The Name “Lorenzo Dow” in My Family Tree: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Religious Traditions”

 

Lorenzo Dow: Methodists, Mormons and Spiritualism

Eli J. “Lorenzo” Dow: (Maternal Second Cousin 4x Removed)
Lorenzo Dow: 1845-1903 (Maternal Third Cousin 3x Removed)
John Lorenzo Dow: (Maternal Fourth Cousin 2x Removed)
Lorenzo Dow Park: 1830-? (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)
Whitcher Dow: 1804-1882 (Maternal First Cousin 5x Removed)
 

I read Amy Johnson Crow’s email regarding this week’s 52 Ancestors prompt. She was discussing ways to determine the church affiliation of ancestors, suggesting that we look at burial locations, social groups or societies the ancestors belonged to, and their children’s names, noting, “For example, Lorenzo Dow was a popular name among Methodist families.” I did a double take. I was familiar with the name “Lorenzo Dow”. I had a couple Lorenzo Dows in my family tree, and had always wondered why their families chose “Lorenzo” for a first name. I needed to take a second look at my Lorenzo Dows.

First, I did some research on the original Lorenzo Dow. Who was he and why did Methodists name their children in his honor? According to Wikipedia, Lorenzo Dow “was an eccentric itinerant American evangelist, said to have preached to more people than any other preacher of his era. He became an important figure and a popular writer. His autobiography at one time was the second best-selling book in the United States, exceeded only by the Bible.”

The original Lorenzo Dow, traveling preacher. Image from Wikimedia Commons

He preached all across the United States and in England and Ireland. He was unkempt and poorly-dressed, but he was a mesmerizing preacher. Wikipedia noted that “Dow's public speaking mannerisms were like nothing ever seen before among the typically conservative church goers of the time. He shouted, he screamed, he cried, he begged, he flattered, he insulted, he challenged people and their beliefs. He told stories and made jokes. It is recorded that Lorenzo Dow often preached before open-air assemblies of 10,000 people or more and held the audiences spellbound…”

He preached from 1798 until his death in 1834. Wikipedia states, “His influence and popularity during his life led to many children of the early 19th century, especially on the American frontier, to be named after him…[and] the 1850 U.S. census counts Lorenzo as one of the most popular first names in America.”

The first Lorenzo Dow in my family tree was born as Eli J. Dow, but at some point took on the name or nickname of “Lorenzo”. He was born in 1816 in New York; the original Dow preached in the region. Perhaps Eli’s speaking style reminded family members of the fiery preacher, or perhaps his religious fervor led to the comparison.

Lorenzo Dow of Utah. 1845-1903

This first Lorenzo named one of his sons Lorenzo Dow, showing that he continued to admire the fiery Methodist preacher. However, by the 1840s, Eli “Lorenzo” had converted to Mormonism, and his son Lorenzo was born in the Mormon town of Nauvoo, Illinois.  Lorenzo the son moved west to Utah with the Mormons, settling in the town of Draper, Utah. He named his first son John Lorenzo Dow, so the name continued an additional generation, but no longer took prominence as a first name. The Mormon Dows preferred Biblical names.

I had one additional Lorenzo Dow in the tree: Lorenzo Dow Park. I have little information on this cousin, born in New York in 1830. Some trees connect him to another Lorenzo Dow Park with four children, but I don’t believe that information is correct.

While researching the Dow line, I ran across one additional Dow family member with some unusual religious traditions of his own, far removed from those of the famous circuit riding, fire-and-brimstone preaching Lorenzo Dow. Whitcher Dow, Eli Lorenzo Dow's uncle, was born in Vermont in 1804 and became a farmer, moving to Illinois where he was one of the founding fathers of Fairfield, Illinois in Bureau County. He was apparently very devoted to his wife Eunice, and when she died in 1877, he turned to spiritualism. He claimed to be in regular communication with her beyond the grave. A Dow Family history described him as follows:

“Whitcher Dow: He was a farmer, served as supervisor; was a devoted spiritualist and during his last five years held daily conversations with his wife, who often told him much of what was to happen. He was a fine man, temperate, charitable and honest to the last degree.-From the Book of Dow, Genealogical Memoirs compliled by Robert Piercy Dow.”

