Moses Simonson (c.1604-c1690) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 27) Theme: "Solo"

My ancestors usually migrated to America and lived in communities as part of an extended family group.  Finding someone who flew "solo" is a challenge. 

One solo flyer to early New England was my 10X great grandfather Moses Simonson (or Simmons). 

Born about 1604 in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands, he was a French-speaking Dutchman (known as a Walloon) whose parents had joined the English Separatist church during their years in Leiden prior to emigrating to New England. When many of the Leiden congregation left for America aboard the Mayflower in 1620, teen-aged Moses remained behind with his family in Leiden. The following year, however, he was ready to strike out on his own when the next ship, the Fortune, sailed to America, Moses was one of about 35 passengers on board. He came to America as a single young man.

Replica ship Mayflower II in Plymouth Harbour 1999

He undertook this adventure with another teen-aged Walloon named Philip Delano. The Fortune landed at Plymouth Colony on 9 November 1621. You might think that these new arrivals would have been welcomed with open arms by the existing Plymouth community who had arrived a year earlier aboard the Mayflower. But that was not exactly the case. 

For one thing, the Colony had no idea these newcomers were planning to join them. Food was already in short supply and, with winter coming, they were concerned about having enough to see them through until spring. The Fortune passengers brought no provisions with them so the Colony's winter rations would need to be stretched even further. 

There was also some thought that the caliber of the newcomers was not of the highest standard. At least all arrived in healthy condition. However, Moses was one of just a handful of the Leiden congregation that were joining them. Most were so-called "Strangers" recruited by the merchant adventurers who were more interested in economic than religious matters. There were just a few women; according to William Bradford, most were "lusty young men, and many of them wild enough, who little considered whither or about what they went." One might hope that Moses and his friend Philip, as members of the predominant church congregation, were not included in this wild group.

Yet all were made welcome and remained in Plymouth when the Fortune loaded with cargo for the merchant adventurers (wood, beaver and otter pelts) departed 13 December for return to England.

By the spring of 1623, it was felt that rather than continuing to grow things communally, it would be advantageous for everyone to have their own plot of land for crops. Each household was granted a tract of land in accordance with its size (generally it was one acre per person). Moses and Philip Delano seem to have been dealt with together in that Division of Land in 1623. For those that came on the Fortune, 19 acres  were divided among 19 people, including 2 acres for Moses Simonson and Philip Delano.

Again, when it came time to divide up the cattle among the settlers in 1627, the two young single men Moses Simonson and Philip Delano, as a unit,  were included in Francis Cooke's group. This group was alloted the least of the 4 black heifers that had come in the ship Jacob and two she goats. 

As more and more ships arrived with a variety of family groups and young unattached immigrants, problems arose. It seemed that single young men had a tendency to get up to a lot of trouble, including serious offences such as assault and murder. More often, the offences committed by the young single  folk related to illicit sexual activity, drunkenness and singing lewd songs. It was felt that measures had to be taken to try to control their wilder natures. Laws were enacted to limit the amount of time one could spend in an "ordinary" (pub) and idleness was strictly forbidden. For a period of time, until young men were 21 years of age, they could not live on their own but had to be taken in by a family, whether related or not. Sometimes forced servitude for several years was seen as a way to control a young man. No flying solo for some!

There is no record of Moses ever getting himself in any sort of hot water for any of this sort of misbehavior.

Moses married a woman named Sarah and had 7 children with her between about 1637 and 1653. Their daughter Mary, my 9X great grandmother born about 1641, would grow up to marry Joseph Alden, son of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins who had arrived in Plymouth on the Mayflower. By 1639, Moses and Sarah settled in Duxbury, where he served as a surveyor. With all the development going on, surveyors were in constant demand; his friend Philip Delano also served as a surveyor. 

Moses appears in many of the records in early Plymouth Colony. He was listed as freeman of Plymouth after those admitted 1 January 1634/35.  He appears in the Duxbury lists of freemen in 1639, 1658, 29 May 1670 and early 1683/4. He was involved in many land transactions in several local towns over the years.  As for his education, it is noted that he signed a number of his deeds but by 1678 was making his mark.  He was on the petit jury 25 October 1669.  He was a highway surveyor in Duxbury 3 June 1657, 3 June 1662 and was a surveyor of highways in Scituate 1 June 1675.

