#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 42, Canzada Jane Miller "After-Words"

#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 42: Conflict

CANZADA JANE MILLER

AFTER-WORDS

Canzada Jane Miller left home never to return.  Such is the story of the conflict between Canzada Jane and her deeply religious father, John Thornton Miller, a hundred and thirty eight years ago.  What happened for anger to run so deep it caused permanent division?

Canzada Jane Miller was born 4 Nov. 1862[1] in Rising Fawn, Dade County, Georgia. The state was a political hotbed, a boiling cauldron of anger as a result of the War Between the States.  Dade County residents had wanted to secede, but Georgia was cautious.  The Dade County citizens were so impatient that in 1860, they announced their own secession from Georgia and the United States, being the first county in the south to secede.  Canzada’s uncle-in-law, Hardy Tatum, rode through the night to deliver that pronouncement to the Georgia Senate (History of Dade County, Georgia, Dade County Historical Society, published 1950).

Canzada’s world was fraught with the tension of an absentee father, John Thornton Miller, who was at war during the time of her birth and absent for the first year of her life.  Prior to her birth, he had enlisted as a private in Co. K, 10^thRegiment Ga. State Troops on 16 December 1861.  He was mustered out in early May 1862.  He enlisted in Co. F, 34^thRegiment Georgia Infantry on 17 May 1862. A year and a month later, 4 July 1863, he was captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and paroled there on 8 July 1863.[2] The horror of the war left its impact on John Miller and his family.  The south was devastated; life would never again be the same.

John Thornton Miller wrote an autobiography in his seventy-fifth year that provides insight into the tremendous loss and tragedy that unfolded and impacted Canzada’s life. I include the first few entries that offer compelling supportive narrative to the challenges the Miller family faced.

An Autobiography of My Life 

by John Thornton Miller

April 1st, 1914- The task of writing an autobiographical sketch of my life is requested of me by one of my children - a work had I begun a few years ago would have been much lighter, for then I could see good, and now my eyes are dim and my mind is not so clear, and my memory is so impaired that many incidents I would gladly record will be forgotten.  I was born in the great old state of Georgia.  The very name is precious to me, and I still love not only the name of the state, but the county of Dade, and the town of Rising Fawn - now quite a town - on the Chattanooga and Wills Valley Railroad.  My mother and father recorded the day of my birth as the 14th day of October, 1839; I being the sixth child, with three brothers and two sisters older, and three brothers younger than I.  The older brothers married and went away, and the farm work and leadership fell on me.  The three younger brothers and myself did most of the farm work.  What piles of corn and garners of wheat we made!  What fine hogs, meat and lard!  To get out on the road, or farm, with a fine yoke of oxen and a good wagon was a fine past time.  It was fun to load the team and see them get down to pulling.  Sometimes I would walk out on the wagon tongue and get astride Old Buck and get ditched.  This was not so funny, but it mixed in occasionally. 

April 2nd, 1914- My father's farm of 420 acres lay in a little creek, which I shall call Cove Creek, because it drained what was in the early days of that county called the Lost Cove.  Sometimes this stream would get out on our land. It was crooked, and in the crooks the land was very rich.  Bill and I called these little crooks 'newks.'  My, what corn we made in those newks!  This Cove Creek emptied into Lookout Creek - a larger stream, and it in turn emptied into the Tennessee River 20 miles below us and at the mouth of the Lookout Valley about eight miles southwest of Chattanooga, to us a big town then.  We did our marketing there.  Corn, meal, potatoes, and other farm products were hauled there.  We did not grow much cotton then except for home use.  We had no gins, and had to pick the seed out of the cotton with our fingers.  This we usually did after supper before bedtime.  And now, children, you may think this is a romance, but it is a fact as sure as you are born.  Then mother carded the cotton and made our summer wear.  One pair of red leather shoes - homemade, at that -was our share of shoes a year.  These we got about the first week of December. We were proud, and stepped high.  On these creeks, we boys would fish, and swim, and kill moccasins.  I dream of the creeks, and newks, and swimming holes, and canebrakes now some nights.  They all look just like they did sixty years ago - that is, in dreamland.  The old foot-logs, the wash place, the mill over on the bank, the big scaly-bark tree just there by the wash place - I shall never see them again only in dreams.  Well, children, I have said enough about the creeks and the farm.  I could write all day of reminiscences of the days spent up and down the creeks, of hairbreadth escapes, snake scares, strangles, and deep wadings.  

But there are some other matters of which I must tell you.  There is Old Pleasant Grove Log Meeting House, and the school a mile away.  Professor A.R. Morrison is teaching.  He was the best teacher I ever had.  The house was a big pine-hewed log house with great cracks. We boys who were in arithmetic would sit out of doors to study, throw stones at the birds, talk and laugh and have a good time generally.  Well, the preacher preached in this old house and when it was Circuit Preaching Day, we quit work about ten o'clock in the morning and went to meeting.  (I wish the people would do that way now.)  The preacher would sometimes come home with us, and Bill and I were always glad, for mother always fixed something good to eat when he came.  We would likely have chicken, biscuits, ham and gravy, or sausage and such like. Somehow, I learned to love the preacher, and that learning has been a habit of my life.  I still love a man of God.  There have been many changes since those days in the modes of living and acting, but the Word of God has not changed, and the Word is not lost.  If I could I would go back there and walk over the old places so sacred to me, made so by the scenes and experiences of my youth. There are mountains there one of which I would balance against all the mountains of Montgomery County (Arkansas).  I desire to stand in the valley of my birth and gaze on those lofty peaks and cliffs! 

