52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 29 Music

Adolf Hansen and family 1894

“Adolf Hansen<ß--- HAN DRYSSET MEOLDIER UT AV ERMEY …>>[i]

This is the title of the book written about my great-grandfather Adolf Hansen a Norwegian Military musician and composer. The Norwegian phrase in the title translates to “he sprinkles melodies out of the sleeve.”  An apt phrase to describe a prolific composer.

Adolf was born on 4 October 1852 , the son of Martin Hansen and Sofie Johannesdatter. His original christening record shows his name as Johannes Adolf Waldemar Hansen.[ii]

Little is known of Adolf’s life before the 1865 census of Oslo, Norway, where Adolf appears with his mother Sofie living at 2 Grondelandsleret with 47 other people.[iii]

By 1875 Adolf’s profession in the census is listed as musician, since he had joined the 2^nd Brigades Musikkorps at age 15 and played clarinet  under the direction of Paolo Sperati. In 1868, 16 year old Adolf went to his director and showed his two musical pieces he had composed, one a march and one a galopp He was allowed to sit in the orchestra and play his compositions!

Adolf kept playing in the various bands and orchestras in Oslo, including the Christiania Norske Theater and the Tivoli. In 1880, Adolf was married with four children when he was sent to Paris for further study on the clarinet.

Adolf continued to direct the bands of the Norwegian Army while adding to his list of compositions until his death 24 Jan 1911 in Bergen, Norway. His composition of most note is the “Honor Marsj” .

Adolf had a total of ten children, five with each of his two wives, I don’t know if any of them inherited his musical talent, but I do remember his granddaughter Dorothy had a grand piano in her living room and I have been told that another granddaughter, Dorette Campbell was an opera singer. Both of my children were in the high school band and my daughter was a music major. She married a music major who continued the tradition by serving in the US Army Band for 26 years.  All three of their children have also been talented musicians in High School. It has often made me wonder if a talent skipped several generations. I guess we’ll never know until a music gene is discovered.

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[i] Egil A. Gundersen, author, Adolf Hansen << - HAN DRYSSET MELODIER UT AV ERMET...>>, first edition (Skien, Norway: self-published by author, 2002), .

[ii] Church of Norway (Aker, Oslo, Norway), Ministrial Book #19 birthssz 1842-1852, page 395, Birth and christening of Johannes Adolf Waldemer Hansen; digital image, digitalarkiv of Norway (https://media.digitalarkivet.no : online 31 Nov 2017).

[iii] 1865 census for Oslo, digitalarkivet.no

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 27 Travel

For the Adolf Hansen family of Bergen, Norway, things began to unravel in the late 1880’s. Dorette Hansen died 4 July 1887[i]after giving birth to a daughter Aagot Dorette in June of 1887. In February of 1889 their father Adolf married Nathalie Bull Egbert and began another family. That Nathalie was only five years older than Adolf and Dorette’s oldest child undoubtedly contributed to the friction in the family.

Several of Dorette’s siblings had immigrated to the United States already and had settled in Chicago, Illinois. Hearing of the family friction they encouraged the motherless children to come to Chicago to establish their lives. On 21 May 1894 three of five of Adolf and Dorette’s surviving children: Adolph Halfdan Hansen, then twelve years old, along with his sister Dagny Amanda (16) and brother ArturDaniel (15)  walked to the police station in Bergen, Norway and registered their intention to emigrate to the United States. Adolph traveled as Halfdan Hansen.[ii] 

On 21 May 1894 they boarded the Norge to sail to New York via Copenhagen.

SS Norge photo credit:wikipedia

The Norge was built in 1881 by Alexander Stephen and Sons of Linthouse, Glasgow, for the Belgian company Theodore C. Engels & Co of Antwerp; her original name was Pieter de Coninck. The ship was 3,359 GRT and 3,700 tonnes deadweight (DWT), and the 1,400-horsepower (1.0 MW) engine gave a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She could carry a maximum of 800 passengers.[iii]

On June 8, 1894 the Norge docked in New York, New York at Ellis Island.[iv] The manifest of the Norge shows that the three children sailed alone and brought with them a total of $6.00. ($209.78 in 2018 ) Not a large sum to get them from New York to Chicago.

