Blended Family Confusion: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Check It Out”

Census Mystery Cleared Up Through Research

Maria Torbjornsdatter Sorheim: 1872-1944

 

Census records can occasionally be misleading. There is far more information on them than many new genealogists realize, so these records deserve a closer analysis. Relationships that appear simple and straightforward on the Ancestry’s transcriptions can become far murkier if you look at the original, handwritten census record. That’s what happened when I was tracing the life of my second cousin once removed Maria Torbjornsdatter Sorheim. The Ancestry transcription showed me what I expected to see, and what every other public tree had accepted at face value: a husband and wife with four children. But looking at the photo of the actual census form led to some significant revisions to my tree.

The transcription of the 1910 census record shows Albert Dallmann as the head of household, age 44, his wife Mary (my ancestor Maria Sorheim), age 38, and four young people, presumably their children: Henry, age 17, John Sorheim, age 13, Martin, age 6, and Anna, age 4. This seems quite simple, quite easy to interpret.

But when you look at the actual written record, some bizarre pieces of information are immediately obvious. First, son John Sorheim is listed as “stepson”, not son. While I might have assumed “Sorheim” was his middle name, it is now obvious that it is his legal surname. But this was John’s mother Maria’s maiden name—this seems to indicate John was born out of wedlock so had her surname.

Second, look at the “Years Married” box: Maria and Albert have only been married for eight years. This means both son Henry and son John were born before the date of this marriage. So who is Henry’s mother? In addition, Maria/Mary states she has borne five children, but only three survive. So only John, Martin and Anna are her children.

We get some clues about the parentage of both young men from the columns asking where their parents were born. Henry’s father and mother were born in Germany. Since Maria was born in Norway, obviously Henry had a different mother. Next, we see that the entry for John shows that his father was born in the United States—so his father isn’t Albert, who was born in Germany, nor was he someone who accompanied Maria when she immigrated from Norway.

By the time John Sorheim fills out his World War I draft card, he is using Dallmann as his surname, and from then on is referred to as Albert Dallmann’s son. This is probably what confused all the other people who have John on their family tree: he eventually became part of the Dallmann family so that’s how they recorded him. It also led several people to record Albert and Maria’s marriage incorrectly—they listed it as 1886 so that it would match the birth year of Henry Dallman. There was a significant problem with that date, however. Maria was still living in Norway at the time of the 1891 Norwegian census. She states on the 1910 and 1920 census that she arrived in the United States in 1892, speaking only Norwegian. There was no way she could have married the German-speaking Albert in 1886.

I wanted to try to make my tree as correct as possible and not perpetuate the errors of others, so I decided to check out the records, looking for John and Henry’s birth records.

Maria Torbjornsdatter Sorheim was born to Torbjorn Hermandsen Sorheim and AnnaMaria Olsdatter Ve in Luster, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway on April 7, 1872. She was their oldest daughter. She was only twenty years old when she immigrated in 1892. It seems unlikely that she would have travelled alone. Several of her brothers immigrated, but all arrived at least two to six years after her. Her sister Bertha supposedly immigrated in either 1891 or 1893 depending on what census record you check—I am speculating that Maria and Bertha actually travelled together in 1892.

The first record I have discovered showing Maria in her new country is the 1900 federal census. Maria is living with and working for a 68 year old carpenter named Philo Brewer. She states that she is 28 and single. Her son, John Sorheim, age three, also lives at the Brewer residence. Here his father’s place of birth is listed as Norway. Maria is obviously a single mother. Given Mr. Brewer’s age, I doubt he was the father, especially since he hadn’t been born in Norway.

According to his World War I draft card, John was born June 17, 1896 in Mankato, Minnesota. So what happened to Maria between her arrival in the United States and John’s conception and birth? It is hard to know. Maria and her sister were faced with the need to learn a new language and support themselves in a strange land. While they had some cousins in the area, it is hard to tell how much assistance those relatives could or did provide.

Maria’s younger sister Brita/Bertha married quite quickly after they arrived in Minnesota. On November 1, 1894, 19-year-old Bertha married a 33-year-old second or third generation American named Allen Weymouth. Perhaps this age gap provides some clues to the risks the young women faced. Were young immigrant girls seen as easy marks by older men? Was Bertha more fortunate in her choice of beau than Maria in that he chose to marry her? Whatever the circumstances, Maria was left alone after Bertha’s marriage, and it appears that within a year after her sister moved out, Maria got pregnant and was left to struggle to support herself and her son alone. She must have been so frightened and probably ashamed. I am sure there was plenty of whispered criticism and finger-pointing among the other Norwegian immigrants that probably left her feeling desperate.

Fortunately, she met Albert Dallmann. Records show that Albert was a German-speaking farmer who married another German immigrant, Regina Huhle, in November, 1889. They had two children, Henry, born in 1893, and Mary, who was born in 1895 and died shortly after. Tragically, Regina died five years later on March 13, 1900. As a lonely widower with a seven-year-old child, Albert was probably eager to find a new wife and ready to overlook the slightly scandalous nature of Maria’s single-motherhood.

Albert and Maria married April 14, 1902. He was 36, and Maria was 30 years old. They went on to have three children together, Martin, Anna and Oletta, while raising Henry and John. They farmed in the Nicollet area of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. Albert died in 1933, and my cousin Maria died June 13, 1944.

1930 Federal Census showing John Sorheim Dallmann living with Dallmanns and half-brother Martin. John is listed as Albert's son.

Although I was never able to identify John Sorheim Dallmann’s birth father, checking out the information provided on the 1910 census form helped to clarify his relationship to his half-siblings and his step-brother. It also revealed an interesting chapter in my ancestors’ immigration experiences. Maria must have had a challenging life for several years, but she seems to have moved past her early struggles to build a secure life for herself and her first-born son.