Whitcher Dow's headstone in Yorktown Cemetery, Illinois. Photo by Lynn W. on Findagrave.

Without Amy Johnson Crow’s mention of the popularity of the name “Lorenzo Dow” in connection to religious traditions, I never would have realized that this name popped up in my family tree as a tribute to a famous traveling preacher. In addition, I never would have unearthed the interesting information about Whitcher Dow. In the future, I will try to look for information on my ancestors’ religious affiliations, as I now know their church connections can provide important clues about their lives.

Sources:

Wikipedia entry on Lorenzo Dow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Dow#References

The Book of Dow : Genealogical Memoirs of the Descendents of Henry Dow 1637, Thomas Dow 1639 and others of the name, immigrants to America during colonial times, also the allied family of Nudd. Robert Piercy Dow, writer and editor. Claremont, NH. 1929. https://archive.org/details/bookofdowgenealo00dowr/page/436/mode/2up?q=whitcher

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/46986934/person/322192349992/hints

Image of Lorenzo Dow, preacher. By Unidentified. Publisher: Childs & Lehman. - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3a28796. See Commons:Licensing., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47376386

Findagrave Entry for Whitcher Dow. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19503623/whitcher-dow?_gl=1*1f21hay*_gcl_dc*R0NML

Ove And Ragnhild -- More Than “Kissing Cousins”: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Cousins”

 

My Great-Grandparents Were First Cousins: Ove and Ragnild Syverson’s Mothers Were Sisters

Randi Olsdatter Ve: 1804-1869 (Paternal 2^nd Great-Grandmother)
Ragnhild Olsdatter Ve: 1806-Unknown (Paternal 2^nd Great-Grandmother)
Ove Sjurson/Syverson: 1840-1882 (Paternal Great-Grandfather)
Ragnhild Olsdatter Ve: 1848-1933 (Paternal Great-Grandmother)

I often struggle with Norwegian genealogical records due to the language difference and the confusing patronymic and geographical surnaming tradition. As a result, it took me a shockingly long time before I realized my great-grandparents were actually first cousins, sharing a set of grandparents.

I had been tracing a DNA match that led back to my great-grandfather Ove Syverson’s brother Tollief, making our shared ancestor Ove and Tollief’s parents, Sjur Tomasson Hestetun and Randi Olsdatter Ve. In the past, I had focused more on Sjur Tomasson Hestetun than on his wife since the Hestetun surname gave me geographical information. But this time, I looked more carefully at Randi and her parents, Ole Johannesen Wee and Gjorond Mogensdatter Ve Nundal. I suddenly realized those names seemed extraordinarily familiar. I checked Randi’s siblings and found a name I knew all too well:  Ragnhild Olsdatter Ve. She was my other second-great-grandmother. How had I never realized my second great-grandmothers were sisters?

Ragnhild Olsdatter Ve

Ole Johannesen Wee, my third great-grandfather, was born in Ardal, Norway on March 13, 1780. Ole married Gjorond Mogensdatter Ve Nundal on March 27, 1804. Gjorond was the “older woman”— she was twenty-eight and Ole was twenty-four.  They had three children over the next four years. Randi was born in 1894, Ragnhild was born December 31, 1806, and son Johannes Olsson Ve was born September 22, 1808.

Ole Johannesen Wee died at age thirty-three on January 18, 1810. Gjorond remarried in 1813, and had two more children, only one of which survived.

Despite being two years younger than her sister Randi, Ragnhild was the first to marry. She married Ole Gulbrandsen Geithus on April 1, 1825. Ragnhild was eighteen, and Ole was twenty-four. Interestingly, Ole and Ragnhild’s first child, son Gulbrand Olessen, had been born February 28^th of that year, and baptized on March 13, about two weeks before their wedding.

