Anna Peterson/Anna Myrtle Peterson: 52 Ancestors Prompt "Namesake"

Anna Peterson 1895-1913
Anna Myrtle Peterson 1913-1995
52 Weeks/52 Ancestors Prompt:  “Namesake”

The Norwegian side of my family liked to name children in honor of other family members, so there were many “namesakes” on that side of the family tree. Sometimes these stories are sad—children named for a family member that recently passed. My father’s family featured the most heartbreaking of these stories.

My paternal grandparents, Paul Peterson and Regina Severson Peterson, had nine children. My father was the youngest. Their first child, Anna Peterson, was born July 30, 1895. I know nothing about her childhood, and have yet to find photos of her. She married a young man from the same area, Theodore Christian Oren, on June 19, 1912. He appears to have lived next door to young Anna’s grandmother, Ragnhild Severson, so they may have met when she was visiting her grandmother.  Anna was sixteen, nearly seventeen. Theodore was just about to turn twenty.

Lake Hanska Lutheran Church record of Anna and Theodore's marriage

It isn’t clear where the young couple lived following their marriage. By 1920, Theodore has his own farm in Albin Township, several miles from his father’s farm in Linden Township. But in 1912, he may not have had his own property yet, and probably brought his bride to live with his parents and siblings. The early marriage was a "shotgun wedding"—it appears Anna was a few months pregnant at the time of the marriage. Their son, Arnold Theodore Oren, was born January 2, 1913, only five months after the July 30 marriage.

Unfortunately, Anna had post-natal complications, a frequent problem in those days. She died at age 17, less than three weeks after giving birth, on January 22, 1913. Without his mother to nurse him, little baby Arnold was unable to survive, and died February 8, 1913.

Lake Hanska Lutheran Church Burial Record for Anna Peterson Oren

This tragedy deeply affected my grandmother, Regina Peterson, who was pregnant at the same time as her young daughter and was due to give birth just weeks after Anna. Regina and Paul’s seventh child, a girl, was born February 23, 1913, a month and a day after Anna's death. The family had just buried little grandson Arnold two weeks earlier. Paul and Regina chose to honor their lost first daughter by naming their new daughter in her honor. The baby was baptized as Anna Myrtle Peterson on April 6, 1913.

Anna Myrtle was just four years older than my father, Juhl. They were close as children, along with sister Thelma who was born in 1915. Anna Myrtle eventually married Alvin Clifford McFarlane, and had two children. They lived in the Brainerd, Minnesota area. Anna Myrtle McFarlane died June 2, 1995 at age 82.

I wonder how Anna Myrtle felt about being named for her dead older sister. Did anyone ever ask her? I wonder if my grandmother Regina was comforted by the namesake name, or if calling this new daughter by her first daughter’s name was just another aching reminder of loss. The family never used Anna Myrtle’s middle name (as I have done in this blogpost) to distinguish her from her older sister.  However I remember they usually referred to her as “Anne” rather than “Anna”--a subtle yet distinct difference.  

I wish I knew more about my father's lost older sister. The family rarely mentioned Anna Peterson Oren, and never told stories about her that I can recall. I have yet to find her grave or that of her infant son.