When I was seventeen years old I began to feel the need of an education, and asked my father for the sum of one hundred dollars, which then would pay my way ten months in an academy at Trenton, Georgia., the county seat.  Father said, "All right, John, make a big crop this year, and I will send you next year."  We made the crop and when we got it harvested, I asked him for the money.  He told me that that was more than he had been able to do for the other boys and so put me off.  As a result of my disappointment, I started to Texas.  I started from home on the sixth day of October 1858, with my now sainted brother, Joe.  As I remember the big comet was in the West. (I wonder - was this Halley's comet?   I think it was.) My brother located in Pike County, Arkansas.  Then moved to Dallas, in Polk County.  He bought the Little John Longacre Farm, now owned by B. F. Thompson.  There, Joe's wife died in September of 1859.  Later my father and James, my oldest brother, moved to Polk County, and in December of 1860, I went back to my native state.  I married, there, Miss Sarah L. Russell, a sweet little Christian girl of seventeen summers, with whom I lived sixteen years, having born to us five children -three boys and two girls.  We had passed through the War Between the States, and we moved to Arkansas, settling near Charleston at Hickory Ridge, Sebastian County.  There we buried my wife - leaving me almost a wreck.  The sadness and loneliness and sorrow of such an ordeal no one knows except those who have experienced it!  Having five small children, their mother gone, poor in worldly things, one hundred miles from and of my people, set me in serious straits.  I could not leave my children and I could hardly stay with my children.  What could I do?  It began to be a serious question and rather difficult to solve.  I was then thirty-seven years old.  Time sped on. Gloom impenetrable settled down about my home. 

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In the aftermath of the War, the ensuing violent uprootedness, poverty, loss of dreams, came grief unimaginable. John Miller’s beloved Sarah, mother of 13-year-old Canzada and her young siblings died. “Gloom impenetrable settled down about my home.”

In the next sentence, John Miller added,  “But the Good Lord always 'tempers the wind of the shorn lamb.'  So I was married to Mrs. Joan Lackey, with whom I have lived these thirty- seven years happily.  She proved to be indeed a wonderful mother to my motherless children and a congenial companion to myself.”

Canzada Jane, being the oldest child, would have shouldered a great deal of responsibility following the loss of her mother. It is difficult to say how she would welcome a new stepmother that also included a three-year-old stepbrother, Richard Cotton Lackey.  The crowded Miller home may have been a perfect teapot to brew a tempest.  

The tempest came in the form of John Gragg Ellison born 1854 in Floyd County, Georgia to Jonathan Gragg Ellison (1828-1899) and Nancy Minerva Whitlock (1832-1917).  If Canzada had openly announced her plans to marry John Gragg Ellison before the spring of 1880. John Thornton Miller’s objections were to no avail.  Canzada left home with John Ellison never to return.  Leaving home forever is a long time. 

According to Dorothy Ellison Miller, an Ellison historian and a cousin of John G. Ellison, John Miller strongly objected to Canzada’s marriage to John Ellison.  He felt John was too old for his daughter.  John’s religious zeal or lack of may have been questioned. Further objections may have stemmed from John’s marriage to Julia Robins in 1874; Julia was deceased before 1880; their three-year-old daughter was raised by his parents.  Here is where it gets hairy with few extant records to prove the truth or to locate Canzada and John’s whereabouts after leaving Polk County, Arkansas before 1880. It is helpful to review the few available records in a timeline.

Timeline

1860 U.S. Federal Census Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, John G. Ellison, 7, is enumerated in the household of his parents, John and Minerva Ellison.[3]

1870 U.S. Federal Census Arkansas, Cansada (sic) Miller is enumerated in the home of her parents, John T. and Sarah Miller.[4] 

15 March 1874, Marriage - Julia D. Robins, to John G. Ellison, Montgomery, Arkansas,.[5]  There is not a death or cemetery record to prove a death date. 

1880 U. S. Federal Census Polk, Arkansas, Fanny Ellison, 3, is enumerated in the home of her grandparents, Jonathan G., and Nancy Minerva Ellison.  Dorothy Miller and various numerous Ancestry.com trees report John G. Ellison’s first wife, Julia, died in 1880, Montgomery County, Arkansas.  Julia was the mother of his daughter, Fanny Ellison, who was apparently raised by John’s parents. 

1889 – Death, John G. Ellison,.  Ellison historian Dorothy Miller reported John G. Ellison was deceased before 1900 based on the family tradition. Ancestry trees offer a death date Nov.1889, Polk County, Arkansas, with no supporting evidence.  The excellent Polk County cemetery records do not have John G. Ellison listed, nor is there a death record or cemetery record in Arkansas, Oklahoma or Texas.  

1900 - U. S. Federal Census, Detroit, Red River County, Texas,[6]Jane Ellison, b. 4 Nov. 1862 Georgia, widow, farmer, rents; she is enumerated with three children: 

               Allie Eugene Ellison b. Indian Territory 15 October 1880

               Odie Thornton Ellison b. Arkansas, 19 Dec 1882

               Alfred Jones Ellison, b. Arkansas Aug 1889

The 1900 census record of Jane Ellison, widow, indicates this is indeed Canzada Jane Miller Ellison, born on 4 November 1862, matching family records from Dorothy Ellison Miller.  Odie’s middle name is the same as her father’s middle name.  John G. Ellison is apparently deceased by 1900.

