Old Newspapers

In small midwestern towns, the local paper would often put in tidbits of local news.  I happened across this little bit from the Turtle Mountain Star from October 15, 1931:

"Mrs. Emma Ward, Lillian Ward, Mrs. Emma Beckman, Mrs. J.B. Smith and Mrs. J. H. Poyzer motored to Cando Tuesday where Mrs. Beckman took a train for her home at Tolna, after spending a week visiting her daughter, Mrs. Emma Ward."

It always amuses me to read these little tidbits about ordinary life!
And I looked it up, according to Google, the distance from Cando to Tolna is 76.7 miles

And from December 24, 1931:

"Mrs. Emma Beckman left for her home in Tolna Saturday after a three month stay with her daughter, Mrs. Emma Ward.  Charles Ward accompanied her to Rolla where she left by rail."

Just for a little background, Emma Ward is Emma Pape Beckman's youngest daughter.  In 1931, Emma Beckman was 66 years old.  Emma Ward was 45.  Charles Ward is Emma Beckman's grandson.  Emma Ward's husband had just died in September 1931.

With a little deductive reasoning, when Emma Ward's husband was failing, Emma Beckman went to help out.  Because that's what families do.

Solving Mysteries - Emma!

Mrs Emma Pape Beckman

Yes, this is her!

I was told over again and again that my great grandfather Wilhelm traveled to America in 1882 with his sister "Anna".  And yet when I discovered the entry on the ship's log, her name was written Emma.

After lots of trial and error and searches resulting in nothing for "Anna Pape" ... I switched up to "Emma".  Nothing in Minnesota, so going from the stories written how they traveled by train as far as they could go, then walked the last 14 miles in snow - it was still April/May in 1882 - to the German community where his sister had been writing to friends or acquaintances.  Wilhelm didn't like the land there, and decided to head for the Red River Valley.  Apparently Emma stayed there.

North Dakota's records are limited when it comes to online searches, but spending a weekend with my mom and her sister, we chatted about family history a bit, and they opened up and told a story about going to Tolna, ND to visit relatives.

Somewhere in the 90s, I'm thinking 1992, my parents were visiting Minnesota and their father, Bob, got everyone loaded up into the suburban and headed out for a drive.  He never told them where they were going, or why.  After driving a bit, my father, Oliver speaks up "I know I'm going back home to California, but I had no idea we were driving!!"  (Such a sense of humor he had!)

Turns out they're going to meet Bob's cousins, people my mom and her sister had never met, nor heard of.  They visited, had a meal and turned around to come home.  On the way, Marge spoke up, "I just got paid, how about I treat everyone to dinner?"  They stopped and got food, and the bill came.  She reached into her purse, and all her cash was gone!   As expected, this memory hasn't faded a bit!  Bob gave everyone a hard time about it the entire rest of the trip!

Just chatting back and forth between the sisters, the managed to come up with a few details:  His name was Vernon Jorde.  His wife's name is Phyllis.  When reading Vernon's obit, both of them said the name "Beckman" was familiar.  That's Phyllis' maiden name.  More research, and Phyllis' father is Ernest Beckman.  Ernest is the son of Charles and Emma Beckman -- Emma being my great grandfather's sister!  I wasn't 100% positive because her maiden name isn't listed in sources I was able to find, until this little blurb on a North Dakota University search for the name Beckman, and it shows Mrs. Emma Pape Beckman as part of these two written pieces of history.

I'm tickled pink to be able to know what became of this long lost relative.  This family has always been big on secrets and untold stories ... how many of them are lost now, and to me, that's sad.

Great grandaunt Emma .... welcome to the family!