do know from family oral and written history that he never married, and died at the age of 82 in 1966, probably in Wisconsin, outliving his younger sister Rena by five months.

I am planning on sending a copy of the postcard front to the Penny Postcard site.

Postcard from Unknown Sender to R. LERFALD, 17 Mar 1908

Recently, my father-in-law loaned us a pile of postcards that had belonged to his maternal grandparents, George Rice WESTABY, III and Rena LERFALD. Actually, the majority of them belonged to Rena. I hope my readers will forgive me, but I have found several scanned postcards out of date order! Here is one of them:

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(front)

You can see that this postcard is postmarked from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The date was very difficult to make out for certain, because the card is embossed, causing the ink to not adhere to the back of the card very well. I believe the date is 17 March 1908, although it could be any date between the 10th and 19th of March. I don't know who lived in or near Minneapolis, but I wonder if it was one of Rena's older siblings. The handwriting does not match her sister Anna's or her brother John's. I'll check later to see if it matches any other family member's. Too bad that Rena didn't mark this postcard with the sender's name later, but perhaps she didn't remember who it was!

Source: The Westaby-Lerfald Postcard Collection. Privately held by Troy Midkiff, Vancouver, Washington.

Postcard from Unsigned Sender to Rena LERFALD, 9 Dec 1908

Recently, my father-in-law loaned us a pile of postcards that had belonged to his maternal grandparents, George Rice WESTABY, III and Rena LERFALD. Actually, the majority belonged to Rena. Here is the next one in the collection:

(front)
"468. Making Up."


(back)

This card was postmarked 9 Dec 1908, 8 PM, from Baldwin, Wisconsin, and appears to have been written by Rena's sister, Anna, to her. Apparently at a later date, Rena wrote over the message with an ink pen so that it could be read easier:

"Hello Rena--how are you. I got over Sunday fine. How is your foot? Olaf is kind of spunkey. He could not get over Saterday [sic] night, he said. bye Bye"

I'm not sure who Olaf was. Could it have been their brother Ole? Perhaps he was a friend, cousin, or a suitor of Anna's. I'm also uncertain as to the message on the front of the postcard: had the sisters quarreled? Or was this merely a convenient card on hand that was sent with no thought of the text?

Source: The Westaby-Lerfald Postcard Collection. Privately held by Troy Midkiff, Vancouver, Washington.

Postcard from A.L. to Rena LERFALD, 15 Sep 1908

Recently, my father-in-law loaned us a pile of postcards that had belonged to his maternal grandparents, George Rice WESTABY, III and Rena LERFALD. Here is the next one in the collection:

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(back)

This postcard is dated 15 Sep 1908, despite the handwritten dates of 25 Sep 1908 on the front and back of the card, which appear to have been written much later by Rena. The postmark is from Baldwin, Wisconsin, also in St. Croix County, a little more than four miles west of Woodville. It is addressed to Miss Rena Lerfald, Woodville, Wis. R. R. 2,:

"Fisher's don't want any hired girl now she says. She has one and they manage the work. I don't know of any place for you here. Got here safe last night. A.L."

A.L. is probably Rena's sister Anna Lerfald. It appears that Anna has inquired about job openings in Baldwin for Rena, without success.

Source: The Westaby-Lerfald Postcard Collection. Privately held by Troy Midkiff, Vancouver, Washington.

Postcard from Mrs. HERMANSON to Rena LERFALD, 1908

Recently, my father-in-law loaned us a pile of postcards that had belonged to his maternal grandparents, George Rice WESTABY, III and Rena LERFALD (click on the links to read more about their lives and see photos). Actually, the majority were received by Rena, and provide insight into her life as a young woman. I have begun to scan them, and will feature them here on my blog.

(front)


(back)

This postcard is not postmarked nor was it dated at the time it was sent. It appears to have been used as a calling card by Mrs. Hermanson, whoever she was (friend, neighbor, possible employer? Looking at the 1910 U.S. Federal Census brought up several possibilities.). At a much later date, it appears that Rena wrote 1908 on the back of the card--the ink and her style of writing here matches notations she made on other postcards in the collection.