Ole and Ragnhild went on to have five more living children (there also seem to have been some stillbirths or infant deaths, but the records are unclear): Gjoran Olsdatter, born in 1826; Anna Olsdatter, born in 1828; Ola Olsen, born in 1834; Kari Olsdatter, born in 1839; and my great-grandmother Ragnhild Olsdatter, born in 1848.

Ragnhild’s sister Randi married Sjur Tomasson Hestetun on December 5, 1830. They had six children over a ten-year span. Tollief Sjursen was born in 1835; Maritha Sjursdatter was born in 1837;  Johannes Sjursen was born in 1838; Ove Sjurson, my great-grandfather, was born in 1840, Anfind Sjurson was born in 1842; and Sjur Sjursen was born in 1845.

While the two sisters and their families lived on separate “farms” in Norway, they were both still in the Ardal/Sogn og Fjordane area. The two families probably gathered together several times a year, so Randi’s son Ove would have grown up knowing Ragnhild’s daughter Ragnhild. Ragnhild was eight years younger than Ove, so he probably originally thought of her as an annoying little cousin. However, by the mid-1860s, Ove must have started to view her differently. She became more than a “kissing cousin”—she was the cousin he wanted to marry.

I have been unable to locate Ove and Ragnhild’s marriage record, but by the time of their first child, Ragnhild’s, birth on January 9, 1868, they were already married. Their future in Norway must have seemed difficult, because they made the difficult decision to emigrate to the United States shortly after Ragnhild was born. They seem to have arrived in America in early 1869, and their second child, a little boy named Sjur/Syver, was born in Wisconsin on October, 23, 1869. By 1872, they had moved to Linden Township in Brown County, Minnesota and were homesteading a farm there. My grandmother was born on that farm on March 1, 1872.

Discovering that my great-grandparents were first cousins was enlightening and enriched my understanding of their lives and those of their parents in nineteenth century Norway. I look forward to learning more about this close family connection.

 

Sources:

"Norway, Church Books, 1797-1958", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6876-TD6N : Sun Jan 19 16:51:40 UTC 2025), Entry for Ole Guldbrandsen Geedhuus and Guldbrand Olsen Geedhuus, 1 Apr 1825.

"Norway, Baptisms, 1634-1927", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NHT8-YVC : 23 June 2020), Ragnilda, 1807.

Guldbrand Olessen birth "Norway, Baptisms, 1634-1927", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWRR-TW5 : 23 June 2020), Guldbrand, 1825.

Ragnilde Osdr Marriage. Norway, Select Marriags, 1660-1926. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60095/records/1850704?tid=46986934&pid=322178148228&ssrc=pt

 

Sister Confusion: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “The Name’s the Same”

 

Mathilda and Mary Macbeth: Ancestry Thought They Were a Single Person

Mathilda “Tillie” Macbeth: 1861-1944 (Maternal Great-Grandaunt)
Mary E. Macbeth: 1861-1947 (Maternal Great-Grandaunt)

 

While using Ancestry’s Pro Tools recently, I noticed that Mathilda Macbeth, my great-grandaunt, was flagged as a possible duplicate on my Ancestry tree. I looked her up and discovered that Ancestry was trying to merge her records with those of her sister, Mary Macbeth. How could this happen? They married different men, lived in different places and died in different years. Why did Ancestry’s algorithm think they were one single person? The only thing they had in common was the same birth year. I had a specific birth date of October 8, 1861 for Mary. Mathilda, however,, had just a year, 1861, followed by a question mark. I didn’t have a specific date for her birth. Time for some research to nail down Tillie’s birthdate, as these two women were quite obviously two separate people who simply shared parents.

Both sisters were born to parents Charles Macbeth and Nancy Herniman in Grand Island, Erie County, New York. New York birth records are very difficult to find, so I had no actual birth certificate to look at for either sister, or for any other of their siblings born in New York.

So where did I get 1861 as the birth years of Tillie and Mary? Another tree had included the October 6, 1861 birth date for Mary, and I had simply copied it. Not good genealogical practice. However, Mary’s age on census records corresponded to an 1861 birth date, and her headstone also shows an 1861 birth year, so the birth date was certainly possible.