The Old Burying Ground, Duxbury MA 1999
Not known if this is where Moses was buried, but it seems likely

Moses died in Plymouth Colony and his will was filed for probate on 15 September 1691 by his son John. His will mentions daughters Mary (wife of Joseph Alden), Elizabeth (wife of Richard Dwelly), Sarah (wife of James Nash) and  sons Aaron and John. Another son (Moses) had died about 15 years before his father. Interestingly, the old Delano friendship remains: one of the witnesses to the will was Thomas Delano, son of his old friend Philip. 

Moses may have flown solo to America, but it is obvious that he had close friendships and grew his own circle of loved ones to surround him in his new life in America.

Duxbury, MA

Some Resources:

• Archer, Richard, Fissures in the Rock: New England in the Seventeenth Century, University of New Hampshire, Published by University Press of New England, Hanover and London, 2001, pp. 98-110.
• Johnson, Caleb H., The Mayflower and Her Passengers, Xlibris Corporation, 2006, pp. 267-275.
• Willison, George F., Saints and Strangers, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1945.

Tora Iversdatter Kjerstein (1794-1861) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 26) Theme: "Middle"

This week's theme had me stumped until I decided to see which ancestor lived closest to the middle of North America since all recent generations of my family have been widely scattered throughout the United States and Canada. There seems to be a bit of disagreement as to exactly where that is, but it is generally accepted as being in North Dakota. I did have ancestors in North Dakota, as it turns out, and other distant relatives living there now, including a second cousin once removed who farms near the area thought to be the "middle". Although we'd only met them previously one time at a family reunion in 2000, we had a most enjoyable visit on our road trip to view the solar eclipse in the summer of 2017.

That got me thinking about the other highlight of our trip through North Dakota: the Arne Brekke Collection in the Chester Fritz Library at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. For decades, the pinnacle of my wish list of resources for review was the Norwegian bygdebøker for the regions in Norway where many of my ancestors originated. These books were put together over one hundred years ago by respected Norwegian historians to detail farm and family life; they contain a wealth of genealogical information about individual families and, along with census and church book records, form the backbone for Norwegian family history research. Having tried unsuccessfully to obtain any of these treasured books on inter-library loan, and not having any repositories near my home on the west coast of Canada, I had almost despaired of ever getting my hands on any of these.

Our proposed route to Grand Island, Nebraska for viewing of the solar eclipse provided an ideal opportunity for a day at the Chester Fritz Library, one of the best homes for a vast collection of bygebøker.  I knew that one single day would not really be enough but thought that my husband could easily find ways to entertain himself for a day and that, with careful planning, I could make significant inroads with my wish list. 

The website for the Chester Fritz Library makes it easy to plan a visit. They provide details of the farm books they have in their collection enabling a visitor to make note of call numbers and relevant farm names. I prepared a binder with details of the books I hoped to find, the farms, the relevant ancestral names and dates. I also communicated with the librarian in advance to be sure they were open during the summer and to let them know which day I would be there. I did bring along my laptop with my genealogical database in case it was needed, but I found my binder of material to be quite adequate for my purposes. I also brought along memory sticks for anything I was able to scan and save from the books.

University of North Dakota - Chester Fritz Library

17 August 2017 dawned bright and clear, an auspicious sign. My husband dropped me off at the university just after its 8 A.M. opening. The librarians were most helpful in getting me oriented with the library layout and their user-friendly and efficient scanning equipment. As the only member of the public visiting the library that day, I had full run of the stacks and scanner. 

Inside the Chester Fritz Library Arne Brekke Collection

It was very easy to find the books, but more difficult to ensure I was finding all the relevant farms for my families. (My father's came from Nordland, Oppland and Buskerud counties and my mother's from Buskerud and Telemark. Within each county there were many relevant farms and families. We are not talking about a single family here, but dozens!) I could see the route ahead of me: it was going to be a full marathon.