1903 – Death of Canzada Jane Miller.  Donald Miller, John T. Miller’s grandson (by his second marriage), wrote an unpublished biography[7]of John T Miller. Donald’s research report states Canzada died 18 Sept.1903 in Shreveport, Louisiana. The death location is likely an error because Mrs. Ellison who died on that date was black and born in 1875[8].  Donald Miller may have found the 1903 listing and assumed Mrs. Ellison was Canzada. Online Ancestry trees give the same un-sourced date. 

1910 – Canzada’s three children continued to reside in the vicinity of Red River County, Texas.  No further information is available for Canzada Jane or John G. Ellison despite an exhaustive search of census, tax, property, or probate or records for Arkansas, Oklahoma or Texas. 

Allie Eugene Ellison married Wesley G. Epps; they had 3 children; she died 12 Nov 1966 in Quitman, Wood County, Texas. She reported her birth location as Oklahoma.  Alfred Jones Ellison married Virgina “Vergie;” he died.in 1945; his death certificate was signed by his brother, O. T. Ellison.  Odie Thornton Ellison married Etta Florence Keeth in 1910.[9] Odie reported his birth location as Oklahoma throughout the remainder of his life.  Odie died 19 Sept 1952.  

Thanks to Myra Vanderpool Gormley for providing Odie T. Ellison’s death records and obituaries that report his mother’s name as Mattie.  Canzada may have changed her name to Mattie Jane Ray at some point.   

Death Record Index from microfilm in the Clarksville Library, batch #46007 name as Odie Thornton. 

Obituary: Clarksville Times26 Sep 1952 born in OK, married Etta Keeth 28 Dec 1910 in Detroit, died at his home in Detroit, 

Obituary: Detroit News Herald25 Sep 1952 from microfilm in the Clarksville Library: Odie T. Ellison, 69, passed away at his home in  Detroit last Friday about 5 a.m.  Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Martin Pike of Clarksville at the First Christian Church at 2:30 p.m., Saturday with burial in the Detroit Cemetery by Clarksville Funeral Home. Mr. Ellison was born in Oklahoma December 19, 1881, and had lived in this vicinity practically all his life and engaged in farming until he retired from active work a few years ago.  He was married December 20, 1910, to Miss Etta Keith at Detroit.  He was a member of the Christian Church and Masonic Lodge.  Besides Mrs. Ellison he is survived by a daughter, Mrs. A.B. Carter, Detroit; a son, Jack Ellison, New Orleans, Louisiana.; 4 .grandchildren: Misses Carolyn and Abby Carter and Jack Carter, Detroit, and Keith Ellison, New Orleans; a sister, Mrs. Wesley Epps, Quitman.  

Clarksville Funeral Home Book 4 page 92: child of John Allison and Mattie Ray 

to estate, the order given by wife Mrs. Etta Ellison.

Obituary: Bogata News, Friday 26 Sep 1952, from microfilm in the Clarksville Library: Funeral of Odie Thornton Ellison, 69, who died at Detroit Friday, was held Saturday at the Christian Church. Interment was in Detroit Cemetery. Mr. Ellison, a farmer, was a member of the Christian Church and of the Masonic Lodge. He was born in Oklahoma, Dec. 19, 1882, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Ellison. He married Miss Etta Keith at Detroit, Dec. 20, 1910. Surviving besides his wife are two children, Jack Keith Ellison, New Orleans, and Mrs. A. B. Carter, Detroit; four grandchildren and a sister, Mrs. Wesley Epps, Quitman.

Summary

Canzada Jane Miller did indeed leave home, and she did not return.  According to extant records, she and John G. Ellison ventured forth to Indian Territory where their first child, Allie Eugene, was born October 1880.  It is unclear why Odie and Alfred reported their births as Oklahoma, although Indian Territory was just across the line from Sebastian County, Arkansas.  After a sojourn in Sebastian County, Arkansas, the family eventually settled in Detroit, Red River County, Texas, a growing area between 1880 and 1900 due to mines, cotton, and railroads.  The obituary records for Odie and Alfred Jones Ellison give their mother’s name as Mattie[10]and Mattie Ray.  

Canzada Jane and John Thornton Miller had no further communication after she left home. There can be no doubt she loved and missed her father because she named her firstborn son Odie Thornton.  If John T. Miller had communication with Canzada before 1914, he would have at least known she was a widow. If she was deceased, he would have said so.  He would not have written 19 May 1914 in the present tense, “The girls have grown up and married.” I take this to mean he believed they were currently married.  Dorothy Ellison Miller was elated to have discovered Canzada’s whereabouts in Texas, reporting, "Canzada's descendants were unaware of the conflict causing her to leave home forever." A descendant of Odie's said she told her daughter her bags were packed to go to boarding school when she left.  Leaving home forever is a long time. 

Miller Cemetery and Plantation, Date Co. Georgia

John T. Miller 1839-1921

Sarah Russell Miller 

The gravestone photos were posted on Ancestry trees.  

