2024 #52Ancestors, Week 17: Revolutionary War

Before reading this post, you might want to take a look at some other war-related posts on this blog:

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 4: Witness to History 

Uncle Bud wrote letters to fallen soldiers' families during WWII.

2023 #52Ancestors, Week 45: War and Peace 

GGG Grandfather Thomas Green fought in the Civil War.

Nobody Knows About Jennie Grace (Terpinitz) Lambert Amey Johnson

Thomas Green's granddaughter enlisted in the WACS during WWII.

For one of last year's #52Ancestors posts, I wrote about the longevity of the name Thomas Pearson.  One of the Thomas Pearsons in question fought in the Revolutionary War.  This particular Thomas Pearson, my GGGGG grandfather (and son of my GGGGGG grandfather, also Thomas Pearson) was born in Yorkshire, England, but records indicate that he emigrated from England in 1774, and by 1776 he was fighting for his new country's freedom. 

Pearson was at the Battle of Waxhaws, also known as Buford's Massacre.  Here, Buford's 3rd Virginia Detachment (somewhere between 350-380 Virginians) was decimated by Banastre Tarleton's forces.  It was not much of a battle with the Patriots managing only a single volley before they were overcome by the British troops.  Survivors of the battle also reported that the British even massacred men who were in the act of surrendering.  Casualties (including killed, wounded, and missing/captured) totaled 316 for the Patriots.  The British lost only 17.  Thomas Pearson was among the wounded and was also captured.  On one Sons of the American Revolution Membership Application, it states, "Prisoner till May, 1783.  Thomas Pearson received 13 wounds; this and imprisonment brought on temporary derangement."

Thomas Pearson's last pension affidavit (November 1834) reads as follows: "Whereas it is represented to the General Assembly, that Thos Pearson, a soldier in the revolutionary war, belonging to the VA Line on continental establishment, and attached to the regiment commanded by Col. Abraham Buford, received  in an action with the British troops, fought in SC in the month of May 1780, sundry wounds in his head and arms, which have rendered him, in his present advanced stage of life, (being sixty two years of age.) incapable of maintaining himself by labour."  Thomas Pearson died 29 September 1835.

Sources:

"Buford's Massacre Site," South Carolina Department of Archives and History, www.nationalregister.sc.gov/lancaster/S10817729019/index.htm.  Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

"Waxhaws," Battlefields.org, American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/waxhaws. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

2024 #52Ancestors #Week17 The War at Home

Back: Dorothy, Peter Winkel, Dave, Carole

Front: Dennis, Elsie, unknown ladies (likely Elsie’s sister Bertha and Carole’s mother)

Small children are Dave and Carole’s Dianne and David Jr.

Unknown Cousin

So much space has been devoted to our country, and my family's many veterans of many wars. I am the wife of a veteran, and I'd like to devote a little space to the war at home.

I've found a few clippings re: the war effort in Sioux County during World War I:

Mondag 8 April. … Miss Mary Winkel (list of several women covering shifts for week).

- Red Cross Com. - April 3, 1918


Mrs. D. Ten Kley has already knitted 36 pairs of socks for the Red Cross. -

Nieuwsblad June 26, 1918


I've written before about the difficulty that must have concerned and confused immigrants who still had siblings, nieces and nephews in the Netherlands. I don't have surviving letters, but there are a few from around the turn of the century, and certainly there must have been some trepidation in waiting for the news in the papers.

As for World War II, many mothers, my great-grandmother included, watched and waited as their sons went off to Europe and the Pacific Theater, supported their daughters whose husbands were gone, and helped to care for grandchildren, to say nothing of maintaining Victory Gardens and running a household during rationing. Elsie and Peter Winkel loaded their Packard and drove from Iowa to Washington State to see their son (Dave, I believe. He was in the Navy, but Dick was in Seattle for a time). I would hazard a guess that family members donated their gas rations for this trip. My own dad recalls having to donate rubber from a variety of sources including tricycle and bicycle tires.

In June 1943, my great uncle Dick was home for a short while on furlough, and a month later a note appeared listing his APO at Fort Robinson in Arkansas. I don't know if Grandma had been able to see her brother during his furlough as she was in Ohio, married on the same day Dick's address clipping ran in their hometown paper. That same summer, Dorothy had remarried and moved to northern MN, so that all 4 Winkel children were away from home.

Additionally, while war was raging, Aunt Mary lost her 17 year old son who had been born with severe disability, while she was also attendinhg her ailing father, whom the family mourned the loss of in Dec 1944. Their patriarch was gone, and his namesake grandson was still away.

Ultimately, my 2 great uncles Dick (married to Mary) and Dave (Carole) made it home to Sioux City after the war, and before the death of their mother the following spring. When my grandma and grandpa returned to Iowa, they had agreed to visit and to begin a new life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dorothy and her new husband and Dennis, nearly 10 when the war ended, remained in Duluth.