In the middle of the fun - stacks of bygdebøker and some of my prepared family tree background

The day flew past in a flurry of books being swept off the shelves, examined and pages flagged for trips to the scanner. I barely stopped long enough to find the cafeteria for a quick lunch. In the end, I did get through my lengthy list. I'm not sure when I've ever had a more satisfying and exhilarating day! 

My husband captured this shot of the happy researcher when he picked me up at closing time

Were there farms and families that I missed? Yes, absolutely. I continue to make discoveries that would have entailed scanning other pages. But I have a lot of material to show for my one day well spent. 

Of course the books are in Norwegian and, although I've learned the basics, I do not have the depth of linguistic skill to understand the complexities without resorting to dictionaries and online translators with their often rather bizarre results. Part of the problem is the changes to the Norwegian language over the years since the records were created. Here are a couple of examples of results I've obtained for other Norwegian ancestors with Google Translate: "In 1746 Kristoffer made an agreement with Trond Hamre about the change of power, but Trond had the right to renegotiate because they were drowning when they made an agreement in a bar of beer at Hamre." And another: "Knut carried the storage team in 1591. In 1599 he got into the place of the fox for a butcher's sauce. Marit, who used to be in 1612, might have liked Knut, and Herbrand might be the son." Sometimes one can hazard a guess, but at other times it's just plain bewildering!

Trying to pinpoint a "middle" of Norway for selecting a particular ancestor for this week's story is a bit tricky because of Norway's shape. I randomly selected an area from the interior of the southern bulb of Norway: Vang in Oppland.

 

Google Earth Image - Vang is marked with the red pin

The bygedbok for Valdres, Oppland included my Dad's paternal grandmother Anna Ericksdatter Elton's family in Vang. Surely something could be found relating to a "middle" in this family! Anna Elton's farmor (the Norwegian name for the grandmother who is the father's mother - as opposed to a mormor who is the mother's mother; such a useful distinction!) was a woman named Tora Iversdatter Kjerstein. Already we are talking about 2 farm books here: Elton (Eltun) and Kjerstein. (You can see how this multiplied into a full marathon, can't you?) 

According to the bygedbok, Tora (my 3X great grandmother) was the middle child of the 11 born to Ivar Torsteinsson Kjerstein and Anne Kristoffersdatter Leirol (yet another farm name to look up!). Just 3 of the 11 survived childhood; fortunately for those of us who descend from her, Tora was one of the survivors, still remaining in the middle. 

One must go from the general genealogy found in the bygdebok to the official kirkebøker for the actual records. Tora was probably born in July 1794 on the Kjerstein farm since she was baptized 20 July of that year at Vang, Valdres, Oppland.  

Baptism record in the Vang kirkebøker for 1794, p. 427

Tora was confirmed into the state Lutheran church in 1809 and married Andris Erikson Elton (often spelled Eltun) on 6 July 1815 at Øye Kirke. The church was about a mile from the Eltun farm land. She was 21 and her groom 29.

Øye Kirke i Vang
Photo courtesy John Erling Blad Wikimedia Commons

Andris "gjorde soldatteneste" according to page 269 of the Valdres bygdebok; Google translates this as "did the soldier thing"!  He had been running the Nordigarden farm at Eltun since 1806 and was probably well set up to start his own family. 

6 July 1815 marriage record of Andris and Tora from the Vang kirkebøker, p.194

Tora and Andris, like her parents, had a family of 11 children, many of whom died in childhood. Their oldest was Erick Anderson Elton, my 2X great grandfather. In 1838, his father turned over Elton farm to Erick, who ran it until 1853 when he sold to emigrate to America,

Tora predeceased Andris by about 8 years; she died 31 March 1861 and was buried 9 April at Vang, Oppland, Norway.

Death and burial records for Tora Iversdatter at age 67, Vang kirkebøker for 1861, p.172

The bygdebok listing for Tora's family enabled finding the records that give us a bit of a picture of her life. It would be nice to know more about her, of course. What were her skills? What did she love doing? Did she have any eccentricities? What sort of woman was she, this middle daughter who survived?

Resources:

• Valdres Bygedbok I, Del A, Skriftstyrar Ivar Aars, Gardar og Slekter i Vang av Anders Frøhom, Valdres Bygdeboks Forlag
• Vang, Oppland Kirkebok, LDS microfilm 125645 and available online through the Norwegian Digital Archives.
• Valdres Samband Genealogical Database (available to Valdres Samband members online) is another resource for the bygdebok for Vang.

