John S. Allen: Violin Maker

Today's post isn't about Chicago but it's about genealogy and another subject dear to my heart--fiddles and the people who make and play them. A few weeks ago a bit of insomnia brought me a couple of satisfying research finds, both fiddle-related, and today I thought I'd share one of them.

John S. Allen

On December 23, 2008, a fellow fiddler started a discussion on Fiddle Hangout titled "Who was John S. Allen?" I spent the holiday trying to answer that question. I knew that Mr. Allen had studied violin making with J. B. Squier in Boston, probably in the 1890s, and I knew that he had some connection to Battle Creek, Michigan, most likely moving there to work with Mr. Squier's son, V. C. but that was all I knew. Without an age or birth place or parent or sibling or spouse--some little something in addition to the name--I exhausted most all of the options I had and finally gave up the search.

Recently a Fiddle Hangout member who had seen the archived thread sent me some information on the Squiers and somehow in that I-can't-really-explain-what-prompted-me-to-do-that sort of way, I typed "john s allen" into FamilySearch. I glanced at some Michigan death results, clicked through on a few, and all of a sudden found myself staring at a name and an occupation: John S. Allen, violin maker. He died of meningitis in Mason, Cass, Michigan on 9 Mar 1901.

I don't know that this is the right man, but I think there's a very good chance that he is.

1) This man was born in New York. It's reasonable to think he might have learned his craft from a Boston master.

2) He died at the age of 26. That would explain why so little seems to be known about him. He didn't live long enough to become a well-known maker.

If this is the right man, then one of the violins he made, number 58, was finished in 1896 when he was a pupil of Mr. Squier. If the death certificate is correct, John was born in 1874 which means he would have been 22 at the time.

Further research tells me that John and his wife Pearl had a son Dell F. Allen, born 16 Dec 1900 in Mason. In 1920 Dell was living with his grandparents, Dell Forest and Alice L., in Chenango County, New York. The Social Security Death Index suggests that he died in Colorado in August of 1955.

Perhaps someday I'll find the time to learn more about Mr. Allen and his violins. If you happen to play one or if you happen to know the family, I'd love to hear from you.

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Related census images

The Search for Mrs. Nelson: Part 6

The naturalization record for Sigurd Nelson that I ordered from the Iron Range Research Center arrived last Saturday and I'd give the process a 9 out of 10. The online index was easy to search, the online ordering process went smoothly, and communication from the Center was great. Three days before the document arrived I received a pleasant email letting me know that it had been mailed. The only thing that would have made it better? Receiving the record in digital format a few days quicker. (See The Search for Mrs. Nelson: Part 5)

If you've read previous posts, you'll remember that I am searching for the wife and child of a man named Sigurd Nelson. The researcher who's interested in them believes that they died of influenza before 1920 but he doesn't know anything more about them.

I have reason to believe that the Sigurd Nelson who was living in Duluth is the man the researcher is interested in and I was hoping that this Sigurd's naturalization record would give me the name of his wife and child.

Finally--a clue. The naturalization took place on 7 May 1920 and Sigurd's wife was listed as Myrtle, born 19 November 1899 in West Duluth, Minnesota.



A quick search of the 1920 census told me that Myrtle's middle initial was "L."



So, the Duluth Sigurd Nelson married a woman named Myrtle L. sometime between 5 June 1917 (draft registration card) and 8 January 1920 and it's very likely that he married her in Duluth.

Even though the researcher told me that he thought the wife and child died before 1920, I don't think I can rule this person out. It's possible that the "before 1920" conclusion was made because the family hadn't been able to find the family in the census in Chicago.

So, what's the next step?

Go after a marriage record? The client gave me parent names. If they're listed, I would learn Myrtle's maiden name (if I have the right family and if she did die, perhaps she's buried with her family in Duluth?)and be certain that I had the right Sigurd. (The researcher gave me parent names.)

Look for the death of a Myrtle Nelson in Duluth just after 1920?

Look for Myrtle's death in Chicago?

Look for a birth record to a child born to Myrtle and Sigurd?

See if I can find Myrtle and Sigurd in the 1930 census to rule them out?