2024 #52Ancestors #Week16 - Step

Above is a photo from my own version of "My Two Dads."  You see, through a twist of 1970's communications, my mom was courted by and married into the same family twice.  Nothing to see here, "she just really liked the in-laws," has been the tongue in cheek comment for most of my life.

D & D were born 11 years apart, to sisters Dorothy and Margaret.  So many years later, we are certainly not "ONE BIG HAPPY" necessarily, but we do have a rich heritage of cousin connections, family stories about how we define each other, and some not very appropriate tales that get trotted out at family dinners about an antique family bed and its' generations of occupants (It's my opinion that this story needs to be recorded for posterity, then buried, Message me if you'd like to hear it).

I like to imagine that I have things in common with both of my grandmothers, but I've been compared to Dorothy a few times as well. She died when I was 6 weeks old, so I never got the opportunity to make my own opinion. However, this is really about the sons they raised and their daughter.

For my part, after 50 years of ups and downs, I have some really great memories: My Daddy (TM) read to me, carried me on his shoulders and gives fantastic hugs and backrubs. He buys me books and discusses global issues and social justice with me. My bonus Dad (TM) taught me how to ride a bike without training wheels, taught me about unionization and work ethic, helped us move and talks to us about financial and vehicle hurdles. He gifts me books too. Both tell me how much I mean to them, and I hope I do more than a fair job in return. 

I love both of my dads, both have given me much and loved me hard. Both have showed up for me in very different ways, and while they are not friends with each other, I would not be me if I hadn't had (and still have!) them both. It took a lot of steps to get where we are, so Thanks, Dads

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 16: Step

 

My Great Grandma Thelma's biological father, Hugo Robertson, died from tuberculosis in 1911 when she was not even three years old.  Signe Robertson, Thelma's mother, did not marry again until 1923, and her new husband was Simon (Sam) Erickson, pictured above.  Great Grandma Thelma was already 15 by then and probably wouldn't have been blamed for not forming a close relationship with her stepfather, but all evidence suggests that he treated her as his daughter (he had no biological children of his own), and she treated him as her father. 

In 1930, Thelma was still with her mother and stepfather, but she married my Great Grandpa Oscar in 1931.  In 1940, Sam and Signe were living with my great grandparents, and in 1950, even though Signe died in 1948, Thelma's stepfather, Sam, was still living in my great grandparents' home.  My mom remembers "Grandpa Sam," as she calls him, and says that he lived with his stepdaughter for the rest of his life.  He enjoyed spending his time at the Swedish Club, and Great Grandma would often opine that he was "drinking and gambling" down there, and then she would send my Great Grandpa Oscar to retrieve him.

2024 #52Ancestors #Week15 - School Days

Cousin Peter Ten Kley theorized that most of his aunts and uncles never attended school much beyond the 4th grade as on the farm, the 10 children were needed for chores and work as soon as they were old enough to be helpful.  Quite a few of the schools in the rural areas where they lived were taught exclusively in Dutch, so these siblings of my great-grandmother would have learned much of their English as adolescents or in adulthood. 

For Peter Winkel's part, he and his siblings were taught in school as well, and at home by their mother. From Peter's brief memoir: "Mother taught us how to read Holland faster than we were learning English. Other children didn't learn so fast ... always talked Holland at home." And this: "Went to school, middle of 7th grade, 12 years old. When I was 13 or 14 I went to work on a farm as a hired man." One can assume the same of his brothers Dick and George.

Here is a link Schools (iagenweb.org) that outlines school days in Sioux Center and its surrounding communities in much more thorough detail.  I examined the photos at the end of the article very closely, as the photo of the little girls posing for a performance photo is very likely of my grandma's sister Dorothy's classmates and likely playmates.  Dorothy was 9 years old in 1920. Later, Dorothy was a member of her high school’s Glee Club.

While in High School, Dorothy Winkel signed an anti-bootlegging Statement and Petition - "The following names were handed in too late to appear in the regular list of signers to the “Statement and Petition” on Page 6, of this issue … list includes Dorothy Winkel" - Nov 23, 1927

I found a decent number of photos and citations in the LeMars, Iowa yearbook detailing great-uncle Dick's high school activities. Dave appears in only one of those, standing next to his brother in the Boy's Patrol group (think today's crossing guards). Other groups Dick is found in include boy's basketball, Letter Club, Commercial Club and Boy's Glee Club.

The school days of my Grandma were related to me as a time when she had her dominant left hand tied behind her back, a nefarious but all too common occurrence in those days. I have delighted, and perhaps she did too, that the "punishment" didn't take, and she remained left-handed all her days. I am left-handed as well, as are a few cousins. Grandma was also a member of the East High girl's basketball team.

I have little more information about Grandma's school days except that she was in a play "America the Beautiful", playing an angel at East High school. She was also a member of the school's Latin Society, Philomelian Latina Societas, and inducted into the National Honor Society. 

From top, Dorothy, Margaret (Grandma) and group photo with Dick and Dave.

