Missing Children: 52 Ancestors 2026 Prompt “A Question the Records Can’t Answer”

 

Census Records Show My Grandmother Gave Birth to Children Not Found in Records

Ragnhild Olsdatter Ve Syverson: 1848-1933 (Paternal Great-Grandmother)
Regina Syverson Peterson: 1872-1952 (Paternal Grandmother)
 

I have been trying to re-examine the 1900 and 1910 censuses for my direct ancestors, paying particular attention to the questions asked of women on how many children they had borne, and how many children survived. Answers to those questions have sometimes surprised me, indicating that certain ancestors had additional children that I had failed to find in the records. In most cases, these mystery children had either died in early childhood or were stillborn.

When I looked at my grandmother Regina Peterson’s and my great-grandmother Ragnhild Syverson’s answers to those questions, I discovered that each woman had lost three children. I was stunned.

I had already identified Ragnhild’s three lost children. One child, Anne Sirine Syverson, died at age nineteen, so I had been able to find her on the 1880 and 1890 censuses, and had found her death record. Ragnhild had also lost two young sons, Syver and Ole. I found Syver, born in 1869, on the Minnesota State Census in 1875. He died the next year at age seven. His little brother Ole was born in 1873 and died in 1874. I was able to find his birth record and his cemetery record. Sadly, while all three of Ragnhild’s lost children were buried in the Linden Lutheran Cemetery in Linden Township, there are no grave markers for them. I expect Ove and Ragnhild couldn’t afford a headstone so probably used wooden markers that decayed and disappeared.

Ragnhild's answer to 1900 Census question

Regina was one of Ragnhild’s surviving five children. She married my grandfather Paul Peterson in 1892 when she was twenty years old. As far as I knew, Regina had given birth to ten children. I knew that one child, Oscar, died in infancy in 1898. I had a birth record for him, but no death or burial record to confirm the date of his death.

Regina's wedding photo--1892

But Regina’s answer to the 1900 census question indicated that she had borne five children, but only two—Anna and Randine—survived at that time. So Oscar was not the only child that Regina and Paul’s had lost. The 1910 census confirmed that three children had died. Regina reported in 1910 that she had given birth to nine children, and had only six who survived. 

Regina's 1900 census entry

I had noticed that Regina and Paul’s oldest child, Anna, was born in July of 1895, a full three years and one month after Paul and Regina’s marriage. I suspect they had two births in those three years that ended in tragedy. Family Search actually flagged that three-year gap, suggesting there might have been another birth during that gap. However, I have found no records for those children after searching both Ancestry and FamilySearch. I also found no burial records for these lost infants.

Regina's 1910 census entry, confirming the loss of three children.

The records apparently can’t tell me anything about these two lost children other than the fact that Regina gave birth to them and they died. I can find no names, birth or death records, no sign of how long they lived, and no record of what happened to their bodies.

Beyond these gaps in factual information are additional and even more important things that the records cannot tell me—how painful the loss of three children must have been for my grandmother and for my great-grandmother. How did they manage to go on? Did each subsequent birth leave Regina anxious that she would lose yet one more precious life? Did she panic at each sign of illness in her babies? Did she wake at night to listen for the sounds of their breathing? Did the losses change Regina in significant ways?

No record can ever answer these questions. I can only imagine her pain, and wonder if I should enter these mystery babies in my tree, or to let them fade away.

Sources:

Year: 1900; Census Place: Lake Hanska, Brown, Minnesota; Roll: 758; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0038. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Lake Hanska, Brown, Minnesota; Roll: T624_691; Page: 4b; Enumeration District: 0041; FHL microfilm: 1374704. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Remembering a Civil War Vet on Memorial Day: 52 Ancestors 2026 Prompt “A Moment of Courage”

 

Alden Orren Dane: Wounded While Fighting with the Vermont 10^th Infantry

Alden Orren Dane: 1844-1923 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

 

Today is Memorial Day, a holiday that was created to honor the Civil War dead. Therefore, it seemed fitting to write about my first cousin four times removed, Alden Orren Dane, who bravely fought with Company K of the Vermont 10^th Infantry. He was wounded in battle on November 27, 1863. Fortunately, he survived and returned home to build a life.