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde-Beatty, AAPC

The Swedish Colonial Society Genealogist

scsgenealogist@icloud.com

P.O. Box 598

Hempstead, Texas 77445

         

         

         

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[1]Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 4, Red River, Texas; Page: 12; Enumeration District: 0107; FHL microfilm: 1241665

Source Information

Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

[2]Georgia Roster Co. F, 34^thRegiment Ga.

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89059402263

[3]Source Citation

Year: 1860; Census Place: Chulio, Floyd, Georgia; Roll: M653_121; Page: 310; Family History Library Film: 803121

Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

[4]Year: 1870; Census Place: Fulton, Polk, Arkansas; Roll: M593_61; Page: 295A; Family History Library Film: 545560

Source Information

Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

[5]Ancestry.com. Arkansas, Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001.  Original data: Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp.. Arkansas Marriages, 1851-1900. See the extended description for original data sources listed by county.

[6]Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 4, Red River, Texas; Page: 12; Enumeration District: 0107; FHL microfilm: 1241665

Source Information

Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

[7]Unpublished biography of John Thornton Miller by Donald Miller, in possession of Cynthia Forde.

[8]Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, USA

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.

[9] O. T. Ellison married Ella Keeth on 28 Dec 1910 in Red River Co TX Book N page 132

[10]Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, USA

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.

#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 41, Stanley Vold, A Hometown Hero

#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 41
Prompt: Sports

A Hometown Hero

Stanley Erling Vold

By The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde-Beatty

Sports? Really! The prompt for week #42 is Sports. I am stopped short: My ancestors left no records of their sports prowess.  I wrote about my first cousin twice removed, Stanley Erling Vold, because he was a football hero and golf champion in Northwood, Iowa. He was childless, having no one to celebrate him for posterity.  What makes a hero? I believe the blood of the immigrants coursing through his veins, a force unbidden to achieve, pulsating with the same drive that brought his immigrant grandparents to America.  

I remember Stan Vold.  He was one of those relatives I really regret not visiting more. I had heard he played football.  I never knew he was a hometown football hero until a few years ago.  

Stanley Erling Vold was born on 25 Feb 1914, in Northwood, Iowa, to Sever O.Vold and his wife, Emma Hagen, their third and last child.  He joined two older brothers, Arndt and Bernhardt. Stan was baptized in 1914 and confirmed in 1916 at First Lutheran Church. His father was handsome, and his mother very pretty; Stan Vold was a handsome hunk on and off the football field.  He led his team to many victories, being celebrated as a hometown hero.  He graduated from Northwood High School in 1932; he entered the Army Air Force and served in World War II.  On 25 July 1940, he married the love of his life, a pretty, dark-haired beautician, Mable Davis.  Stan was a vendor with the Iowa Liquor Commission for 30 years. Mable owned a hair salon in Northwood.  The couple remained childless, but the love of sports continued as he won several golf championships on the local golf course.  He suffered a lengthy illness and died at his home Tuesday morning, 25 May 1965.  His funeral was held Thursday, 27 May 1965 at Conner’s Funeral Home with John M. Halaand presiding. Left to mourn the loss were his wife, Mable and his brother Arndt of Park Rapids, MN.  He was buried in Lot 2, Sunset Rest Cemetery.  Rest in Peace, Hero!

The Hero’s Dad

Sever O. Vold

Wedding Day

Sever O. Vold, the 3rd son, was born on 20 March 1874 in Brookfield Township, Worth County, Iowa.  He was baptized on 3 May 1874 in the Silver Lake Lutheran Church and confirmed in 1887 in the Elk Creek Lutheran Church. Raised as a farmer’s son, he was encouraged to study.  Following his education in the public schools of Kensett, Worth County, he attended the St. Ansgar Seminary, St. Ansgar, Iowa, and graduated in 1896. In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Deer Creek Township, Worth, Iowa, he was enumerated as single, working as a dry goods salesman.[1]  He was married in April 1901 to Emma Hagen, an immigrant from Valdres, Norway.  In 1903, he was living in Tenold, Iowa as the appointed postmaster.[2]  Three sons were born to that couple: Arndt, Benhard, and Stanley.  Sever became the Worth County Recorder on 1 Jan. 1911 and to 1 Jan 1935 and served for 24 years until 1 Jan. 1935.  By the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Sever was divorced, with his son Stanley living with him. His son Bernhardt died from acute appendicitis in 1932.  Emma died in 1934. Sever served as treasurer of the Northwood Independent School District and of the First Lutheran Church in Northwood.  In later years Sever suffered from atherosclerosis and made his home with his son Stanley. He died at Stanley’s home Monday morning, 17 December 1951, at age 77. The funeral was at First Lutheran Church with the Rev. J. O. Tweeten officiating.  At the time of his death, he was survived by two sons, Arndt, and Stanley, a grandson, Dennis Vold Talle, and granddaughter, Marilyn Vold Talle, a great-granddaughter, and two brothers, Carl and Knut of Northwood. Sever was preceded in death by three sisters and three brothers. He was buried at Sunset Rest Cemetery, Northwood, Iowa. 