Rena would have been 18 years old on September 25th of this year. She lived in Woodville, St. Croix Co., Wisconsin with her parents, Peter Johnsen LERFALD and Regina LERFALD, immigrants from Norway who were first cousins to each other. Rena was the youngest surviving child of five siblings: Sofia, b. 1882; John, b. 1884; Anna, b. 1886; and Ole, b. 1888. An infant girl, Nannie, did not survive. At this time in Rena's life, she and her sister Anna were looking for work as hired girls or maids. There were a lot of postcards sent to Rena by Anna; I don't believe I have any written by Rena to Anna (I haven't gone through this collection extensively, yet, to be sure).

Source: The Westaby-Lerfald Postcard Collection. Privately held by Troy Midkiff, Vancouver, Washington.

World-Famous Bear Has a Name: Alice Teddy

You just never know what tracing your family tree will lead you to!

First of all, I was doing some searching this evening for more information on George Bayard CRAPSEY (see previous post). Mike Kirchmeier had told me that he and his wife, Carrie, had died in Oregon. So I went to Ancestry and searched the Oregon Death Index. I found both their deaths listed in Jackson County. Carrie died 16 Apr 1941, and George died 12 July 1943. It appears that George may have remarried in the two years between Carrie's death and his own, because there is also an Anna Mae CRAPSEY who died in the same county on 13 March 1985. Her birth date was 10 May 1890, and her spouse is listed as George. Since George and Carrie did not have any children, it is possible that Anna was George's much younger wife, rather than a daughter-in-law. I Googled to see if I could find more information on Carrie, and did find her listed as "CRAPSEY, Carrie L." in the Lincoln County, Wisconsin probate cases index. I'm fairly certain this was the same Carrie that George married, as the county seat for Lincoln County is Merrill, Wisconsin, and I had already found several pieces of information online about George residing in Merrill.

Seems like George's rollerskating bear really was a globe-trotting show! First of all, I found this family history website by Thomas J. DALEY, great-grandson of John AKEY. AKEY was a personal friend of George CRAPSEY, and he, too, trained a bear to rollerskate. On the website is a transcription of an undated newspaper clipping from what appears to be the Merrill Daily Herald:

BEAR LEARNING TO ROLLER SKATE

MAKES GREAT PROGRESS WITH-IN LAST TEN DAYS. IS OWNED BY LOCAL BUSINESS MAN.

John Akey, the Second street business man, has been quite busy the past ten days teaching his bear to roller skate. Mr. Akey has only had the bear for about three weeks and for the past ten days has been teaching it to skate at the Union Roller rink. From the progress that has been made in that time, Merrill will undoubted be made famous by being made the home of two roller skating bears. Geo. Crapsey has traveled for several years with Alice Teddy; and is known not only in this country, but has also exhibited for the crowned heads of Europe.

Here's another one from the same source:

AKEY'S BEAR AT PORTAGE

QUEEN WAS CAPTURED MAY 28, LAST, FIFTEEN MILES FROM THIS CITY.

The following article was clipped from a recent edition of the Portage Daily Register and will be read with interest by local people:

"The people who were about the streets Monday were given the unusual sight of seeing a bear driving an automobile. The sight was an unusual and much commotion was created to get a peek at this bruin at his new job. The animal was owned by John Akey of Merrill and is known about the fair and show circles as Foxey Queen. She drives a car us through the main streets, making all the turnouts and appears to be a cautious driver. Mr. Akey is seated with the bear on the front seat and she presides at the steering wheel absolutely, Mr. Akey pointing the direction she is to take.

"'Queen was captured, May 28, last, fifteen miles from Merrill,' said Mr. Akey, 'and we have been busy domesticating her since. She appears to take a liking to humans and performs roller skating stunts as well as other tricks. We are touring the state giving exhibitions with Queen and expect to give the people of Portage a chance to see her perform.'