Alden Dane was born August 18, 1844 in Derby, Vermont to parents Joseph Dane and Jane Wheeler Dane. Joseph was the son of my fourth great-grandfather, Francis Dane, and the brother of my third great-grandfather David Dane.

At the age of 18, Alden enlisted in the Union Army on July 21, 1862, a year after the start of the war. He served as a private in a Vermont infantry unit, so was probably serving with people from his hometown and surrounding areas.

Some of his fellow Vermont 10^th soldiers kept journals and wrote letters home that describe what life was like for Alden. Writing from Culpepper, Virginia in November 1863, Herbert George told his family:

 … While we are in camp I feel just as well contented as I ever did at home but when we are on the march and I get awful tired and can’t stop to rest I feel a little ugly. Some times we are not allowed to get anything to eat in all day and then have to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning and get our breakfast in the dark. Then is the time when a soldier will curse the rebellion.

…If I should be lucky enough to get a furlough next winter should want to go home with decent clothes on, don’t want to wear any home out of the field for they will be lousey. The ground here is covered with old clothes & lice & no man can keep them off only by picking them off when they bite. If we take off any of our clothing nights we have to hitch them to a steak or they will crawl off where we can’t find them. We can drive a pair of pants or a shirt anywhere with a little patience…

Battle of Mine Run--Illustration used in Harper's Weekly during war

 “When we fill up our haversacks we have to be careful to put the string over a stump or something to keep them [worms] from running away haversack and all Ahem!…”

Alden probably shared Herbert George’s frustrations as the war dragged on.

On November 27, 1863, General Meade ordered the Union forces to attack Lee’s Confederate forces in the Mine Run Campaign. The Union underestimated the size of the Confederate army they faced, and suffered losses. The 10^th Vermont, part of General Joseph Carr’s division, was sent to support General Prince’s left flank. A soldier in the 10^th Vermont recalled the fight as “a deluge of lead and iron that swept over us.  The musketry was not in the least of a jerky or intermittent sort, but one continuous roll.”

According to a website on the Mine Run Campaign, “Carr’s men, though inexperienced, performed admirably, and became veterans that afternoon. Their arrival stabilized the Union line, which was then in danger of collapsing under pressure from the ever-aggressive Johnson…. Col. Charles T. Collis of the 114th Pennsylvania judged it “one of the sharpest and best fought affairs of the war. The musketry was the most terrific any of us had ever heard, and the chances of getting off without a decent wound was about as poor as it possibly could have been.”

Drawing of Mine Run battle--Library of Congress

The Union suffered 1400 casualties in the battle, and one of them was Alden Dane. His injury was apparently not severe enough for him to be sent home. He must have been sent to the rear to receive treatment and recover, for he continued to serve in the war until he was mustered out on June 22, 1865, a month after the war had ended. His unit participated in several important battles and campaigns later in the war, including Spottsylvania Courthouse, and the siege and capture of Petersburg, Virginia. The unit was near Appomattox Court House when Lee surrendered to Grant. The unit lost 149 officers and soldiers in battle, and another 203 to disease. Alden Dane was fortunate to have survived.

Alden returned home, and eventually moved to Massachusetts. He married Martha Saloma Bliss, another Vermont native who moved to Massachusetts, on January 21, 1868. They settled in Billerica, Massachusetts, and appear on the 1880 census. Alden was working as a “Superintendant of Farm”. The couple had no children, and Martha died November 15, 1893 at age 53.

Marriage Record

Alden remarried to a younger woman named Lucy Parker. Tragically, she died of complications from childbirth on February 16, 1899, just two days after Alden and Lucy’s baby son Arthur died of a heart defect on Valentine’s Day, 1899.

Death record of wife and son.

Alden did not marry again. He continued to live in the Billerica area, boarding with other families. By the 1900 census, he was working for the railroad, and the 1910 census shows him 65 years old, working as a livestock dealer.

On February 24, 1882, Alden had filed for a military pension as an invalid. He received a pension and is listed on an 1890 Veterans Schedule, which noted that he had been wounded in the left ankle during the war, and in 1890 suffered from chronic diarrhea, a diseased lung and “rheumatics”. Without access to his full pension file, I am not sure how much he was receiving as a pensioner.

Alden was active in his community, serving in the local GAR chapter, the Masons, and the Odd Fellows.