Mary Macbeth Britt headstone from Findagrave

However, Mathilda’s census records also included ages that corresponded to an 1861 birth year, and her headstone also stated she was born in 1861. Neither sister had an obit or death certificate that provided their actual date of birth, so I was left perplexed.

Mathilda Macbeth Doolittle headstone from Findagrave

I speculated that Mathilda could have been born in January 1861, and that Mary was an “Irish twin”—a child born less than twelve months after the previous child. If Mary had been born a few weeks early, an October birthdate would have been over nine months after a previous January birth. However, my great-grandfather Walter Macbeth was born May 29, 1860, and another brother, Albert Macbeth, was born May 8, 1862. An early 1861 birthdate for Mathilda did not work with her brothers’ birthdates. The siblings’ mother, Nancy, simply could not have completed four separate pregnancies in the space of only twenty-four months.

I realized that the 1900 census could provide some measure of clarity, as it was the only U. S. Census to ask for each household member’s month and year of birth. Both sisters appear on the 1900 census, and both showed birth dates of October 1861. That’s when the light came on for me. They were twins! That possibility hadn’t occurred to me! While I still cannot confirm that they were born on the 6^th day of October 1861, I feel fairly confident that their birth month and year are correct.

1900 Census record for Mary Macbeth Britt showing Oct 1861 birthdate

1900 Census record for Mathilda Macbeth Doolittle showing Oct 1861 birth date.

The twins’ lives followed similar trajectories. The Macbeth family had moved from New York to the Mankato area around 1866. Mathilda married Frederick J. Doolittle on January 17, 1880 in Mankato, Minnesota at the age of eighteen. Frederick was twenty-eight. Frederick was a farmer in LeRay Township in Blue Earth County, next door to Charles Macbeth’s farm.

Mary also married another farmer in LeRay Township, Handy Britt. They married one year after her twin, on February 16, 1881. Mary was nineteen.

Sadly, Mary and Handy never had any children. Mathilda and Fred had one son, Bertram Urson Doolittle, born nine months after their wedding on October 26, 1880. However, Frederick Doolittle died on February 9, 1888, just seven years Bertram’s birth. Frederick was only thirty-six.

Following Frederick’s death, young Bertram grew up to help his mother, working as a butcher at a young age before Mathilda’s brother sent him to medical school. Bertram became a doctor, practicing in Indiana. His mother moved there to live with him until his tragic death at age thirty-four. She subsequently returned to Mankato and lived in an apartment building on Hickory Street and then in Nicollet County near her sister Nellie. She died March 8, 1944 at age eighty-two.

Mary and Handy Britt continued to live on their farm in LeRay Township until sometime in the late 1920s, when they retired from farming and moved to a house on Nicollet Avenue in Mankato. They lived there until the end of their lives. Mary died December 16, 1947, at the age of eighty-six. Her husband Handy died in 1949.

Mary and Handy Britt's house at 833 Nicollet Ave., Mankato

Despite Ancestry’s suggestion, I will not be merging the records of Mathilda and Mary Macbeth. Yes, they were born at the same time to the same parents, and yes, they had similar names. However, their names were not the same and they were not the same person. They were twins, not an error in my tree.  

 

Sources:

1900 United States Federal Census. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 18.

Findagrave.com. Entries for Mahilda Doolittle and Mary Britt.

Crafting a Family Business: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Family Business”

 

Bill and Betty Hoffman Carlson and the Founding of Carlson Craft

Betty Bernice Jane Hoffman: 1920-1988 (Maternal Second Cousin 1x Removed)
William Dewey Carlson: 1915-2012 (Husband of Maternal Second Cousin 1x Removed)

 

Growing up in Southern Minnesota, I was familiar with the Carlson Craft Company, located in nearby Mankato. They were the premier printing company in the region, and along with business stationary and publications, they printed many of the wedding invitations and graduation announcements families sent out and received. I think I ordered my own wedding invitations from Carlson Craft. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that the founders of Carlson Craft were in my family tree.

