Sepia Saturday 144–Why Not Stand On Your Head?

Sepia Saturday provides an opportunity for genealogy bloggers to share their family history through photographs.


Alan from Sepia Saturday has given us several options for our photo prompt today ~ ex-convicts, young boys, striped pajamas, as well as those photos we all have taken which weren’t exactly “picture perfect.”

Kind of like our Sepia Saturday photo above.  Notice anything unusual?  Yep, the gentleman is missing his head.  Uh Oh!  And that was another option we could have gone with.  The inevitable “missing limb photo” from our own photo collections.

Instead of showing you a photo of someone missing their head, I’ve decided to share a photo of someone standing ON their head.


Jan Albert Iverson

Who is this you ask?  This is Jan Albert Iverson, my Dad.  I really don’t know just how old he is in this photo, but I would guess he is a rather youngish boy.  And I don't know if he was just being silly or was showing his athleticism (hey mom!  look what I can do!).

What I do know is that I love this photo of my Dad in his youth.

To me it shows Dad's silly side.  In many ways he really was a kid at heart.  He was a very good dad to us three kids.  Here are a few examples of the special times we kids shared with our dad ~

• When my two brothers and I were little kids, he would take us to the park on Saturday mornings.  He had made a parachute out of silky fabric and attached a heavy metal washer to the ends of the strings.  He would throw it high into the air and we kids delightedly watched as it would gently float toward the ground.

• When we were little kids, our family owned a green 1964 Volkswagen Bug.  Remember those?  On occasion, my Dad and Mom would gather us kids together and we would all pile into our green VW Bug and drive over to A&W to get Papa, Mama and Baby Burgers and frosty mugs of root beer. Then we would head over to the drive-in to watch a movie.  Fun times!

• My Dad loved football and I remember sitting on the couch in front of the TV watching football games with him. Ya, I still love football!

My Dad was a loving husband and father, a computer programmer by profession, and a genealogist/family historian as well.

Thanks for traveling with me down memory lane.  And to think all these memories started with a photo of my dad standing on his head!

To see what other Sepia Saturday participants have written this week, there’s no need to STAND ON ceremony, just HEAD on over to Sepia Saturday.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Tombstone Tuesday–A Sad Little Grave Marker for Karen Carlsson

My awesome readers may have noticed that I’ve been kind of quiet here on my blog lately.  Well, there’s a fun reason for that.  My family and I just got home this last Saturday from a fun-filled week’s vacation in Utah.  We had a great time visiting with both immediate and extended family. 

Of course I made sure to include some family history in our trip.  We were able to visit two cemeteries and we got together with a 3rd cousin of mine who has in her possession the photo albums of my maternal 2nd great-grandparents (more about these amazing photo albums in a future post).

One of the cemeteries we visited was the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Salt Lake City Cemetery

Me with three of my sons in the background

Karen Johnsson Carlsson, my paternal 2nd great-grandmother, is buried there.  She was born in Sweden and immigrated to the United States sometime before 1910.  (The 1910 census states her year of immigration as 1891, but that conflicts with my grandmother’s vocal history.  I’d like to resolve this conflict in the near future.)


Karen Johnsson Carlsson

With anticipation we searched for Karen’s grave marker.  I have to say I was somewhat saddened when we finally found it.

Yes, I’m glad that Karen at least has a gravestone.  I just wish Karen’s grave marker was more than just a name on a slab of stone.  I think she deserves to be honored more than that.  So, we are looking into purchasing a more fitting grave marker for her.

This year, 2012, is the centennial anniversary of Karen’s death.  She was born in Gillberga, Sodermanland, Sweden on July 9, 1850.  She passed away on January 29, 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I imagine the reason her grave marker isn’t more elaborate is because Karen’s daughter Hilda (my great-grandmother) and her family were probably still struggling immigrants at the time of Karen’s death.  I assume they couldn’t afford a more fitting gravestone for Karen.  Hilda and her family immigrated to the United States from Sweden in 1909 and 1910, only two to three years before Karen’s death.