The Hero’s Immigrant Grandparents

Ole Halgrimsen Vold and Brynhild Engebretsdtr. Gandrud

Ole and Brynild Vold

Stan’s grandfather, Ole Halgrimsen, was born March 19, 1832, to Halgrim Sigurdsen (Syver) Wold and Anne Olsdtr. Save who had established a home on the Vold Gaard (farm) in the year 1820, Flaa, Buskerud County, Hallingdal, Norway.  His baptism was on April 1, 1832, at the old Stave Church in Flaa, which was directly across the road from the Vold Gaard. He was confirmed in the Lutheran church in 1847.  He was one of five children, the others being Ragnhild, Severt, Margit, and Truls.  When the children grew to be young men and women, they contracted the epidemic of  'Amerika Fever.'

Ole’s sister, Margit (who was married to Jon Hellerud), and his brothers, Truls and Severt were the first to leave the family circle. In 1852, they made preparation for the long, tedious journey. After several weeks they reached the shores of a new and foreign land. They moved onto Rock Prairie, Wisconsin, and then to Rice County, Minnesota, where the younger generations continued to live.  Ragnhild and Ole were the only two at home in Norway. Ragnhild Halgrimsdtr. Remained in Norway, and very little is known of her family.

In 1861, Ole Halgrimsen Vold and his bride of one year, Brynild Engebretsdtr. Gandrud contracted the "Amerika Fever." They sold the Vold Gaard (farm) and for America out of Drammen, Norway, with a group of others.  They set sail on the ship Flora on May 3, 1861, to become pioneers in a new land. They landed in Quebec, Canada, and later moved to Rice County, Minnesota, where they lived for eleven years. Ole Halgrimsen Vold,  his wife, and their children born in Rice County decided to take advantage of farmland available in Iowa. They moved by covered wagon to Iowa, while others in the family remained in Rice County.

According to an article in the Northwood Anchor dated July 29, 1943, the Vold family came to Worth County in 1872. They are located in Brookfield Township, seven miles West of Kensett, Iowa. Quoting the Northwood Anchor article, "Ole H. Vold went by the name of Ole Halgrimsen for the first few years, according to a Norwegian custom, but soon changed his name to Ole H. Vold. All the brothers have "O" as their middle initial. Halgrim, who was eight years old, recalls the trip from their farm home in Rice County, Minnesota, made with peril in a covered wagon, with livestock driven behind the wagon. They came through Owatonna and Albert Lea, and near the latter city, they had considerable difficulty in getting the cattle across the Shell Rock River, which they had to ford. They spent the first night in Iowa at the Silver Lake Church, and they went on to Brookfield Township."They purchased a hundred and twenty-acre farm for $780.00 - no small sum of money in those days. 

All six of the sons spent most of their lives in Worth County. They purchased farms, and some later took other occupations. The three older ones were born in Minnesota, and the others in Brookfield Township, Worth County, Iowa. July 29, 1943, the Northwood Anchor contained an article stating that the six living brothers' ages totaled 436 years. Two sisters, Gunhild (Mrs. Peter Hansen), died in 1920 in Rosseau County, Minnesota, and Mrs. Malla (Maline) L.O. Brunsvold died near Kensett in 1935. The other sister, Anna, never married but worked as a stenographer for Whitcomb and Sons.

Six Vold Brothers

What makes a hero?  A dare to try, and a desire to achieve, whether in sports, moving, and succeeding in a new area of the U.S., or moving to an entirely different country. We celebrate heroes!

  

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[1]

Year: 1900; Census Place: Deer Creek, Worth, Iowa; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 0143; FHL microfilm: 1240468

[2]Ancestry.com. U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, 1832-1971 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.

#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 40, Gertrude Rambo

#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 40
Prompt: Ten

Gertrude Rambo and Anders Bengtsson
Swedish Lutheran Colonists

By The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde-Beatty

Yetrude  (Gertrude) Rambo, born 19 October 1650, was my 10^thgreat grandmother; she was one of nine children born to Peter Gunnarson Rambo and his wife, Brita Mattsdotter, in Kingessing, New Sweden, Pennsylvania. Her father, Peter, arrived in New Sweden in 1640 on the ship the Kalmar Nyckel. The Swedish colonists were Christians, and a pastor came with them, as did decorations (the carved cherubim holding the open bible) and a church bell. The Swedish colonists founded six congregations. The colonial Swedes first worshiped at Tinicum in the church Pastor Campanius built after 1646.  They used the Uppsala Hymnbook and the Church of Sweden rite.

Gertrude’s father, Peter Gunnarson, was one of the founding fathers of that first Lutheran congregation in the colonies on Tinicum Island. Thanks to the late Dr. Peter Craig, F.A.S.G., the Swedish Colonial Society historian, The Rev. Dr. Kim-Eric Williams, and Ron Beatty for the historical facts.

The following story is updated from my book, The Spirit in the South.  I take artistic license by imagining a story that doesn’t necessarily fit the facts: the early Swedes did not have the Rite of Confirmation, which arrived a few years later. My children have no interest in facts but readily tune into stories of their ancestors.  As a Lutheran pastor very familiar with Catechesis, an image of a young Gertrude on the day of her confirmation comes quickly to mind.  In addition, I know first-hand the fear and apprehension of a young girl as she approaches her First Communion. The story starts to take shape.