Betty Hoffman was born in Mankato on February 22, 1920, to parents Howard Christian Hoffman and Clementine Morrison Hoffman. She was their only child. Howard’s father, Henry Jacob Hoffman, was my great-grandfather William Hoffman’s brother.

Betty married William “Bill” Carlson on September 15, 1946. She was twenty-six and he was thirty-one. He had served in World War II, and in an interview with Connect Business Magazine in 1988, he recalled that when he returned home from war, he wanted to start a business; he didn’t want to work for someone else.

Bill considered several types of businesses, including a small hotel and a diaper service business. He said that “in early 1948… I got the idea for a letter copying service, from a US Dept. of Commerce booklet that was filled with ideas for returning servicemen for operating their own business. In those days, of course, there weren’t any copying machines, so flyers or invitations had to be copied either by offset printing or, as in our case, by mimeograph.” (see 1 below)

Bill Carlson operating early printing machine

The business fit his and Betty’s needs, he said. In 1948, she was still recovering from cancer treatments, and he wanted a business that wouldn’t risk her recovery. Also, both Bill and Betty had experience with mimeography, and as a prior accountant, Bill had experience managing finances.

They started the Carlson Letter Service in the family room of their home, mailing business pitch letters to fifty potential client companies. 

The Carlsons' Mankato home where they started their business

Within a few years, they decided they wanted to focus on the wholesale wedding invitation market. Bill recalled that, “The profits in being in business for myself did not come overnight. In fact, it took seven years before the profit of my business exceeded what I would have earned at my prior accounting job.” (1 below)

While Bill and Betty tried to get the printing business off the ground, they also started their family. Their daughters Nancy and Patricia were born in 1949 and 1951.

First Carlson delivery truck

The business grew, moving into a building on Front Street in Mankato, eventually employing 500 people.  Bill and Betty tried to treat their employees well, providing some benefits even to part-time employees. They also pledged to donate five percent of their profits to charity.

In 1959 Bill impulsively hired a young college student named Glen Taylor, which turned out to be one of the best business decisions he ever made. Taylor worked his way up in the business, and in 1972 Taylor bought the business from Bill and Betty Carlson, changing the company’s name to Carlson Craft.

1970 Newspaper ad (See 3 below)

According to the company’s website, under Taylor’s leadership, Carlson Craft has grown to become one of the “largest privately held corporations in the US, with more than 80 companies and 12,000 employees. The Occasions Group was formed in 1998 to bring together five Taylor facilities as one company with one goal: to be the preferred social print partner for life's events.”(2 below)

As for Bill Carlson, he stated in 1998, “I retired at 59 and haven’t regretted it because it allowed me to give more time to my family, civic organizations and my church.” (1 below) Betty had continued to have health problems over the years, so they prioritized travel and time together in retirement.

Betty Hoffman Carlson died January 10, 1988. She was sixty-seven. Bill Carlson remarried and died in 2012.

Learning about the history of Carlson Craft and my cousin’s role in founding and growing the company was a real delight. Bill and Betty built a company that just celebrated its 75^th anniversary, and still brings joy to brides and grooms nationwide.

 

Sources:

1.       “How Carlson Crafted His Business.” Vance, Daniel. Connect Business Magazine May 1998

2.        https://www.navitor.com/blog/the-history-of-navitor/

3.       Carlson Wedding Service advertisement. Estherville Daily News, Estherville, Iowa. Tue, May 12, 1970

Cemetery Surprise: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Cemetery”

 

Two Childhood Deaths Discovered Through Cemetery Records

Margaret Esther Macbeth: 1912-1914 (Maternal Great Aunt)
Leland Macbeth: 1909-1909 (Maternal Granduncle)

 

I received an interesting email from FamilySearch a week ago, with the subject line reading “You have 12 ancestors buried in the Eagle Lake Cemetery.” I think this is a new service by FamilySearch, sorting ancestors by burial site. While I was surprised by the type of information, I wasn’t surprised to learn I had several ancestors buried in Eagle Lake. I’d visited the cemetery several times over the years and had photographed several ancestors’ graves. However, I decided to explore what FamilySearch had uncovered, and clicked on the link marked “View Ancestors”.

