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."

John Peterson's Livery Service

I found John Peterson's obituary fairly quickly. Rewound the microfilm and put it back in the box.

Then I remembered that a week after her mother's death, John's wife had published a note of thanks to the friends and family members who sent flowers and helped in other ways. Could she have done the same thing after John died?

So I took the microfilm back out of the box and put it on the reader. Scrolling back to the date, John's name caught my eye. And then I saw this amazing picture.

The Batavia Illinois Herald ran a weekly contest series in 1938. They posted a "Old Timer" photo and readers would guess who was in the picture.

Serendipitously, John Peterson's 1913 picture was the Old Timer photo of the week just two weeks before he died. How lucky that he may have gotten to see his likeness. And how fortunate for me; I was the descendant to find it.