Alden should be remembered for his service to our country in the Union Army. He suffered a wound in battle, but still returned to duty following his recovery. His determination to continue serving his country after he was injured demonstrated his courage and the courage of his fellow soldiers.

 

Sources:

Bully for the Band: The Civil War Letters and Diary of Four Brothers in the 10th Vermont Infantry Band. Davis, James A. ed. McFarland and Company. 2012.

Union Vermont Volunteers. https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UVT0010RI

Alden O Dane, Billerica, Dies. Boston Evening Globe. Boston MA. 28 September 1923.

Marriage, Birth and Death Records. Vermont and Massachusetts. Ancestry.com.

A Name that Looks Back 200 Years: 52 Ancestors 2026 Prompt “A Name with Meaning”

 

Francis Ami Dane: Named in Honor of His Ancestor Born Two Centuries Before

Francis Ami Dane: 1817-1892 (Maternal 2^nd Great-Granduncle)
Francis Dane: 1615-1697 (Maternal Eighth Great-Grandfather)
AmmiRuhammah Faulkner: 1692-1756 (Maternal First Cousin 8x Removed and Francis Dane’s Grandson)
 

When I first entered Francis Ami Dane into my family tree, I was struck by his name. The name “Francis Dane” had appeared repeatedly in my family tree for two centuries and across six generations before Francis Ami Dane’s birth in 1817. Francis’ middle name, Ami, also echoed a name that first appeared in the Dane line five generations earlier. Francis Ami Dane was proof that the Dane family took great pride in their history and in the first members of the family to arrive in the American colonies.

My eighth great-grandfather, Rev. Francis Dane, arrived in the Massachusetts Colony in the 1630s, and became the minister of Andover, Massachusetts in 1648. I have written other posts about his efforts to stop the Salem Witch Trials and his commonplace book which has survived nearly four centuries and is now digitized and available online. He was a leader in his community of Andover. He had many descendants.

His daughter, Abigail Dane Faulkner, was arrested during the witch trials in retaliation for her father’s opposition. She was convicted and sentenced to death, but was spared immediate execution because she was pregnant. By the time her son was born in 1692, the witch hysteria was over and she was freed from prison. She named her son AmmiRuhammah Faulkner. Ammi Ruhammah is a Hebrew term found in the book of  Hosea which translates to “ beloved people”. The name was probably intended to exhibit Abigail and Francis Faulkner’s relief and gratitude to God that this child had saved her life. The name AmmiRuhamah appears in the Faulkner line for several generations.

It appears that Francis Ami Dane’s parents, David Dane and Sally Randall Dane, were familiar with the Dane family history and chose to honor it when Francis Ami was born. They were also apparently religious, as two other sons were named Moses and Israel.

While Francis Ami Dane had seven children with his wife Sarah Terwilliger, he did not give any of his sons the name Francis Ami. One son was named Frank Siegal Dane. Perhaps Frank was a nod to the name Francis. Francis seems to have gone by Frank for much of his life.

Francis Ami Dane grew up in Genesee, New York and moved to Wisconsin at some point in the 1840s. He married Sarah Terwilliger in Janesville in 1846, and they moved to Lewiston, Columbia County, Wisconsin. He was a farmer.

Francis died in Columbia County, Wisconsin on New Year’s Eve 1892 at the age of 75.  I wonder if Francis Ami Dane ever really understood the significance of his name, and how it honored his ancestors. Did he pass on his family’s history to his own children, or did it die with his father, David? I will never know.

Sources:

The Founding of Harvard College. Morison, Samuel Eliot. 1935. Harvard University Press. Page 374.

Obituary of Sarah Dane. Portage Daily Democrat. Portage Wisconsin. May 7, 1895. Newspapers.com.

Decoration Day’s Importance in Our Family: 52 Ancestors 2026 Prompt “Tradition”

 

Bringing Flowers to the Graves: Grandma Macbeth Carried on a Tradition

Nora Elsie Hoffman Macbeth: 1899-1994

 

This week’s prompt, Tradition, had me struggling. I had written about our family’s primary traditions in previous years’ posts. Then I glanced at the calendar and noticed that Memorial Day was just a few weeks away, and that made me recall my grandmother’s tradition of decorating the family graves on “Decoration Day”, the original name for Memorial Day.

