Gone Too Soon (#52Ancestors)

 

In researching my paternal grandmother, Edna Johnson Peterson, I found a new relative in the 1900 census: Annie T.

1900 US Census, Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois

This is the Johnson family in Princeton, Illinois, in 1900. According to the census, little Annie was born in November of 1898 so she was one and a half when the census was taken. She was the third daughter of her parents, Anna and Theodore Johnson. (Another daughter named after her mother!)  I had never heard of Grandma’s older sister Annie. My grandmother Edna had not yet been born; did she even know about Annie? I wanted to know more about this little girl!

The 1910 census held another clue and prompted more questions. Annie was not listed in this census, although my grandma Edna was there along with her younger sister Evelyn and two older sisters Myrtle and Laura. Here’s the notation that sent me digging deeper:

1910 US Census, Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois

Annie Johnson, mother, was asked how many children had been born to her and how many children were now living. She had had 6 children and 4 were now living. She had lost two children in the past decade.

I went to the records of Princeton’s First Lutheran Church, the Swedish Lutheran church that the Johnsons were members of. In 1898 I found little Annie’s birth and baptism record, and in 1901 the sad record of her death.

1898 baptism record, First Lutheran Church, Princeton, Illinois

1901 death record, First Lutheran Church, Princeton, Illinois

The Princeton newspaper provided one more piece of the puzzle. Little Annie had died of pneumonia. I have not yet discovered where she is buried.

Princeton Bureau County Tribune,
26 April 1901, page 4

I pondered what had happened in the Johnson family. When little Annie died she was 2 ½; Myrtle was almost 6, Laura was 4 ½, and Edna was a 6-month-old baby. A household of four little girls. I wondered if little Annie was the only one who was sick, or if any of her sisters, or her parents, had had pneumonia as well? Was the funeral at the home or at church? I think of what my kids were like at 2 ½, so active and inquisitive, and then I think of little Annie, sick and still. My heart breaks for mother Annie.

Other questions remained. According to that 1910 census notation, there had been another child. I went back through my records and reread Annie Johnson's obituary, which is amazingly detailed. Here's what it said: 

 

Bureau County Tribune, 7 June 1945, page2

Annie and Theodore had had a son.

I went back to the church records.

 

1905 baptism record, First Lutheran Church, Princeton, Illinois

1905 death record, First Lutheran Church, Princeton, Illinois

Harold Raymond Johnson. A little boy, who lived 4 days. Born and baptized on the same day, did you notice? I don’t have any newspaper clipping or a death certificate to tell my why he died. But I imagine he spent those four days in his mother’s arms as she nursed him, bathed him, loved him, and ultimately said good-bye to him.

Harold. Annie. My grandma’s brother and sister, two relatives I had never heard about and never known. I wish I had pictures of the little darlings, I wish I knew more about them. These little ones were indeed gone too soon, but not too soon to be loved by their parents and family. Even if Anna and Theodore never spoke of Annie or Harold after their deaths, they surely remembered them. Now we can remember them, too.

Social Media (#52Ancestors)

 

In researching my grandfather Harry Peterson,  I'm able to use newspapers as a social media way of seeing details of my grandfather’s life that I never would have known otherwise. Here are some of the many ways, big and small, that Harry Peterson is revealed in the newspapers.

But first, let's start with an early selfie/photo:

Harry Peterson, ca. 1915

In the first social media post/newspaper article I found, Harry is not mentioned. He was born in Kewanee, IL in 1905 so he was definitely in this moving party. Perhaps Grandma Anderson came along to help take care of baby Harry.

Kewanee Daily Star Courier, 6 June 1906, p. 2

The Petersons lived in Henry County, IL for a few years and Harry joined a local agricultural club. If this had been my daughter's social media post, you can be sure there would be a picture of the angel food cake and the cookies.

Henry (County,IL) News Republican, 4 April, 1923, p2

Harry and his family moved back to Princeton later in the 1920s. He met Edna Johnson and they began "stepping out," even to the big city of Chicago. They saw the Cubs win this exciting game in 1930!

Princeton Bureau County Tribune, 29 August, 1930, p8

Chicago Daily Tribune, 25 August, 1930, p. 21

Newlyweds Harry and Edna attended another Cubs game; the local paper gave the Twitter version, but the full story was in the Chicago Daily Tribune. 

Princeton Bureau County Tribune, October 10, 1932 p8

Chicago Daily Tribune, October 3, 1932, p25

Chicago Daily Tribune, October 3, 1932, p34

Social media posts also record life's high points. Harry's wedding, his son's birth and wedding, as well as his own 35th wedding anniversary, were recorded in the Princeton paper.

