Four generations of RICHARDSONs 1917

Four generations of RICHARDSONs 1917
William Richardson, Alice Josephine Richardson Dakin, Robert Worthington Richardson, Harry Bogart Richardson

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Death on the Railroad Tracks, the Sequel

Nathan Cobb, date unknown

























In two earlier posts [Death on the Railroad Tracks part 1 and part 2], I wrote about the death of Nathan Cobb on the Northwestern RR tracks in Oak Park, Illinois on 24 June 1892.  I focused on the fact that the train tracks were not elevated and right down the middle of the street -- very easy to be hit by a train.

Lake and Marion in 1903.
 One can only imagine how easy it was for accidents to occur.




















At the time, I was amazed how many people had accidents involving either trains or "grip cars" in one day in one article in the Chicago Tribune, but I focused in the blog posts on Nathan Cobb.

I took the time to expand the blog posts into a full article about Nathan Cobb and about the other folks mentioned in the article -- some were in another accident or were helping out someone who had been injured.  I included information on grip cars.  I ended with an obituary that I wrote for Nathan Cobb -- his life deserved more acknowledgement beyond an elderly man suffering from dementia walking in front of a train.  I can only hope the people named in the article will help someone else who is searching for a "missing" relative that seems to have vanished without any death certificate.

The article is in the Illinois State Genealogy Society Quarterly, volume 47, number 3, Fall 2015, pages 133 - 139.


























When the ISGS Journal arrived, I was surprised to see that the photo of South Blvd and Harlem Ave. from the Oak Park River Forest Historical Society was featured on the cover.
Such a nice surprise.

The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/10/death-on-railroad-tracks-sequel.html
©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Johanna Carolina Hellsten, the Rest of the Story

If you've been reading the saga about Johanna Carolina Hellsten and Uno Kempff, you'll notice there are some time gaps that we do not know all the details. This post will fill in all of the details that we know about Johanna, after many posts on Uno Kempff and his shenanigans with the law.

What do we know about Johanna, the oldest daughter born to Carl (Kalle) Hellsten and Johanna Sparr on 25 February 1851 in Nikolai Parish, Örebro, Sweden?

What did she do with her life?

She was 16 when her family fell on hard times in Sweden.  She wrote to her uncle in America, describing her talent for handwork in her father's brewery and general store (which had gone bankrupt), appealing for funds to travel and help once she arrived.  Eric Adolf Helsten had immigrated to USA in 1845, his mother died in 1863. His brother Manne (Theodor Emanual) Hellsten had managed their mother's estate and there was a small amount of money due to Eric. Eric agreed to have his niece Johanna borrow those funds.  Eric knowing the "reduced circumstances" of his brother Carl's family, he has his brother Manne send the funds to their sister Lovis who lives nearby to Johanna's family and who will give the money to Johanna when she is ready to travel.


She was a young woman of 17 when she immigrated to Gaylordsville, Connecticut arriving in New York City on 22 April 1868.  Her uncle had alerted Castle Island of her upcoming arrival and they notifiied him of her arrival.  Eric finds a job for her working for the Bostwick family in Gaylordsville.  She agrees to a two year commitment to work as a domestic servant for them.
Bostwick family in 1870 US Census, New Milford (Gaylordsville),
Connecticut.  Johanna is listed as a domestic servant.










She was just 21 when she ran away from Gaylordsville to New York City  -- nary a goodbye or thank you to her helpful uncle.
The Bostwick family tells Eric how they liked her so much the first year, and Maria Bostwick's mother (probably the Eunice Sanford, age 71, above) liked  her so much that she gave her a tip at the end of her service in her final pay.

Her own family was very worried that Johanna connected with Uno Kempff, someone who was from the same town in Sweden, but who had a criminal past.  He had been writing her asking her to help him find work -- much to her family's dismay.
She ran off to New York City in 1871, and we have no record of her meeting up with Uno in 1871, but we have no proof that she didn't.  The next time we find Johanna is in 1874, coming back to NYC on a ship from Hull, England with Uno, pretending or actually being his wife.
Since Uno was married to another woman back in Sweden and living with yet another woman and possibly fathering that other woman's child, one wonders about the relationship between Uno and Johanna in 1874.  The family had heard a rumor in 1871, that Johanna had not only run off to NYC but had also married Uno.

