Wednesday's Child ~ Remembering Thomas William Iverson

Photo courtesy of Jaci, Find A Grave volunteer #47592448

Thomas William Iverson was my paternal first cousin once removed. He was the son of my granduncle and grandaunt, Christian Julius Iverson and Florence McIntosh.

Thomas was one of three children born to Christian and Florence. Sadly, Thomas passed away when he was only six months old. His death must have been so heartbreaking for his family.

Thomas was born on 27 September 1929 in Hennepin, Minnesota and passed away on 31 March 1930 in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota.

While doing research about little Thomas on Ancestry.com, I was directed to the People Finder page on the Minnesota Historical Society's website. That website gave me Thomas' birth information. I'll show you how I found it.

On Ancestry.com, I was given this search result about Thomas. I clicked on "Go to website."

The following box popped up. I then clicked on "OPEN WEBSITE."

 I was taken to this page on the Minnesota Historical Society's website.

I typed Thomas' name in the search box.

The correct Thomas William Iverson was at the top of the results list.

I clicked on Thomas' name and the following page appeared.

Isn't this great? It shows the birth date and place for Thomas. It also includes Thomas' mother's maiden name as well as his birth certificate number. And as you can see, there is an option to purchase the birth certificate as well.

It's so sad that little Thomas passed away at such a young age. If you'd like to see Thomas' Find A Grave Memorial page, please click on the link below.

Thomas William Iverson's Find A Grave Memorial Page

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2017 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Wednesday's Child ~ Remembering Carl Martin Gillberg

Carl Martin Gillberg was the third of nine children, and the only son, born to my paternal great-grandparents Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson.

Carl Martin was born on November 12, 1904 in Eskilstuna, Södermanland, Sweden and passed away on January 23, 1906. He was only one year and two months old when he died.

In one of my Grandma Ingrid's Books of Remembrance, I found the following page (it's a large page and I'm only showing part of it here).



Sadly, the place for little Carl Martin's picture is empty.

It appears that he was called by his middle name Martin. I'm assuming this is because his father's name was Carl.

Here is Carl Martin's birth record¹ in Sweden:



Here's a cropped version of the document above just showing Carl Martin Gillberg's birth record.



I wish I knew what the note in the far right column says. If anyone can read Swedish and would like to help me out with this, I would very much appreciate it. Here's a closer look at that far right column.

I looked through my Grandma Ingrid's Books of Remembrance and couldn't find any information about Carl Martin's cause of death, although Ingrid mentioned that Carl was a healthy child. From what she also wrote, it sounds like Carl was a big boy and was large for his age.

Three years after Carl Martin's death, the family began immigrating to the United States. Part of the family left in 1909 and the rest left Sweden in 1910.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

---

1 Swedish Church Records Archive; Johanneshov, Sweden; Sweden, Indexed Birth Records, 1880-1920; GID Number: 79.147.34100; Roll/Fiche Number: CK2837; Volume: SCB; Record Type: Födde (Births); Year Range: 1898 - 1920. Ancestry.com. Sweden, Indexed Birth Records, 1880-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Swedish Church Records Archive. Johanneshov, Sweden: Genline AB.^↩

Wednesday's Child ~ Remembering Fred Lincoln Webster, Asbury's Brother

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Asbury Bateman Webster, who died of inflammation of the lungs at nine years of age.

Today we remember Asbury's youngest brother, Fred Lincoln Webster.

Fred was born on  October 28, 1863 in Pecatonica, Winnebago, Illinois.  He was the youngest of eight children born to Moses Augustine Webster and Amanda Melvina Carlisle.  His oldest sibling, Ebenezer Perry Carlisle Webster (my 2nd Great-Grandfather) was 25 years older than him and had already served in the Civil War by the time Fred was born.

Another older brother, Watson Emery Webster (not to be confused with my Great-Grandfather, Watson Emory [Frederick] Webster, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist") had also served in the Civil War before Fred was born.  Both Ebenezer and Watson were discharged from the service in Feb and Jan 1863 respectively due to disability.

I've only found Fred in one federal census.  Here's Fred living with his parents, Moses and Amanda in the 1870 Blairstown, Benton, Iowa U.S. Census.¹ His brother Watson and his family are living in the household as well.  Sadly, one year after this census was taken, Fred's mother, Amanda died.  She was only 51 years old at the time of her death.



1870 U.S. Federal Census, Blairstown, Benton, Iowa
Ancestry.com (see footnote)

As you can see, Fred was six years old at the time of this census.  A short seven years after this census was taken, Fred passed away.

According to the History And Genealogy of the Gov. John Webster Family of Connecticut, Volume 2, page 1185:²

"Fred Lincoln Webster, b. Oct. 28, 1863, was killed by accident, Aug. 21, 1877."

Fred was just two months shy of his fourteenth birthday when he died.  I don't know anything about the accident that caused his death.  I've tried to find newspaper accounts regarding Fred's death, but haven't been able to find anything yet.

I'm not even sure where Fred died.  He could have died in Iowa or even Kansas.  Why Kansas?  Because in the 1880 U.S. Census, Fred's father, Moses, was living in Marshall County, Kansas with his son Ebenezer.  It is possible that sometime following the death of Fred's mother, Amanda, in 1871, Moses and little Fred moved from Iowa to Ebenezer's home in Kansas.