Mary "Minnie" Edwards (c1865-1940) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 25) Theme: "Unexpected"

Just when you think you have a good idea of the life and times of my great grandaunt Minnie, unexpected things crop up! Twists and turns in her life story start with the mystery surrounding her conception and birth and continue to her totally unexpected death.

Minnie's mother Barbara (Hoover) Edwards had been married twice by the time Minnie came along in the mid 1860s. Barbara's second husband was Lewis Edwards, a veteran of the American Civil War who  had enlisted in Co. C, 112th Illinois Infantry on 9 August 1862 less than a year after their marriage.  Serving with the army near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, he had contracted a severe cold and cough in early Spring of 1863 and was sent to the camp hospital.  He never returned to active duty and was sent home to Orion, Henry County, Illinois on sick furlough for a short period in February of 1865.  On July 24, 1865, he was formally discharged from the military and returned home to Illinois in August, suffering from lung disease.  On February 18, 1866, Lewis C. Edwards died of consumption at his home in Orion, Henry County, Illinois. The timing is all rather interesting and leads to a good deal of speculation about the state of their marriage and Minnie's parentage.

Colorized Photo of Minnie's mother Barbara Hoover c1890

Mary "Minnie" and her twin sister Martha "Grace" were born on 28 November 1865 (or possibly 1866) at the home of their aunt and uncle, Anna (Hoover) and Clark Bleakney in Jasper County, Iowa, with Anna and Anna's mother-in-law assisting in the delivery.

Minnie's Twin Sister Grace Edwards
No Known Photo Exists for Minnie

There is confusion over the year of birth - 1865 or 1866. No official records are available for Iowa until about 1880. Years later when filing their minor's application for a Civil War Pension as "legitimate children" of Lewis Edwards, the record that was accepted was a family Bible entry indicating 28 November 1865 and accompanying affidavit by Clark Bleakney in whose home Barbara had given birth. But no one has ever explained why Barbara was in Iowa in November and not home in Illinois tending to her gravely ill husband who had arrived home in August. It is possible that there was some worry about transmission of the disease to her during her pregnancy - or it could be speculated that she and Lewis were estranged because of her unexpected pregnancy.

A birth date of 28 November 1865 makes it just possible that Lewis Edwards fathered the twins when he was home on sick leave in February, nine months before their birth. If the twins' birth year is 1866, Lewis must have fathered them while on his death bed just before dying of consumption; at the time, affidavits describe him as being very emaciated, in very poor health, his lungs very weak and in bad condition. Also, being twins, statistically Mary and Martha would likely have arrived about a month early (and probably not the full 9 months or longer that either birth year would require).

Census and marriage records do not assist in pinpointing the year since the women in this family were notoriously unhampered by truth or consistency in the ages they claimed from time to time. The 1870 and 1880 census records are perhaps the most reliable as having been done when they were children before making any pension applications or marriages to younger men to muddy the waters. Their ages were given as 4 and 14 as of their last birthdays in those censuses, consistent with a birth year of 1865.

Mother Barbara went on to marry for a third time in 1873 to a man named George Payton. Their combined family is found in the 1880 census for Howard, Elk, Kansas where Minnie Edwards was listed as a 14 year-old stepdaughter. 

Unexpected treasures found in the local newspaper The Howard Courant give us a rare glimpse into the life of teen-aged Minnie in the 1880s. She has adopted her step-father's surname and is going by the name of  Minnie Payton. The first article that has been located is mention of her accompanying her stepfather on a visit to Burlingame, Kansas in July of 1880. Then we learn that she and her sister Grace attend a mutual friend's birthday party in November of 1881. And the following week, Minnie and Grace themselves celebrated their 15th birthdays, providing evidence for the 1866 birth year.

From page 3 of The Howard Courant dated 1 December 1881

 

One final find in The Howard Courant (6 March 1885) is mention of Minnie, Grace and their mother Barbara travelling to Geuda Springs, Kansas. Since they were in Howard on a visit, they had obviously moved elsewhere by this time. 