The information FamilySearch had compiled included the ancestors’ names, birth and death dates and locations, their relationship to me, and a photo, if available, of the headstone. I recognized most of the names and headstones, which included my great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, and third-great-grandmother, along with several great-aunts and uncles. However, two names were unfamiliar: Marguerite Esther Macbeth and Leland Macbeth. According to FamilySearch, they were my grandaunt and granduncle. Who were these new Macbeths?

Leland and Marguerite/Margaret Macbeth headstone in Eagle Lake Cemetery. Photo from Findagrave. 

I clicked on the “View Relationship” tab and was surprised to see they were said to be the children of my great-grandparents, Walter Macbeth and Lucy May Dane Macbeth, which made them my grandfather Ivan Macbeth’s younger sister and brother. But I had no record of these children in my tree, and as far as I knew, other relatives’ trees I’d seen also had no mention of these two children.

I quickly did some research, and was able to find Leland’s Birth and Death Index records. Leland was born March 25, 1909, and died exactly one month later on April 25, 1909.

I had even more luck with Marguerite Esther’s records. I found her birth record, showing she was born October 26, 1912. Her death record was even more helpful. In addition to the Index record, I found the actual handwritten Death Record from March, 1914 in FamilySearch records (see citation below). As you can see below, Marguerite, now listed as Margaret, died March 19 of “acute perforative appendicitis—general peritonitis.” 

The record shows her parents’ names, as well as the name of the doctor who treated her, JL Macbeth. Dr. Jesse Macbeth was little Marguerite’s uncle, Walter’s brother. I can just imagine the fear and desperation Lucy and Walter felt as their little toddler cried in pain—appendicitis causes severe abdominal pain—and eventually faded and died from infection after her appendix burst. Poor Uncle Jesse must have felt helpless, as appendectomies simply weren’t done in that era so there was little help he could provide.

Death Record section showing Marguerite's parents and doctor

Interestingly, Marguerite’s name was listed as Margaret in her death record, and was also listed as Margaret on the headstone. Only the birth record reads Marguerite. The headstone appears to have been made some thirty years after the childrens’ deaths; it was probably ordered at the time Lucy Dane Macbeth’s headstone was ordered in 1939, as they are similar in composition and style. Perhaps the family had forgotten how to spell Marguerite’s name by that point, or they based it on the death record.

My grandfather never mentioned either of these siblings. He would have been only five years old when little Leland was born, so might have forgotten Leland’s brief life. However, he was ten when Marguerite died, so he surely would have remembered her life and death. Was it simply too painful to discuss? Did my mother ever know about these siblings? They were buried next to her grandparents, so she must have seen the graves when they visited the cemetery on “Decoration Day”, as my grandmother was a stickler for bringing flowers to family graves on Memorial Day. Perhaps they seemed unimportant to her as she had never met them, so she never told me about them when she talked about her father’s family.

I probably should have noticed that the 1910 census for the Macbeths showed that Lucy had given birth to seven children, of whom only six survived. At that time, Leland had died a year previously, and Marguerite had not yet been born. This is a good reminder that I should check every 1910 census record more thoroughly.

1910 Census showing Lucy gave birth to seven children, with six surviving

I am grateful for FamilySearch’s email; it prompted me to take a different look at cemetery listings. If I hadn’t examined the listing of the twelve Macbeth and Dane ancestors buried in the Eagle Lake Cemetery, I might never have realized my grandfather had two additional siblings that I hadn’t included in my family tree. Family groupings of graves can provide important hints about family structure.

 

Sources:

"Minnesota, Death Records and Certificates, 1900-1955", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FDDQ-HT5 : Sun Jan 19 23:07:23 UTC 2025), Entry for Leland MacBeth and Walter H. MacBeth, 25 Apr 1809.  

