Victims of a Massacre in 1694: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Historic Event”

 

The Drew Family and the Oyster River Massacre

Lydia Bickford Drew: 1650-1694 (Maternal First Cousin 8x Removed)
Benjamin Drew: 1685-1694 (Maternal Second Cousin 7x Removed)
Thomas Drew: 1673-1766 1694 (Maternal Second Cousin 7x Removed)

 

I have several ancestors with connections to the Oyster River Plantation, a 17^th century collection of homes and garrisons that lay along the Oyster River in what is now New Hampshire but was then the  frontier of the Massachusetts colony. A series of broken treaties and land grabs by settlers had left native tribes angry and frustrated. On July 17, 1694, Oyster River was attacked by a large group of indigenous warriors egged on by a Frenchman named Villieu, who had orders from Quebec to provoke hostilities. This historic event came to be known as the Oyster River Massacre.

1670 map of Oyster River

About 250 Abenaki men, accompanied by men from the Maliseet tribe, attacked at dawn. The Abenaki overran three garrisons, burned over half the homes in the area, destroyed crops and killed livestock. Around one hundred colonists were killed, including many women and children, comprising nearly one-third of the population of Oyster River. In addition, 27 more colonists were taken prisoner. The survivors were left in serious straits, with minimal shelter, food and livestock to support themselves.

One of the garrisons attacked that July morning was the home of the Francis Drew family. Francis Drew had arrived in the colonies in 1648. He married my first cousin 8x removed, Lydia Bickford, who was the granddaughter of my tenth-great-grandfather Joseph Hull and the daughter of my ninth-great-aunt Temperence Hull. Francis and Lydia had several children, including sons Thomas, John and Benjamin, and daughters Elizabeth and Mary.

The Drew house had been built by Francis’ father, William Drew. It was fortified to serve as a garrison. Following William’s death in 1669, Francis was the head of the household. By 1694, some of Francis’ children were grown. Son Thomas had married and he and wife Tamsen were also living in the household.

New Hampshire houses built in the same period as the Drew garrison

On the date of the attack, Francis Drew apparently heard gunshots and suspected an attack, so he left the garrison house and tried to reach help. He was captured and was promised that he and his family would live if he surrendered the garrison house. He surrendered the garrison, but was killed anyway.

Lydia Bickford Drew and her youngest son Benjamin, along with son Thomas and his wife Tamsen, were all taken prisoner and carried off. Benjamin, who was only nine years old, was forced to run a gauntlet as his captors hacked at him with clubs and axes. He died of his injuries. Lydia became weak from starvation and was abandoned by her captors in the woods where she died.

According to some accounts, son John apparently escaped out of one of the windows of the garrison and survived, only to be killed about ten years later in another Abenaki attack. It is unclear from the written accounts of the massacre where daughters Mary and Elizabeth were that July day. There is no record that they were taken captive, and Mary is mentioned in her father’s probate records so perhaps she was living with her uncle. Mary and Elizabeth seem to have both survived to adulthood and married, although there is some confusion over whether they are actually separate people or one single woman. I hypothesize that they were visiting friends or relatives and escaped the massacre.

Probate records showing Francis' brother John was named administrator

Francis Drew’s brother John was made executor of Francis’ estate in November of 1694. In 1696, the probate court transferred the role of executor to son Thomas, who had been released from captivity and returned to Oyster River. He reunited with his wife Tamsen who had been held captive in a separate location. According to some sources, the Drew garrison house was burned, so Thomas and Tamsen probably had to rebuild their home along with their lives.

Son Thomas Drew named administrator, with notation he had been in captivity, and further down mention of his sister Mary Drew.

The Oyster River Massacre was an important historic event in the early history of what became the state of New Hampshire. It was the result of complicated and contentious relationships between the French and the English settlers in colonial America, and the indigenous people who were being lied to and cheated out of their lands. Sadly, the Oyster River Massacre is now controversial. The use of the word “massacre” to describe the event has become a source of contention. A historic marker that had been erected in Durham decades ago was removed last year. Native people in the region felt the marker told only part of the story, and failed to explain the position of the 17^th century Abenaki people. Despite committees working to develop alternate language for a replacement that was respectful to all parties, the marker apparently will never be re-erected.

Historical Marker that was removed in 2024.

I hope this event, which so greatly impacted my ancestors, is not forgotten as a result. We need to remember that the arrival of colonists in the Americas may be something we like to celebrate, but it was devastating for the indigenous people living here. Remembering and understanding the ugly parts of America’s past is necessary to build a better future.