From page 3 of The Howard Courant dated 6 March 1885 

In 1990, minors' applications were filed for two children of Lewis C. Edwards: twins Mary Simmons of Pueblo, Colorado, and Martha Lemon of Independence, Kansas. They received pensions retroactive from 19 August 1873 to 27 November 1881, at which time both were age 16 and no longer eligible. (It is interesting to note again the discrepancy in year of birth - Mary swears in her affidavit that she was born 28 November 1866, while Martha's has had one year overwritten over the other! Yet the authorities accepted their applications on the basis of their birth being in 1865.)

Obviously much has occurred in the few years since we last found Minnie; by the time she is making her pension application in 1890, she is a married woman living in Pueblo, Colorado. No marriage record has been located, but her husband was a civil engineer named Harry Simmons (or Simmers) who was employed in the location and construction of railroads being installed in Colorado. Harry suffered from some unspecified affliction that forced him to abandon that profession in favor of something less physically taxing. He studied pharmacy and set himself up in the profession by buying two drugstores in Pueblo.

Harry and Minnie had 3 children born between 1890 and 1895 - daughter Mabel and sons Louis Arnie and Harry (junior). One child perhaps died in infancy since she reported on the 1900 census form that she had given birth to 4 children, 3 of whom were still alive. (There has even been some speculation by descendants of her twin sister Grace's two children born in 1886 and 1887 that Minnie was actually their mother as well! Yet another unexpected piece of family lore!)

Minnie's daughter Mabel Simmers and her husband Roy Benton 1916
Photo from Ancestry website posted by James Mahar

Just when things seemed to be going well in Harry's new profession, there was a huge flood of the Arkansas River in Pueblo between 29 May and 1 June 1894. The business section of town where Harry's two pharmacies were located was about 15-20 feet deep in water and their home 8-10 feet. Shortly after the flood, on 11 July 1894, Harry died. His sister-in-law Grace said his death had been caused by the loss of everything in both stores, all their home furnishings and clothing, coupled with exposure and pre-existing poor health. [Additional note 3 July 2020: having now obtained a copy of Harry's obituary, it gave his cause of death as abscess on the brain.]

So Minnie unexpectedly found herself widowed with at least a couple of children under the age of 4, no source of financial support and a home she would either have to remediate or abandon. It's hard to imagine how she managed - yet manage she did.

Widowed Minnie in the 1899 Pueblo City Directory
Left-hand page second listing from the bottom of the page

The Pueblo City Directory for 1899 has her living at 1214 East Evans Avenue. This is also where she appears in the 1900 U.S. census where she is widowed, 34, and keeping a boarding house.  Living with her are daughter Mabel age 9, sons Arnie 8, and Harry 6.  (Harry's birth date - like his mother's -  has also been inconsistent in the records; it seems quite probable that he was born a couple of years after the death of Harry senior and would have been 4 rather than 6 in 1890.) There was also a boarder living with them as well, 24 year-old Claud E Wier (sic).

Minnie's boarder was a young chemist named Claude E. White who worked at the old Philadelphia Plant and Smelter but was later transferred to A.S. & R. Smelter in Greene-Cananea Mexico, a copper smelter town not far over the Mexican border from Arizona.

Her boarder soon became more than a boarder to Minnie.

Claude E. White applied for a Marriage License on 19 August 1903. Interestingly, Minnie has managed to lose a full decade of age to become the same age as Claude.

Portion of Marriage License for Claude E. White and Mrs. Minnie Simmers

The family is found in Cochise, Arizona at the time of the 1910 United States Census. Claude is listed as a chemist in a copper mine and is 34. Minnie remains consistently the same age as Claude - she is 34, the same age she was in the census 10 years earlier! Her Simmers children range from 14 year-old Harry to 18 year-old Mabel, with middle child Arnie being a salesman in a shoe store. They are living on School Hill amid neighbours who include school teachers, typesetters, miners (also for the copper mine); life was apparently going along quite comfortably.