The 1910 Census shows that Karen, who went by Carrie at this time, was living with Hilda and her family.

According to this census, Hilda and her husband Carl only spoke Swedish at that time.  Carrie was able to speak English, as it appears she had been living in the United States longer than her daughter’s family.

I’m so glad we were able to visit Karen’s grave, even though I was saddened to find her grave marker to be of a very humble nature.  I’m also glad we are planning on giving Karen a more fitting gravestone some day in the future.


Thanks for reading!

Jana


Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Those Places Thursday - Speaking of Camping….

For those of you who follow my Fab Finds posts, you will know that my family and I went camping last week.  We spent several days at Shaver Lake enjoying time with our immediate and extended family.

We had fun kayaking…

swimming and jumping off the “jumping rock”…

and cooking in our Dutch Oven.

And for the first time in the 10 years we’ve camped at Shaver Lake, we saw cows meandering out of the forest to walk through the meadow.

So, what does all this have to do with my ancestors or genealogy?

Well, it turns out my grandpa and grandma, Arthur and Ingrid Iverson, spent time camping too.

Here’s what Grandma Ingrid said about her camping experiences:

“I know for every vacation it seemed like we would go to Yosemite.  It was just a beautiful place.  To get away and to be alone, but I of course, was frightened of the bears because it was always a little frightening to go where the wild animals were.  Where they were able to roam at ease.  And they would come around your tent and sniff and the fearful thought of the children in the tent, hoping they wouldn’t crash in.”  (Vocal History of Ingrid Gilberg Iverson Crawford)

Yikes!  I would not want to go camping where bears were sniffing at the tent!  No thank you!  I'll take cows in the meadow over bears around my tent any day!

Here are some photos of my brave grandparents from a few of their camping trips.

I love this picture of Arthur at home in his camping gear.

Arthur at Home in his Camping Gear
circa 1934

Ingrid in Front of Yosemite Falls
1933

Ingrid and Arthur at Yosemite

Ingrid at Yosemite

Ingrid at Yosemite

I think I see a box of Kellogg’s cereal sitting on the table behind Ingrid.  Do you see it?

Ingrid at Yosemite

Don’t you just love that old car in this photo?

Ingrid at her Campsite

This photo of Arthur is fun too.

Arthur Needs a Shave After Camping

What about you?  Do you enjoy camping?  Do you have a favorite place to go camping?  Share your camping stories in the comments below or on your own blog.  And if you’d like to, you can include a link to your blog post in the comments section below.

If you don't have any camping stories, I'd still love to hear your comments.  Thanks for reading!

Thanks for reading!

Jana
Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Sepia Saturday 128–Grandpa Iverson Plays his Mandolin

Sepia Saturday provides an opportunity for genealogy bloggers to share their family history through photographs.

Arthur Harry Iverson

This week's Sepia Saturday suggests a musical theme.  I love this photo of my paternal grandfather, Arthur Harry Iverson, playing his mandolin.  From what I’ve read about him and his family, they must have been musically inclined.  His older brothers, Christian Julius Iverson and Lawrence Nicholas Iverson played guitars and violins and also made the instruments as well.  This is fascinating to me, as my husband and I are the parents of five children, all of whom sing and also play or have played one or more instruments.

My paternal grandmother, Ingrid Anna Gilberg, Arthur’s wife, also came from a musical family.  Her vocal personal history recounts how her mother, an immigrant from Sweden, played the guitar and sang.  In this history Ingrid said,

“Another thing I’d like to tell you that mother played the guitar as a young girl in Sweden and she would play at gatherings with her friends and they would harmonize and sing all the songs they knew in Sweden.  When she came to America she continued this.  She played the guitar at home and with friends and she taught us Swedish songs.  And we learned to harmonize my sisters and I.  It was a beautiful gathering each time we would stand around our mother and she would play the guitar and sing Swedish songs.”