Gertrude and the Rite of Confirmation

By the Very Rev. Church Mouse

Now is the hour. After three years of Catechesis, Gertrude, fair head bowed, brow damps with beads of perspiration, heart pounding wildly, solemnly confesses her sins. Upon receiving the absolution promised in the ancient Swedish liturgy, a soft sigh escapes her trembling lips. The long, white dress does not conceal the relief shown in the shrug of her shoulders. Gertrude's sweet soprano voice joins those gathered on this Festival Sunday intoning the responses to the Introitus, Kyrie, and Gloria. The warm glow of candlelight dances across her peach complexion, revealing faint shadows under her eyes.

Gertrude had not slept well last night. Lack of proper rest, along with deep anxiety about this important day, makes it increasingly difficult to stay focused. The service continues, the Collect, Epistle, followed by the Graduale, while she notices her brother, Gunnar, making faces at her. Gunnar, who cannot sit still for a moment, delights in teasing his younger sister despite the occasion's solemnity. Gertrude disapproves of Gunnar, who flashes his famous Gunnar Grin: a smile that simply does not stop. Gertrude returns the smile helplessly, realizing that he is the only one who gets away with smiling in church.

Gertrude closes her eyes to avoid laughing at Gunnar; she tries again to pray and pay attention while reading the Gospel and the following sermon. For Gertrude, the sermon is too long - almost unbearable. She struggles to keep her thoughts on the message. “The pastor does ramble on!” The thought bursts into her silence so clearly she glances at her parents to see if they might have heard it, too. But her parents are completely absorbed in the booming voice coming down from the pulpit. Gertrude stares at the angel over the baptismal font. Will this ever end? As if in answer to prayer comes the Amen. And Gunnar is laughing at her.

Gertrude's anticipation increases as she rises from her chair to affirm her faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed. Kneeling at the altar, the pastor places his hands on her head and beseeches God with thanksgiving:

Pour your Holy Ghost upon Gertrude, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence. Gertrude, child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Ghost and marked with the cross of Christ forever.

“Children of the Heavenly Father, safely to His bosom gather,” sings the small congregation with great gusto. Gertrude returns to her place, quite radiant and flushed with happiness, as the Swedish Mass moves forward through the remainder of the liturgy: the Offertory, Prefatio, Sanctus, Prayer of Consecration, Verba Institutionis, Paternoster, Secreta, Pax, and Agnus Dei and on to the high liturgical point: the Eucharist. 

And now the crescendo; now comes the moment of Gertrude's First Communion. Once again, with fear and trepidation, she rises, moves forward to the altar, and kneels; the priest places the morsel of bread onto her tongue with the words, “The body of Christ, given for you!” Softly she whispers, “Amen.” The priest returns with the pewter chalice and tips it to her lips, saying, “The blood of Christ shed for you!” “Amen,” she replies as the wine spreads its warmth into her being. “Amen, and Amen!,” she whispers under her breath. As she returns to her place, the congregation sings the Postcommunio. “The music is so joyful; it sings me!” She feels considerably taller, rising to receive the blessing that concludes the Swedish Mass. 

"When we get home, Gunnar," she threatens as they recess, "I am going to pinch you." He laughs, "You will have to catch me first."And joyfully, Gertrude and her family return home to a feast: a smorgasbord with pepparkakor (gingersnaps) for dessert. The Very Reverend Church Mouse was not invited.+++

                                                       Gertrude and Anders

Eighteen-year-old Gertrude, child of God, was married in the “new church” at Wicaco (Gloria Dei), a low, square, log-timber structure with a short steeple. "She was given in marriage 22 November 1688 to Anders Bengtsson, known to the English as Andrew Bankson. The newlyweds embarked on their life together on their farm at Mayamensing along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. Anders served for many years as a justice on the court and as a churchwarden and lay reader for the Swedish church at Wicaco.

Gertrude and Anders had nine children, generally known by the surname of Bengtson in church records but usually as Bankson and Bankston in English. After the Tinicum site was sold by Armegard Printz, with the leadership of Lars Lock after they became an English colony, they erected two blockhouse churches- one at Crane Hook in DE and one at Wicaco.  Services at Wicaco were conducted by Jacob Fabritius until he died one year before the coming of Rudman in 1697.  When there was no priest, laymen did a service of hymns, Scripture, prayers, and a sermon from a Postil. 

At Wicaco the service was led by Anders Bengtsson and at Crane Hook by Carl Springer. It is unclear where they worshipped during the Dutch timeframe, although Lock’s salary was covered by the Dutch government.

Pastor Andreas Sandel, a successor to Andreas Rudman at Gloria Dei (Old Swedes Church), relied heavily on the advice of Anders Bengtsson. On 14 September 1705, Sandel presented the final word covering his friend’s life: “I buried Anders Bengtsson, born in Sweden near Gothenburg in the parish of Fåxarn (Fuxerna) and Hanstrom farm. He drowned in the Delaware River, sixty-five years old.”

They gradually forgot their Swedish hymns and had to relearn them with Rudman and Björck.  The Rev. Dr. Kim-Eric Williams has just published a long article on the Hymns of Andreas Rudman and the two small hymnals he wrote in 1700, the first Swedish books in America and the very first hymnal in any language printed here. You can order a copy of the” Swedish-American Historical Quarterly,” Vol. 69, No. 3, for $2 plus postage from Chicago.

#52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge – Week 39 - Sam's Story - On the Farm

#52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge – Week 39
Prompt: On the Farm

Sam’s Story

By The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde-Beatty

“What?  Do you know her name? Have you tried to find her?”

