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.