Illegitimate Children

In 1900 and for several decades thereafter, out-of-wedlock births were notorious and rare. Most pregnancies in unmarried women were rapidly followed by marriage when the pregnancy was discovered (demographers refer to these as "bridal pregnancies"). If not resolved by marriage, unmarried women who gave birth typically gave up their babies for adoption.

Still, even at the turn of the century, it was typical to consider a woman “ruined” if she were to find herself pregnant with no prospects of marriage.  Illegitimate children were stigmatized.  

This topic came up in a discussion about the lack of a headstone placed for my paternal Grandmother, Christine Hendrickson.  In searching throughout census data, and knowing about small towns and farming communities in northwestern Minnesota, much of Christine's family lived around and nearby.  Granted, being a "servant" and raising a child didn't leave a lot of room for extras, let alone savings.  She probably never drove; things couldn't have been easy for her.  Or for Harold, who probably felt the brunt of the same types of exclusions throughout his entire life as well.  

Such a sad existence for a woman who was most likely shunned from societal events, and even scorned by the local married women.  My great grandmother Christine was 28 when she got pregnant.  There's no mention of the father in any records we could find.  In fact, on the 1905 census he was listed as "Harold Pederson" and in the 1910 census he was Harold Danielson, living with his uncle, Peter Hendrickson.  

There is a lot of data regarding illegitimate births in England, perhaps because social standing and inheritance laws were more in place than during the growing spurts of American history.  But I'm certain that both my great grandmother and my grandfather lived with secret knowledge and harbored resentments over how things worked out in their lives in this regard.  

Sometimes there are mysteries we cannot actually solve.  But when you consider the circumstances, what little alternatives there were in these days, and despite the hardships Harold managed to marry and have six children, sometimes it's nice just to have a little bit of whatever you can glean of the family story.

The only known photo of Harold Danielson with his mother, Christine.

(Not sure who the other woman is)

The Cafe and Game Room

I'm looking through a book of Alvarado (MN) Memories (published 2005).   I love the story of this little town who's population in 1910 was 128, and hasn't wavered over 375 since then.  

In the book, I located this photo of the Cafe, originally owned by Mike Nordine.  Inside was filled with antiques he'd collected, including skates and copper kettles.  Mike could tell stories about every piece.  Mike died in 1953, and somewhere in there my Grandmother, Myrtle, decided to take over the Cafe and called it either M&H Cafe, or H&M Cafe (Harold being my Grandfather).  They didn't make a go of it for very long, but they tried.  My mother can recall going there to help out after church on Sundays.  

When I showed Mom this photo she told me "That's a good picture of the cafe.  It was dark inside as I remember. All his glass counters were of walnut color as the other cafes were more brightly lit.  One of them was the pool hall where your dad would get him self these big ice cream cones. Or chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream and of course where he learned to play pool."

This of course led me to search out another photo, "The Game Room".  I'm quite certain this is the pool hall; the book mentioned that they sold sweets and treats there. 

Mike's Cafe originally, it was J. D.'s cafe when the building was razed to make room for a mini mall in 1984.  

J.D.'s relocated inside the strip mall.

Linderoth Mystery

My paternal great-grandmother is Christine Hendrickson.  She is listed in the obituary of Peter Hendrickson as his sister; her son Harold is listed as living with Peter on the 1910 Census as "nephew" -- so the family line fits.  Martin H Linderoth is listed as the brother of Peter Hendrickson (oh the joys of these swedes who came over and re-invented themselves with a new name...... ) 

So I am trying to do research on Martin H Linderoth.  I find it quite odd that I cannot locate a grave for him.  I know he was born in August 1858, and that he died after 1922.  He was the President of the State Bank of Alvarado (Minnesota) and also on the board of directors.  Wouldn't a small town make sure there was a grave marker for one of their own? 



Thanks to the Warren Sheaf for putting small town news in their paper, I know that he bought a new Ford car in 1917.   Considering he had a family, perhaps it was the Model T Touring car like this one:








And then in 1922
he was the administrator of his
brother, Peter Hendrickson's estate.




Where does one look for Mr. Linderoth after this?  I have tried to follow his children, but girls are difficult because of their possible married names.  He had four children with Carolina, who had already been married and had children prior to this marriage.  Esther, Henning, Edwin and Ida. It's also difficult to locate children when they change the spelling of their name.

Maybe one day, I will know more!