 

Sources:

https://www.nhhistory.org/object/712853/the-great-massacre-of-1694-understanding-the-destruction-of-the-oyster-river-plantation---craig

Probate Records of the Province of New Hampshire, Vol. 1. New Hampshire Wills. 1694. Estate of Francis Drew. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7089/images/7089-Volume1-0444?pId=444

History of the Town of Durham, New Hampshire : (Oyster River Plantation) with Genealogical Notes. Stackpole, Everett Schermerhorn; Thompson, Lucien; Meserve, Winthrop Smith. 1913. https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofd02stac/page/136/mode/2up

The Colonial Garrisons of New Hampshire. Published by the New Hampshire Society of Colonial Dames of America. Pg. 23. https://www.ci.durham.nh.us/sites/default/files/fileattachments/historic_district/heritage_commission/page/17701/colonial_garrisons.pdf

https://www.northamericanforts.com/East/nh.html

Darby Field’s Peak Adventure: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “The Great Outdoors”

 

Mountaineering in 1642: Darby Field and Native Americans Climb Mount Washington in New Hampshire

Darby Field: 1610-1650.  (Maternal Tenth Great-Grandfather)

 

When we think of mountain climbers, we tend to think about modern mountaineering with top-of-the line, high-tech gear, or we think about Edmund Hillary becoming the first man, along with his guide Tenzing Norgay, to scale Mount Everest in 1953. However, mountains have called to the adventurous long before the twentieth century. I discovered that my tenth-great-grandfather, Darby Field, was a seventeenth century mountaineer, scaling Mount Washington in New Hampshire in 1642! He was the first European immigrant to make the ascent, using the most primitive of equipment and with the help of at least two indigenous men.

Mount Washington in New Hampshire's White Mountains

Darby Field was likely born in 1610 in the Boston Borough, Lincolnshire, England. While some colonists claimed he was an Irishman, it appears his parents were English, tentatively identified as John Amyas Field and Elen Hutchinson Field who were married in Boston, England on August 18, 1609.

Darby Field seems to have arrived in the Massachusetts Colony at some point in the mid-1630s. He signed the Exeter Compact in 1639, although he did not remain in Exeter. He was involved in several land transactions around that time. According to Wikipedia, “he settled in Durham, New Hampshire, by 1638, where he ran a ferry from what is now called Durham Point to the town of Newington, across Little Bay. He was known as an Indian translator.” This area was then called the Oyster River Plantation.

1639 Exeter Compact with Darby Field's signature second from top in middle column

Field married a woman named Agnes Roberts before or around 1631, and they had at least five children, including my ancestor, Mary Field. The other children included sons Joseph and Zachariah Field, and daughters Elizabeth and Sarah Field.

Field’s Indian language skills served him well in his most famous adventure. In 1642, at the age of 32 or 33, he set out to climb a New Hampshire mountain now called Mount Washington. At 6,288 feet, it’s the highest peak in the northeastern United States.

With the help of two Native American men, he reached the summit. Natives had told the colonists that the mountain’s peak had glittering crystals and shiny stones. Field seemed to have hoped the stones were diamonds, so his adventure probably had a financial motive.

Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop wrote about Darby Field’s feat in his journal in 1642:

"One Darby Field, an Irishman, living about Piscataquack, being accompanied with two Indians, went to the top of the white hill. He made his journey in 18 days. His relation at his return was, that it was about one hundred miles from Saco, that after 40 miles travel, he did, for the most part, ascend; and within 12 miles of the top was neither tree nor grass, but low savins [shrubs], which they went upon the top of sometimes, but a continual ascent upon rocks, on a ridge between two valleys filled with snow, out of which came two branches of Saco river, which met at the foot of the hill where was an Indian town of some 200 people. Some of them accompanied him within 8 miles of the top, but durst go no further, telling him that no Indian ever dared to go higher, and that he would die if he went. So they staid there till his return, and his two Indians took courage by his example and went with him. They went divers times through the thick clouds for a good space, and within 4 miles of the top, they had no clouds but very cold. By the way among the rocks, there were two ponds, one a blackish water, and the other reddish [the Lakes of the Clouds]. The top of all was plain about 60 feet square. On the north side was such a precipice [the Great Gulf], as they could scarcely discern to the bottom. They had neither cloud nor wind on the top, and moderate heat. All the country about him seemed a level, except here and there a hill rising above the rest, and far beneath them. He saw to the north, a great water which he judged to be 100 miles broad, but could see no land beyond it."

Unfortunately, the crystals and shiny stones the natives had mentioned turned out to be quartz and sheets of mica, also called Muscovy glass, so Field’s excursion did not leave him wealthy.