"Akey has a large collection of wild animals at his place in Merrill, a bear, monkey, porcupine, coon, wild cats and ferrets mingle with the patrons of his place at the northern city.

"Akey is a personal friend of George Crapsey, who was here at the fair a few years ago with his world famous "Alice Teddy" the roller skating bear which is now exhibiting Manitoba and has netted Mr. Crapsey over $55,000."

I also found this newspaper article from the front page of the 1 Jan 1911 Greensburg [Pennsylvania] Morning Review at the Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania archives at RootsWeb:

Skating Bear A Wonder

Alice Teddy draws record breaking crowd at the big rink, will be here all week - one of the world's animal wonders.

Amid the enthusiastic applause of fully two thousand people, Alice Teddy, the wonderful skating bear, made her initial appearance and performance at The Big Rink carnival last night.

To say that this wonderful skating bear is one of the most unique animal wonders of the world is merely stating a fact and voicing the verdict of two thousand people who saw her performance last night. Following is Alice Teddy's history.

Alice Teddy, the wonderful roller skating cinnamon bear appearing here this week, was a tiny baby bear when captured in Oregon. Geo. B. Crapsy, her present owner, who also made the capture, says that at the time little Alice weighed four pounds. Today Alice is past two years old and weighs 215 pounds.

When Mr. Crapsy returned home to Merrill, Wis., he brought Alice along. Her remarkable intelligence prompted hi2m to spend his spare time in teaching Alice tricks. She readily learned to wear shoes, clothes, to walk upright and finally, after months of hard practice, to skate on ball-bearing rollers. Alice is the only bear in the world skating and dancing on skates.

So it appears that George found Alice in Oregon, and not Wisconsin, as Kirchmeier believed. Another archived RootsWeb source, DC Old News, has this article from a list of amusements on page 4 of the 4 April 1912 Washington Post:

AT THE ARCADE
Fourteenth Street and Park Road.
EVERY NIGHT THIS WEEK AT 9:20
JOE TURNER, Champion Middleweight Wrestler of
the World, Will Meet All Comers.
Agreeing to Throw in 15 Minutes or Forfeit $25.
THURSDAY NIGHT
Turner will attempt to throw in 15 minutes be???
HARRY FIDDISO?, ?????????
and VINCENT COSIMANO, "Young Greek" Of Washington
ALICE TEDDY The Bear That Skates on Roller Skates
EVERY NIGHT AT 9 0'CLOCK
Tues., Thurs., Fri. also Sat. Afternoon at 4.
ROLLER SKATING WRESTLING BOUT-ALICE TEDDY
ALL FOR ONE ADMISSION, 25 CENTS

At Google Books, you can download a copy of The Vaudeville Theatre Building Operation Management by Edward Renton (New York: Gotham Press Inc. 1918). On page 257, you will find the following line:

Alice Teddy, roller skating bear, lobby stunts.

You can also view some of the flyers used to advertise the act at various theaters. HistoryLink.org, The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History (a fabulous site, by the way!) has an image of a flyer from the Pantages Theater in Seattle in the 1910s here. And a similar one, c. 1909, for the Empress Theater (location unknown) sold on Hake's auction website for $50.14 last year.

The Schuco toy company of Nuremburg, Germany, founded in 1912,

made a roller skating bear toy that was probably inspired by Alice Teddy, a real-life bear whose skating party trick wowed audiences in the United States before the First World War,

according to Christopher Proudlove at this online article.

I'm sure if I look at some newspaper database websites, I could find more. Isn't this fascinating? As I said earlier, you just never know what you'll find when you start digging through your family roots!

Some Civil War Soldiers Buried in Spokane, Washington

As I mentioned before, I photographed a few Civil War veterans' graves in Greenwood Memorial Terrace here in Spokane on Sunday. Here's a list of the veterans, with links to their memorial pages and grave photos on Find A Grave:

C. R. Bardwell - Company C, 6th Minnesota Infantry

His wife, Mary E. Bardwell.