Summer of 1930, Liden Girls

Summer of 1930

In the summer of 1930, my grandmother would have been 15 years old.  Life on a farm was a struggle for many, as this was part of the depression era.

In her memoirs, she wrote:  "Our farm had one hundred sixty acres, which was the average size of the farms people claimed as homesteads.  The farm was a mile and a half south of Thief River Falls.  The home that my father built here had a large kitchen, a large bedroom and a large living room with two porches - one in the front and one in the back.  There were two large bedrooms upstairs, one for the boys and one for the girls. 

Living on the farm we always had plenty of food to eat and clothes to wear.  We had a very large garden where we grew all our own vegetables.  The staples were potatoes, corn, carrots, onions, beans, peas, rutabagas and turnips.  There were a few things we couldn't grow very well because of the cold winters and short growing year like tomatoes.  Yet we did grow enough to get us by.
Under the house was a large cellar where we stored our fruits and vegetables.  We had a lot of potatoes.  A large box of sand is where we stored the carrots and they stayed fresh all winter.  We would dry the ears of corn, beans and peas.  The onions and rutabagas were stored down there too.  In the winter when it was very cold my folks would hang a lighted lantern down there to keep it from freezing.  My mother would place a dish of water on the step going down there to see how cold it would get. If it looked like it would get cold enough to freeze she hung the lantern.

When we got home from school it was our job to slop the hogs, pick the eggs, feed the chickens, then it was up to us to milk all of the cows.  We did it all by hand as there were no milking machines then.  We had a water pump and we would have to pump all of the water for the animals to drink.  It took so much water it seemed we just pumped and pumped and pumped.  We had to take turns.  It took a lot of water to water all of our animals.

When the depression of 1929 hit the country, we hardly knew it on the farm.  The only things we had to purchase were coffee and sugar.  One day my father sent a cow to the herd stockyards in St. Paul but the price of meat was so low it didn't even pay for the freight so my father had to send them money instead of him getting anything for it.  He never sold any more."

At Home on the Farm

A distant cousin, Pat, sent me a copy of something "written in long hand on yellow lined paper".  Harriet is the older sister of my great grandmother, Luella Laidley Pape.  I found the tidbits Aunt Harriet jotted down as amusing and entertaining.  You certainly get a feel for what life was like.  And it's funny how life back then intertwined with other families:  Roy Gowan is related to Jim Gowan, who married my mother's sister Margie!    And just to help with the family line, Uncle Tom and Aunt Edith is Harriet's father Joshua's brother and his wife.

At Home on the Farm

by Harriet Isabell Laidley

I was born on Oct 8, 1905 in the home near Manvel, ND.  I was the 7th child of Joshua and Susie Laidley.  Effie, Roy, Wilmer, Bernice, Elsie & Della all came before I did.

I started school when I was 6 in a school near Uncle Tom and Aunt Edith's farm.  The little white school has been hauled away.

The family moved to another farm not too far away.  We all loved that farm and hated to move again.

When I was about 10 we moved to the Roy Gowan place near Oslo.  That is where we had our picture taken of the six girls.

The harvest was always in full swing about the time we started to school.  We wanted to stay home and watch them thresh the grain.

Every fall we filled our bed tick with fresh straw.  We thought it was great to get it filled.  Just like having a new bed. 

Most all country homes had an upstairs where we children slept.  Sometimes the snow would seep in onto our bed.  In the morning we'd get up and grab our clothes and run downstairs and stand around the warm old stove where it was warm and we'd dress ourselves.  Dad was always up early and had the fire going.  The stove ha a tray for the ashes and that was our job to empty that everyday.  Also to fill the wood box with split wood for the kitchen stove and front room stove.

Mother baked bread for the whole family -- 6 loaves at a time.  She kneaded the dough and let it rise and shaped it into loaves.  She always had a big garden and would can some of the vegetables.  In the Fall we would pick potatoes and garden vegetables and store them in the big cellar.

We pulled mustard weeds out of the grain fields and carried a pail and board to sweep the potato bugs into.

It was fun riding in the bob sled behind two horses.  We always loved to have the bells on the harness.  It made a joyful sound.  The wagon box was put onto sleigh runners.  We also had a one-horse sleigh.   I remember riding with Dad (I always wanted to go places.)  We had hot irons wrapped in cloth to keep our feet warm.

Christmas was the highlight of our lives.  Mother would say "Off to bed early so Santa can come."  I remember when we heard sleigh bells and we ran like mad up the stairs to bed (must have been Dad shaking the bells that went on the horses.)