I have not found Johanna Carolina Hellsten (Johanna, Hannah, Caroline, Carolina) in New York City in 1871, however, I did find her multiple times from 1875-1877 -- advertising her services as a dressmaker.
The first one was in the New York Herald on 31 August 1875:








In August 1875, she is a "Dressmaker" who can do all kinds of family sewing by the day at a reasonable price, in a couple of weeks (14 Sept.) she is a "Competent Dressmaker," who is available by the day or week at a moderate price, with references.  Sounds like she had some practice that first couple of weeks.  By 5 December, she is not only competent she can "make old dresses over equal to new."

By 24 September 1876, she is not only a competent had seamstress, she now advertises her ability to operated any machine.  She has also moved to 88 Clinton Street, from 27 Bond, of last year.

Then, the final listing I find for her as a dressmaker, is 24 April 1877, she is now at
111 WEST 11TH ST. -- FIRST-CLASS DRESSMAKER 
to go out by the day, or will take work home; best ref-
erence.                                                  Miss HELSTEN.


So, maybe she went home to Sweden after she ran away to New York City for some reason and was never mentioned in any of the many family letters to Eric Helsten (that I had translated and put in the book, A Ring and a Bundle of Letters), came back to New York with Uno Kempff, and then stayed and worked as a dressmaker.

In each of these ads, she is Miss J. C. Helsten, or Miss Helsten, not "Mrs. anyone."
Was traveling as Uno's wife, a convenience to get from Europe to New York and not appear to anyone as a single woman, or maybe not?
Who knows, I don't.

So, did Johanna stay in NYC and live happily ever after?
We have one final clue about Johanna ....
The 1910 Census for Brooklyn, New York, 60 Gates Avenue, in a three-family building, lives
Caroline J Hellsten,








She is now called Caroline J Hellsten, 58, single, never had any children.
Go to the next page of the census and you'll find she had Albert F Faberstedt, 45, also from Sweden living there as a boarder.  He is listed as married for 20 years, naturalized having came to the USA in 1887.   Albert is working as a painter.




She came in 1892, but is not naturalized.  She is working as a cook, was employed on
15 April 1910, but was out of work for 24 weeks in 1909.  She rents her home.

Notice, she is not naturalized.  No surprise.
From 1855 to 1922, a woman took the citizenship of her husband, so in order to become a US citizen, Johanna would have had to have married someone who was a citizen (birthright or naturalized).

[I wrote a blog post about how a woman could lose her US citizenship.  Marian L Smith’s wrote two fascinating articles tracing women’s naturalization from 1802 through 1940. These are in Prologue Magazine. Read the first and click through to the second one.]

Neither Malin Klangeryd nor I have found anything more about Johanna Carolina Hellsten. No marriages, no deaths. No other census listing, no passages to and from Europe (should be something if "came in 1892").

I'll write again, if we find anything.


©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/06/johanna-carolina-hellsten-rest-of-story.html





Sunday, June 21, 2015

Did Johanna Meet Up with Uno Kempff?

In this series of blog posts, we've been tracking the shenanigans of Uno Kempff, the man that Johanna Hellsten's family considers a scoundrel!  His criminal record in Sweden sure would raise concerns for a loving family for any daughter, not just one thousands of miles away in America.
He seems to have another woman other than Johanna Carolina Hellsten in his life besides his wife, and a possible child born out of wedlock (either his or possibly legitimized by his marrying her mother after years of living together).

Johanna ran away to NYC from Connecticut in 1871.  We found Uno's traveling to New York City in 1874, possibly following his woman friend, Anna Charlotta Carlsson.

I mentioned that Uno Kempff left for New York 17 April 1874.  Looking at the passenger list is revealing!










Look closer at who is traveling with Uno Kempff




A woman named Johanna and that is NOT his wife, Johanna, who is Uno's age.
Both Uno and Johanna's ages are a bit off in this record:
Uno, born in 1826, should be 48.
Our Johanna, born in 1851, should be 23.
What's a few years between friends and before the internet to instantly check!

This is traveling TO New York City from Hull, England, 3 years after our Johanna ran away to New York City from Connecticut.

This is the trip where Uno is traveling to New York City to possibly meet up with his friend Anna Charlotta Carlsson.

