Tragedy (#52Ancestors, Week 12)

The official prompt for this week was “Popular,” but I really didn’t have any inspiration for that one. Instead, I will tell the sad story of John and Evelyn Swanson’s three daughters.

Evelyn was my paternal grandmother’s sister. She died before I was born so I didn’t know anything about Evelyn or her three daughters until I started researching the family. Here is what I found.

Evelyn was the youngest of the four Johnson sisters. She married John Swanson on the 23rd of December, 1925, in Chicago. The Swansons lived in Chicago when their daughters were born. Phyllis was born 5 August 1926 and her twin sisters Bernadine Ingrid and Joanne Ingrid were born on 27 November 1927. Sadly, baby Bernadine only lived three days. I imagine that the medical help available for multiple births at that time was a little lacking compared to what is available today.

At some point after 1930 Evelyn and John moved their family to Princeton where the rest of Evelyn’s family lived. In 1934 tragedy struck again when little Joanne, seven years old and in the first grade, died on May 11 from a severe case of pneumonia after “fifteen days of brave and patient endurance.”

Then on December 19, 1940, John and Evelyn’s last daughter Phyllis died. She was 14 years old and had just started Princeton High School.

I wrote in an earlier post about the “long line” of faith in my family. It is certainly seen in the lives of these three sisters. If there is anything to be gained by reading about the tragic deaths of the Swanson daughters, it is the presence of faith in their lives and the lives of their family and friends.

I don’t know if Bernadine was baptized, but this church record indicates that she was a member of the church. Often church membership was based on baptism.

First Lutheran Church record book, Princeton, Illinois, 1927

At Joanne’s funeral, two young women sang two of her favorite songs, “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” and “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb.” Joanne's obituary gives an insight into the spiritual life of this little one:

Bureau County Republican 17 May 1934, p. 6

Phyllis, who died at 14, also lived a life of inspiration to others.

Bureau County Republican, 26 December, 1940, p.3.

I haven’t found Evelyn’s obituary yet, but I can only imagine that it would contain a rendering of her faith as well. Surely her daughters learned their faith from their parents, and only a deep faith would enable Evelyn to live without bitterness after losing three daughters and then her husband.

As I write this post we are in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. I look back to my family that has gone before and find comfort in the strength of their faith that saw them through so much. I trust that the Lord will walk beside me through this crisis as well.


(Headstone images taken from FindAGrave, Oakland Cemetery, Princeton, Illinois)