Check Duluth city directories to see if Sigurd appears and if he then disappears?

What do you think? I'd love to hear your ideas.

The Search for Mrs. Nelson: Part 5

The researcher who is looking for Sigurd Nelson's family members provided me with new information a couple of days ago and looking back on it tonight, the birth place he sent reminded me of the World War I Draft Registration Card that I mentioned in a previous post.

The "Kristiana, Norway" from the email seems like a great match for the "Christiana, Norway" on the card for Sigurd Godferd Nelson. Earlier today I had a hunch that I might be on the right track. Now I'm thinking that I really might be.

The Duluth newspaper mentioned that Sigurd G. Nelson had naturalized with other veterans in 1920 and I decided to go looking for an online index. I found one at the website for the Iron Range Research Center in Chisholm, Minnesota.

A search for Sigurd Nelson brought up five possibilities with one clear match.





The fee to order the record was $10 and I went ahead and placed the request. If Sigurd filled out the usual forms, I'm very likely to find a spouse and child listed. If not, it was worth the gamble. I think I will put this search on hold until the record arrives and then pick it up again.

Fingers crossed. It would be so much easier to search for deaths if I had names.

The Search for Mrs. Nelson: Post 4

Note: If you haven't been following my posts, you can find background information for the search in The Search for Mrs. Nelson and Child Begins.

A number of years ago I spent some time searching Duluth newspapers at GenealogyBank.com and so I decided to see what I could find out about Conrad and Sigurd Nelson using that approach.

A search for "sigurd nelson" in Minnesota newspapers brought up seventeen results. One was a mis-match. Seven were for a Sigurd G. Nelson who was an elected representative from Ironwood, Michigan. That left nine possibilities.



Among them I fould Sigurd the divinity student and Sigurd the young single man attending social events. It's possible this is the same person. Then I found Sigurd the soldier--possibly two men. One was mentioned as Sigurd and the other was mentioned as Sigurd G. Sigurd G. returned to be naturalized after the war. And then there were two mentions of a Sigurd being arrested for vagrancy, one before the war and one after. It's hard to tell if this is one man or two but it's likely that it's not the divinity student.

1912: Sigurd charged with vagrancy; testimony by boarding house matron from 615 W Superior who caught him going through another boarder's pockets

1915-Aug: Sigurd attends the birthday part for Miss Amanda Dignes, 27 N 66th Ave West

1915-Sep: Sigurd, a divinity student at Northwestern Theological College, goes to Chicago

1915-Nov: Sigurd Nelson to speak in the Norwegian-Danish M.E. Church

1915-Nov: Sigurd Nelson to speak in the Norwegian-Danish M.E. Church

1918-Jul: Sigurd Nelson among draftees leaving for Ohio

1918-May: Sigurd G. Nelson of 109 N 63rd Ave West is among draftees leaving for Ohio

1920-May: Judge grants citizenship to former soldiers including Sigurd G. Nelson

1919-Aug: Sigurd Nelson a guest at an Onaway Club Weiner Roast

1921-Jan: Sigurd Nelson is arrested for vagrancy

I'm not sure what to think except that the Sigurd G. who went to war is a possibility if the brother of the man I'm looking for was living in Duluth. I'll think on it over night and decide what my next step will be. In the meantime, if you have suggestions, please post.

The Search for Mrs. Nelson: Post 3

Note: If you haven't been following my posts, you can find background information for the search in The Search for Mrs. Nelson and Child Begins.

The researcher tells me that Sigurd was born 13 January 1894 in Norway and I've decided to try to use that information to find a matching record in Ancestry.com's World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918.

I usually start with bare bones information to see what I'm up against and a search for "sigurd nelson" yielded 316 matches--to many to scroll through at this point. I edited the search and added a birth year of 1894 +/- 2 years. That narrowed the search to 218 results. I'm not 100% sure that he was living in Cook County at the time he would have registered, so I added a January birth month. This gave me three results.

*Sigurd A. Nelson, born 14 Jan 1892 in Illinois (living in Cook County)

*Sigurd Nelson, born 22 Jan 1893 in Wisconsin (living in Pacific, Washington)

*Sigurd Godferd Nelson, born 31 Jan 1894 in Norway (living in Duluth, Minnesota)

The birth dates for the first and third were close enough to earn a careful look.