Americans began observing Memorial Day after the Civil War as a way to honor fallen soldiers on both sides of the war. They decorated the graves with flowers. The first national proclamation of the Memorial Day Order was issued by the Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, General John A. Logan, on May 5,1868. It read in part:

“The 30th day of May, 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.”

My grandfather’s maternal grandfather, Jerome Dane, had served in the Civil War, and had been active in local GAR chapters, so following his death, his children and grandchildren honored his grave each Memorial Day. Grandpa Macbeth probably made many trips to Tivoli Cemetery over the years, and my mother remembered visiting Great-Grandpa Dane’s headstone as a child.

Captain Jerome Dane, Union Army, Civil War Photo 

As the years passed, the holiday grew to honor the graves of all individuals who had served in the military, not just Civil War soldiers. Family members served in WWI and WWII, so their graves were honored as well. Below is a photo of my granduncle Harold Macbeth who served as an Army private in World War I.

Harold Macbeth, World War I, taken in 1918.

My grandmother and her sisters eventually expanded their Memorial Day observances to include non-military family members. They used the day to travel to the local cemeteries to leave flowers on the graves of their parents and other important family members. Grandma often used her own garden flowers for her grave tributes—I remember that peonies from the bushes at the bottom of the hill were some of her favorites if they bloomed early enough. She also bought artificial flowers or arrangements and left those instead of live flowers.

I have fond memories of running around the cemetery while my parents and grandparents placed their floral offerings. I remember the graves of soldiers having tiny flags on them—probably the work of a Boy Scout Troop or the local VFW chapter.

While this may not have been the most significant of my family's traditions, it still brings back sweet memories for me. I have been unable to continue this tradition since I no longer live near my ancestors’ graves. But I try to travel to a family cemetery whenever I visit Minnesota, as seen in the photo above. This year, I will be honoring my ancestors’ memories from afar.

Sources:

National Cemetery Administration, Memorial Day History. https://www.cem.va.gov/history/Memorial-Day-history.asp

Family photos.

Loosening the Mortar in My Hanover, Germany Brick Wall: 52 Ancestors 2026 Prompt “A Brick Wall Revisited”

Possible Parents for Maria Christina Uepkendanz

Maria Christina Uepkendanz: 1806-1850 (Maternal Third Great-Grandmother)

 

When I first started researching my Hoffman line several years ago, I hit a brick wall at my third-great-grandmother, Maria Christina Uepkendanz. I had very minimal, poorly sourced information that indicated she was born on October 24, 1806 in Hanover, Germany, but there was no information on her parents. I didn’t even have proof of her birthdate—I had copied the birthdate information from other Ancestry trees. When I saw Amy Johnson Crow’s prompt for this week, A Brick Wall Revisited, I decided it was time to revisit Maria, and see if I could loosen some of the mortar in that brick wall.

All I really knew about Maria was that she was married to my third-great-grandfather, Friedrich Behrend Heinrich Christoph Hoffman around 1830 in Hanover, Germany. Their children were born in Oedelum, a village in Hanover. Maria purportedly died in Oedelum in 1850.

Aerial view of Oedelum, Hanover, Germany today.

I was excited when I saw that Ancestry had “Potential Father” and “Potential Mother” listed for Maria. But when I realized there was only one new “Hint” for her, and that hint was merely a link to someone else’s tree, I could feel the brick wall re-hardening.

I examined the three Ancestry trees that contained Maria and her purported parents, Johann Heinrich Christoph Uepkendanz and Catharina Sophie Dorothea Baarman. The only citations on any of the three trees for Maria’s parentage were each other. Who came up with these parents originally and where did they get the information?

I decided to check FamilySearch. It too lacked any verifiable information on Maria’s parents. The entry for Catharina Sophie Dorothea Baarman gave a source for her birth from a researcher going by the name “aosmith2”. The “record” said her birth date was December 8, 1779 and she was born in Germany. The source was listed as “Legacy NFS Source”. According to AI, “A legacy NFS source is informational data on FamilySearch that was transferred from the "New FamilySearch" (NFS) system to the current Family Tree when it went live around 2012. These are essentially inherited text notes—including old censuses, birth records, or user-submitted research—that often lack direct digital documentation, serving more as clues to be verified.”

