Oscar Peterson, Juhl Peterson and Jacob Joramo: 52 Ancestors Prompt “Adventure”

Driving Uncle Jacob: Oscar and Juhl’s Mankato Adventure

            My father, Juhl Peterson, liked to tell my brother stories about his life while they were out in the soybean fields pulling weeds—it made a boring chore more interesting. My brother has shared some of the stories with me, including a funny one about my dad’s Uncle Jacob Joramo.


            Jacob married Jorgine “Stina” Lee when he was just 22 years old. By the time he was 34, he was a widower with four sons. Without a wife to keep him in line, he was known to drink and gamble and generally run a bit wild, at least in comparison to his more serious younger brother Paul Peterson, Juhl’s father. 


            Sometime in the late 1920s, my uncle Oscar Peterson, Paul’s second oldest son, got his first car. My father was only 11 or 12 at the time, and was very excited when Oscar invited him to ride along on a road trip to Mankato, Minnesota, about thirty miles from their farm near Hanska. This would be the furthest Oscar had driven his new Model A, so he was as excited as Juhl.

     Juhl and Oscar with his new Model A in front of Paul Peterson's original house


            Somehow, their Uncle Jacob found out about the trip. He turned up at the Peterson farm, and persuaded Oscar to let him ride along as well. The boys liked their uncle, who could be a lot of fun, so they were pleased to have him. The trip to Mankato was uneventful. When they arrived in town, Jacob took off, telling his nephews he’d be back in a couple hours. Oscar had some errands to run, and he and Juhl took care of them, returning to the car with their purchases at the appointed meeting time.

            To Oscar’s frustration, there was no sign of Jacob. Oscar and Juhl waited and waited, growing increasingly impatient. Suddenly, there was a shout. They turned to see Uncle Jacob running pell-mell down an alley, yelling at Oscar to “Start the car! Start the car!” Oscar and Juhl could see a mob of men following, yelling angrily at Jacob. 


            The Model A had a hand crank—I can imagine Oscar’s panic as he raced to crank the crankcase and start up the engine. I watched a You-Tube video on how to crank-start a Model A, and it is not a speedy operation! First you have to put the car in neutral gear, “retard the spark” (don’t ask me what that means!), advance the throttle, and turn the key. Then you start cranking. It often takes several cranks to get the engine to catch. I’m sure doing it under pressure was nerve-wracking!


            Oscar somehow managed to get the car running by the time Jacob reached them. Juhl climbed into the back so Jacob could throw himself into the front seat as Oscar hit the gas. Juhl recalled Jacob whooping in delight as he watched his pursuers disappear in a cloud of dust. 

                                  Jacob Joramo and oldest son Carl--approx. age 23


            Jacob refused to tell Oscar and Juhl what he’d done to upset all those men. Juhl assumed he’d either said something stupid while drinking, setting off a bar fight, or he’d cheated at cards. The details didn’t matter to Oscar, who was fuming. Oscar made sure to never, ever give his uncle a ride again. The trip to Mankato proved to be more of an adventure than Oscar wanted or expected!

Peterson vs. Joramo: 52 Ancesotors Prompt "Context"

The Surname Battle: Peterson vs. Joramo

Paul Peterson (1867-1942) and Jacob Joramo (1864-1934)

            My grandfather Paul Peterson emigrated from Norway with his parents and three siblings in 1870 when he was just three years old. Paul and his descendants used the surname “Peterson.” However, his brother and neighbor, Jacob, used the surname “Joramo”. Jacob’s descendants all say our side of the family uses the “wrong” surname, but our side insists they are the ones in the wrong. I could never understand how this conflict arose. How could two brothers end up with different surnames? Once I started researching Norwegian immigrants and surnames, I discovered the reason for the confusion and conflict. 

An article on a Norwegian immigrant history site explained it quite succinctly: “In Norway prior to the 1860s families did not use fixed surnames. They used a patronymic pattern in which children were named after their father. Hence, John Andersen = John, the son of Anders. And Mari Andersdatter = Mari, the daughter of Anders. Anders himself would be named Anders Olafsen = Anders, the son of Olaf. The full family unit could include Anders Olafsen (father), Mette Evensdatter (mother), John Andersen (son) and Mari Andersdatter (daughter). Mette Evensdatter will not have a name corresponding to her husband.” 

The author goes on to explain, “This system definitely gets confusing when you encounter names as common as Ole Olsen or Nils Hansen, so they often used their farm names to clarify their identity when conducting official business or traveling. In church records, for example, they would typically append the farm name to the patronymic name to be more precise, for example “Anders Olafsen Sandness” (or “Anders Olafsen på (from) Sandness” if Anders merely worked at Sandness). It’s very important to keep in mind that when a farm name is used, it is the farm at which they currently reside, rather than the farm at which they were born. The use of farm names is very helpful to keep in mind when looking at old records, since Norway only gradually adopted fixed surnames from the mid-1800s until they were required in 1923.”