The mine where Claude was employed was in Cananea, Sonora, a geographically isolated area with more connections to the United States than to the rest of Mexico. Ownership of mines was often American, as in the case of Claude's mine, where the infamous speculator William Cornell Greene, an Arizona rancher, had purchased and developed a large tract of land. By the early 1900s there were several multilevel mines, a mill, a concentrator and a smelter, with a railroad connector to the nearby U.S. border port near Bisbee. By the time of Claude and Minnie's marriage in 1903, Claude was one of about 2200 American workers employed there. There were also some 5400 Mexicans working there. In addition to the mining operations, Greene's company called Cananea Consolidated Copper Company, also had ranching and lumbering interests and provided services to the town of Cananaea. Obviously this was a company town and a huge undertaking!

A miners' strike by Mexican employees in 1906 in Cananea is said to have been one of the direct antecedents to the Mexican Revolution. The main issue (perhaps to be expected) was the pay scales giving Mexican workers  lower wages than paid to Americans in the same jobs.

Cananea, Sonora, Mexico  - Unknown Date ca.1906-1910; Wikimedia Commons
Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library 

By 1910 the Revolution was in full force and the Cananea Consolidated Copper Company was in the thick of it. From time to time, Pancho Villa and other revolutionaries interfered with Company operations, sometimes taking prisoners and seizing rail cars loaded with copper bullion.

The family story was that in 1912 Minnie was with Claude in Cananea when Pancho Villa and his men raided the town, killing them both. Certainly this was an unexpected ending to a life full of unexpected twists and turns!

Except that it wasn't.

While searching newspaper archives for more details around the deaths of Minnie and Claude at the hands of Pancho Villa, I very unexpectedly came upon a newspaper story describing a vacation that Claude, Minnie and her daughter Mabel were making in June of 1914. This added a new twist to the story. My first thought was that their deaths simply occurred later during the Mexican Revolution than had been thought. Further research indicated, however, that no Americans had been killed in Cananea, Mexico during the entire Revolution.

The next discovery was of a 1917 city directory for Bisbee and Warren District, AZ listing Claude E. White (and Minnie), he an assayer for SAC Co., home address 120 Quarry Canyon.

Claude's 1918 First World War registration card tells us that he was a blue-eyed redhead who was still very much alive!

Once it became apparent that they did NOT die at the hands of Pancho Villa, further searches find them in the 1920, 1930 and 1940 U.S. censuses. From this we learn that Claude had 4 years of college and Minnie 3 years of high school education. By 1930, they had moved from Arizona to San Bernardino, California where they owned their own home and had taken up farming.

On 4 December 1940, several decades after we thought she had died violently at the hands of Pancho Villa, Minnie actually died peacefully in San Bernardino. Her death announcement appeared the next day in the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper. Claude didn't join her until 12 April 1966 and they are buried together in Mountain View Cemetery, San Bernardino.

Stone for Claude and Minnie at Mountain View Cemetery, San Bernardino
Photo by landjnero of Find a Grave website

There, carved in stone, is her deceptive birth year of 1875. Oh, Minnie, you (almost) got away with that one!

Another Unexpected Find:

In 2017, we drove halfway across the continent to view the solar eclipse from Grand Island, Nebraska simply because it was the closest place where our family group could make reservations for accommodations even when booking over a year ahead! Although we had never even heard of the city before this, we had a fabulous time viewing the 21 August eclipse and enjoying many of the attractions that Grand Island has to offer. There were, obviously, none of our usual visits to cemeteries since we did not know of any ancestral connections to the city.

Grand Island, Nebraska 21 August 2017

Enjoying the solar eclipse in Grand Island

After thinking I had completed this story about Minnie, I located a copy of her obituary which mentioned that she was survived by husband Claude, daughter Mrs.J. L Fenton of Compton and two sons, Harry and Louis of Grand Island, Nebraska. Sure enough, both of Minnie's sons (my first cousins twice removed) had lived most of their lives in this city and both are buried here, Harry in Westlawn Memorial Cemetery and Louis in Grand Island Cemetery. 