That was not helpful. It basically means someone may have found a non-digitized source years ago, but didn’t bother to copy or transcribe it or tell where they found it.

The record for Maria’s father also reference a “legacy NFS Source”, so I have no actual records to evaluate.

I tried using whole text search on FamilySearch, but, given the number of potential variations of the spelling of even the surname Uepkendanz, not to mention the first and double middle names, it is probably unsurprising that I met with no success.

I next tried the FamilySearch Card Catalog for Hanover, Germany, but the only potential resources are not accessible from home.

I had slightly more luck with individual genealogies posted on FamilySearch. I cannot view their sources, only the actual trees. Two trees contain the following parentage information:

This corresponds to what other Ancestry trees indicate, although on Ancestry the other two potential grandparents are also listed, once again without any records as sources.

In summary, I have very, very slightly loosened the mortar in my Maria Uepkendanz brick wall. I now have the names of potential parents and potential grandparents for her. Sadly, the names are all I have been able to locate at this point. In addition, my birthdate, death date, and locations of birth and death also lack appropriate verification, and I have found no marriage record for Maria and her husband Friedrich Hoffman. I suspect that I need some professional help to search German genealogical materials to find any actual records that would confirm her parentage, birth and death.

Sources:

"Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:W3MF-MQT : accessed 23 April 2026), entry for Johann Heinrich Christoph Uepkendanz; "manning family tree" file (2:2:2:MMK2-5WY), submitted 8 November 2025 by LisaOslund [identity withheld for privacy].

A Quilting Queen: 52 Ancestors 2026 Prompt “Homemade”

 

The Extraordinary Life of Mary Abbott Bridge’s Quilt

Mary Abbott Bridges: 1701-1774 (Maternal First Cousin 9x Removed)
 

Sometimes I run across a little story or piece of information that just delights or enlightens me so much that I need to blog about it, even though the ancestor in question is so distantly related to me that the connection seems ridiculous. Frankly, I don’t care. To me, the important thing about genealogy is learning about the past through my ancestors. History is my motivation. So here I am blogging about a first cousin NINE TIMES REMOVED. But this cousin was an artist with needle and thread, and she deserves to be remembered.

Mary Abbott was born March 23, 1701, to parents Nehemiah Abbott and Abigail Lovejoy. Abigail Lovejoy was the sister of Anne Lovejoy, my eighth-great-grandmother. The Abbott and Lovejoy families all lived in Andover, Massachusetts. Mary was one of Nehemiah and Abigail’s three children.

As the only daughter, Mary seems to have taken responsibility for her parents. She didn’t marry while she was a young woman but remained in the family home. On August 31, 1738, she married a widower with five children, James Bridges. She was 37 years old. She and James had three additional children.

During the 1700s, nearly all colonial women were accomplished seamstresses. They needed to make and mend clothing, bedding and any other fabric object needed in their homes. Some were even spinning their own thread and weaving their own fabrics, although during the early 17^th century most fabric was still being imported from England. Mary Abbott was more than just a good seamstress, however. She was a true artist. Around 1738, she finished a large whole-cloth quilt, which has, shockingly, survived for nearly three centuries. As a whole-cloth quilt, the quilt top is a single, solid-color piece of fabric. The artistry comes from the elaborate pattern Mary handstitched in a contrasting thread color to bind the quilt layers together.

The quilt was one of the historic quilts described and recorded as part of the Massachusetts Quilt Project, and the quilt was also included in Lynne Bassett’s book, Massachusetts Quilts: Our Common Wealth.  Bassett described Mary’s quilt as “the earliest bed quilt believed to have been made in Massachusetts”. 

The Quilt Index describes the quilt as being made of a “plain-weave” worsted wool fabric with wool batting and backing. The edges were turned in, so no separate binding fabric was used. The color is described variously as brown, green or “greenish brown”, which doesn’t sound very attractive. However, one source I read said that colonists in the early 1700s preferred basic, dark colors such as browns, dark blues, and greys, so Mary’s fabric choice was fairly standard for that era. Mary used a blue worsted thread to sew the pattern.