Findagrave memorials for Leland and Margaret Macbeth. Photo by Richard Jacobsen. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/151369712/margaret-macbeth?_gl=1*yyaf2p*

Minnesota Historical Society; St Paul, Minnesota; Minnesota Birth Certificates Index; URL: https://www.mnhs.org/search/people

910 United States Federal Census. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.Original data - Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Was Year: 1910; Census Place: Le Roy, Blue Earth, Minnesota; Roll: T624_691; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 0010; Image: 83; FHL microfilm: 1374704.

Wheeling Through the Decades: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Wheels”

 

Family Cars from the 1920s Onward

Ivan Macbeth: 1904-1972 (Maternal Grandfather)
Juhl Peterson: 1917-2001 (Father)
Rex Macbeth: 1934-2006 (Maternal Uncle)
 

Cars have always been important to my family. Living in the country on farms, they found cars to be essential means to connect to the outside world. When I saw the prompt “Wheels”, I decided to do a little photo essay showing some of the cars my family had over the decades, from the early models to the flashy, huge 1960s era vehicles that sported chrome and fins.

The first photo shows my grandfather, Ivan Macbeth, in his car parked in a grassy lane. This would probably have been his first automobile—I think it might be a Model A. The photo would have been from the years my grandparents were courting, so during the early 1920s.

The second photo was a bit of a surprise to me. My grandmother, Nora Hoffman Macbeth, had proudly written on the bottom of the photo in red ink “Our Willys Knight”. I had never heard of this car manufacturer, so I was forced to turn to Google.  I discovered that the Willys-Knight brand was founded in Ohio by John North Willys. He acquired the Stearns-Knight auto company of Cleveland that used a Knight engine, so the brand became known as the Willys-Knight. The company operated from 1914 through 1933. I believe the car in the photo was a model 70, manufactured in the late 1920s. It was probably the first auto my grandparents purchased after their marriage. I wonder what color it was—the Wikipedia page featured a green Model 70 that was beautiful.

The next photo is from around 1950, and features my grandmother Nora, my mom, Ione, my grandfather Ivan, and my uncle, Rex Macbeth in front of the family car. I love this photo as it shows them probably on their way to church or to a family event, all dressed up in hose and heels and bundled in winter coats and gloves as they stand in the snowy yard. I’m unable to identify the model of the car but as was typical for late-1940s vehicles, it had a spare tire on the back end and that sort of curved boxy shape. The Macbeths were proud enough of the vehicle to pose in front of it.

Nora, Ione, Ivan and Dwight "Rex" Macbeth around 1950

The following photo brings back memories. This one features my dad, Juhl Peterson, with his Pontiac. It was probably taken while he was dating my mom, around 1956. I can remember riding in this car when I was very young. I was in love with the hood ornament, which featured a stylized Pontiac chieftain in a feathered war bonnet. Dad was proud of this sleek black automobile.

The final shot is a fun one of my Uncle Rex Macbeth with his wife Susan and their daughter Jessica taken around 1970. They were posed with a marvelous, over-the-top, huge American convertible from the late 1960s. I’m not sure of the car’s make or model, but I remember it had air conditioning, which my dad’s car did not. I can’t even imagine trying to park something so long in today’s parking lots, or to even find a garage big enough to hold it! My grandfather had a silver Plymouth Mercury that was nearly as long, with crazy fins in the rear.

Susan, Jessica and Rex Macbeth around 1970

This little trip down Memory Lane shows how car styles have transformed over the decades. While the car shapes and engines and interior comforts changed drastically, my family’s pride in their vehicles remained unchanged.  

Sources:

Family photos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willys-Knight

DNA Match Leads to Fourth-Great-Grandfather: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “DNA”

Confirmation Through a Distant Cousin: Isaac White is My Fourth-Great-Grandfather

Isaac White: 1742-1819 (Maternal 4^th Great-Grandfather)
Sarah White: 1795-1880 (Maternal Third Great-Grandmother)
Jacob White: 1791-? (3^rd Great Granduncle)
John Clement White: 1828-1903 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)
Margaret Estella White: 1860-1944 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)
Mary Irene Farrell: 1892-1979 (Maternal Third Cousin 2x Removed)
MLR: 1928-2022 (Maternal Fourth Cousin 1x Removed and DNA Match)

 

When I get a DNA match notice from Ancestry, I try to connect the match to my family tree. Often that can be a challenge, particularly if the match has no family tree on Ancestry. So I’m always excited to see a match with a tree, and even more excited when Ancestry has identified a possible common ancestor. My  DNA connection to a fourth cousin I will call MLR (she passed away recently so out of courtesy to her family I will use only initials) was just such a match. And MLR’s DNA and tree helped me confirm the identity of my fourth-great-grandfather, Isaac White.

