1940 Roll Call!

I had an idea, not necessarily a grand idea, but an idea to find out what all "our people" were up to in  1940, by searching the US Census. I tried to find photos of everyone close to the age they were at when the census was taken. It wasn't always possible, but I did my best!
            So where were the Jonsson's? Well, let's find out, shall we?


The Jonsson Family: Helge, Esther and Arthur

  Both Helge and Esther, and their son (My grandfather) Art were residing at 627 Oakland Ave in Villa Park, IL.  Grandpa was 12 and in school. Great Grandma was at 39 years old, and taking care of the home, and Great Grandpa was working as a mechanical engineer for C.H. Hanson in Chicago. (Which, might I add is still in business! Look Here!) From personal knowledge, Helge was in the business of inventing machinery, specifically engraving machines. I also believe he knew Mr. Hanson personally, as I have a book on mechanics belonging to a "C.H. Hanson" with notes in it that was part of my great grandfather's things.
   At this point, both Helge and Esther had been in America around 17 years now.

Jonsson's in the 1940 US Census

 The Wille Family: Henry, Ida, Ora Jean and Don
 

Sooo.... The Wille Family in 1940 they do not turn up in any searches.... They transitioned from the farm in Elk Grove to life in Elmhurst about this time, with a few short stays in several places in Elmhurst. One on Elm Ave. One on Oak Ave, and then finally settling at 136 E. Grantley in Elmhurst. 
   I started browsing by enumeration districts, and it turns out, it wasn't the Wille's at the Grantley house yet in 1940... but a florist with a totally different name and family. So I searched up and down Elm ave and Oak Ave. They were not there unless I missed it. They are there somewhere, and I WILL find them, but it's safe to say that in 1940, the Wille family was shifting gears, and quite drastically from rural farm life to life in town. By 1942 the Wille's were at the 136 E. Grantley house in Elmhurst and Henry was working at the Buick Engine Plant in Melrose Park. 
   In 1940, though... I can't find any member of their household.  







The Smith/Olsen Family: Ole Olsen, AJ Smith, Hannah (Joanne), AJ jr. (Mick) and Patricia Smith

In 1940, AJ Smith and his family were living with his father in law, Ole Olsen in his house on M149 in unincorporated Thompson, Schoolcraft County in the Upper Peninsula. 

Ole was 69 and still farming his own small parcel. His daughter, my great grandmother, Hannah (or Joanne, as we knew her) was 35. Her husband, AJ was 46 and working as a teamster for a lumber camp. Hannah and AJ had 2 of their 5 children in 1940. AJ and Patricia, 8 and 3 respectively. Within the next 6 years, three more children would be born, including my grandmother. Shortly after her birth, AJ would die from complications of gangrene after an Axe split his foot, and Ole would suffer a horrible death from being burned alive. By 1946, Hannah would be on her own with 5 small children. A charmed life it was not, but life was often hard in the Upper Peninsula. Things didn't come easy and it looks like our glimpse into 1940 for them was the calm before the storm. 

Smith and Olsen Family in the 1940 US Census

 The Billings Family: Raymond and Lucille, who was pregnant with Leland.

    I have no photos of Raymond or Lucille, but I do have their census. They were owners of the home at 262 Elm in Manistique, Schoolcraft County in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Which doesn't seem to exist anymore). Lucille was about 4 months pregnant at the time with my biological grandfather, Leland Raymond Billings. Come September of 1940, there would be another addition to the household.

    Raymond was a painter of houses and their interiors, and Lucille worked as a Stenographer for the Bureau of Social Security. They were both 26 years old, and seemed to be doing quite well in a place where jobs could be hard to come by, now that the Lumber boom was slowly dying out.

 

The Billings Family, 1940 US Census

Next up in my 1940 Roll Call will be my husband's grandparents! Stay Tuned! 

#Genetics

   Finding photos to add to faces is one of the more exciting parts for me, when it comes to my research. I am ALWAYS excited to see family photos.

I've had a little fun lately coming across some photos that have shown the always intriguing power of genetics. 

Sometimes, I open a file that was sent to me and my mouth drops, because my brain thinks it sees someone I already know looking at me from back in time! It's exciting when that happens.

  Last week my cousin sent me a photo in a text, and at first glance I thought it was me. She captioned it "Fornelbow 2.0?"

  ** Backstory.... our great grandmother, Esther wasn't always a woman of many words but when she didn't like something, she let you know with en elbow jab. She was famous for them. Or, possibly, infamous. That (in)famous elbow..... Before she had passed she had remarried a wonderful man, Axel Fornell, and thus became "Esther Fornell". One night, on a drive home from our annual craft fair, they were telling a story of my Uncle who had to sit in the back seat with her once. Anytime he said something she didn't like, most likely some jokes he was cracking... BAM, a curiously strong elderly elbow jab in the ribs. Any time you did something she didn't want, BAM, that sneaky elbow would getcha! 

And in that moment, in a pure stroke of genius, I married the two words, and her infamous elbow jab became forever after, lovingly known as.... The Fornelbow.**

So, this picture, my kids thought it was me. My friends thought it was me. It wasn't me. It was My great grandmother. I took a side by side and posted it. A lot of people thought IT WAS ME. I showed my daughter the photo and asked, "Who is that?" She said, "That's you. How did you do that to the photo? How did you make it that brown color? Can you do that with one of mine?" 

    Now, we aren't identical by any means...but, You can tell it's her genes that came through in me. 

I made a quick snapshot to do a side by side. I wish I had a better comparison, but I think the whole point still comes through with this one. ;)

Me, in my early 30's, and Esther Eugenia Stenman (b. 2.25.1901) in her late teens.

  I more recently came across a photo of  My 3rd great grandfather Joachim Sæther, (b. 6.30.1835) and was able to compare him to a photo from our family that I had confirmed by another person was indeed his daughter, Emma Ingeborg Sæther.(b. 3.19.1866). A great resemblance with their dark set eyes, and nose. But it passed on even farther to my great grandfather, Emma's son, Helge Jonsson   (b. 11.13.1897) I put them side by side, with a younger photo of Helge on the left, and an older one of him on the right. It was fun to compare the resemblances!

L-->R: Young Helge Jonsson, Joachim Sæther, Emme Ingeborg (Sæther) Jonsson, and older Helge Jonsson

 

 

Three generations in one photo, side by side. Father, Daughter, Grandson. How Fascinating!

The next was one we never saw coming. We knew my maternal grandma looked like her dad. I had seen photos, and she definitely favored her dad over her mom. But when a cousin I found online sent me a photo of  my 2nd great grandmother, I thought.... WOW. This genetics thing just hit a whole new level! Haha! 

On the right, Ida Smith

b. 9.5.1856

On the left, Ida's 

grandaughter, 

Mary Jane Smith

Crazy, right? 

I think I find it so fascinating, because it's literally a visual reminder that our ancestors live on through us. The thought itself is a beautiful one and a reminder to stay connected to our past. But when you see the face of someone you've never seen before, who lived 150 years before you were born and you can recognize yourself or your parents in them, everything feels brought to life. These aren't just names, dates and places added to a long list of more names, dates and places. These were lives lived. These are people. These are YOUR people. Their contribution to who you are isn't always just entered as data on a website or written in a file or passed on in a story. Sometimes it's right there, looking you in the  mirror and you never even realized it. Kind of amazing, right?

     I love seeing the resemblances to past generations. If you can find them in your own roots, please feel free to post a link in the comments, because I'd love to stop by and take a look.

- Dani

Jr. Smith's Ambitions for Sheriff

There's a website I've come across a few times in the last few years that looked pretty darn useful. But you had to pay. So I looked elsewhere. Well, I bit the bullet. For a whole $5.83 a month. I'm in my 30 day free trial right now, and as far as I'm concerned, with the information I've found already, it's more than paid for its worth.
   What site is this? Genealogy Bank. It's awesome.

  I spent some time searching the Smith family of Schoolcraft county in this database. I found 37 news pieces mentioning them in the Evening News, which was Manistique's newspaper. It was a small town, so this included things like " AJ Smith and John Winters from Hiawatha were in town Monday."  - Riveting, I know. :) But still cool, none the less, in my view.

  There were some articles that shed some light on not so known facts. For instance...

                                               
                Here's his official political announcement....

           
                  

                     
                       It seems AJ dabbled in quite a few things looking to find his niche. He farmed, ran a lumber company, logging camp, bootlegged, and ran a "pool hall" type joint, which fronted for his bootlegging. And now, as I found out, had ambitions for County Sheriff.

                        Maybe his defeat in the County Sheriff's election had something to do with his bootlegging.... 1+1=2, right? 
                         Oh AJ, you rascal, you.......

                     

Sepia Saturday - Hunting Mutts

Sepia Saturday: Theme - Dogs.

   This is my Smith family at their homestead in Hiawatha, Schoolcraft County in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The photo was given to me by one of AJ's other great grandchildren.  I love this picture!
   I'm guessing the dogs in the picture are sitting by their own owners.  Quite a mixture of mutts for hunting dogs! (If that's what they did indeed use them for.) The first on the left looks like a terrier mix belonging to Ray Allen Smith, a great great uncle. The next pup is at the feet of my great grandfather, A.J. Smith. The last one is sitting between the legs of my great-great grandfather, Adoniram Judson Smith (Aka, A.J.) who was Sheriff of Schoolcraft County about the time this picture was taken.
   All the pups look pretty relaxed for their photo shoot, except maybe Adoniram Judson's dog. It sort of looks like he's trapping him to make him stay in place. lol.      

 

The next is just a bonus picture of my Dad when he was a boy. I actually think this is the dog that has a pretty tragic boyhood story attached to it, and I believe it was his first dog. 