At Easter Dad would say "Get up early tomorrow and see the sun dance in the water."  He would set a pan of water on the porch and of course when the sun came up it looked as though the sun were really dancing! 

We had cattle, horses, dogs, pigs and chickens.  We butchered a pig and a coy every fall and let the meat hang from a branch of the tree over night.

Mother made soap in the big black kettle hanging over the fire.  She used lye and grease.  She stirred it.  It was a hot job.  Poured and then when cooled it was cut into cakes of soap to wash our clothes.

Wilmer was called off to war in 1918.  He didn't like it.  He and cousin Alonzo Lindsay went at the same time.  They didn't go overseas.

When we lived near Manvel, Alice and Ted Buck came over and we would swing on the rope swing together.  Baby came and we all wanted her to be named Alice so that's what it was but she died.  Ted Buck married Lillian.  They live on our old home place -- new house.  He's gone.

We lived near Warren.  I said "I'm going to high school."  Della said, "I'm going too."  We graduated in 1925.  Vera and Luella graduated too (from East Grand Forks). 

We lived near Bob and Mary (unknown last name).  Popcorn at their place.  We played ball in the yard and they'd see us out and come down.

Popcorn at McClearys.  She would pop a whole dish pan full.  That's why we kyds always wanted to go to their house. 

We put plums that weren't quite ripe into the hay mow.  We went every day to look at them but it took many days for them to ripen.  We'd find baby kittens in the hay mow too.  They were born with their eyes closed.  Soon they would open.

The church from near Oslo was brought up here (East Grand Forks) to the Heritage grounds.

My brothers fished with a lantern for catfish.  Wilmer would shoot rabbits and we had rabbit meat for supper.  Roy was too kindhearted to hunt.  He couldn't stand to kill anything.  He had poor eyes and we always wanted to look through his glasses because everything looked differently.

I was married at home to Ed Betts.  I walked down the stairway as Elsie played "Here Comes the Bride".  Donna was born Dec 7, 1930.  She would always tease me and say "You were married Dec 2nd and I was born on the 7th".

(I'm guessing this is the photo she's referring to with all six sisters)

Great, Great Grandparents

Maria Johansdotter Lundell married Henry Kringsberg, a preacher in Sweden, in 1876.  They emigrated to the US in 1886.  With the help of internet friends, I have located this information from a Sweden registry:  

        Johansdotter Henriksson, Maria --- Hustru (married woman)

b. 9/26/1854 in Södra Finnskoga, Värmlands län (Värmland)

Emigrated 8/1/1886 from Kringsberget, Södra Finnskoga, Värmlands län (Värmland)

to Nordamerika

0221886032 - Bilaga/ytterligare information finns. Kontakta Emigrantregistret i Karlstad

Source: Household Examination Roll, p. 171

Emibas migration file ID: Södra Finnskoga S 1886 032

Their first child was Mary D Elizabeth Kringsberg.  I'm wondering if this is her with her parents, perhaps taken before the next child was born (in 1881) so she would be 4-5 years old here? Maria died shortly after arriving in America (1888).  "Doug Windle who is also researching the Linden and Kringsberg family wrote that Mary Johnson Lundell Married Kringsberg ( a preacher in Sweden) was on a train and got off to get some milk for the baby - fell under the train and had her leg cut off (died) the children were separated and Anna was raised by Pete and Lizzie Liden."  

To follow up the family chain, my father (Oliver), his mother, Myrtle. Her mother Anna, and her mother is Maria Lundell.  (My second great grandmother).  Anna married Charley Liden, and Peter (Per) Liden is Charley's older brother.   

At the Lake

Summer at the Lake, it's beautiful!

circa 1979

I just love this picture of my parents

they look happy and relaxed -

which is what a vacation is all about!!

Anniversary

  

Mom and Dad celebrating an Anniversary .. 

and Mom slips into her Wedding Dress for a photo!

Yummm, the summer garden is planted and looking great! 

We'll have plenty of delicious tomatoes soon! 

Growing up I wasn't a fan of tomatoes, but now .... 

there's nothing better than a slice of tomato 

with just about everything! Especially if it's home grown!

Spring!

Perhaps Easter or Mother's Day ... 

Dad, Mom, Grandma Myrtle and husband Bill Greer. 

ca 1976/1977

Buffy lolling in the grass (we STILL have flamingos in 1976/77??)