Ingrid’s twin sisters, Edith and Ida were called upon many times to sing solos in church.

To see more Sepia Saturday posts, click here.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Thankful Thursday–FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, and Names In Stone

I was so thrilled to find my 2nd great-grandmother's death certificate on FamilySearch.org recently! Her name is Karin Johnsson and she was born in Sweden on July 9, 1850. Karin is the grandmother of my Grandma Ingrid. I introduced you to Ingrid in my earlier posts Wedding Wednesday - Arthur Harry Iverson and Ingrid Anna Gilberg and Matrilineal Monday: Flour Sack Dresses - Ingrid Anna Gilberg. Karin’s parents' names are Johan Larsson and Johanna Christina Lycka. Karin married Johan Erik Carlsson. She immigrated to the United States sometime before 1910.

In the 1910 Federal Census she is listed as "Carrie," not Karin and she was living with her daughter Hilda Gillberg's family in Salt Lake City, Utah.[1] The census also lists Karin's year of immigration as 1891. That is a different year than what was recorded in my Grandmother Ingrid's history. I'll have to do some research to resolve this. I also find it interesting to see that according to this census, Karin (Carrie) could speak English, while the rest of the family could not, and instead spoke Swedish.
 


1910 Federal Census

I had been looking at how I could order Karin's death certificate online. Little did I know that it was waiting for me here on FamilySearch.org! It turned out the death date I had was incorrect. I was off by a year, and I had the wrong month. It was great to see the correct date on the death certificate so I could update my records. The informant on Karin's death certificate is Mrs. Hilda Gillberg, who is Karin's daughter. I was able to find Hilda and her family in the 1940 Census. I also see that Karin's father is listed as Larson Grip. Not sure what that means. Actually I guess it means more research. J

I’m also thankful for Ancestry.com because I was able to find cemetery records for Karin so now I can go visit her gravesite.

Speaking of Karin's gravesite, I discovered a really awesome website called Names In Stone. Maybe I'm a latecomer in regards to knowing about this website, but just in case there is anyone out there who doesn't know about it, I wanted to share. I googled Salt Lake City Cemetery, which is where Karin is buried and found this awesome website Names In Stone. I was able to pinpoint Karin's exact plot at the cemetery using their website's search engine. How great is that? Here's a link to Karin's actual plot map so you can see what this page on the website looks like: Carrie Carlson. And if you click on the Cemetery Info tab at the top you see a map of the cemetery and the location of your ancestor's grave. This should definitely be helpful when I visit Karin's grave sometime in the future.

More about Karin Johnsson in an upcoming post....

Thanks for reading!


Copyright © Jana Last 2012

[1] Year: 1910; Census Place: Salt Lake City Ward 1, Salt Lake, Utah; Roll: T624_1605; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0096; Image: 667; FHL microfilm: 1375618. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Matrilineal Monday: Flour Sack Dresses–Ingrid Anna Gilberg

This is my paternal grandmother, Ingrid Anna Gilberg. She was born on November 5, 1913 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her parents were Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson, both of whom were born in Sweden. Carl and Hilda immigrated to the United States in 1909 and 1910, respectively. Ingrid was the sixth of ten children:

1. Judith Maria  (b. 1898 in Sweden)
2. Margaret Limpea (b. 1902 in Sweden)
3. Carl Martin (b. 1904 – d. 1906 in Sweden)
4. Naomi Hildegard (b. 1907 in Sweden)
5. Ruth Katherine (b. 1911 in Utah)
6. Ingrid Anna (b. 1913 in Utah)
7. Helen Albertina (b. 1915 in Utah)
8. Ida Martina (b. 1916 in Utah)
9. Edith Elizabeth (b. 1916 in Utah)
10. Ruby Hilda (b. 1920 in Utah)


Ingrid shared her personal history vocally back in 1977. My dad, Jan Iverson, recorded this history.  It is so precious and in it Ingrid tells about her life and even sings Swedish songs. Here’s a little snippet from Ingrid’s life where she tells about wearing flour sack dresses in her own words:

“And I remember of (sic) mother taking flour sacks that father brought home and making clothing.  She would take these flour sacks and she would dye them.  And she would make dresses out of them.  She would crotchet around them….And she would make quilts out of these flour sacks.  My father was a very good provider and he worked very hard for his family.  But we were, to an extent, poor.  There were times when we didn’t have shoes to go to church.”