This explains my family’s dual names. “Peterson” was the patronymic: Paul and Jacob’s father was Peder Pederson or Peter Peterson, depending on the record. He used the surname “Peterson/Pederson” fairly consistently. After his death in 1880, only ten years after the family arrived in Minnesota, the rest of the family swung back and forth between “Peterson” and what must have been the name of the farm where they lived in Norway, “Joramo”.  

                                      Jacob Joramo with wife Stina and son Carl about 1890

The 1875 state census listed the family as Peterson. The 1885 state census lists mother “Anna Joramoe” living with sons Jacob and Paul “Joramoe”. The 1895 census shows Paul Peterson and wife, plus Paul’s mother Anna Peterson, all living next door to Jacob Joramo and his wife. Paul and Jacob’s sister listed her maiden name on at least one record as “Marit Peterson Joramo”, so she split the difference, combining the patronymic with the farm name. Their other sister Julia gave her maiden name as “Peterson”. 

                           Paul Peterson and wife Regina Severson, 1892

My father said that his father Paul felt that Jacob was being disrespectful of their father, Peter, by choosing to adopt Joramo as a surname. I suspect Jacob felt Paul lacked respect for the land they left behind in Norway. Jacob was three years older than Paul, so probably had fond memories of the farm where he was born and the family they left behind in Norway, so place was more important to Jacob’s sense of identity. 

Jacob’s 1934 obituary lists his name as “Jacob Peterson Joramo”, so in the end, Jacob honored both the patronymic and the farm names. 

          Paul Peterson and his four Joramo nephews: Sam, Carl, Joe and Olaf, about 1940

Understanding the context of Norwegian surname variations helped me respect Jacob’s decision, However, I am glad my grandfather Paul chose the surname Peterson.  I am proud to have Peterson as my maiden name, and to honor the great-grandfather who died long before I was born. 

Quotes from “Understanding Norwegian Naming Patterns” by Eric https://norwegianridge.com/2011/07/10/understanding-norwegian-naming-patterns/

Peterson Farms: 52 Ancestors Prompt “Harvest”

Harvest Time in the Early Twentieth Century on the Paul and Oscar Peterson Farms

             Farming has changed so much over the last century. My brother grows some of the same crops as his father and grandfather did on the same land outside Hanska, Minnesota, but the equipment he uses to harvest it is amazingly different.

My grandfather needed to hire crews of threshers to harvest his wheat crops, as small farmers couldn’t afford to buy big threshing machines themselves, and didn’t have the large number of workers needed to run them. 

            The photo below shows a threshing crew. Most of the men would have been part of a traveling crew who moved from farm to farm over huge swathes of the Midwest, but probably a couple are my uncles, possibly Oscar or Phillip Peterson, or their cousins the Joramos. It was an exciting but busy time when the threshing crews arrived. Everyone enjoyed the company—extended family members joined the hired crews. The women were cooking non-stop to provide huge pot-luck meals to feed all the workers. Children were put to work at small tasks and caring for the animals while the men were in the fields for long hours. 

            Early corn harvests required a corn picker machine, which removed the cobs from the stalks. The cobs then needed to be fed through a “sheller” which removed the kernals from the cob. When the first combines were developed—machines that could simultaneously pick the cobs and shell them, spewing the shelled corn from a chute into a wagon, with the stalks, leaves and cobs expelled from the back of the machine—it was a great time saver.

            Here is a photo of my Aunt Thelma Peterson with my cousin Elaine Peterson, Thelma’s niece. The men behind them are shelling corn, and are my father, Juhl Peterson, and one of his cousins, either Loren or Junen Kyllo. They are working at Juhl’s brother Oscar’s farm, located just down the road from Juhl and Paul’s property.

            Below is a photo of my grandfather Paul with another man who may be his son Oscar, sitting next to a sheller. I believe they are at Paul’s farm. The original photo was very small—only 2x3 inches—and it was impossible to identify the people. I was delighted to discover my grandfather, in his old age, in the photo when I blew up the scanned photo. 

            Current combine harvesters are more expensive than many homes, starting at over $400,000. I wonder what my grandfather Paul Peterson would have said about that! Farming has become an expensive and complicated business, and I admire my brother’s commitment to it. Finding photos of my Peterson ancestors at work on their farms reminds me that Kent’s commitment was shared by my father, grandfather and great-grandfather—a century of hard work and sacrifice that I honor.

Hoffmans and Macbeths: 52 Ancestors Prompt “Map It Out”

Geography, Love and Marriage in the Early Twentieth Century

            I recently started studying plat maps from the early twentieth century, looking up my grandparents’ farm sites in southern Minnesota to better understand the geography of the places I’d visited as a child. I was surprised to discover how close many extended family members had lived in the years between 1900 and 1930. Suddenly I had a whole new understanding of family relationships.