The Quilt index calls the stitching pattern a “motif design” with “feathering” and the design is described as a “framed center medallion.” The Bassett book provides a richer description, noting that the “elegant quilting pattern” was a “combination of English tradition and New England design innovation…Typical of English framed center-medallion design, a central quatrefoil motif—framed by feathered vines terminating in opposing curves at the corners—is surrounded by closely worked vines blooming in an impossible array of stylized flowers, leaves and fruit. A variety of feathered borders provides structure to this wild arrangement.”

The quilt in its current state is 86.5 x 65 inches. According to the Quilt Index, the quilt is structurally sound although worn. As you can see from the image above, the quilt’s pattern does not seem to be complete. The Quilt Index indicates the quilt was “cut down and patched.” I believe a quarter to one-third of the quilt has been cut off, probably due to some sort of damage, with parts of the lost section used to patch the remainder. You can see below that the pattern of the patch doesn’t match that of the surrounding area The original would have had a symmetrical pattern, with the center rosette complete instead of being cut off. I would guess the original dimensions were likely 86.5 x 90 or possibly 100 inches.

So how did Mary manage to create this piece of fabric art? One source I read suggested that most colonial women bought whole-cloth quilts from England, as they didn’t have time to sew for pleasure or beauty during days filled with cooking, childcare, laundry, gardening, etc. Any sewing would have involved maintaining the family’s clothes. Quilting was a pastime for wealthy women, the source said.

The Abbott family was not wealthy, but Mary would have been richer in terms of time than her contemporaries. She was unmarried during her twenties and early thirties, so had no children or husband to care for. Even so, the quilt must have taken an enormous amount of time to complete. Preparing the pattern would have been a huge task by itself. She may have drawn the pattern directly onto the fabric using charcoal, or she may have used a paper template and used a pin to poke the pattern into the fabric. Given the size of the quilt and the elaborate pattern, coupled with her other household responsibilities, I would estimate the project took her at least two years to complete—two years of squinting in poor light in a room either too hot or too cold.   

The Quilt Index record estimates the completion date of the quilt as 1738, which is the year she married James Bridges. Bassett believes the quilt may have been a trousseau piece, “evidence of her desire to bring elegance to her new home.” There is no way to know for certain when she made the piece.

Bassett also notes that James Bridges was a man of “great influence and considerable wealth” who owned several slaves. While her married life may have been financially comfortable, it ended tragically. Her husband James was a maltster, which involved soaking, germinating and then drying grains to produce malt, which was most often used for brewing beer. The drying process required the use of a large kiln. Apparently, James had some sort of accident involving the kiln, as his headstone states said he was “Being melted to death by extreem heat.” What a horrible fate! He was only fifty years old at the time of his death. Mary was left a widow with three young children, ages 8, 6 and 4, and a teenage stepdaughter and 18-year-old stepson. 

James Bridges' headstone with cause of death at bottom

I have been unable to find information about Mary’s life after her husband’s death. Some records claim she remarried in 1750 to a man named Fiske, and that she died in 1774, but I have not been able to confirm the marriage or death.

The history of the quilt is easier to trace. According to the Bassett book, Mary gave her daughter Chloe the quilt. Chloe married Timothy Osgood in 1765. Bassett wrote:

“At that time, it was still the height of fashion to have a whole-cloth quilt on the most important bed in the house, and certainly Chloe welcomed the gift. The quilt passed next to Chloe and Timothy’s son John Osgood (b. 1773), who married Betsy Fuller. John and Betsy’s daughter Harriot (b. 1812) brought the quilt with her to Canada when she married Ralph Rugg of Quebec in 1836.”

Bassett reported that the quilt was donated to the McCord Museum in Montreal, but the museum no longer lists the quilt as being in their collection. The Quilt Index states that the quilt is now in private hands. It is unclear if the quilt had merely been lent to the museum by Mary’s descendants who then reclaimed it, or whether the museum sold it to a private collector.

The location of Mary Abbott Bridges’ quilt is far less important than the fact that it has survived an amazing 288 years. This was not a piece of artwork carefully packed in an archival storage container. Instead, it was a practical household item, used for decades to keep family members warm on cold Massachusetts nights. I hope Mary’s descendants appreciated both the beauty of the quilt and the hard work and artistry that went into its creation.