They did travel safely to Chicago where the 1900 census shows Artur and Adolph living with their aunt Olga Pederson and her family where Adolph was a packer.[v] Sister Dagny was working as a domestic and living with the family she worked for.

In 1901 their brother Sigurd would immigrate to New York leaving only their brother Thorolf in Norway along with their five half siblings from their father’s second marriage. 

This wasn't the end of the Hansen immigration from Norway. Lili Augusta, the daughter on Adolf and Nathalie would settle in New York and Thorolf's daughter Lili Riis Hansen would immigrate in the late 1930s shortly before WWII.

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[i] Norwegian Lutheran (Oslo fylke), Ministrial Book #12 Dode og begravede, page 300, death and burial record of Dorette Christiansen; arkivverket.no, Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

[ii] "Digitalarkivet.uib.no," Norwegian Digital Arkiv,  (http://digitalarkivit..uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=arkivvert/EMIBERG&brukar=&loc=5017848&spraak : accessed 6 June 2002), transcription, "Emigrants from Bergen 1874-1930," .

[iii] wikipedia

[iv] Arrival of Adolph Halfdan Hansen; Norge passenger manifest, 8 June 1894, ; in Ellis Island Records; (Washington, D.C.: National Archives), .

[v] 1900 U S Census, Cook County, Illinois, population schedule, Ward 28, enumeration district (ED) ED 844 precinct 4 West Town Chicago city, 11B, 204, Adolph Hansen; digital image, FamilySearch.org (http://familysearch.org : accessed 6 February 2013); United Stated Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Independence the Story of a Patriot

There is a “Patriot” in my husband’s family tree! Men who served in the Revolutionary are referred to as Patriots.

John Ferguson was the second child born to William Ferguson and Elizabeth LeMaster in 1754. They lived in Poquoson, York, Virginia. About 1769, John and his parents settled at Hick’s Ford in Meherrin Parish.

John married Hannah Barrow about 1774-1775 in Brunswick, Virginia and in 1776, John bought 166 acres from Hannah’s father, William Barrow.

Battle of Monmouth, 28 June 1778
photo credit  Revolvy.com

John joined the Continental Army and in 1778 and 1779 served under Captain Harry Dudley in the 2^nd Virginia State Regiment.[i] He was in the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778 under Major General George Washington. 

Perhaps it was this event that prompted John and Hannah to sell their land on 22 October 1779 and move to Kerby’s Creek in Guilford County, North Carolina. They eventually received a Patent of 166 acres from the State of North Carolina.[ii] John and Hanna’s plantation was next to that of her brother Moses Barrow. About that time Hannah’s parents and siblings all moved to Guilford County, North Carolina. By now John and Hannah were the parents of three daughters, Mary, Martha, and Rebecca as well as a son, William.

By 1795, John and Hannah were the parents of 12 children as mentioned by Hannah’s brother David Barrow in his diary. “(Aug) 19^th. Wednesday. Agreeable weather. My brother-in-law came home in the afternoon. They are blessed with twelve children: Mary, Martha, Rebecca, William, David, Nathan, John, Elisabeth, Joseph, Benjamin, Hannah, and Moses. After an exhortation and prayer to and for them all, we went to my father’s in the evening.”[iii]

Possibly David Barrow’s reports of the lands across the Ohio River motivated John to move his family to the Ohio Territory and the area that would eventually become the State of Indiana.

After the family moved to Indiana, Hannah was never mentioned, and she is reported to have probably died in North Carolina about 1811 or possibly in Kentucky on the way to Indiana. There is no record of her death or burial.

John and some of his family members settled in Boone County, Indiana where in 1828 he married Bethena Deacons and had two more children Jonathan J born in 1829 and Bethany born in 1831.

John Ferguson died in Boone County on 14 Feb 1842 and is buried in Cox Cemetery.

His son Benjamin, my husband’s 4^th great-grandfather moved to Jasper County, Illinois before 1850, where the family farming tradition continued for several more generations.

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[i] "United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL6Y-4NQW : 15 March 2018), John Ferguson, Oct 1778; citing Oct 1778, Virginia, United States, citing NARA microfilm publication M246. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Services, 1980. FHL microfilm 830,375.

