Nels Petersen, Maude Timblin
1909 - Wedding Photo
Eight years prior to their wedding, my grandpa had arrived in the U.S. as an immigrant from Denmark, with $6 in his pocket. By the time of this photo, he was working in Wyoming, where my grandma, whose family had moved there temporarily because of health reasons (at least that's my understanding) was living. My grandma was working as a waitress in a restaurant, where she met my grandpa who worked with the railroad.
Nels Petersen left Liverpool, England on January 12, 1901, arriving at New York January 19th, 1901 - on the Campania of the Cunard Line. Somehow he had made his way to England from Denmark. I don't suppose that leg of the journey would have been too difficult, since they're not that far apart.
Nels, 19 years old, was on his way to Hinckley, Illinois to stay with his sister and brother-in-law. I believe that immigrants had to have a sponsor, and they would have provided that sponsorship. Even in 1901, $6 wouldn't have taken my grandpa very far if he hadn't already had a job lined up.
Nels was my mother's father. My paternal grandfather was from Sweden, but that's another story.
So, what's the story of your ancestors? Have you ever searched for them on EllisIsland.org?
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29 comments:
if it is free i will have to check it out. i love finding out more about my family history. ( :
How cool.
What a wonderful photo.
True family treasure.
Thank you for sharing.
Woolie Hugs
How nice you know that info. I looked a couple years ago and came up empty; most of my relatives came from Germany. Love your grandma's dress and hair style!!
Genealogy is like putting puzzle pieces together and getting to see the whole picture. My cousin Ruth from Dian's Timpanalley is our family genealogist and has found some amazing information and stories.
The photo of your grandparents is stunning, what a treasure.
I love finding out about family history.. even if it's not mine :) Great photos to go along with this post... old photos speak a thousand words themselves.
I love her dress, a beautiful photo from the past. my grand parents,great grand and great great grand on daddy's side were all born in GA and are all buried in the family cemetery in Manassas GA.my mothers parents, grand parents were born in FL with one great great coming from Scotland.
beautiful photo - her hair, her dress...
Isn't it wonderful that you have that photograph and the story to go with it. It was interesting reading about it. Margaret
Maude is absolutely stunning! I love to see old photos and thank you for sharing such a treasure!
Our genealogy tree goses back to 1647 and documents births, christenings, weddings and deaths so I am blessed!
God bless,
Oh my goodness I love old photos and the stories behind them!! I have mapped out my ancestors very extensively its one of my passions!!
Love love the photo! Her hair is something else.
All our ancestors, in true family style, DID NOT come through Ellis Island. We were so sad to not find them there. We have found some of their immigration records, so that was fun. A few came through Castle Garden. Which was the immigration center before Ellis Island was built in 1890. You can also search their records for free on www.castlegarden.org.
I have also done extensive work on my ancestry. I just wrote a post, earlier this morning, about the Gibson Girl of the early 1900's. I love these old photos. Nice post!
Enjoyed this.
I see we share a love of family history. Much of my family history--both sides, has already been researched and written and I've heard the stories growing up, I have a blog for our families for both my father and my mother's sides and I seem to have been by default the "keeper of the stuff"---I was the one my parents' lived near, they both kept it for their families, and now my attics are full. I love it though. My question is, when will the next generation start loving it? I feel like I was always interested, but it might have come from my parents' love of it and talking about it so much. Fun stuff!
How fascinating. Such a treasured photo!
Your grandmother was so beautiful! I loved that picture. Sandie
I love your story. I blog about food. I found a recipe that my grandmother used to make. When I asked my sister, she did not remember it so I went on line to research it. Turns out it is a cake that French grandmothers (grandméres) teach because it is so easy. It is based on a yogurt cup (1/2 cup) 1 yogurt, 2 sugar, 3 egg, plus eggs and leavening. Then a lady in France read it and wrote to me. She sent me the ship’s docket where my ancestors boarded a ship in La Havre France with 8 children. The youngest were 1-year-old twins. Imagine traveling all that way with such young children. They landed in New Orleans, then up the Mississippi to St. Louis. I love blogging and my readers. If you are interested you can read my post called Grandma Cooking.