Carl’s occupation is listed as a baker in both the 1920 and 1930 censuses. In these census records, Carl's family was living in Salt Lake City, Utah and in Los Angeles, California respectively. The family relocated to Los Angeles because during the Great Depression Carl was out of work and couldn’t find employment in Salt Lake City.  Ingrid’s two older sisters were living in Los Angeles, so Carl went there to find employment. Once Carl saved enough money to support the family, Hilda and the rest of the family joined him in Los Angeles.

I can't imagine how difficult life must have been for my grandmother and her family during the Great Depression. I'm sure I sometimes take for granted the relative ease of my life compared with my grandmother's and others' lives during that time in history. After all, I have never had to wear dresses made from flour sacks or go to church without shoes.

It was while Ingrid was in Los Angeles that she met her future husband, Arthur Harry Iverson.  They were married in Ely, Nevada in 1931, where her parents had moved because of an employment opportunity.  I shared a picture from their wedding day in my post Wedding Wednesday - Arthur Harry Iverson and Ingrid Anna Gilberg.

Ingrid passed away on December 25, 2002 in Vancouver, Washington.

Thanks for reading!

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Sentimental Sunday - A Tribute to My Dad

On April 29, 2009 my father, Jan Albert Iverson, passed away.  On this third anniversary of his passing, I would like to pay tribute to his memory.  He patiently endured his battle with cancer, but it ultimately won in the end.  But because of the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I know my family and I will see him again some day.  Until then dad, we love and miss you!

Jan Iverson's Findagrave Memorial:

Jan Albert Iverson

1940 Census Finds – Carl and Hilda Gillberg

I wanted to find my paternal great-grandparents, Carl Albert and Hilda Maria Gillberg in the 1940 census. Carl and Hilda were the parents of my grandmother, Ingrid Anna Gillberg. Well, I am happy to say that I was able to find Carl and Hilda in the 1940 census! Here’s the process I went through to find them:

 

I knew they were in Los Angeles, California in 1930.  Here they are in the 1930 census.¹

You may remember from my previous post Wedding Wednesday - Arthur Harry Iverson and Ingrid Anna Gillberg, that Arthur and Ingrid were married at the home of Ingrid’s parents in Ely, Nevada in 1931.  So I did a search in the 1940 census for Nevada (yep, that state is now searchable), in case they were still there in 1940.  No luck!  Okay, now what?
 
I looked more closely at what information I had for Carl and Hilda and what else I could find on them from Ancestry.com and voila!  Here were clues I could use!  Carl and Hilda both immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden.  They both had Declarations of Intention from 1939 and those papers had an address on them!  Hurray!  I also found a U.S. Naturalization Record Index Record for Hilda from 1942 and that had an address on it as well!  The addresses from the 1939 and 1942 documents were different.  Well, now I had something to go on!  So, it’s off to SteveMorse.org I went in hopes of finding them in the 1940 census!

I didn’t find them in the first couple of Enumeration Districts I tried.  (Operator error – apparently I hadn’t entered the correct cross streets…silly me.) I decided to keep on looking and after entering the correct cross streets…Eureka!…Here they were at the address they listed in their Declaration of Intention documents in 1939!  Persistence paid off!  So, here are my great-grandparents, Carl and Hilda, in the 1940 Census.²


Because the above image of the 1940 census is so small, I decided to split it in half. Hopefully this makes it easier to read. 