Princeton Bureau County Tribune, April 15, 1932, p8

Princeton Bureau County Record,
May 8, 1936

Princeton Bureau County Tribune,
August 10, 1961, p. 10

Princeton Bureau County Record,
April 19, 1977, p2

One life event of Harry's that was not recorded on the social media of the day was Harry's graduation from high school, because he didn't graduate. However, he had a full and interesting work life. He worked at and managed one of the local Larkin grocery stores in Princeton, then honed his management skills working for Kroger (both in Princeton and later in Peoria). 

Princeton Bureau County Tribune,
March 29, 1929, p4

Princeton Bureau County Tribune, 
June 6, 1941, p5

Family lore says that in the 1960s Kroger changed a policy and, because of Harry's lack of a high school diploma, he was no longer qualified to do his job. Kroger gave Harry the option of leaving his current management position to run one local Kroger store or take early retirement. Harry took the retirement and found a second, lucrative career as a Country Companies Insurance Agent. (Although my grandfather was in no way a vindictive man, he might have felt some satisfaction in his former Kroger bosses seeing these posts.)

Princeton Bureau County Record, 
October 23, 1973

Princeton Bureau County Tribune,
April 25, 1978, p15

Today's younger generations use social media to document every detail of their lives, from what they eat to what they wear, how they fill their days, and who is important to them. Will their Facebook, Instagram and SnapChat posts be available to future family researchers? Today, I'm really grateful for old newspapers, yesterday's social media posts that have survived the years to give me an inside view into my grandfather's life. 

Education (#52Ancestors)

I used to think that, in my family, my mom and dad were the first generation to go to college.

But recently I discovered that this is not the case. Let me tell you Edna Johnson’s education story.

Edna was my dad’s mom. She was born and grew up in Princeton, Illinois, and in 1919 she graduated from Princeton High School. She didn’t seem to have immediate plans for her future. According to the 1920 U.S. Census, six months after graduation, she was still living at home with her parents and three sisters. She did not have a job. However, her oldest sister Myrtle was a teacher and her second oldest sister Laura was a stenographer at a dry goods store. They sound like good role models for being a working woman!

 

1920 U.S. Census for Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois

The social bits in the newspaper reported a few of Edna’s doings after graduation. She sang at a church funeral in December of 1919 and a couple more in early 1920. She also hosted a meeting of The Loyal Helpers, a church group. What the papers don’t say is whether Edna was looking for a job, or if she had any part time jobs. The year after Edna graduated from high school is a bit of a mystery.

 

26 November 1920 Princeton Bureau County Tribune, p. 12

In 1920 Edna was a college student!

Augustana College and Theological Seminary was in Rock Island, Illinois, 70 miles west of Princeton. In addition to the usual college departments Augustana also had a “Commercial Department,” which offered two options for study: the Bookkeeping course and the Stenography course. Each course took a year (36 weeks) and cost $100 each. If Edna took both of these courses, as the college catalog encouraged students to do, she would have received her certificate/graduated in 1922.

Here is Edna in the 1922 Augustana yearbook, the “Rockety-I,” one of 29 students in the Commercial Department that year.  

How did Edna end up at Augustana? Did she have a penchant for numbers or a head for business? Did she want to fill her time, or did she feel the need to contribute to the family financially? Did she want more than singing at funerals and hosting church groups?

And what exactly were her college days like? Did she participate in campus activities? Was she a good student? Did she make friends at Augustana? Where did she live?

These are questions that I may never answer.

What I do know is, in the fall of 1922, the Princeton newspaper starts reporting Edna’s activities in the church again. She sings at funerals and is involved with the Luther League. She travels and visits her younger sister Evelyn who is now a student nurse in Chicago. In 1923 sister Myrtle gets married; in 1924 Laura marries and the following year youngest sister Evelyn ties the knot. Edna’s father Theodore passes away in 1928. By the end of the decade Edna and her mother are alone in the house on West Putnam in Princeton. The 1920s must have been a hard decade for Edna.

1929 Princeton City Directory

I don't know when Edna first reaped the benefits of her commercial education at Augustana, but this city directory shows her employed as a bookkeeper for a bank in 1929. I sure wish I could have a conversation with her about what it was like to work in a bank when the stock market crashed in the fall of that year!

Edna worked at the bank until she married Harry Peterson, my grandfather (who, incidentally, never graduated from high school). Edna’s time at Augustana was a surprise to me, but it shouldn’t have been. My dad Stan, Edna’s son, attended Augustana and met his future wife, my mom Sarah. Although none of Stan and Sarah’s children went to Augustana, one grandson did.

 

Old Main, Augustana College
May, 2022

Here’s to Augustana College, for all the ways it has educated our family!