I peppered 70-year-old Sam Forde with questions when he told me he knew the identity of his birth mother. I was motivated, “Tell me more!  She could still be alive!”  The tale that unfolded opened the door to new life for Selmer Jayhard Forde, born in Silver Lake, Iowa, on the 4^thof August 1907 to Inga Oleanne Sjursdatter Kinden – and -- possibly her aunt’s husband, Johannes Andresson Forde.  Inga really could still be alive! 

Selmer Jayhard Forde

Encouraged by my enthusiasm, Sam continued: 

“My mother was Inga Kinden; she was born in Sognefjord, Norway.  When she was 18, she came to America to live with her aunt Synneva and husband, John Forde, who raised me.  She went back to Norway when I was two years old.  When I was six years old, she came for a visit; I was told the lady was my mother. A terrible fight occurred over me. I think she wanted to take me with her. The neighbors said John Forde was my father.  After she left, she wrote a few letters over the years. I sent her money once in a while. She was married to Andrew Sunde, living in Michigan with four children.  After John (Forde) died, she and her two daughters came by train.  She got mad and told me off because I drink beer. I told her she had left me and she didn’t need to come back again.  And she didn’t.”  

Yes, Sam felt abandoned and rejected!  Sam grew up as the foster/adopted son of 57-year-old Synneva Severina Ingebritsdatter Kinden, born 12 Nov.1850 in Sunnefjord, Norway, who died 2 Nov.1930 (cancer), and 46-year-old Johannes Andreas Andreasson Forde, born 29 June 1863, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, died 16 Oct.1943.  Sam is enumerated as adopted in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census [1]and son in the 1920 U.S. Federal Census[2]. John Forde was a successful Worth County farmer who built the first hog confinement house in the area, besides owning a large lumber concern in nearby Emmons, Minnesota.  Sam was a typical only child of older parents and given too much; he was spoiled, and he’d wrecked a few new cars by the time he was 18 years old. 

Rose and Sam's Wedding Day

3 May 1930, Sam married 16-year-old Rosie Bergo at the onset of the Great Depression. They celebrated their marriage with a rare treat of fresh bananas. The young couple lived on the family farm, eking out a living during the dark days of the depression when the corn had greater value being burned as heating fuel than sold as grain.  After Synneva died, John Forde had a brief costly second marriage resulting in divorce, followed by a lengthy battle with cancer.  He died in 1943. Sam and Rose sold the farm to pay the medical bills with a net profit of $950.00, and they moved into Northwood, Iowa, with six children.  Sam supported the family by working as a plumber, and Rose cleaned houses.  

In 1959, Sam began working with his oldest son, Stan, on highway construction; this ended in 1963 when he was injured in a car accident.  In 1965, Sam and Rose moved to Stan’s farm in Elk Horn, Iowa.  Stan purchased a mobile home and moved it to the farm for his parents.  It was a peaceful, idyllic time for Sam and Rose; they were at home again on a farm with hogs and cattle to feed, crops to plant, a cow to milk, and chickens for Rose’s egg money.  And they became beloved playmates for Stan and Cynthia’s five children; no one could play Annie-I-Over like Rose or write poems and tell stories like Sam.  

On the Stan Forde farm, Sam poured out his heart about his birth mother, and I cut my genealogy teeth on his story.   “Michigan, huh?  So, Sam, what city in Michigan,” I wanted to know.  Sam thought about it for some time before answering, “Grand Rapids.” With that information, I placed an ad in a Grand Rapids, Michigan, newspaper to run for three weeks.  The ad read, “Searching for Inga Kinden Sunde.”  A few days had passed when Inga’s oldest daughter, Beatrice Sunde Dykstra, responded to the ad by telephone.  Sam and Rose were in my kitchen.  Beatrice explained, “We thought we might be inheriting money.”  I tentatively told her the reason for the ad, and her sweet voice responded, “Oh!  We must come to visit you immediately; I told my husband on our honeymoon I thought I had a brother!”  Beatrice’s memory was jogged as she recalled the train trip from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Worth County, Iowa, with her mother and younger sister Barbara as a ten-year-old in 1944. She remembered people telling her that the man they visited was her brother, but over 33 years, the memory had faded.  Beatrice explained, ‘My mother (Inga Kinden Sunde) passed away 7 years ago (14 Jan. 1971). Mother spent the final several years of her life living in silence.  She stopped speaking.” 

Sam’s half-siblings, children of Inga and Andrew Sunde: Oscar, Elmer, and Beatrice, made the trip to the Stan Forde farm, rejoicing in finding a brother that looked like them. The Sunde brothers looked more like Sam than each other. The Forbes made a trip to Michigan, where Sam was reintroduced to his half-sibling, Barbara, from Inga’s second marriage to Hank Nielsen. Several joyful years followed happy years for Sam. He had sisters and brothers!  He learned he hadn’t been rejected or unwanted.  He belonged to them.  They claimed him!   

Sam’s family was found!  But who was Sam’s father?  This budding genealogist wanted to know as she traced Inga’s footprints.

Inga Oleanna Ingebretsdatter Kinden was born in Sunnefjord, Norway 15 Sep. 1884 to Sjur Moses Ingebritson Kinden and Anne Helene Olsdatter Aasen. 