[ii] Rockingham County Deed Book C, 1790; pg 189, at Wentworth, NC

[iii] Reverend David Barrow’s Diary, May to September 1795

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 26 Betty the Later Years

The theme for this week is "Black Sheep" but I haven't found any yet so I am posting the last of three posts about the life of my mother Betty Connery Hansen.

photo credit Elmhurst Press, publ 8 June 1965
l-r Peggy, Alice, Mike, Donald, Betty, Paul, and Mary

January 1, 1960, the beginning of a new year and a new stage in the life of Betty Connery Hansen. The funeral with its attendant decisions was over, but the grief and shock had not yet lessened. Betty was now a widow with nine dependent children to care for. The youngest two were not even in school yet. However would she manage to provide for her family?

It was a time of “stay at home” moms and Betty hadn’t worked outside her home in over twenty years. She didn’t even drive! As Betty reviewed her options, she found much to be grateful for. About two years earlier she and Donald had looked at buying a larger house in a more residential area of Elmhurst. It was a serious consideration that they eventually decided against. Now Betty was very glad for that decision since their current house was ideally located for her children to attend their activities without the need to be driven. Another decision that they had made was to cash in the small life insurance policies they had purchased for the older children and use the proceeds to increase Donald’s insurance. What a wise choice that proved to be.

Family came to the rescue both emotionally and financially. Fortunately, the Connerys believed in helping when it was needed and not waiting until a will was read. Betty’s sister Kathleen whisked daughters Mary and Peggy (then in second and first grade respectively) off to Florida with her for the rest of the school year. While in Florida, the girls attended Rosarian Academy, a boarding school in West Palm Beach. Donna returned to Mount St Mary Academy for her final semester of high school. Tom, Paul, Suzy and Mike returned to school in Elmhurst and Betty was left to figure out the rest of her life.

Dealing with financial matters after Donald’s death, Betty was informed that Social Security would give her the maximum allowance for her family but that was the same amount that she would receive if she only had three children. In other words, every time one of the children turned 18, she needed to report it to Social Security but her monthly amount would not change until Peggy (#7) turned 18.

 Adding to Betty’s pain that year, her mother-in-law Henrietta (Bockie) died in April, just four months after her son. Bockie had often come to stay and help with the children and some of the cooking. 

As Betty started making plans for her future, she looked at her strengths and decided that being a mother to so many children would help her to be a good teacher. Since she had attended Mundelein College for a year, she could complete the education requirements for a teacher’s degree in less time. As a teacher, she would not need childcare because her school days would match up with those of her children. And so, it was decided.

In the fall of 1960 Betty enrolled in Elmhurst College and began her degree work. Evening classes were her route since Alice had just started Kindergarten and Donald was not yet in school. She also took home study classes through Loyola University in Chicago. This would lengthen the time that it took to get her degree, but it would not affect her determination to complete her plan.

In June of 1965, Betty graduated from Elmhurst College, having already secured a teaching position at Stella May Schwartz School where she had done her student teaching.

Betty loved teaching and truly enjoyed both her students and fellow teachers. She stayed at Stella May Schwartz for several years until her health forced her to move to a warmer climate. Florida was chosen because her sister Kathleen and brothers Tom and Jack had all relocated to Fort Lauderdale in their retirement.

In 1971, Betty and the children still living at home, Peggy, Alice, and Donald moved to Pompano Beach, Florida. The move was a major change for all of them as they left a five bedroom, two story house for a three bedroom condo on the second floor and also adjusted to a new climate.

Betty took a teaching position at a school in Pompano Beach and also taught religious education classes during the school year. Over the next several years Betty’s health continued to decline until she was forced to give up the condo and move to her daughter Peggy’s home.

Betty died on 24 October 1977 at the age of sixty having lived a full life of loving her family, her students and friends and above all God in whom she put her complete trust.

Betty’s legacy includes her nine children, 21 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren with one on the way and still counting. She taught all of us to be kind, loving, to act with honesty and integrity and to respect others. It is up to each of us to honor her memory by passing on her values to the younger generation.