Eugene S. P. Bolton - Company A, 1st Vermont Heavy Artillery

F. W. Fiske - Company C, 8th Minnesota Infantry

Martin Holston - Company B, 1st Illinois Cavalry - UPDATE 23 Sep 2007: Read his biography here.

Pvt. Albert B. Hurd - Company H, 6th Minnesota Infantry (He already had a memorial page and photo, unbeknownst to me, but I added the photo I took.)

Hiram O. Johnson - Company H, 9th Indiana Infantry

Pvt. Joseph Litterneau - Company F, 12th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry

William W. Mason - 39th Massachusetts Infantry

John W. Proctor - "U. S. Soldier"

Corp. Christian Sanders - Company F, 6th Wisconsin Infantry

His probable wife, Elizabeth Sanders.

Sgt. Walter Scott - Company K, U.S. Colored Troops Infantry (I'd love to find out more of his story! African-Americans have always been a definite minority in this community, especially at the time this man would have lived here.) - UPDATE: Craig Manson, at GeneaBlogie, has created a "brief study" of Sgt. Walter Scott's life here.

John C. Squires - Company I, 2nd New York Heavy Artillery

Henry S. Walker - Company L, 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry

James B. Warren - Company D, 18th Missouri Infantry

Musician Charles F. Wightman - Company C, 26th Illinois Infantry

I used the Sons of Union Veterans National Graves Registration Database to try to find more detailed information on these men. There wasn't much, but I did get some full names where I only found initials, a couple of dates (most of the stones did not list birth/death dates), and some explanations for some of the abbreviations.

These are but a handful of the 393 known Civil War veterans buried in this cemetery and the 803 total buried in this county. I want to know more about these men, and perhaps this summer I can do some research on them, or find their obituaries in the microfilmed newspapers in the downtown library.

Ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census - Part 3

April 1st was Census Day for the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. In honor of that census day, throughout the month of April I am posting lists of my known direct ancestors and where they were residing during that census. I'll also list who's missing; for us family historians, missing individuals on census records can be the most frustrating and intriguing challenges of genealogy!

In my last post on this topic, I presented my paternal grandmother, born Jane Marie YORK, living as Jeanne Marie HOLST with her foster (and later, adoptive) parents, Alfred Henry HOLST and Nellie May CONCIDINE. I also showed her biological brother, Harry Orlando YORK, living as James Howard ERWIN with his adoptive parents, Howard W. ERWIN and Effie M. GAUNT.

In this post, I will show the biological parents (divorced in 1927) of these children. Their father, Howard Merkel YORK was living with his father and step-mother, James L. YORK and Mary A. BOGERT on Atwater Street in Lake Orion, Oakland County, Michigan. Howard was listed as an unemployed house roofer and a veteran of World War I. (This image from Ancestry.com is difficult to read; the one at HeritageQuest Online is much clearer, but I couldn't change the format of the better image to be used in this post.)

(The census image has been removed)

The children's mother, Mary Jane BARBER, has been very difficult to locate. I searched for her from 2002, when the 1930 U.S. Federal Census first became publicly available, until late last year (2006). I could not find her listed under either Mary Jane YORK or Mary Jane BARBER. Searches using her first name only, along with the approximate year of birth and state of birth were not helpful. I was searching in Michigan only, as I had been told by her sister-in-law that she had lived there all her life. I found a woman that possibly could have matched living in a state hospital, which made me wonder...

However, it was the realization that I could find all of Mary Jane's siblings on the 1930 census, with the exception of her older brother James Albert BARBER, which made me decide that he had to be the key. Mary Jane was extremely close to her brother; he was a father-figure to her, as their father, Orlando BARBER, died five days after her first birthday. Jim had been one of the witnesses to Mary Jane's marriage to Howard YORK. So I started searching for him in order to find her.