Louis Simmers and wife Anna, Grand Island Cemetery
 from Find a Grave website courtesy diaNEB

Some Resources: 

• Arizona Historical Society, Cananea Consolidated Copper Company Records 1899-1917, Tucson, Arizona.
• Edwards, Lewis C. (Pvt., Co. M, 112th Ill Vol. Inf.), Civil War widow's pension application no. 394,573, certificate no. 265.106 and minors' pension application no. 418,303, certificate no. 265.106 ; Case files of Approved Pension Applications, 1861-1934, Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
• Lemon, Winfield Scott, Personal Memoirs "Compiled at the request of his grandson Dick," copy provided to the author by Richard Lemon.
• Newspapers.com - The Howard Courant - issues of 15 July 1880, 24 November 1881, 1 December 1881 and 6 March 1885 (Howard, Kansas).
• "United States Census, 1900," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MQMV-Y92 : accessed 22 Jan 2014), household of Minnie Simmons, Pueblo city Ward 8, Pueblo, Colorado, United States; citing sheet , family 107, NARA microfilm publication T623, FHL microfilm 1240128 and other United States Census records available on Ancestry.com website

Elinor (Anderson) Bardahl and Love of Sewing (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 24) Theme: "Handed Down"

My mother Elinor (Anderson) Bardahl was a woman of many creative talents. Although not what this story is going to be about, she was perhaps best known for her Norwegian rosemaling folk art pieces sold widely and treasured by family members.

Elinor at one of her numerous art shows of paintings and Norwegian rosemaling

Elinor's Rosemaling

She was also accomplished with needle and thread and sewing machine - and that will form the focus of this week's story. Elinor no doubt got her sewing talent from her mother Idella (Edwards) Anderson. And Grandma Della got it from her mother Mary Jane "Mayme" (Wescott) Edwards. Even Elinor's 3X great grandmother Margaret Vought Barton was a quilter whose estate inventory listed several of her hand-made quilts by pattern name. From one set of hands to another, this skill has quite literally been handed down the line. It is sure to pop up somewhere in each generation in a growing web of women connected by blood and by a shared love of sewing.

"Sewing is in My Genes" mixed media fibre art wall hanging by the author 2016
includes photographs of her female line ancestors printed on organza
 and layered over double helix DNA fabric, painted wheat pasted tablecloth and old sewing notions

Wedding Photo for Mayme Wescott and Charles Edwards - colorized

Mayme made her pale green taffeta wedding gown

Stories about Elinor's grandmother Mayme highlighted her excellent dressmaking skills. Mayme's daughter Marion (Edwards) Miller said of the wedding dress, "I have no memory of her telling us about their wedding, but the lovely clothes were kept in a trunk for many years. Her wedding dress was a pale mint green, soft taffeta which she made so beautifully. I remember it well, because I wore it to a masquerade dance when I was 17 or 18. She had quite a time getting me into it as I was more buxom than she had been." 

Marion went on to say, "She loved to sew, made all of our clothes, even coats when we were young, and when she had all of us fitted out, she made clothes for poor children."  Mayme would outfit them to take the train from Montana to Wisconsin to visit her folks, as described by Marion: "She would have us all dressed up so nice.  I can remember the trip when I was seven.  She had made white coats for Ora and me and we had white embroidered hats."

Mayme (back left) with daughters including Della (back right)
Mayme and daughters likely made all their clothing

Sewing was a necessary skill at a time when most clothing was made at home; some women obviously would have enjoyed this more than others. Mayme was clearly one of those who loved to sew. (These days, it costs far more to make one's own clothing than to purchase ready-made disposable outfits. People who sew today do it primarily for expressing their creativity in unique and higher-quality items.)

Wool log cabin wedding quilt made by Mayme Wescott Edwards
for marriage of her daughter Della to Ingvald Anderson 1919

When Mayme and her husband Charles Edwards tried homesteading in Saskatchewan, their eldest child Idella remained in Great Falls, Montana, to complete her high school before joining her family in Canada. Once there, she taught school and fell in love with a young homesteading farmer named Ingvald Anderson. When the rest of the Edwards family moved back to the United States, Della remained to get married. Apparently her parents were NOT pleased with this, yet Mayme created a beautiful log cabin quilt for the young couple's wedding gift.

My mother, the third of Ingvald and Della's daughters, learned to sew from her mother. I recall Mum telling me how her mother required that she and her sisters practice hemming handkerchiefs by hand until they could do it perfectly before she would permit them to sew on her Singer treadle sewing machine.