There is also the following anecdote:

The (Winkel) children have entered school here (LeMars) for the fall term, two of them being in high school. - Alton Democrat Sept 16, 1927

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 15: School Days

Interior of Swedish School House, circa 1877

As mentioned in a previous post, my great grandmother's sister, Cecilia Ingrid (Wedberg) Hendrickson was kind enough to leave behind a handwritten account of her earlier years.  I have done my best to accurately transcribe and, in some cases, annotate it. What follows is Cecilia's description of a fire that burned a Swedish school house - and much of Baskemölla, Sweden.

One day, [my parents] accompanied Captain Flink to see him off on one of his sea journeys and while at Simrisham, Sweden, saw that a great fire had broken out at Baskemölla. It started in the school house above our home. Being a windy day, it spread fast and before long the village was on fire. The people ran to the Baltic Sea to keep out of flying debris and from getting burned. Our maid, Kristiana Lovedall, was concerned about saving belongings. Our clerk came up from our store and asked if she had all the children. At that time, sister Annie was asleep in one of the beds that the fire had already reached in a room, but he grabbed her in time. Nelly and I became frightened and ran on stocking feet to Vik where some people knew who we were and said in Swedish, “Deta ar Wedberg’s barn.”  Tillie was the first to come and say that the school was on fire. We were having dinner or brunch, which consisted of salt pork and eggs.

Our parents saw the fire from the city. Father jumped into his buggy leaving Mother. He drove so fast the wheels flew off and he jumped on the horse. He reached his home in time to pull a dresser and desk of valuable papers and money. He rushed in just as the walls caved in. As he was coming out, women had pails of water which they threw on him. I have a little drawer which was in that desk. The orchard – also some stock were lying dead on the ground.

Finally, Mother reached the outskirts of town where friends came to meet her saying, “Mary, you need not hurry. All yours is gone.” It was indeed sad, for people who had lost all they had in those days had little insurance and most – none.

Father, being a contractor, had more than he could handle.  He had to build the town and a beautiful home for ourselves.

A few notes of clarification/annotation:  

1. I am uncertain as to whether or not the schoolhouse adjoined the Wedberg home. Perhaps their home was simply the next building down from the school house.  Descriptions of Swedish communities suggest buildings were close together and constructed from highly flammable materials.

2. “Deta ar Wedberg’s barn" translates to "These are Wedberg children."

3. Although I am not a fan of using Wikipedia for research purposes, I did find this very useful information in the Baskemölla entry: 

 “Three large fires, 1889, 1894 and 1913, destroyed almost the entire community. In 1889 the fire began in the schoolhouse and then spread rapidly due to the strong wind from the sea. 37 houses and 5 farms burned down, and some 50 families became homeless in a few hours. The housing issue was initially difficult to solve, but many surrounding villages came up with help so that the families received temporary housing."  Based on the mention of the strong winds in Cecilia's account and the fact that her family was no longer in Sweden by 1894, the event described was clearly the 1889 fire. Oddly enough, outside of the Wikipedia entry and Great Aunt Cecilia's anecdotal evidence, I can find no other mention of the fire.

4.  When Cecilia noted her father had to build the town, that was not an exaggeration. The same Wikipedia article identifies him by name saying, "In 1890 it was decided to build a new, larger school building. Builder and tradesman Christian Wedberg, a resident of the community, made a bid of SEK 5,000, which was accepted. The new school housed halls for high school and junior school as well as a teacher's residence to the east."  Later in Cecilia's account, she indicates that the construction did not progress as her father wanted, so in 1891, he began planning his family's immigration to the United States.

All because of a school house...

2024 #52Ancestors #Week14 Recipes or Pancakes

I have some favorite memories around meals with the entire family, rather than favorite recipes.  Let's talk pancakes. 

My memories consist of innumerable Sunday mornings of the entire family (grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins included) going to Perkins for pancakes. They had an item called "Fancy Pants" for children, pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. For those that remember Perkins in the 70's, they also had a wishing well near the entrance with small toys wrapped in cellophane to choose from.

One of my favorite memories was sitting across from Grandpa on another family breakfast morning and being in awe of his massive pile of blueberry pancakes. This was at the now defunct Lincoln Del.

Another popular location for us was the Original Pancake House which served 49er Flapjacks (my brother's go-to) and a legendary dish called The Apple Pancake. Most people know them as Dutch Babies, but I didn't know this term then, but I devoured several, despite adults' urging to split them with someone. Apple cinnamon goodness! Just last week I found that this place still exists and will have to make a sojourn.  For old time's sake, and the carbs. I was last there with Grandpa shortly before his passing over 20 years ago.

We also used to frequent the Pannekoeken Huis,.with its lovely Dutch name and kitsch decor, but I don't have any more specific memory of the place. 

For many years now, my husband has made a large pan full of Dutch baby on special occasions, mostly Christmas and birthdays. I don't know that we've made an apple cinnamon version, but it's on the list now. We've also discovered the popular Dutch treat stroopwafels, and definitely look forward to trying a fresh one sometime. My husband was in Amsterdam briefly while in the service, but the Netherlands remains on my bucket list.