It’s really amazing what the 1940 census can tell us about the kinds of lives our ancestors were living at that time.  It was kind of sad to see that my Great-Grandpa Carl was working as a vegetable peddler from a private truck.  Of course, this was during the Great Depression.  The census states that Carl was engaged in Public Emergency Work, and was seeking employment at the time.  In Sweden he worked as a tinsmith, according to a passenger list and subsequently he worked as a baker and laborer here in the U.S. according to several census records and my own Grandmother Ingrid's personal history.  I really appreciate the sacrifices my ancestors made to come here to the U.S.!

Thanks for reading!

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

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1 Year: 1930; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 145; Page: 8A; Lines 22 and 23; Enumeration District: 332; Image: 800.0; FHL microfilm: 2339880. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. ^↩
2 Year: 1940; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T627_411; Page: 9A; Lines 18 and 19; Enumeration District: 60-895. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.^↩

Wedding Wednesday–Arthur Harry Iverson and Ingrid Anna Gillberg

These are my paternal grandparents on their wedding day – Arthur Harry Iverson and Ingrid Anna Gillberg.  Ingrid’s parents emigrated from Sweden sometime between 1907 and 1911.  Ingrid was born in the United States.  Arthur and Ingrid were married at the home of Ingrid’s parents in Ely, White Pine, Nevada on 27 June 1931.  I was reading through the transcript of my Grandma Ingrid’s vocal history, and she said that one of the Christmas traditions she and her family had when she was growing up was to decorate the ceilings with paper from corner to corner.  It looks like the family did the same thing on this festive occasion of Arthur and Ingrid’s marriage.

P.S.  You may remember Arthur from my previous blog posts titled I Found Clark Gable's Mechanic in the 1940 Census! and Tombstone Tuesday - Arthur Harry Iverson.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
Copyright © Jana Last 2012

I Found Clark Gable’s Mechanic in the 1940 Census!

There he is on line 64 with his family—Arthur Iverson, my grandfather!  According to my grandmother Ingrid Gilberg Iverson, Arthur’s wife, when Clark Gable brought his car to the garage where my grandfather worked, Clark preferred Arthur to be the one to work on his car. Sometimes Clark would even stay and watch my grandfather work on his car. I also heard that Clark Gable seemed to be a very nice, genuine person.

Of course, I'm not claiming that my grandfather was the only mechanic Clark Gable used to work on his cars. But it is really cool to hear that my grandfather was one of his mechanics. And one that he preferred at the garage where Grandpa Arthur worked.

In the 1940 Census, Arthur is listed with his wife Ingrid and their three children.  I've blurred the name and information for the youngest child on this census for privacy reasons. Jan, the middle child is my father. Arthur and his family lived at 6058 N. Bellingham Avenue in North Hollywood at the time of this census.

Here’s a picture of their house.



It’s so awesome that I had this picture of my dad’s first house and that it had the actual address listed too.  Because I had the address of the house, I was able to locate my dad in the 1940 census. I used the website  Stevemorse.org to find the correct enumeration district I needed so I could locate my dad and his family in the census. Thank you Steve Morse!

It’s especially neat to see this census because just two years after it was taken, my grandfather, Arthur Iverson, passed away. To see him in a census with his family is really cool.

Here’s a picture of my grandfather, Arthur Harry Iverson.



Thanks for reading!

Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Source:

Year: 1940; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T627_375; Page: 5B; Line 64; Enumeration District: 60-41. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Welcome to Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

Welcome to Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog!  Thanks for stopping by!

I started researching my family following the death of my grandfather, Debs Webster, who passed away in 1994.  He didn't really talk much about his family history (if at all).  Debs was born in Brazil and my dad's family was from Norway and Sweden.  I just assumed I didn't have any kind of family history tied to the early history of the United States.  But, after looking through family photos and documents belonging to my grandfather, Debs Webster, and through further research of my own, I discovered I was very wrong!  Needless to say, my family history research has been a very interesting, enlightening, and fun (yes, I said fun) journey of discovery.

I hope you will follow me as I share my past, present, and future family history discoveries with you.

Thanks for reading!

© 2012 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved