Serendipity in Genealogy

My ancestors are not generally among the movers and shakers in history. They were average people living average lives. That doesn't make them any less interesting to me; it just means that if they appear in a newspaper at all, it won't be on the front page.

So when I visited the Depot Museum in Batavia Illlinois several years ago, it was to get a glimpse of the work done at the U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Company. My second great-grandfather was a blacksmith there for many years.

The museum was very interesting. The displays were wonderful - I took many pictures of the USWE&P display and was grateful to the volunteer who answered my many questions about 19th century life in Batavia. At the end of my visit, Marilyn Robinson encouraged me to sign the guest book and add the surname I was researching. She said other guests sometimes look through the book and connections are made. I signed the book and wrote the name "Tolf".

A few days later Marilyn mentioned my from-out-of-state visit to another volunteer. The volunteer asked what surname I was researching. Together they looked at the guest book. The volunteer (also named Marilyn) said Tolf looked familiar. When she returned home, (the second) Marilyn looked in the scrapbook created by her husband's great-grandfather Charles Wenberg. He had been a professional photographer in Batavia during the time my family lived there. Inside the scrapbook she found these pictures:

l-r Charles Wenberg, Peter Tolf and Claus Pederson
These three men were instrumental in founding the church below 

First Swedish Mission Church in Batavia Illinois

Peter Tolf (center wearing tie) blacksmith foreman
at US Wind Engine and Pump Company

Peter Tolf and his wife Augusta Landström with their children
(l-r) Ranghild Henrietta Katarina, Harry Wilhelm, and Raymond Johan Carl

Helena Åman Tolf with daughters Christina Tolf and Amanda (Tolf) Peterson

I know I thanked both women at least a hundred times. Marilyn Robinson has since passed away, but her extensive work in the Batavia Historical Society surely guaranteed her a place in genealogy heaven. I will be forever grateful to the second Marilyn who gave me something I would never have seen without her generosity. I'm also grateful to Charles Wenberg who wrote captions at the bottom of his photographs without which his great-grandson's wife couldn't have made our connection.

And to my Tolf, Åman, and Landström ancestors: For putting the two Marilyns and me in all the right places at all the right times - there are not enough words in my vocabulary to express the depth and breadth of my feelings.

December Anniversaries

Happy December anniversary to my cousin Cynthia and her husband!

Ancestors who wed in December include:

My third great-grandparents Carl TOLF and Helena Christina ÅMAN who were married in Sweden 26 Dec 1848. They begat Peter, who begat Harry, who begat Harriet, who begat my mother.

Owen Henry TOLF (my second cousin twice removed) who married Luella BUTLER 29 Dec 1947 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois. Owen's grandfather Gustav TOLF was my 2nd great-grandfather Peter TOLF's brother.

My grand-uncle Harry Vincent FLOOD and Helen Catherine MALCZAN who were married 24 Dec 1955 in River Grove, Cook, Illinois. Harry and my maternal grandfather John George WALTON were half brothers.

Charles Fredrick OTTO Jr (my granduncle) who married Marie Martha SCHMITZ 31 Dec 1940 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois. Charlie's mother Esther Ingeborg CLARIN, was my father's maternal grandmother.

My second great-granduncle Frans Magnus TOLF and Matilda PETERSON who were married 31 Dec 1881 Batavia, Kane, Illinois. Frank (as he was called in America) and my 2nd great-grandfather Peter TOLF were brothers.

Frank and Mathilda with their son Charles

Are any of my ancestors in your family tree too?

Please contact me at find.an.ancestor [at] gmail [dot] com

Let's compare notes!

Sunday's Obituary - Helena Åman Tolf 1901

Lena Tolf with daughters Christina & Amanda

From the Batavia (Illinois) Herald, Wednesday 16 January 1901:

Death of an Aged Mother

"Died, at the home of her daughters, Misses Christina and Amanda Tolf, on Hueston St., West Batavia, Sunday, Jan 13, 1901, after an illness of several weeks, Mrs. Elena Tolf, aged 78 years. Deceased was an old resident of this city. She had reazed a large family of children, four sons and four daughters, four of whom live in Batavia. She was a good christian lady and a kind and devoted mother. Funeral will be held at the Swedish M.E. church, Thursday afternoon. Burial at West Batavia cemetery."

Site-seeing Saturday ~ Svenarum, Jönköping, Sweden

This church (kyrka in Swedish) is the place in which my Åman and Tolf ancestors worshipped during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The design is simple, but the feelings it invokes are deep and complicated.

A few clicks on my keyboard and I'm a world away, seeing a place my ancestors frequented for the important events in their lives; baptisms, weddings, funerals. In Sweden, they would also have visited the church to share their plans to leave the parish. Did they look back over their shoulders as they walked away?

Google and other sites can bring a wealth of geographic pictures to family historians. Mapping sites with satellite capabilities allow us to see our ancestors' hometowns in real time. Mortgage and real estate sites offer photos of homes we may never visit, but can see on our computer screens. The first home owned by an immigrant ancestor. The apartment building an aunt mentioned in a family story. These pictures make the events real. They imprint the memory of an ancestor on our own memories. This is a part of family history we shouldn't overlook.

It's important to get the facts ma'am; those names, date and locations. But it's equally important to color in the stories of our ancestors and their descendants.