I couldn't find Jim in all of Michigan, so I expanded my search to include all of the United States. By using the search parameters of his first and last name, state of birth, and year of birth (1903), plus or minus 5 years, I discovered a James BARBER living in the first ward of the city of Manitowoc, Manitowoc Co., Wisconsin at 719 Jay Street. He was listed as 30 years old, employed as an engineer for a cement plant, a military veteran, whose father was born in Canada and whose mother was born in Michigan. A 57-year-old Greek immigrant, Peter CARLOS, roomed at the same address. So far, everything matched quite closely.

(The census image has been removed)

I then searched for any woman named Mary Jane, born c. 1910, plus or minus 5 years in Manitowoc County. Lo and behold, a woman named Mary Jane KUPSH, wife of Arthur, turned up. She was born c. 1911 in Michigan, father born in Canada, mother born in Michigan. She and husband Arthur were living at 1814 Clark Street in the fifth ward of the city of Manitowoc.

(The census image has been removed)

So far, this is only circumstantial evidence. I need to obtain a marriage record of Arthur KUPSH and Mary Jane [--?--] to determine if she is "mine." Uncle Jim's widow had never heard of Jim or Mary Jane living in Wisconsin, nor of Mary Jane being married to an Arthur KUPSH. However, Jim's widow did not marry him until 1950, so it is possible that she never knew that part of their lives.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12)

Peder Johnsen LERFALD death

Cynthia from Random Acts has done a lookup for me in the St. Croix County, Wisconsin death records and abstracted the following information on my husband's great-great-grandfather:

Volume 18 Page 323

Peter Lerfald

Married

Born April 25, 1855 in Norway

Died August 16, 1936

81 years, 3 months, 27 days

Farmer

Father: John Lerfald (born in Norway)

Mother: Unknown (born in Norway)

Informant: John Lerfald, Woodville

Buried August 20, 1936 at Woodville Cemetery

[The reason for death was hard to read:] Carcinoma Maxlom [?] right eye. Sinus with catgasive involvement of face, nose and palate. [I am only writing what it looked like. Could it have been brain or mouth cancer?]

No autopsy.

Microscope confirmed diagnosis

Dr. saw him from November 1935 - August 16, 1936. Onset was in 1935.

She was able to tell me where and how to order this record (Registrar of Deeds) and the cost ($7). Cynthia's also looking into why the Woodville newspapers are non-existent for the 10 or 12-year time period that includes 1936 (no obituaries available). She believes it was due to a fire.

Volunteers are wonderful people!

Grave photos of Peder and Regina LERFALD and sons

Anne S. Anderson and her husband (Find A Grave photo volunteers) kindly gave of their time to locate and photograph the graves of my husband's great-great-grandparents, Peder and Regina LERFALD. Our records indicated that the LERFALDs were buried in Lone Pine Cemetery, Woodville, St. Croix County, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson went to three cemeteries in Woodville, ending up at Zion Lutheran. They found not only Peder and Regina's shared headstone, but the headstones for two of their sons, John and Ole (named respectively for Peder's and Regina's fathers).

It's not clear at this point if Zion Lutheran and Lone Pine are two names for the same cemetery, but it appears to be so. I have to do some more checking, perhaps with the St. Croix Valley Genealogical Society or the St. Croix County Historical Society. The good news is that since I know they are buried at Zion Lutheran Cemetery, I am assuming that they may have been parishioners of Zion Lutheran Church. Perhaps I can find some church records that can help me "humanize" this family...so that they are less names, dates, and locations, and more people with needs, wishes, failings and strengths. I found a lot of helpful information at the St. Croix County USGenWeb site, including a history of Woodville. Seems this area was part of the "Big Woods" of Wisconsin, made famous by Laura Ingalls Wilder's first book, Little House in the Big Woods.

Above is a photo of Peder and Regina on their 50th anniversary in 1931, probably in Woodville. Look at the size of Peder's hands!