We have some missing passenger records:
We do not have Uno traveling to NYC when he "escaped from Sweden" about 1870 or 71.
We do not have Uno traveling back to Sweden after that.
We DO have him traveling to NYC in 1874 (above).
We do not have Uno and Anna traveling back to Sweden before the 27 March 1875 Household examination for Uno and Anna Charlotta in Stockholm.
We do not have Johanna traveling back to Sweden after she ran away to New York City, only to return with Uno 3 years later.
We do not have any mention in the family letters about Johanna returning to Sweden.

When searching the records we have looked for Carolina, Caroline, Hannah along with Johanna -- known names that she used.  When she originally came in 1868, she traveled under the name of Caroline Hellsten -- Eric had alerted the folks at Castle Garden that his niece Johanna Carolina was coming, so they notified him when she arrived, even though she left off that first name.  When home with her family she often just used Hannah.

We do have the mention in the letter from Aunt Lovis that the family has heard that Johanna has married Uno.


Did Johanna Hellsten marry Uno?
She seems to have connected with Uno and traveled with him, but did she marry him?
She wasn't with him back in Sweden when he and Anna Charlotta were living in various places in Stockholm until he died in 1884.
Maybe she pretended to be his wife, for travel purposes!?


What happened to Johanna, if she didn't go back to Sweden with Uno?


All the research for these blog posts was done by Malin Klangeryd in Swedish and by myself in English.  I'm authoring the blog posts, but Malin is contributing mightily to the research!

©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/06/did-johanna-meet-up-with-uno-kempff.html




Friday, June 19, 2015

Uno Kempff ... Yup There's Even More!

Johanna Hellsten's relationship with Uno Kempff was the concern of her family in their letters when she ran away to New York City in 1871.
Malin Klangeryd's research turned up conviction records and newspaper stories that verified the family concerns about their daughter's friendship with Uno.
At the time Uno was married to  Johanna (Sophia) Lovisa Juberg.  They had three children who all died young.

Oh, another small detail....
Uno has another woman in his life about the same time that Johanna was heading to New York City -- Anna Charlotta Carlsson.

Uno leaves for New York on 17 April 1874.  We haven't found him on a boat earlier that would have gotten him to NYC in 1871 as indicated in the family letters.  There isn't any evidence of Uno traveling with his wife.  Anna Charlotta already left for New York on 17 May 1872.  So if he was there in 1871, Anna Charlotta might have been on her way to be with Uno.

Fast forward a couple of years, back in Sweden in the Household Examination (a census taken by the local priest) for 27 March 1875 -18 April 1879:
Anna Charlotta lives on Västerlånggatan 69, City block Ulysses 36, Storkyrkoförsamlingen parish in Stockholm. 13 May 1877 Alma Maria Charlotta (the daugher) is born illegitimate. Father unknown. She becomes legitimate 6 May 1884 [source: Storkyrkoförsamlingen parish, Birth records 1872-1880, SE/SSA/0016/C I a 1/21, page 497]

Then the Household Examination for 21 April 1879 - 8 June 1880 has Uno Kempff, Anna Charlotta and her daughter Alma Maria living together at  Brogatan 25 in Klara parish, Stockholm.

8 June 1880: Anna Charlotta and daughter moves to Götgatan 24, city block Västergötland 5 in Maria Magdalena.
11 June 1880: Uno Kempff moves to Götgatan 24, city block Västergötland 5 in Maria Magdalena. He is working as shop assistant and later as a bookkeeper.

7 November 1881: Uno moves to Köpmansgatan 18 in Storkyrkoförsamlingen, Stockholm
10 November 1881: Anna Charlotta with her daughter moves to Köpmansgatan 18 in Storkyrkoförsamlingen, Stockholm.

6 May 1884, Anna Charlotta married (but it not clear who she actually married) and her daughter is no longer illegitimate.  Shortly thereafter, on 29 May 1884 Uno Kempff dies at Köpmanstorget 10 (Street block Europa) in  Storkyrkoförsamlingen, Stockholm.

By 1892, Anna Charlotta and her daughter Alma Maria are each using the last name Kempff.


So, I guess Johanna wasn't married to Uno as rumor had it.
What was Johanna doing in New York City when she ran away?
What happened to our Johanna?

There are some more gaps in Johanna's life to fill in.

©Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this page is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/06/uno-kempff-yup-theres-even-more.html