Grandma Della's thimbles - one decorative, the other well-used
(there was a third one but it had been completely worn through!)

Sewing Head from my Grandma Della's old Singer
that she handed down to my mother Elinor

Elinor came to the Leinan/Stewart Valley community as a school teacher in a one-room country school north of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, and, like her mother, fell in love with a local farmer and remained to raise her family there. 

She taught me to sew on that same old treadle Singer sewing machine that had been handed down to her by her mother Della. I was probably no more than 5 or 6, but I loved being able to design and create clothes for my dolls using the well-stocked remnants bin that she kept in her closet. It was a big round wooden cheese tub with lid. She always rolled all the leftover bits of fabric and tied them into neat bundles. I wonder if her mother and grandmother did the same with theirs?

Elinor on left c 1955 wearing  one of her dresses; with friend Eileen and Eileen's daughter Colleen

Shopping for fabric and patterns was one of my favourite shopping experiences as a child. When we went to the Co-Op Store on Central Avenue in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, we would generally aim up the stairs to the mezzanine floor circling the perimeter but open to the main floor below. Being children, we would of course need to use the washrooms in the corner (featuring photographs of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, as I recall) before moving on to the nearby fabric section. Oh, what delight! The pattern books were on one side and the fabric bolts all stacked in rows along the wall. Everything was neat and tidy and very appealing to my aesthetic senses. 

3 of Elinor's children - Sandy on left, John center and Joanne right
Girls are wearing their 1958 Christmas dresses made by Elinor
(they were green with black flocking)

My mother instilled in me a love of sewing, though we also had a 4-H Homecraft Club where we learned a lot of specific skills. I made much of my own wardrobe during my high school years (and well beyond for my own growing family). When I was in Grade 12, my Grandma Della asked me to sew her a couple of dresses, giving me free rein on fabric selection "so long as it isn't some dull old-lady stuff!" How she loved colour!

My sister and I both recall how we would get an idea midweek for some new outfit for a Friday night dance and barely start it ourselves before calling on Mum to finish it for us while we were in school. And she always did. We always had new outfits for Christmas even if it meant she had to make over an old dress of her own or one of her sister's. And we almost always won the Hallowe'en costume contests with her creations; no idea that we came up with ever stumped her.

Others in the community often had her do special sewing projects for them, including at least one bridal trousseau. She particularly enjoyed sewing her daughter Sandy's wedding dress in 1973.

Sandy walking down the aisle with her Dad Ken Bardahl 1973
Wearing the dress made by Elinor

She always took part in community and church activities where she could share her creativity. One of my earliest recollections is of her doing some kind of crazy patchwork stitched onto full sheets of newspaper (removed before quilting) for a charitable project for the church.

Elinor (second from right) in local ladies' group with their charity quilts

Elinor was always full of ideas for creating events. For our family reunion at Waterton Lakes in 2000, she instigated the wearing of historic costumes - and sewed many of them for her somewhat reluctant kinfolk.

Elinor (centre in black and white) with sister Kathryn, brother Bob,
daughters Sandy and Joanne (holding Morgan), Graham

Sandy and Brett with young Morgan

Elinor was a generous grandmother who would willingly share her treasured (and often expensive!) painting supplies to teach her grandchildren how to paint. She was always  there to lend a hand when it came to any craft or sewing projects that were proposed by her grandchildren, several of whom also became sewers.

Elinor keeping granddaughter Angie company - and probably sharing some advice! - 
while sewing on the deck

Angie  teaching a class in Tanzania, Africa 2019

And the web expands. Granddaughter Angie was able to visit Tanzania to share her love of sewing in February of 2019 and commented: "It was the most thankful and grateful moment in my life. We taught them how to make reusable sanitary napkins."

The next generation finds Elinor's great granddaughter Sasha at the sewing machine. When the pandemic hit, Sasha immediately started sewing masks for family. Where will this web expand next?

Sasha designing and  sewing her first quilt 2012

Some Resources:

Miller, Marion Frances Edwards, My Memories, Lexington, Michigan 1978, copy in possession of the author addressed "To Elinor with love from Aunt Marion, Jan. 7, 1986.