The first man was married and was claiming an exemption because of his wife and because of his work for the telephone company. He was born in the United States. It's likely that he's the Sigurd A. that I'm inclined to rule out based on yesterday's research. (See Post 2)

The third man was single, born in Christiana, Norway. He was employed as a car repairer for a railroad. Checking my notes, the researcher hasn't mentioned Sigurd's birth town but he did give me additional information.





Sigurd had these siblings:

Hilda,1883
Conrad, 15 Jun 1885, married to Caspara Christenson and living in Berlin, New Hampshire in 1916. Son Arthur died at age 1.
Johann, 1889
Abraham, 1887
Sivert
Agusta

Their parents were Johannes Magnus Nilson 1852 and Anna Kristine Kristensen 1858.

I decided to look to for a draft registration card for Conrad to see where he was born. Searching with the birth month and year returned 384 possible matches, none with the exact birth date. I narrowed the search to New Hampshire with no luck. Scanning down the list, though, I found a John Emanuel Conrad Nelson born 11 July 1885 living in Duluth. (It wouldn't surprise me to find an unmarried brother living in the same place as a married brother especially since the researcher had suggested that Conrad might have taken care of Sigurd's wife and child when he went off to war.) This man's wife is listed as "Caspara" which matches the name the researcher gave me. I was hoping that the addresses on the two cards would match, but they don't.





I'm not one to jump to conclusions but when something seems promising, I like to follow up. I think my next step will be to find out more about this Sigurd and Conrad Nelson.

The Search for Mrs. Nelson: Post 2

I am searching for the unknown wife and child of Sigurd Nelson. (See The Search for Mrs. Nelson and Child Begins for details.)

FamilySearch's Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947 seemed like a good first step because spouse names are included the database.

I chose the advanced search option typed in "sigurd nelson" with 1916-1922 with "Exact & Close match" selected. No matches were found. I removed the dates and searched again. This retrieved three records:

*Sigurd A. Nelson who died in 1944, wife Emma, parents listed

*Sigurd A. M. Nelson Jr., the son of Sigurd A. M. Nelson and Anna W. Bietan who died 23 May 1921. His birthdate was given as 20 Oct 1817 but he was three years old so he was likely born in 1917.

*Anna Cathrine Maurer who died at the age of 44, the daughter of Sigvard Nelson.

I decided to follow up on Sigurd A. M.

A search for "sigurd nelson" in FamilySearch's Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1920 brought up 13 matches. The researcher told me that Sigurd arrived in 1912, so repeated the search with a narrower date range and got five results. Four were for women named Sigrid. One was the match for the parents of Sigurd A. M.



Groom: Sigurd A. Nelson
Groom's Estimated Birth Year: 1891
Groom's Birthplace: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Bride: Emma Bietan
Bride's Estimated Birth Year: 1893
Bride's Birthplace: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Marriage Type: Marriage
Marriage Date: 06 Sep 1916
Marriage Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois

I know that Sigurd was born in Norway but I can't rule out the match based on the groom's birthplace. The Chicago marriage licenses didn't ask where the parties were born; they asked where the parties were living.

I decided to learn more about Sigurd, Emma, and Sigurd, Jr. from the 1920 census from Ancestry.com.



According to the census, Sigurd was born in Illinois to Swedish parents and Emma was born in Illinois to German parents. Sigurd is an office clerk for a telephone company. Based on birth place, this doesn't seem like the person I'm looking for but I won't rule him out yet.

Notice that the marriage license lists the bride as "Emma Bietan" and the death record gives the mother as "Anna W. Bietan" and the census lists the wife as "Emma" with "Sigurd, Jr." in the household. I think Emma and Anna are the same person.

Looking back to the first death index search, there's a Sigurd A. Nelson with wife Emma who died 16 Jan 1944. I think I can cross this family off the list of possibilities.

So, back to square one a little farther ahead.

I decided to make a quick check of the directory at Footnote.com. The best choice was 1917 but there was only one image available. (I KNOW that but I always forget. I'll have to use the microfilm copy the next time I'm at the Family History Center.) I checked 1923 instead.