 Lori dressed up, that was such a cute dress style! 

And Lori with Diana and Rene Nault in the front yard. 

(and a flamingo in the background here too!!!)

Anniversary and the Garden

Mom and Dad celebrating an Anniversary ...

... and Mom slips into her wedding dress for a photo!

Yummm, the summer garden is in and looking great!

We'll have plenty of delicious tomatoes soon!

Growing up I wasn't a fan of tomatoes, but now ....

there's nothing better than a slice of tomato with 

just about everything! Especially if it's home grown!

Mission City Travelers

Mission City Travelers is travelin' again!  

Here we're camped out at a lake ... 

the Swilley's brought their dune buggy - 

it sure was a fun thing to drive!!    

You can see it was a cold and windy campout 

as we strung sheets or blankets to block some of the wind!  

It might have been cold, but we were having too much fun to notice! 

"Oh,it was so cold. In the dune buggy is 

Oliver, Linda, David , Lori and even Buffy! 

Of course Lee is driving with neighbor Joe Sturgil riding shot gun. 

I think it could have been Lake Berryessa" says Dorothy Danielson

Christmas 1976

Hello again, Christmas!  Mom's town on the TV, 

must be the 70s with those gold curtains!

Mom had a terrarium, it's hour glass shaped on the side table.

That's quite a mountain of gifts, Mom! 

Lori passes out the gifts, 

you can just see Buffy at my feet.

And the biggest gift ever... an orange stuffed elephant! 

(goodness, where will I put this!!)

When all is said and done, there's Grandma Pape, 

helping with the cleanup .... or starting her own project??

Lori Dances

Never shy, always outgoing, 

here's Lori, ready for a dance/acrobatic show

held in Santa Clara's Central Park.

Another Camping Trip

Here we are, at some scenic place, it's a beautiful waterfall,

but I can't remember where we were! 

Seems this is Columbia, CA - Gold Country! 

That's me, long hair, wearing my favorite pair of pants.

This was back when it was fashionable to have 

extra large bell bottomed pants! 

A beautiful lake, with a wonderful bridge ..... 

An old fashioned town, and perhaps a stagecoach ride.... 

One of my pet peeves has always been unmarked photos.

And now that we're in the technological age, this same

pet peeve is about photos posted without words.

Sometimes the story behind the photo is more important 

than the photo itself! And generations from now,

someone will want to know the where's and why's.

Get Togethers

Bob and Shirley Liden, with Kathleen and Danny.

We spent many, many evenings together.

The parents would play cards, us kids would hang out,

there was always something going on.

During the later 70s, we started having sing-a-longs.

Uncle Bob had some reel-to-reel equipment, 

and he'd play his guitar while Aunt Shirley played bass,

mostly playing old Johnny Cash songs.  We'd all chime in and sing along.

Here, Uncle Bob is playing the guitar I got for my birthday,

That's Lori on the left, then Bob, Kathleen and Linda.

Gotta dig those orange curtains!  (It matched the carpet though!!)

A New Truck

Dad got his brand new pickup .... and a mustache too!

(Oh the adventures we'll have with this!)

Halloween with the neighbor kids.

Not sure who the rabbit is, then Michelle Swilley, David.

Diana Nault? Donna Martin, Lori, and unknown ghost.

David got a brand new bike for his birthday! 

December ... Again!

Here's Dad's truck without the shell, it must be brand new!

Time to head up to the mountains for our annual trek ...

Our goal:  Find the perfect Christmas Tree! 

Every year, we trudged up mountains and down into valleys

searching for just the right tree!

Looks like our after-tree stop was at Santa's Village.

We always tried to stop and see something else besides

Christmas trees.  Sometimes it was Marianne's Ice Cream

in Santa Cruz, home of the double cone! 

That 70s Summer

And the project begins!  

We're starting to build the family room on the back patio.  

(Peeking into the far background, we still have flamingos!)

And even though this is a little blurry ... there's a bench around

the base of the mulberry tree in the backyard.

Linda's Confirmation at St. John's, 8th grade, loved this dress Mom made.

I remember I wore white patent leather platform shoes with this dress.

Other things to note:  there are ashtrays on the end table

the green couch:  ouch!  what a color!  And the print

on those pillows screams 1970s!

And does Mom still have the "harvest colors" afghan?

And in other news, during confirmation, it was very hot that Sunday.

We were kneeling, one of the boys fainted

and I felt myself ready to faint as well!

What a day that was!