Sorry for the long story.
Lovely to have that information and such a lovely photo of your grandparents.
My sister researched our family tree after my parents died. Dad was always insistent that our name was spelt with an 'E' although the most common spelling is with an 'O'.
Sister discovered that our ancestors came over from Ireland and it was at that time our name was misspelled to the 'E", they were most probably illiterate which was quite common then too.
My Dad would have been so upset had he known the truth!!
I am really a big fan of old photos, what a treasure! Great that you found some information, Have a great weekend!
Cynthia
Great post, Judy! I love your photograph. Your grandmother was gorgeous!
Your grandmother is absoluely stunning! And your grandfathe is a dapper, handsome chap as well.
My last ancestor to come over came from Scotland prior to1819. My first one to come over came prior to 1616. Most of my ancestry is English and Scottish, but I have French Huegenots, too. I am a huge genealogy buff, and my father's lines are truly fascinating, particularly his paternal ones.
Something I found of interest, Judy, is the fact that my Scottish lines are heavily Nomran. Many of our Scottish suranmes were Norman in origin. But through one of my obscure English lines, I have some pretty interesting ancestory going back to Eleanor of Aquataine and beyond to Charlemagne on her husband's line. If you can find a "gateway" ancestor, it opens up a fascinating world. I've learned about European history by studying the lines of this gateway ancesstress who is connected directly to many noble and royal houses. Some great people, and some not so greeat as in all of life.
But that aside, I have just tons and tons of ministers in my ancestry... Presbyterians, Anglicans, Purtians, etc. They go back to the founding of America and beyond. Tthose are the ones who interest me the most because many of them risked life and limb to spread the Gospel, the Good News of The Lord.
XO,
Sheila
I love her beautiful hair and dress. what gorgeous picture! I have alot of info and pics for a post someday...enough for a series! I need to do that one of these days for sure, as your post reminded me! :)
I love her beautiful hair and dress. what gorgeous picture! I have alot of info and pics for a post someday...enough for a series! I need to do that one of these days for sure, as your post reminded me! :)
That photo is beautiful. Her hair, the dress...simply lovely. I'm not sure exactly how my family members got here - several of them immigrated to Canada from England and then found their way to the States.
Thanks so much for joining in this week.
xo
Claudia
Isn't it amazing how they started with so little but came so far! Love your priceless family photo!!
Good Morning Judy, This topic was fascinating to read. The photograph is priceless and I love how Nels looks..... very smart, but there is a certain something in his eyes which says " he is like the cat that got the cream"..... Maude is beautiful.
I have never traced my ancestors, but I think maybe I should after reading your fascinating story.
Best wishes to you,
Daphne
Never thought about searching on that site but I have used ancestry.com. I'm in love with Wyoming. I found a series on A&E---Longmire---and I am addicted! He's a sheriff in Wyoming. Now, I want to move to Wyoming. Until the first winter. LOL
I love that old photograph! I have quite a few hanging up in my home. There's nothing like knowing where you come from! I'm a descendent of the first american poet, Anne Bradstreet and from Chippewa Indians on my Mom's side of the family. I don't know a lot about my Dad's side of that family. Just that my great grandparents were French Canadians. I loved it when they would talk to each other in French and it was always such a mystery about what they were talking about! I should really look into the parts of the family that I don't know anything about though. Thanks for sharing your story! Visiting from Knick of Time Tuedays. ~ Jamie
Fascinating story & photos. It's nice that you managed to get the ticket information.
Best not go there with my ancestors as a younger distant relative once did a project at school and found out that they were less desirable Glaswegians & my Mothers ancestors moved to Scotland from Southern Ireland for work.
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