Vintage Postcard of Mt. Washington taken from Darby Field, an open area named for him. 

Following his exploration of the White Mountains, Darby Field continued to live in the Oyster River area. He received a license to sell wine in 1644, presumably turning part of his dwelling house at Durham Point into a tavern. Field sold this house to John Bickford in 1645, and the house was later fortified into a garrison house, probably in the 1680s.

Map showing likely location of Darby Smith's house and tavern

Darby Field and his family were still living in the Oyster River settlement until at least 1649. Valentine Hill, another of my ancestors, sold a property in 1649, and the transaction record notes that Darby Field was dwelling on the property. Tragically, not long after that sale, Field seems to have suffered some sort of mental illness, which left him “disordered”. The community of Strawberry Bank was made responsible for his care and support by the colonial court in 1649 or 1650. He died around 1650, and his estate was probated in 1651. Field was only about forty years old at the time of his death.

Darby Field’s amazing accomplishment in the great outdoors has been recognized on a historical marker along New Hampshire Route 16. In addition, Mount Field in the Willey Range of the White Mountains is named in his honor.

Mount Field in the Willey Range, named to honor Darby Field

Several other place names in the Durham area also feature the Field name. The location of his former home along Durham Point has been excavated by a team of archeologists and volunteers. They unearthed some of the foundation stones from the house, along with a variety of seventeenth century artifacts, probably from the period when the Bickford family owned the house.

 

Sources:

The Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire 1623-1660. Charles Henry Pope. Boston Mass. 1908. Pg. 67-68.

The Ancestry of J. G. Williams and Ursula Miller by Jim Schneider and Holly Rubin. Lulu Press. 2013. Pgs. 144-46. https://books.google.com/books?id=Hgu1BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=darby+field

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darby_Field

Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. John Field marriage in 1609. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.)

Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB522/rd/21070/38/1426611978

“Hard by the Water’s Edge: A Preliminary Report of the Darby Field Homestead-Bickford Garrison (27-ST-71 Excavations.” Brown, Craig J.; Greenly, Mark; Lunt, Richard W., and Sablock, Peter. The New Hampshire Archeologist. Vol. 54, 2014, Number 1, pages 14-38. https://www.academia.edu/28173770/Hard_By_The_Waters_Edge_A_Preliminary_Report_of_the_Darby_Field_Bickford_Garrison_27_ST_71_Excavations

Mount Field photo from Wikimedia Commons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Field_%28New_Hampshire%29#/media/File:Mtfieldprofile.jpg

 

From Basketball Fan to Owner: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “FAN Club”

 

Discovered the Former Co-Owner of the LA Sparks Team is My Cousin

Carla Jean Cristofferson: 1967-Now. (Paternal Second Cousin 2x Removed)

 

I’m not exactly following the real intent of this particular 52 Weeks, 52 Ancestors prompt. FAN Club refers to using Friends, Associates and Neighbors – F,A, and N—to help track ancestors and learn about their lives. I was having trouble coming up with an interesting example of using the method. So instead, I decided to write about a cousin who was part of a more traditional type of fan club—people who support a performer, or in this case a sports team.

While cleaning up errors in my family tree with the help of Ancestry’s Tree Checker program, I briefly researched a more distant cousin, the great-great grandchild of my grand-uncle Jacob Joramo. Carla Jean Cristofferson was born in Tolna, North Dakota, to parents Jerry Elwood Christofferson and Edna Gleason. She played basketball as a young woman in high school and junior college. In addition, she competed in beauty pageants, winning the title of Miss North Dakota USA in 1989, which qualified her to compete in the Miss USA competition.

She graduated from the University of North Dakota and the Yale Law School, becoming a lawyer and partner with the Los Angeles office of the O’Melveny & Myers firm. She still loved basketball, and she  became a season-ticket holder of the LA Sparks, a WNBA team. Carla became friends with another fan, Kathy Goodman, and in 2006 they put together an investment group and bought the team from previous owner Jerry Buss. They were among the first women owners of a professional sports team.

LA Sparks game. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Carla was part-owner of the team for eight years until Magic Johnson and Mark Walter bought the Sparks in 2014. She is now the managing partner at O’Melveny & Myers, and is still a fan of the WNBA.

It was fun discovering that a relative—distant, but still related!—had been a part owner of a women’s basketball franchise. She has built an amazing career in the law and in the sports world.

Sources:

“New Breed of Tycoon Brings Order to the Court”. Karen Crouse. New York Times. April 11, 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/sports/basketball/11sparks.html

“UND student captures state pageant title.” The Bismarck Tribune. Bismarck, North Dakota. Jan. 12, 1989.