Don't you think he's raging coolness in his highwaters and skinny turtleneck? :P

      

Smith&Smith

                                                               My Great Great Granny

 

   Ida Harriet Smith - b. 5 Sep 1856 d. 5 Aug 1936

I reached a little confusion a while back when I had a lot of documents on my Mother's Maternal Great grandparents, but for the life of me, I could not come up with a maiden name for my mom's great grandma.
    We knew my grandma's father was A.J Smith. We also knew his father was Adoniram Judson Smith. In fact, I had so much on the Smith's I was back to the 1700's. But I could not figure out what Adoniram Judson's wife Ida's maiden name was. Be it Marriage return records, Death returns, cemetery records.... All I got was Smith. It wasn't until a death record when the thought occurred to me.... Is her maiden name also Smith? In Hiawatha, Michigan? This tiny tiny place? I admit it; Thoughts of first cousins marrying each other immediately popped into my brain. (For the record, I always tend to think the worst.....) but, Eww. I was hoping I was wrong.
   Whew! I was.
 I was able to get in touch with a half 3rd cousin who had an article that had been printed in the local newspaper up there about the Smith's. Ahem, excuse me, the "Extraordinary Smiths." (Hey, I'm not bragging, it's what the article said!)  :)  And it was confirmed then by the descendants... they were absolutely positively from separate Smith lines. Well Thank God!!!    ...and then I was embarrassed it didn't dawn on me earlier that her maiden name was probably Smith. Duh. But I digress....

     So here I am now, with my lovely great great grandmother, Ida Harriet Smith, b. 1856. I have found that her parents are Charles Smith, and Mary Reynolds. Charles' parents are Charles Smith and Laura G.(I assume it's a G, the handwriting was unclear) King. And there I stop. I can find nothing on Laura or Charles so far.

      I've reached out and got a response from ANOTHER distant cousin (The genealogy community is wonderful, have I mentioned that?) who happened to be a professional genealogist and is having a tricky time sorting out Ida's Smith line....uh oh. I'm no where near a professional.... how on earth am I going to get anywhere on this? But this cousin informed me they've had a lot of luck finding these Smith's in Google Books. (and have I mentioned yet how much I love Google Books and the gems of info I've found with it? I have to do a separate blog post on that....) I've tried looking for her Smith's with GB, but came back with nothing. I think I'll try some different combinations of info for the searches and see what I get. At least it's confirmed that it's out there.... I just have to dig it up. Wish me luck!!



The picture of Ida above was given to me for my records by a half 3rd cousin I've found in my Smith searchings. He's been a wonderful help when it came to exchanging information and pictures of the Smith family. Thanks Paul!

68 Days until the 1940 Census!

   I saw this little reminder when I signed into Ancestry. 68 Days until the 1940 Census is released.

       This is something I have been waiting for for quite a while. Basically ever since I realized not all old census records are available. It happened after digging and digging for my Swedish Immigrant great grandparents. They came after the 1920 Census, so they appeared in the 1930 Census. I was ecstatic to finally find some new info. I got frustrated when I began to look for them in a 1940 census. That's because there was no 1940 census. Yet.

        That's when I learned that to be available to the public, a census had to reach it's 72nd birthday. 72nd? Seriously? That 2 after the 7 really messed with me as time passed. 2010 rolled around and I got excited when I remembered the 1940 census. I started searching for it until I remembered that 2. I had two more years to wait. I was getting impatient. And what's up with that 2? Annoying for a person who enjoys stalking the dead.

       It turns out, the 72-year rule is not law, but a rule posed by Roy V. Peel, Census Bureau Director, in a letter to Wayne C. Grover, Archivist, on August 26, 1952. (See info here). I read the letter Mr. Peel sent, and it never gives any reason for the arbitrary number 72.
        BUT.... In 1952, life expectancy for any given person was 68.6 years. So with that in mind, if you tack on 4 years, based on life expectancy, everyone who had given their personal information would most likely be dead, and there'd be no danger or threat to privacy in releasing the information.

        Makes sense. I guess.

   So anyways, there's your bit of babble for today. 68 days!  68 days until I find out where my Jonsson grandparents were, what they were doing, and more personal information! ......like I said..... I stalk dead people.......It's fun.

 

Helge Sigurd Jonsson & Esther Eugenia Stenman

I also cannot fail to mention the hope I have in finding my great grandfather AJ Smith in this census. It will be his last, as he died 5 years later. He left his first wife and married my great grandmother, Joanne Olsen. But I can't find any marriage records for them, and I can't locate him in the 1930 Census. So I am really looking forward to finding him in the 1940 census. It's been easy to locate him when he's married to his first wife. But married to my great grandma? Not so much. He's proved to be pretty elusive after the depression. 

*Once the government hands off the papers, ancestry.com will be working around the clock to scan and enter the data. the way I read it, they would keep everyone updated on where they were in the process through the night/day until it's all in. So get ready! It's almost here!