Sources:

The Quilt Index. Record 11-37-6786. Mary Abbott Whole Cloth Quilt. https://quiltindex.org//view/?type=fullrec&kid=11-37-6786

Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project (MassQuilts). https://www.massquilts.org/MassQuilts_Project.htm

Massachusetts Quilts: Our Common Wealth. Bassett, Lynne Z. University Press of New England. 2009.

Losing a Job Led to Lost Freedom: 52 Ancestors 2026 Prompt “Working for a Living”

Former Cop Convicted of Crime of Spousal Non-Support

Cecil A. Banker: 1896-1939 (Maternal Second Cousin 2x Removed)

 

When I researched Cecil Banker’s work history, it led to some surprises. He had some fascinating work experiences, but his loss of employment ended up being even more fascinating to me. “Working for a living” had more than one meaning in Cecil’s life. He needed to work to live as a free man.

Cecil Banker was born August 12, 1896 in Janesville, Minnesota. His parents were Albert Banker and Jennie Anderson Banker. He was the second of their three children and was the only boy. While he was still a young child, his parents moved from Janesville back to Wisconsin, where his father had been born. The family settled in Superior, Wisconsin, at the northwest tip of the state on the shore of Lake Superior. Only a bridge separates Superior from the Duluth area of Minnesota.

Map of Superior, Wisconsin

Cecil’s father, Albert, died in 1914 when Cecil was eighteen. Cecil went to work for the Great Northern Railroad, working as a switchman. He married Helen Billmayer on September 8, 1917. He was twenty-one and Helen was two years older.

Cecil registered for the World War I draft in 1918. He listed his job as switchman, with a notation that he has “gasoline experience good”. This was probably a note made by the draft board regarding any work experience that could potentially be valuable to the army. It does not appear that Cecil was drafted or served. Interestingly, he listed his name on the draft form as Cecil Almond Banker. Some records, including his Social Security Application, list his middle name as Albert after his father, rather than the unusual Almond.

Cecil and Jennie had a son, Albert Cecil Banker, on August 17, 1918. They also had a second son, Roger Jay Banker, on February 17, 1923. Sadly, baby Roger died on August 12, 1923 at only six months of age.

At some point in late 1926 or early 1927, Cecil decided to change careers, and went to work for the police force in Superior, Wisconsin. At that point in time, Superior had a population of nearly 40,000 people, far more than today’s 26,000. 

Superior downtown in 1930s

Cecil appears in a few news articles about crimes and arrests in 1927 and 1928, and he is listed as a patrolman. The articles include his arrest of a drunk driver and his assisting a man who claimed to have been robbed and run over by a car.

Arrest notice from Oct 21, 1927 edition of the Superior Evening Telegram

Cecil was fortunate to be employed by the city government when the stock market crashed in 1929 and the country entered the Great Depression. He took and successfully passed the police exam in September 1929. The news article reported that “among those taking the policeman’s test were several who are on the force at present, but since they had not been confirmed, had to go through the exams for the second time.” I assume this is why Cecil took the exam in 1929 despite having worked as a patrol officer for two years.

Cecil was involved in a notorious criminal case in 1929. His commanding officer, a Sergeant Zimmerman, had chastised another officer, Patrolman Ben Meyers, for drinking on the job. Meyers pulled out his service weapon and shot the sergeant. Zimmerman ordered Cecil to arrest Meyers, and then walked to a nearby store to call in his injury. He died days later in the hospital, so the prosecution of Meyers rested in large part on Cecil’s testimony.

Headline from the December 2, 1929 edition of the Superior Evening Telegram

The Superior Evening Telegram reported on Cecil’s testimony in the January 14, 1930 edition:

“Patrolman Banker, the next witness on the stand, was questioned for about two hours and a half. He told of seeing Meyers shortly after midnight, and of seeing Zimmerman a short time later. At 3: 22 a.m., Banker met Zimmerman at Belknap Street and Tower Avenue, he related on the stand, and the two officers walked toward Fourteenth Street. ‘We saw Ben come out from behind the Kindy Optical Company while we were standing in front of the post office,’  Banker testified. ‘Zimmerman said ‘there’s Ben, I’m going over to meet him.’ … Banker watched the two men walk toward Thirteenth Street, he told the jury. Then, shortly after passing a lamp post a few feet from the northeast corner of the street, he saw them separate, he said, and then he heard a shot and saw a flash.

‘Did you watch the two men continually from then on?’ Attorney Cooper asked.