Peder Johnsen LEFALD and Regina Olasdotter LERFALD were first cousins, although not on both their fathers' sides, as it would seem by their common surname. Peder's father, John Nilssen LERFALD, and Regina's mother, Ane Nilssdotter LERFALDHOLMEN, were siblings, children of Nils Pedersen LERFALDTRØEN and Randi Olasdotter LERFALDHOLMEN. The variations of the LERFALD surname indicate the various farms in the Lerfald area of Norway (east of Trondheim) where the family members last worked before immigration. In other words, LERFALD and its variations, are place names which became surnames. It's been very difficult finding the LERFALDs in U.S. records after they immigrated (between 1866 [Peder and parents] and 1874 [Regina and mother]), and they tended to use patronyms. Trying to find JOHNSENs (Peder) and OLSENS (Regina - masculine version of Olasdotter) or their parents' patronyms of NELSON (for Nilssen and Nilssdotter) and PEDERSEN/PETERSON in Minnesota and Wisconsin in the late 1800s - early 1900s, is a challenge, to say the least!

My Genealogy Gift List: Victoria's Secret? Never!

The other day, my 16-year-old daughter and I were watching television together when a commercial for Victoria's Secret aired during the break. The gist of the message was "every woman wants Victoria's Secret for the holidays." I rolled my eyes and said to Missy, "Not this woman. Give me death certificates or census records any day!"

As I thought it over, I realized that there were actually a few Secrets I'd like, none of them having to do with women named Victoria, however. For instance, there's Mariah Emily DAILEY and her daughter, Emma Alice LYTON, my children's father's 2nd-great- and great-grandmothers, respectively. Just exactly where were they when the 1880 Federal Census was being taken? They should have been in Iowa, specifically in Thurman, Freman County. Mariah's first husband, George TURK, assumed the name Henry LYTON, and immigrated to the U.S. from Ontario to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. After his death, Mariah married German immigrant John KLINDER in 1875. By 1880, Mariah and John had two children, Nancy Florence and Laura Luella, as well as Emma and Agnes LYTON from her marriage to Henry. Mariah's Secret or Emma's Secret would be great gifts for Christmas!

And in my own ancestry, I have yet to figure out Mary Jane's Secret...Mary Jane FREDENBURG, that is. My 2nd-great-grandmother was 8 years old in 1880, yet she and her six-year-old brother, George Franklin FREDENBURG, are missing from the Greenwood Township, St. Clair County, Michigan home of her widowed mother Cornelia (McCLELLAN) FREDENBURG, younger brother William Anthony FREDENBURG (age 3 1/2), older half-sister Sarah E. FREDENBURG (12) and paternal grandparents Anthony and Hannah (FOX) FREDENBURG. Can't find them anywhere in Michigan, or the U.S., for that matter.

I did get Helen's Secret and Rena's Secret for Christmas last year. My children's father's paternal grandmother, Helen Mary WESTABY, and her mother, Rena (LERFALD) WESTABY, went missing, along with father George Rice WESTABY, III, during the 1920 Federal Census. I thought I had figured it out when I read George's obituary a few years ago. It stated that he had come from Montana to Washington State in 1920. "Aha!" I thought. "That's why I couldn't find them...they were moving, en route across the Northwest." I was right...sort of. I was given some significant missing details by my children's paternal grandfather during our 2005 Christmas visit. He told me that his grandfather George had been employed by the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana, along with George's father and brothers. Seems George and his brothers made a little extra on the side by selling brass they stole from the railroad. George apparently sold to the wrong person, and managed to discover his mistake shortly before his impending arrest, making a midnight move with Rena and little Helen west to the Yakima Valley, where they likely hid out at the home of George's cousin, Charles WESTABY. If they weren't exactly in transit when the census was taken, it is certain that neither Charles nor his wife would have divulged to a government employee (i.e. census enumerator) that they were harboring a fugitive from the law!