As I related in my post about Fred's brother, Asbury, four of the eight children born to Moses and Amanda Webster died at young ages.  I'd like to remember the other two children in future posts.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

---

1 Year: 1870; Census Place: Blairstown, Benton, Iowa; Roll: M593_376; Page: 198B; Image: 400; Family History Library Film: 545875.Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. ^↩


2 William Holcomb Webster and Rev. Melville Reuben Webster, D. D., History and Genealogy of the Gov. John Webster Family of Connecticut (Rochester, New York: E. R. Andrews Printing Company, 1915), Vol. 2, pg. 1185^↩

 

Wednesday's Child ~ Remembering Asbury

From FindaGrave.com
Photo by Crystal Vannest Danko

Asbury Bateman Webster was born on October 20, 1840 in Racine, Meigs, Ohio.  He was the son of my maternal 3rd Great-Grandparents, Moses Augustine Webster and Amanda Melvina Carlisle.  Asbury was the second of eight children born to Moses and Amanda.  He passed away on December 2, 1849 at only nine years of age.  According to the United States Census (Mortality Schedule) for 1850, Asbury's cause of death was "Inflammation of the Lungs" with the duration of the illness being 60 days.¹

I wondered what "Inflammation of the Lungs" meant in today's medical terminology.  I also wondered if this term meant Asbury could have had Asthma.  My understanding is that the tendency to have Asthma can run in families.  Asbury's older brother, Ebenezer (my 2nd Great-Grandfather), suffered from Asthma.  How did I find out my 2nd Great-Grandfather had Asthma?  It was documented in his Civil War Pension File.

In today's medical terms, Inflammatory Lung Disease includes Asthma, COPD, Cystic Fibrosis, etc.  But, what did "Inflammation of the Lungs" mean in the 1800s?

I checked the website Nineteenth Century Diseases, and it stated the following:

"In the last century, cause of death often was listed as inflammation of a body organ; such as, brain or lung, but this was purely a descriptive term and is not helpful in identifying the actual underlying disease."

I did a bit more sleuthing and found different information in the website  eHistory's Common Civil War Medical Terms.  According to this website, "Inflammation of the Lungs" was the equivalent to pneumonia today.

So, with conflicting information, I guess it's really not clear what the underlying cause of death was for poor little Asbury.

Unfortunately, Asbury wasn't the only child of Moses and Amanda's children who died before reaching adulthood.  They lost three more children:  two under the age of five, and one when he was fourteen years old.

If you'd like to check out Asbury's FindaGrave memorial page, just click the following link:  Asbury's FindaGrave.com Memorial Page

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

---

1 "United States Census (Mortality Schedule), 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M36N-P4J : accessed 30 Jan 2013), A B Webster, Meigs county, Meigs, Ohio, United States; citing NARA microfilm publication M432^↩

Wednesday’s Child x 2–Lewis Asher and Frederick G. Engle

I feel for my maternal 2nd great-grand aunt Sarah Amanda Waterman.  Two of her children died at a very young age:

• Lewis Asher Engle – Born 10 February 1861, Died 7 February 1862.
• Frederick G. Engle – Born 20 February 1876, Died the same day.

I can’t even imagine how painful this must have been for her.  She and her husband, Richard Engle, were the parents of seven children, all of whom were born in Ohio:

1. Ella Eliza Engle (16 Jun 1858 – 10 December 1951)
2. Lewis Asher Engle (10 February 1861 – 7 February 1862)
3. Charles Albert Engle (20 June 1864 – 20 September 1946)
4. Mary Albertina Engle ( 20 June 1864 – 13 January 1885)
5. William Barker Engle (23 September 1867 – 1 Jun 1950)
6. Edwin Caleb Engle (8 November 1869 – 18 May 1943)
7. Frederick G. Engle (20 February 1876 – 20 February 1876)

Richard Engle served in the U.S. Civil War.  I have his pension file (I love pension files, by the way!  They are amazing genealogical resources.)  Here's a page from Richard’s pension file listing his children.  Surprisingly I found a child from a previous marriage that I didn’t know anything about.



I was also unaware of Richard's first marriage.  His first wife, Eliza Dunbar, and daughter, Morandia Jane Engle, both died in November of 1855 within days of each other.  So very sad!

Thanks for reading!


Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Wednesday’s Child–Henry Adolph Olson

Henry Adolph Olson is my 1st cousin twice removed.  He is the son of Eilert Christopher Olson and Julia Randina Iverson.  Eilert was born in Bergen, Norway on June 15, 1872 and died in St. Cloud, Stearns, Minnesota on September 1, 1964.  Julia was born in Olivia, Renville, Minnesota on July 8, 1876 and died in Hennepin, Minnesota on April 17, 1973.

Henry Adolph Olson was born on August 10, 1904 in Sedan, Pope, Minnesota and died on March 17, 1905 at only seven months of age.  He is buried at the Chippewa Falls Cemetery in Terrace, Pope, Minnesota.

The pictures of Henry’s gravestones were taken by Jim Olsen.  I thank him for taking these pictures and for giving me permission to use them in this post.

If you look closely at Henry’s gravestone, you will notice the words "Birth" and "Death" are written in Norwegian as "Födt" and "Døde."

Henry's Findagrave Memorial

Thanks for reading!


Copyright © Jana Last 2012