‘Almost, I was running and had to watch the ice a little,‘ Banker answered. ‘When I got in front of the Grand Rapids, I stopped for a few seconds, wondering what I had best do,’ Banker testified, ‘and then, drawing my gun from my pocket, I walked across the street, and told Ben I had my gun on him. I stuck my gun in his back and told him to give me his,’ Banker said. ‘Then Zimmerman grabbed my arm and pulled himself up. He led the way across the street. Meyers followed him and I followed Meyers,’ the patrolman said.

The consequent telephoning of the police department for the patrol wagon and ambulance were related by Patrolman Banker, and then he made his statement in regard to the final conversation between the two officers, one of whom had shot the other a few minutes previous.

It was a glowing tribute to Sergeant Zimmerman. A silent courtroom heard the gruff officer tell of the wounded police officer’s last utterance, ‘You shouldn’t have done it, Ben, you shouldn’t have shot me.’ While Banker made no statement in praise of Zimmerman’s action, his attitude portrayed an admiration of the dead sergeant’s manner of mildly rebuking the man who had shot him.”   

Cecil was still on the police force at the time of the 1930 census. However, he was no longer on the force by 1932, when he was sued for non-support by his wife. By that point, Cecil and Helen had a third child, a daughter, Beverly, who was born in 1929. The news article on the non-support arrest stated that Cecil was a “discharged” police officer. I am unsure whether this means he was fired for cause or if the city, facing financial problems during the Depression, layed him off. The result was the same: he had no job, so had no means to support his wife and children.

Non-Support Charge from May 24, 1932 edition of the Superior Evening Telegram

To my surprise, I discovered that being unemployed and unable to provide for your family was a crime in Wisconsin in the early 1930s, and was punishable by a prison sentence! That seems patently ridiculous, as a prisoner had no ability to provide for his or her family from jail, so the family still suffered. Certainly Cecil was not the only man unable to find a job in 1932, when the unemployment rate was a horrifying 23.6 percent! However, on January 6, 1933, Cecil was convicted by a jury on a charge of non-support and was jailed. There was no newspaper story on the sentencing portion of the trial, so I don’t know how long a sentence he received. He did file a motion for a new trial on January 28, 1933, but the newspaper did not have any further articles about this effort.

Helen Banker was granted a divorce from Cecil in December 1936. Cecil was released from jail at some point, as he remarried June 1, 1938. He married a woman named Ella Schroeder in Carlton, Minnesota. Carlton is less than twenty miles from Superior, so obviously he stayed in the Superior area following his release.

Divorce notice from the Dec 19, 1936 edition of the Superior Evening Telegram

Sadly, Cecil died on September 17, 1939 after a brief illness. He was only forty-three years old. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Superior.

Obituary from the Sept 18, 1939 edition of the Superior Evening Telegram

Cecil’s story was a revelation for me. Working for a living was essential in the early twentieth century, not just as a means of supporting oneself and one’s family, but to keep one’s freedom. Failure to work and provide support for family members was a criminal offense punishable by jail time. Cecil tried to provide for his family, but during the Great Depression, it proved impossible once he lost his job as a policeman.

 

Sources:

U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Registration State: Wisconsin; Registration County: Douglas. Ancestry.com

Articles from the Superior Evening Telegram, Superior, Wisconsin. 1927-1939. Accessed from Newspapers.com.

Findagrave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64587526/cecil-albert-banker?_gl=1*1cgwa9n*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3NzMwMjg1NTguMmFkMjdiYWI1M2UyMTM4ODkzMDIxMjA1NGVkNjc5YzU.*_gcl_au*NDkwNDQ5MTA0LjE3NjcxMzEzNzA.*_ga*MzAzMzcxNzI0LjE3NjcxMzEzNzE.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*c2JlNzY4NTQ0LWJmYzYtNDg4MC1iYmZmLTE4ZDYzYzRjZmQ0MyRvMTE4JGcxJHQxNzc0MTkxNzMxJGo1OCRsMCRoMA..*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*c2JlNzY4NTQ0LWJmYzYtNDg4MC1iYmZmLTE4ZDYzYzRjZmQ0MyRvMTE3JGcxJHQxNzc0MTkxNzMxJGo1OCRsMCRoMA..