Independence Day revisited - and a Ford/Chevy MONDAY MYSTERY

I was looking through old photos today and found this photo dated July 4, 1915. This is my grandmother, Edna Peterson Egli. She was 15 years old. With those stripes, I can't help but wonder if she was wearing red, white and blue?

As I was looking through the file of photos of her, I came across one of her with a car. I knew she'd won a car in 1922 - I wrote about it in her bio which you can read here.

Although the notes I found about Edna say the car was a 1922 Ford, I found this picture of Edna with a car that may or may not be the one she won. The photo is dated 1922 but as you can see, the car is a Chevrolet. If you search the internet for pictures of 1922 Chevrolet, you will find some nice images of this car.  I would like to find a newspaper article from when she won the car - you would think there would be one since it was won for selling newspaper subscriptions. Anyone out there have access to 1922 Manson Journal?

BIRTHDAY BIO - Edna Amanda Peterson Egli 1900-1984

Edna Amanda Egli was born on February 16, 1900 in Manson, Iowa. She was the fifth of eight children born to Peter and Annie Peterson. Three sisters, Minnie, Sylvia, Delphia, and one brother, Floyd, were older than her and when she was born they were 8, 6, 4 and 2. Needless to say, her mother had her hands full and in less than a year, she was expecting again. Her younger siblings were Sanford, Lillian and Hazel.

 Edna says in her handwritten memoirs:

“I can remember leaving home to stay with an Aunt and Uncle in Cherokee, IA.  They carried me wrapped in big shawl to the train and I stayed with them because Mother was expecting another baby, he was 1 1/2 years younger than I. Seemed like for years I would go and live them every so often up until 10 or 12 years. (I) would go home for school and back with them in summer months. Their children were older than I so I told people I was adopted and my own folks weren't my real parents.” 

Edna and her Cherokee County Mama, Aunt Mary

In spite of the time spent in Cherokee, Edna detailed lots of memories of her life in Manson as a young girl. Her uncle built their house on “Swede hill.” Her dad worked as a clerk in the grocery and dry goods store. They had a barn with a cow and chickens so they had plenty of milk, cream, butter and eggs. 

Her mother did all the sewing of dresses, shirts and coats. Her dad had a shoe repair kit and would resole their shoes. The Peterson family faithfully attended Augustana Lutheran Church in Manson.

In the winter the neighborhood children would sled and skate and in the summer they played games “like run sheep run” and 4^th of July picnics, or going on a long hayrack ride out to Twin Lakes.

1922 Ford Model T Runabout

Edna attended Manson schools and graduated from Manson High School in 1918.  During her school years she worked at Dalton Press, a publishing company in Manson. She earned 5 cents an hour.  Later, in 1922, she sold subscriptions to the Manson Journal and won first prize in a contest. The prize was a car – a Ford Coupe Runabout. Or so I was told. [see link]

Edna also attended and graduated from Fort Dodge Business College and was later employed by Davis Bros. & Potter Grain Company as the manager of the Manson Elevator. It was here at the elevator that she met Emery Egli, who also worked there.

Edna married Emery Egli on October 5, 1929. Soon after they were married, Edna joined the Mennonite Church in Manson. 

Edna and Emery Egli farmed in the Manson vicinity until they retired in 1966. They had four children -- Thomas, Phyllis, Harris, and Kenneth,  – and ten grandchildren. 

Edna passed away on February 12, 1984, just short of her 84^th birthday.  Her funeral was February 15 at the Manson Mennonite Church; interment at Rose Hill Cemetery, Manson.       

SOURCES

Baptism certificate

Phyllis Egli Schmidt

“Recollections of My Childhood” by Edna

Obituary

Funeral card

Church Record Sunday - Swedish Records and Patrinymics

I put off researching my Scandinavian ancestors for some time because I was worried about dealing with name changes. I thought it might prove to be very tedious. But once I took the plunge (I subscribed to Genline), I found the experience to be fun and fairly easy! The records are actually quite good and for the most part very legible. The farther back you go the more difficult the handwriting becomes but I was able to find several generations!

Anna's birth record

My great grandmother, Annie Peterson, was born in Sweden and immigrated with her parents. I knew where they were from so that started my search. I searched "Jonkoping Lan, Odestugu" and found Annie's birth record, her parents marriage record, their household registers and a moving out record that said they moved to "Nordamerica."

American records listed Annie's mother as Malena Swenson - the Swedish records list her as Maja Lena Svensdotter. The household register lists birthdates as well as names, and the women in Sweden always went by their maiden name so it was easier to be sure you had the right couple. Some of the records list page numbers of family registers and that helps as well. Sometimes it requires a page by page search of a hundred or so households.

Malena's birth record tells me her parents are Sven Mansson and Brita Stina Isacsdotter. By looking for their household register I was able to locate all of Malena's siblings and their birthdates as well as the birth dates for Sven and Brita. And when I looked up those records it named their parents and I was on a roll! It was a little more effort to put into my RootsMagic database - keeping all the names straight - and occasionally I found myself lost - the reuse of names can become a jumble as you look at records for Sven Mansson and Mans Svenson over and over.

Here is my Swedish pedigree 'at-a-glance' (meaning without all the specifics and citations):
And YES! Brita Stina Isacsdotter and Peter Isacsson turned out to be siblings!

Andrew and Malena's household examination record

By using resources I found on Genline and on the internet, as well as the book "Your Swedish Roots," I was able to read and learn quite a bit of Swedish in the process. I really enjoyed it. Now on to the Danes!

Wordless Wednesday - Summer in Idaho 1922

George and Arthur Carlson and dog in Buhl, Idaho

Photographed by Edna Peterson Egli.

Mystery Monday -- Three Unusual Photos of Grandpa Peterson

These were in the photos that belonged to my grandmother, Edna Peterson Egli. Peter Peterson was my mother's maternal grandfather.

Peter is seen in the second column from the right  Mom did not know why these unusual photos were taken or who any of the other people are. She thought it might be related to his job - perhaps they were his coworkers. He worked at the local grocery store.

One great thing to note about these pictures is that while most of the photos are rather serious, in the very bottom photo of each person, they are (for the most part) smiling.

The following photo is another mystery to me. While this picture is labeled signifying that Peter is in the photo -- standing second from the left --  they give me no clue as to why he is in the photo or what is going on. Theses men appear to be policemen but as far as I know, Peter was never a policeman. 

And I feel certain someone will recognize what organization he belonged to in this third photo. Peter is in the middle row, far right. Peter was born in Denmark but he married a Swede and they attended a Swedish Lutheran church.

Anyone have any ideas about these photos? I'd love to learn more.

Wedding Wednesday - Peter and Annie Peterson

My great grandparents Peter Pedersen and Anna Peterson were married on January 22, 1891. They chose to use her spelling of the Peterson name as their married name. They were the first couple to be married in the Augustana Lutheran Church in Manson, Iowa.

Fifty years later, in 1941, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary,

and in 1945 their story was published in the local newspaper.

Manson (Iowa) Journal, August 16, 1945

This article tells their story. She immigrated from Sweden as a very small child. He immigrated from Denmark as an adult. They met in Manson and spent the remainder of their lives there.

Thanks to Heather at Leaves for Trees for suggesting this graphic!