Wednesday, March 6, 2019

#52 Ancestor Challenge 2019 – Week 10, Uncle Ole

#52 Ancestor Challenge 2019 – Week 10
Prompt: Bachelor Uncle


Saturday Morning Uncle With A Nickel

 The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde


“Can I have a nickel, Uncle Ole?”  Uncle Ole looked down with a teasing smile, like he might not agree to the request.  “Now, I don’t know if I have any nickels!”   But my two younger sisters and I knew he was fooling us!   When he was in town, he always had a nickel for us on Saturday mornings.  I don’t remember how we knew when he was back home from his job, working as a section foreman on the railroad, but sure, as Saturday mornings arrived. The wind blew word he was home, and we surreptitiously headed for the back door of Axel’s Tavern to go begging for a nickel.   Sometimes it was the three of us kids with Duke, the dog, Babs, the duck, or maybe just one or two of us.  We would walk the half block from our home at 103 South 8th Street, Northwood, Iowa, and make that right turn into the alley to the tavern door.  And inside, through the haze of cigarette smoke, was Uncle Ole leaning against the bar.  “Please, can we have a nickel?” “Well!  Sure enough.  It seems I do happen to have three nickels!”  


I remember the warmth of his smile as he pulled out Buffalo nickels.  That may have been the extent of my childhood communication with my dad’s unmarried oldest brother: the smile, the teasing look, our reward, and his satisfied look of an uncle who loved his three little nieces.


Olaf Bertinas Vold was born to Carl Otto and Sithone Turvold Vold on 5 December 1906, joining an older sister Mabel “Mae,” born on 22 April 1905, at their paternal grandparent's farm home west of Kensett, Worth County, Iowa.  His father, Carl, was 30, and his mother 30.  His immigrant grandparents, Ole Halgrimson and Brynhild Engebretsdotter, lived in half of the house, while the younger family lived in the other half.  Norwegian was the only language spoken at home.  


By the time of the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Brookfield Township, Worth, Iowa, Olaf was three, his older sister Mabel was 5, and his baby brother Clarence, born on 13 February1909, was one year old.  His grandpa Ole passed away in 1908.  By 1920, the U.S. Federal Census, Iowa, Brookfield Twp., Worth, shows three more siblings added to the family.  Olaf was 13 years old, living at home.  Alice Helene Vold was born on 10 October 1911.  Ervin Gelnor, my father, was born on March 7 1915.  Frances Arlene was born on 6 February 1920.  His grandma Brynhild died on 25 September 1912.  The ancestral farm was then sold to the oldest Vold son, Embrick.  At that time, the Carl Vold family purchased a farm on the west side of Highway 65, north of Kensett.  


According to the Iowa State Census, Worth, Northwood, 1 January 1925,[2] 18-year-old Olaf B. Vold lived at home; he had completed the ninth grade of high school and worked as a farmer.  Mabel's one-year-old daughter, Jean Elizabeth Vold, lived with the family at 206 4thStreet North.  The farm north of Kensett had been sold.   


According to aunt Frances Vold Meyer, “In 1929,  my father loaned his best friend, banker Tommy Groe, a large sum of money.  The bank closed the day after the 'loan,' rupturing a lifelong friendship and creating an unresolved bitterness.  My dad never set foot in a church again.”  Diane Ruprecht Johnson and Bonnie Baker question the amount of money aunt Fran reported, so I will say that it was a large amount of cash for the time.  Diane reports the money was deposited at the behest of Carl's brother, Syver, who worked in the bank.   Tommy Groe must have been involved in anger to break the relationship between two lifelong friends.  But the rest is speculation.  At the time of the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Northwood, Worth, Iowa, Olaf remained living at home, unemployed.  By the time of the Iowa State Census in 1935, Olaf was a laborer on the Rock Island Railroad. 


The 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Northwood, Worth, Iowa, shows Olaf still single, living at home, and working as a laborer for the railroad.  But the shy, unmarried bachelor’s life changed drastically with the outbreak of World War II and the Draft.  Olaf’s draft notice came on 11 May 1942.[3]  
Draft Notice
Olaf was 5’9” tall, blonde with blue eyes, weighing 160 pounds.  While he was away at war, his oldest sister, Mabel Burnett Vold Hartman, died on 11 May 1944 in Ramsey County, Minnesota.  Olaf was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 1945; he received a $420.00 military bonus on 9 May 1949 for 42 months of service.  Olaf returned to his employment as a section foreman for the railroad, a job he held until his retirement at age 65.  Olaf’s mother, Sithone (Susan) died 12 February 1952, and on 4 October 1955, his father, Carl Otto Vold, died. 