And I did uncover another Mary Jane's Secret this year...I think. Mary Jane BARBER, my great-grandmother and daughter of Mary Jane FREDENBURG mentioned above, was married many times. In fact, she apparently was married so many times, even her family members may not have known the exact count. My records show she first married my great-grandfather, Howard Merkel YORK, when she was only 14 years old, in 1924. That unhappy union ended three years later. Mary Jane later married her step-brother, Archie Louis KELLER, when both were in their thirties. After that divorce, Mary Jane married what we had believed to be her third husband, Jay DUNLAP. It was my searching for Mary Jane in the 1930 Federal Census that led to my theory that there was another husband between Howard and Archie. Since I couldn't seem to find Mary Jane, I looked for her older brother Jim. I found a man with his name, the right age, birthplace and parents' birthplaces in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Coincidentally, there's also a Mary Jane KUPSH in Manitowoc, age off by only one year, born in Michigan, parents born in Michigan. Ordering Arthur KUPSH's marriage record to Mary Jane should clarify if this is my great-grandmother. Interestingly, I asked Uncle Jim's widow if she had ever heard that her late husband and sister-in-law had lived in Wisconsin. She said no; however, Jim's widow came late into the family, as a second marriage for both Jim and herself. She may not have known Mary Jane's Secret.

So a few Secrets uncovered...yet many more to be found! So put away those laces, satins and silks...give me dusty documents, faded photographs (but not too faded!), or samplers stitched with my ancestress' maiden name instead:

My genealogy gift list for myself (and for you!) is to uncover a few more family secrets in 2007...a few more surprises, a few more times exclaiming "so THAT'S where they were!" and many more genealogy happy dances to jig!

Merry Christmas!

P.S. When I originally published this post at my old blog site, Lee left the following comment on December 18, 2006:

Love your post! Who has a need for Victoria Secret when there are juicier secrets out there just waiting to be uncovered?

~ Lee

Research Log - Obit for Regina LERFALD

Heard back from Dave, a RAOGK volunteer for Eau Claire Co., Wisconsin. He could not find an obit for Regina LERFALD, but did find a death record and sent me a transcription in an Excel file:

	A	B
1		Wisconsin Death Record
2		(not official or legal, for genealogy purposes only)
3
4	Name	Regina Lerfold
5	Maiden Name
6	Sex, Race, Status	F, W, widow
7	Date & Place of Birth	April 2, 1860 Norway
8	Date & Place of Death	Dec 23, 1943 Eau Claire, WI
9	Address	Woodville, WI
10	Age & Occupation	Age 83 yrs, 8 mns, 20 dys
11	Spouse	Peter Lerfold
12	SS#
13	Informant & address	Mrs. Anna Nelson, Eau Claire, WI
14	Parents & Birthplace	unknown - NORWAY
15	Cause of Death	unknown chronic disease, 4-6 months duration
16	Hospital or Doctor	Sacred Heart Hospital, J. W. Lowe, MD
17	Burial	Woodville, WI
18	Funeral Director	Lenmark & Sons, Eau Claire, WI
19	Source	Eau Claire County Death, Vol 40 Page 529
20	.
21	Miscellaneous	Had been in USA for 75 years
22	.

Regina was Norm's great-great-grandmother, and she married her first cousin, Peder Johnsen LERFALD. Family records indicate she came to the U.S. in 1874, not 1868, as her death record infers. Peder immigrated in 1866, according to family records. I have not been able to find them in Ancestry's Immigration Collection. But Norwegian names can be complicated. They may have used a different last name, depending on the last farm their fathers worked before immigration. Or they may have used patronyms. Johnsen and Olasen/Olsen would be Peder and Regina's respective patronyms, and both are extremely common names.

The Anna Nelson referred to in the death record was their middle daughter. Norm's great-grandmother, Rena, was their youngest daughter and youngest surviving child. It appears that Anna cared for her mother after Peder's death.

My next plan is to have an obit search in the Woodville papers.

Research Log - Obits for Norm's Ancestors

Requested obituaries though various RAOGK volunteers for Norm's ancestors:

Peder Johnsen LERFALD
Regina LERFALD
Clark Pleasant R. TOLLIVER
Senna COLLINS
Emma Alice LYTON
John Franklin MARTIN
George Rice WESTABY, II
Reuben Wohlford SNOOK
Elizabeth NEARHOOD (step-ancestor, second wife of Reuben Wohlford SNOOK)
Angelia Rebecca LUKE.