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.