            The map below shows parts of two townships in Blue Earth County, Minnesota—Mankato Township and Le Ray Township. The plat map was prepared in 1916. The highlighted “plats” or acres of land were farms owned by my extended family members. Dozens of my ancestors lived mere miles from one another—the furthest distances between the highlighted farm places are perhaps five miles at most.

            Seeing the physical proximity of these families helped me understand how couples met and fell in love—three of my grandmother’s sisters literally married the “boy next door” —Nora Hoffman’s family, William and Lena Hoffman, lived at site No. 3, and the Seltenreich boys, the three young men Nora’s sisters married, lived right across the road at site No. 4.

            My grandmother Nora married a boy just down the road a few miles; Ivan Macbeth grew up at site No. 8. Nora’s brother, Elmer Hoffman, married Mildred Edwards, whose family lived nearby at site No. 6. This romance led to Elmer’s sister, Jennie Hoffman, pairing up with Mildred’s brother Delbert Edwards. Nora’s youngest sister married Robert Miller, who grew up at site No. 1, the Charles Miller farm.

Elmer Hoffman and Mildred Edwards Wedding--I think man on left may be Delbert Edwards and woman to right Jennie Hoffman, who married later.

            The Hoffmans weren’t the only family who found familiarity breeding love rather than contempt. My grandfather Ivan Macbeth’s extended family also married neighbors. Ivan’s father, Walter, also grew up at site No. 8. His brother Charles farmed the site next door, site No. 9. Nearby at site No. 10, several members of the extended Britt family lived and farmed. The Britts intermarried with the Macbeths several times over several generations. Walter Macbeth married Lucy Dane, whose grandmother was a Britt. Walter’s sister Caroline Macbeth married William C Britt, and his sister Mary E. Macbeth married Handy E. Britt.

            A generation later, Walter’s daughter (and my grandfather Ivan’s sister) Ethel Mary Macbeth married a neighbor to the west, George Ott, who owned site No. 7. Another of Walter’s daughters, Annie Macbeth, married Gus Schostag, who lived at site No. 5.

            Travel in the early part of the twentieth century was still slow and often difficult, so meeting potential romantic partners could be difficult. Most of these families were farmers, so worked at home, never meeting other people at a workplace. Schools and churches tended to be small and nearby—the schools these families attended were one room, usually with fewer than thirty pupils total. Young people simply didn’t meet many people of the opposite sex, so had few potential partners to choose amongst. I wonder whether my ancestors’ choices to marry were based on romantic love or were they more of a practical decision? Can you really find true love in a five mile radius? I hope my ancestors did.

The Seltenreich Double-First Cousins: 52 Ancestors Prompt “Cousins”

                So what exactly is a double first cousin? Double first cousins arise when two siblings reproduce with another set of siblings, and the resulting children are related to each other through both parents' families. Double first cousins share both sets of grandparents in common, aunts and uncles in common,  and have double the degree of consanguinity than ordinary first cousins. In other words, double first cousins should NOT become kissing cousins or marry!

                In my family, several of my grandmother’s nieces and one nephew were double-first cousins. My grandmother had four older sisters, and the three oldest became enamored of a neighbor’s three sons, and ended up marrying them.

                The first couple to wed was Grandma Nora’s eldest sister, Grace Ida Hoffman. Grace was born July 15, 1889, so was ten years older than my grandmother. She married the eldest of the three Seltenreich brothers, Carl Oscar, who was born September 24, 1887. The wedding was May 6, 1912, when Grace was 22 years old. The couple farmed near Mankato. They had three children: Reuben Julius, born May 28, 1914; Stella Lucille, born June 26, 1916; and Smila Deloris, born August 13, 1930. 

             Oscar Seltenreich, Grace Seltenreich, and their children Stella and Reuben

                Martha Hoffman, the next oldest daughter born September 17, 1891, married the second oldest Seltenreich son, Julius “Jay” on September 20, 1916, when they were 25 and 24, respectively. Jay was born January 21, 1892, so was a little younger than Mart. Jay became a firefighter in Mankato, and they had one child, a daughter, Lucille Fae Seltenreich, born July 10, 1925.

                The third-oldest sister, Sadie Marie Hoffman, born February 12, 1894, married the youngest Seltenreich boy, Frederick Herman Adolph on June 6, 1917. Fred was born July 29, 1893. They were 23 and 24 when they married.  They lived just down the road from Grace and Oscar. Fred also farmed. Sadie and Fred had one daughter, Elnora June, born June 16, 1924.

Elnora Seltenreich as baby, and with boyfriend Bud Fisher and her parents Fred and Sadie Seltenreich.

                So these five children, Reuben, Stella, Smila, Lucille and Elnora, all shared the same four grandparents, the same aunts and uncles, and shared more genes than typical first cousins. I wonder if they ever realized how unusual their relationship was—that other cousins didn’t share the same grandparents and had a wider circle of relatives. They were very special cousins.