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.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Summer Afternoon

Batavia Illinois - 1909

Surname Saturday - July Marriages

Two family weddings in two weeks; 'tis the season! And that made me wonder how many of my ancestors were married in July. Of course there are my parents, my sister, and at least one of my cousins; but those who came before the living family members include:

My second great grand aunt Zora Clarke who married John Highbarger 16 July 1879. Zora and John lived in Washington County Maryland most of their lives. They had four children.

My great grand aunt Maria Josephina Carlson married Andrew Johnson in Chicago 12 Jul 1888. Both were Swedish immigrants. Maria had been born in Börstil in Uppsala. A family story about Mary and her husband owning a boarding house led to the discovery of this marriage. Maria married the husband everyone knew 10 years after Andrew's death. She's the widowed boarding house manager near the bottom of the page below:

My first cousin thrice removed Carl E Plum married Waity Chandler 17 Jul 1901 in Chicago. Sadly Waity died in childbirth nine months later.

My great grand uncle Otto V Mueller (Bidenharn) married Alvina S Schmitt 23 Jul 1902 in St Joseph, Michigan, a popular wedding site for many Chicagoans. The couple's daughter Edith M was born June 1903. Otto was a successful civil engineer who tragically took his own life in April 1912.

Another Chicagoan and first cousin thrice removed Myrtle Alvira Youngberg married Canadian John L Miller in scenic St Joseph, Michigan 01 Jul 1910. She was 18 years old. The marriage lasted less than three years.

Yet another first cousin thrice removed Pearl May Tolf married Algernon Chastaine Porter in Chicago 19 Jul 1913. I did not know until just this moment that Algernon and Pearl lived in Virginia with their two daughters during the 1920 census. Prior to her marriage Pearl lived with her cousins Raymond and Ranghild in a Swedish Chicago neighborhood.

My great grand uncle George James Walton married Dorothea May Reifsnyder in Cleveland Ohio. The couple had one son, [Cecil] James, with whom I shared a passion for genealogy. James lost his battle with cancer just last year.

The last of my first cousins thrice removed who married in July was Ella Jubelina Tolf. She married Arthur William Nelson in Batavia Illinois 30 Jul 1914. Everyone who described Ella to me spoke very highly of her. She and Arthur had two children. Son Frank became a dentist and practiced in Batavia his entire career.

Carlson, Tolf, Walton, and Youngberg are surnames on my mom's side of the family. Clarke, Mueller, and Plum are on the paternal side of my family tree; the side I am currently researching. Some of the ancestors listed above are collateral. Their stories often add to those of my direct line ancestors. 

Do we share any ancestors? Drop me a line at livinginthepastlane [at] yahoo [dot] com. I'd love to compare notes!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tolf girls

Sunday's Obituary ~ Carl Johan Youngberg

From the Chicago Daily News January 28, 1920 page 30;

"Youngberg - Charles J., aged 58 years. Jan. 26  at home, 1421 E 75th st., beloved husband of Freda Youngberg, fond father of Myrtle Elvira and Lawrence Youngberg.

Funeral Thursday Jan. 29 at 2:30 p.m. from late home to Swedish Mission Church, 74th st and Cottage Grove av., at 3 p.m.: interment Oakwoods. For information phone Stewart 77."

Carl/Charles was born Karl Johan 27 Oct 1861 in Svenarum Norregård Sweden to Anders Johan Johannisson and Ulrika Jonasdotter. Karl took the surname Ljungberg when he did his military service in Sweden.

He emigrated in 1883. Within months he began what would be a long career at the Pullman Palace Car Company building sleeping cars for the railroad.

Carl married my 2nd great-grandfather's sister Frida Tolf in Batavia Illinois 07 May 1887. They made their home in the Englewood area of Chicago.