During the late 1940s through 1953 or maybe 1954, when we were begging nickels from Uncle Ole, my sisters and I knew better than to go into the front door of Axel’s tavern.  We knew we could find Uncle Ole there some Saturday mornings, and we knew uncle Ole drank too much.  Occasionally, he would show up at our home with too much to drink.  When we were in our teens, we stopped asking for nickels.  I didn't go into that tavern again.  I moved away from town in 1955 and, regrettably, did not see uncle Ole very much after that.  

Memories of Uncle Ole 

Merrilee Vold Reid's vivid memory of uncle Ole was getting knocked on her rear with the recoil of a .30-06 rifle.  When she, dad, and uncle Ole went hunting on a farm, he would teach her how to use a rifle.  After that blow to her dignity, he suggested she wait until she was older, like 12 years old, and maybe he would buy her a rifle.  

Jennifer Ruprecht Gilbertson shared a memory by email on 9 March 2019:  
'He was such a sweet man.  He would visit and stay for a nice dinner and took to our Paula. He was an important memory in our childhood, our visits to Northwood, visits to Grandma and Grandpas, and seeing our Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.  I especially remember Grandma's wire glasses and hairstyle, the pink peppermints on the dining table, the piano, sitting on Grandpa's lap, sleeping in the front bedroom under tons of quilts with mourning doves waking us.  Such sweet and enjoyable family events in our lives."

Diane Ruprecht Johnson's memory was sent by email to Cynthia Forde on 8 March 2019:
"Uncle Ole was a very sweet man.  Mom and dad visited Ole every two weeks, taking him his cigarettes, his favorite whiskey, and chocolates. They talked about old times."

 John Ruprecht painted a poignant picture of uncle Ole: "He always smoked unfiltered Camel cigarettes; I remember him taking a big draw off a Camel, blowing the smoke into his white hanky and leaving a brown spot on the hanky.  Uncle Ole then said, 'Now that's a cigarette.'  Uncle Ole lived a very lonely life.  I remember being with dad, dropping uncle Ole off at a railroad yard, pitch black, a sea of trains. Uncle Ole got out of the car and walked into the darkness of the trains.   I asked dad where he was going and was told he was walking to the car he sleeps/lives in.  Very sad and very scary.  I was told uncle Ole was tuff as he had many fights with the rail bums."


Uncle Ole’s sister Alice Vold Knuth died from pancreas cancer on 24 November 1970 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  His brother Clarence died from a heart attack on 12 May 1975 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  I could not attend those funerals, but Uncle Ole came to my father’s funeral in Northwood in November of 1977, only because my dear, caring cousin Jeanne Elizabeth Vold Hartmann Ruprecht brought him to the funeral.  Jeanne did more than ask Uncle Ole for a nickel.  Jeanne looked out for him, caring for his well-being all of his life.  


I  visited Uncle Ole in Albert Lea; perhaps it was about 1975, not long before he contracted lung cancer.  I don’t recall the conversation; I doubt it was more than an hour of exchanging news.  I don't remember bringing him anything!  As always, he was happy to see me!  I was sad I had not communicated more often.  

Uncle Ole received a pension from the railroad until he died on 28 January 1978[4]at the VA Hospital in Albert Lea, Minnesota.[5]  He was buried in lot 18 at the Sunset Rest Cemetery, Northwood, Iowa.  Rest in peace, uncle Ole!
Vold Siblings; Mae, Fran, Alice, and Ervin"Paul"



[2]Source Information

Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.
Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925, as well as various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.
Description
This database contains Iowa state censuses for the following years: 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, and 1925. It also includes some head of household censuses and other special censuses from 1836-1897. The information available for an individual will vary according to the census year and the information requested on the census form. Some of the information contained in this database though includes name, age, gender, race, birthplace, marital status, and place of enumeration. Learn more...

[3]Source Citation

The National Archives in St. Louis, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 521
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.


[4]Source Information

Ancestry.com. Minnesota, Death Index, 1908-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001.
Original data: State of Minnesota. Minnesota Death Index, 1908-2002. Minneapolis, MN, USA: Minnesota Department of Health.
Description
This database is an index of deaths recorded by the State of Minnesota, USA, from 1908 to 2002. The index includes: the name of the deceased, city and county of death, date of death, birth date, birthplace, mother's maiden name, and state file number

[5]Source Citation

The National Archives at Atlanta; Morrow, Georgia; Records of the Railroad Retirement Board, 1934 - 1987; Record Group Number: 184
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., Railroad Retirement Pension Index, 1934-1987 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.
Original data: Records of the Railroad Retirement Board, 1934-1987. Record Group 184. The National Archives at Atlanta, Morrow, Georgia.


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