Interview. Yale Law Women+. https://ylw.yale.edu/carla-christofferson/

Photo of LA Sparks game. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Los_angeles_Sparks_vs_Chicago_Sky,_July_14,_2022_(26).JPG

A School Photo from 1905: 52 Ancestors 2025 Prompt “Back to School”

 

Christmas in a One-Room School with Four Wee Cousins

Ida Jorgine Wee: 1889-1960 (Paternal Second Cousin 1x Removed)
Nellie M. Wee: 1894-1927 (Paternal Second Cousin 1x Removed)
Gilbert Andrew Wee: 1895-1974 (Paternal Second Cousin 1x Removed)
Wilhelm “Willie” Wee: 1898-1981 (Paternal Second Cousin 1x Removed)

 

I recently ran across a charming school photo on a Facebook page devoted to my hometown of Hanska, Minnesota.  I was delighted to discover that four of the children in the photo were second cousins once removed, four of  Anders Olsson Wee (sometimes spelled Vee) and Sigrid Olsdatter Holseter Skaar Wee’s ten children.

The photo was taken inside the District 67 one-room schoolhouse in Lake Hanska Township. The students and teacher are gathered around a Christmas tree, so we know the photo was taken in December. The person who posted the image thought the photo was taken in 1905. He identified the Wee children, and I have drawn arrows pointing them out on the photo below.

Assuming the 1905 date is correct, the Wee children were the following ages in the photo:

Nellie, the second girl from the very right, would have been about eleven years old.

Ida, the taller girl at her far right, would have been nearly sixteen, so would likely have been in her last year of schooling.

Gilbert was the fourth child in the front row. He would have been ten years old.

Willie Wee was the second child from the right in the front row, and he was just seven years old.

I love this photo so much. The details paint a picture of school days in rural Minnesota. The teacher, identified as a Mr. Batson, was at the back on the far right. He was dressed neatly in a suit and tie. Teachers were expected to set a good example, and children were expected to respect them as authority figures and important members of the community. Formal clothes helped to meet those expectations.

The children were also dressed up. I suspect this photo was taken on the occasion of a Christmas show or pageant. While the boys are not wearing ties, they are wearing jackets. These suit jackets would have been part of their Sunday church-going attire. The girls are also very neatly dressed. The Wee girls are wearing lovely dresses, and the other girls are wearing bright pinafores over high-necked blouses and skirts. Some of them have pretty bows in their hair, which was carefully curled. The other girls, including Ida and Nellie, have their hair pulled back and piled up. It appears the children were dressed up to perform for their parents.

Three of the girls are wearing glasses, so it appears the farmers in Lake Hanska could afford to take their children to an eye doctor.

The Christmas tree is decorated with long garlands of popcorn, which the children would have strung themselves using needle and thread. The tree also sports other handmade decorations. However, the tree itself is a sad, spindly thing. Was this the normal appearance of Christmas trees in that era, or was this just an exceptionally poor specimen?

I was fascinated to see that the school sported a sort of stage or raised platform. The students in front are sitting on the step or edge of the platform. Is this where the teacher’s desk usually sat, or was this a portable, temporary stage used for special events? If this was where the teacher usually sat, I would have expected to see the chalkboard behind the students, but it appears to be a wall with a shuttered window high above them. The school would have featured a wood-burning stove to heat the building, but that is not visible. Even so, I am sure the schoolroom would have been chilly on that December day.

Mr. Batson had a difficult job. The wide age range of the children would have presented a huge challenge. Little Willie would have been a first or second grader at the most, and the little girl in the dark dress just behind the first two boys appears even younger—six at most. There were a couple of teenagers, including Ida, who would have needed high-school-level work, and a wild assortment of ages and grade levels in-between.

I was able to find one photo of the exterior of the District 67 school. It is a very blurry image, but we can see that the building had steps in front leading inside, a stone foundation and wooden walls, likely painted white. The classroom would have had decent lighting from the four tall windows on each of the two long walls. That photo shows a bicycle leaning against the school, so at least one student used a bicycle to get to school. Most probably walked. I read somewhere that the Wee farm was very near the school, so Ida, Nellie, Willie and Gilbert had a blessedly short walk on the frigid days of winter.

I love old school photos. They provide a glimpse of what school was like for our ancestors. Seeing the Wee children, their teacher and their school makes me grateful for the better-equipped school I attended, and for the modern ones my children graduated from and those my grandchildren will be privileged to attend. As local students head back to school next week, I hope they realize how lucky they are.

Sources:

Photo posted by Joel Botton on At Home in Hanska Facebook page.

 

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.