My great-great-grandmother Nancy Ann Herniman was the daughter of James Herniman and his wife Sarah White. The records I uncovered for my third-great-grandmother Sarah White indicated she was the daughter of Isaac White of Somerset, England. However, I was mostly relying on other people’s trees to make that connection. I had limited records to work with. I had found the parish birth and baptism record for Sarah, seen below, so I was reasonably sure I had the right parents for Sarah. Still, I wanted more positive confirmation.

Sarah's 1796 Birth Record in Somerset.

MLR’s family tree led straight back to Isaac White through Sarah White’s brother Jacob. Jacob was born July 24, 1791. His birth record appears below. 

Jacob White's 1791 birth record, between the lines in the middle.

Sarah and Jacob had similar life trajectories. Both married in Somerset in the early nineteenth century. Sarah married James Herniman on March 28, 1819 in Taunton St. Mary. She was twenty-four and James was two or three years younger. I have been unable to find the marriage record for Jacob and his wife Ann Clement, but they seem to have married at least two years earlier than Sarah, for their first child, Mary, was born September 24, 1817. Both couples had several children over the next few years.

Both Jacob and Sarah’s families appeared on the 1841 England Census, residing in Somerset. John Herniman was working as a carpenter, while Jacob White worked as an ostler (worker employed to care for horses, often at inns). At some point following this census, both families decided to emigrate to the United States. Jacob and Sarah’s father, Isaac White, had died August 15, 1819, and their mother, Betty Cox White, had died February 27, 1841. Perhaps these losses freed the siblings from parental obligations, enabling them to consider moving abroad.

Jacob and Ann White and two children appear on the 1850 United States Census living in Dane County, Wisconsin. By the time of the 1860 census, they had moved north to the town of Fountain in Juneau County, Wisconsin. Jacob died there the same year.

James and Sarah Herniman were more difficult to trace. They appeared on an 1855 New York State census living in Grand Island, Erie County, New York. James was farming. None of their children were living with them although Nancy Ann and husband Charles Macbeth were in the same town and a couple other of their children were in Erie County. By the time of the 1860 census, Sarah and James were living in Lawanee, Michigan. James was working as a laborer and had shaved a few years off his age on the census form. They were living next door to their son John Herniman and his family. In addition, their youngest daughter Mary Redick, now the married mother of two, was living with them. By the 1880 census they had relocated to Juneau County, Wisconsin to live with son William and his wife. Sarah died there in 1880, and James died in 1882.

My cousin MLR was descended from Jacob and Ann’s son John Clement White, who remained in Juneau County for much of his life, serving as the chairman of the county board of supervisors thirteen times. He had a daughter named Margaret Estella White, who married a man named Daniel Farrell.

Fountain, Minnesota to Fountain, Wisconsin.

The Farrells relocated to Minnesota. In a strange coincidence, they also settled in a town named Fountain, about 120 miles away from Fountain, Wisconsin where Margaret’s family lived.  Among the Farrells’ children was a daughter named Mary Irene Farrell, born October 3, 1892 in Fountain, Fillmore County, Minnesota. She married Gordon Rowley, and moved to first to Walla Walla, Washington and then to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Mary and Gordon had two daughters, and one of those daughters was my DNA match.

Thanks to this DNA match, I have confirmation that Isaac White is my fourth-great-grandfather, and I have been able to add another branch to my family tree. DNA matches are proving to be a big help in my research.

Sources:

Census records accessed on Ancestry.com.

Birth records accessed on Ancestry.com.