Inga was the second of three daughters, Nikolina, Inga, then Anna, and three brothers: Ingebritt, Oluf, and Harold.  Inga grew into a tall well-defined young woman who ventured forth from Norway to the United States as an 18-year-old, accompanied by her 43-year-old uncle Johannes Kristian Ingebritson Kinden.  Inga lived with her aunt Synneva (sister to her father Sjur Ingibritson Kinden) and her husband, Johannes Andreas Forde. Inga is enumerated in the Iowa State Census of 1905, 

            Worth Iowa, United States Census

            Inga S. Kinden, age 21, Single, Birth abt. 1884, 

 Born In Norway, Both parents were born in Norway

Searching for Sam’s father, I could see the possibility of John Forde being his biological father. Rose and Sam reported the neighbors in Silver Lake and Emmons also believed John Forde was Sam’s father. I sent for his Iowa State Birth Certificate, which listed,

             Selmer Jayhard Forde,

             born 4 August 1907, Worth County, Iowa; 

             Father: John A. Forde

The mother’s name was absent!  The mystery deepened.  Sam and Rose said the community believed John Forde was Sam’s biological father.  Questions arose: Did Inga come to America to have a child for the childless, aged couple?  If John Forde was a father to his wife's nieces’ baby, why did Synneva allow her niece to continue living with them for two more years until she returned to Norway in 1909?  Would the deeply religious John Forde, who preached during the pastor’s absence, have fathered this child?  John Forde looked nothing like Sam!  John was short and stout, while Sam looked like his mother, tall and lanky. 

Now, with the discovery of half brothers that looked more like Sam than each other, a new theory developed: Was it possible Inga was pregnant when she left Norway in 1903, then returned to reunite with the biological father in 1909 when she made her return trip to Norway?. It made sense because Inga married soon after the return to Norway.  She married on 4 Apr. 1910, Bergen, Norway to Andrew Johannesen Sunde, born 12 Nov. 1884, Norway.  We rejoiced at this thought for a few years until discovering Inga’s ship records ended our theory.

18-year-old Inga and her uncle Johannes Kristian Ingebritson sailed from Drammen, Norway:

Inga Kinden
Gender:	Female
Arrival Age:	18
Birth Year:	abt 1885
Departure Port:	Liverpool, England
Arrival Date:	10 Apr 1903
Arrival Port:	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and St John, New Brunswick, Canada
Vessel:	Tunisian

From 1903 to 1909, Inga Kinden lived with her aunt and uncle on the John Forde farm in Silver Lake, Iowa.  Sam was born on 4 August 1907. Based on 40 gestational weeks, Inga conceived about 11 Nov. 1906.  There is no record of Inga leaving the US during the 3 years, 6 months before she conceived Sam.  Nor did Andrew Sunde travel to the United States before May 1910. 

Inga returned to Norway in May of 1909, two years after Sam’s birth. She married her sister's 24-year-old fiance, Andrew Sunde, in Bergen, Norway 4 April 1910. They left Norway and came to Michigan in the  United States in 1910. 

Ship Records:

            13 May 1910 arrival Quebec,

             Canada Ship, Empress Ireland

             Andrew Sunde, 26, Norway

             Mrs. Inga Sunde, 26, wife, 

If Andrew was Sam’s biological father, it is puzzling that Andrew lived in the United States for sixteen years and made no attempt to see or contact Sam.  Based on extant ship records, Andrew is ruled out as Sam’s father. Andrew suffered from tuberculosis and died in Jan 1926 in Kent County, Michigan.

Inga S. Kinden Sunde

DNA works!  Sam’s grandson, Jon Forde, agreed to do a YDNA test for father to father to father, etc., much like a paternity test reaching back hundreds of years. Jon’s YDNA matched ten men whose ancestors are from 100 Km from Forde, Norway, the ancestral home of John Forde.  If John Forde wasn’t Sam’s father, it was a Norwegian who lived in or near Silver Lake, Iowa, in November of 1906. 

In genealogy, there is always one more surprise. Sam and Rose’s marriage application from Iowa Marriages, Ancestry.com. Sam wrote: Mother Inga Kinden, Father: Magnus Johnson; Sam drew a line through 'John Forde, Foster Father.'  

Was John Forde the real birth father?  Had Synneve been given the name Magnus Johnson by John Forde and Inga as a decoy?  We may never know.  Thanks to a member of the Vik Sogn Facebook page who found a ship record for Magnus Nikolaj Jansen, 16, born on the island of Stord, Norway, Feb. 1890, traveling in the spring of 1906 to visit his grandparents at Thompson, Iowa.  The 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Thompson, King Co., Iowa, has Magnus enumerated as the nephew of Ole Thorson.  Magnus was the son of Johan Theodor Jansen and Marta Ingebritsen of Vikedal.  Magnus returned to Norway in 1910, but he returned for a visit in 1913 using the surname Jansen.  He married Sigrid Olsen on 9 June 1917 and worked as a baker until his death on 9 April 1966.  Only DNA will reveal the truth.  2023, DNA did reveal the secret.  Selmer was indeed a Forde.

---

[1]Year: 1910; Census Place: Silver Lake, Worth, Iowa; Roll: T624_429; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0177; FHL microfilm: 1374442

[2]Year: 1920; Census Place: Silver Lake, Worth, Iowa; Roll: T625_518; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 189; Image: 1085