There were four people of that name in the city in 1923.

I think I'll poke around in World War I draft registration cards next to see if I can figure out where Sigurd was living and what his occupation was. If I had an address, I could look for matches in the Chicago Death Index, 1871-1933.

The Search for Mrs. Nelson and Child Begins

Background

Recently someone asked for help finding out what happened to the wife and child of "Captain Sigurd Nelson." I haven't been able to turn up anything quickly but I think there are answers in Chicago records and I'm not ready to give up.

I thought blogging might be an interesting way to keep track of a multi-step search done over a number of days and so I offered to take on the project as a no-charge challenge in return for permission to talk about the search in a public forum.

The Starting Point

Name of wife unknown

Wife died in a flu epidemic, 1918-19??

Child of unknown age and gender also died from flu

Sigurd died at age 32 in 1926 and is buried at Montrose Cemetery

Sigurd has no grave marker and no family members are buried with him

Sigurd was born in Norway in 1894

Sigurd came to the United States in 1912 at age 18

Sigurd's military records destroyed in 1972 St. Louis fire

Sigurd had an older brother Conrad in Chicago

Conrad might have taken care of Sigurd's wife/child during the war

Other relatives buried at Mount Olive on Narragansett

Research Ideas

I can think of many ways to approach this search but I think the most obvious first step is to check FamilySearch's Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947. Spouse names are often included in the search results and a death record for a Nelson woman who died c. 1918 with a husband Sigurd would be a very likely match.

Mother Reunited with Daughter: Chicago Daily Law Bulletin Follow-up

A blog reader noticed an entry in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin image I included in a previous post that referred to "People ex rel v Superior of House of the Good Shepherd" and wondered about the details of the case. I decided to follow up and obtained a copy of the file.

It seems a writ of habeas corpus was filed by a man named Miles Martin on behalf of a child named Sylvia Lear who was living at House of the Good Shepherd as Minnie Bell Pursell. According to the document, "Sylvia was some years ago stolen from her mother and the parties who took her have since died and the child falling into other hands, at last was placed in said House of the Good Shepherd to avoid the care and Expense of providing for such child."

The petition continued: "...the mother of said Sylvia after diligent Search and Enquiry for her child she having the only lawful right and custody to the care Custody and Education of said child, at last found out, that her said daughter was confined in said House of the Good Shepherd and that she demanded her said child of the Mother Superior of said Institution and was refused as well that she might see [her?] child at all."

The judge wrote "Let the writ of habeas corpus issue pursuant to prayer of within petition." It was dated Jan. 3, 1880 but the year was actually 1881.

Reading through the document, I wondered about Sylvia. Who was she? What happened to her? I checked the Chicago Birth Registers, 1871-1915 at FamilySearch's Record Search thinking she might have been born in Chicago but no good match turned up. Then I checked the Cook County marriage index to 1920 thinking she might have stayed in Chicago and married, but no luck.

Then, I tried a search for "sylvia lear" in the Chicago Tribune at Footnote.com and found one match from 5 January 1881. I thought it would be a quick mention of the case in a legal column but the headline read "Mother and Daughter. A Strangely Romantic Story of Two Cities. Reunion of Mother and Child after Thirteen Years' Separation. An Intensely Dramatic Episode in Court Yesterday."

The lengthy report details the story of a young Peoria Christmas bride waiting for a groom who never came. Seven months later, July of 1868, she gave birth to a "female child" who was named Sylvia Lear and given to her married sister to raise. Four years later the young bride learned from her dying sister that the child had been left at a hotel in Peoria because her husband was unwilling to provide support. The baby was given to a woman named Ellen Kirby, who married Sanders, and later married Purcell. Mr. Purcell died. Mrs. Purcell died, and Sylvia ended up at House of the Good Shepherd. The story includes many more details than I have summarized her and it's worth taking the time to read it. Article Image

Sylvia's mother's name isn't mentioned beyond "Carrie" and "Mrs. W" in order to protect her privacy and, for the moment anyway, I think I will respect that. Still, I wonder what became of Sylvia Lear?