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slaleike
Junior member
USA
57 Posts |
 Posted - 25/03/2014 : 04:31:11
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I had great excitement yesterday when I found this topic!
I have been researching the couple mentioned in the first post, Samson and Synneve Offerdahl, as they were the parents of my mother's birth father, Robert. He was their youngest child. Thus, Samson and Synneve were also my great-grandparents!
I have found a few details about this family, but Robert remains a mystery, from late 1929 until a year before his death in 1966...and what I have isn't much, so far. I do have some interesting career info about youngest sister Dagny, and a family home location.
Any updates on this family would be much appreciated. Specifically info on Robert, but really want to learn more about the grandparents my mother never knew.....and I do thank everyone who posted all those links, from the bottom of my heart! I now have seen (via Google Maps) the 2 different churches where 2 sets of my Norwegian ancestors were married!
I am very new to this site, and have yet to find any info on posting protocol, so am not sure if it is okay to piggyback my request onto this one, or if it is better to begin a new topic. Thanks in advance! |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 04:50:13
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Hi,
This could be Robert's birth record, with "Lyneva" a misreading by the transcriber for Syneva. Available from Minnesota Historical Society.
Unnamed child OFFERDAHL,
Date of Birth: 14 FEB 1900
Mother Maiden Name: LYNEVA
Minnesota Birth Certificate ID# 1900-33491
County of Birth: HENNEPIN
1900, 1910, 1920 Robert is with parents in Hennepin, Minnesota and he registered for the WWI draft in Hennepin, Minnesota.
1930 in Marathon, Wisconsin with Eleanor
Died 1966 buried Dickens Cemetery, Dickens, Clay, Iowa.
Question is where is he after 1930 - 1966?
He falls into that generation of men who registered for the "old man draft" World War II, plus the 1940 census is available, he should be findable.
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Edited by - JaneC on 25/03/2014 04:51:39 |
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slaleike
Junior member
USA
57 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 04:53:44
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quote:
Originally posted by jkmarler
So finding Robert is your mission...
1930 as a young married man:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X973-56R
Hi! Thanks for your quick response. Already have that bit; Eleanor was my grandmother, and Helen my mother. Stories differ a bit, but shortly after my mom was born in late 1929, Robert disappeared from their lives, and, to my limited experience so far, from much of a paper trail. I have found a newspaper notice of him being hospitalized in 1965, and have the SS death info from 1966, but between 1929/30 and 1965, nothing. He is buried in Clay County IA; have seen the gravestone pic. Hunches have led me to explore railroad work, but nothing after his draft registration to confirm that. |
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slaleike
Junior member
USA
57 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 05:02:52
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quote:
Originally posted by JaneC
Hi,
This could be Robert's birth record, with "Lyneva" a misreading by the transcriber for Syneva. Available from Minnesota Historical Society.
Unnamed child OFFERDAHL,
Date of Birth: 14 FEB 1900
Mother Maiden Name: LYNEVA
Minnesota Birth Certificate ID# 1900-33491
County of Birth: HENNEPIN
1900, 1910, 1920 Robert is with parents in Hennepin, Minnesota and he registered for the WWI draft in Hennepin, Minnesota.
1930 in Marathon, Wisconsin with Eleanor
Died 1966 buried Dickens Cemetery, Dickens, Clay, Iowa.
Question is where is he after 1930 - 1966?
He falls into that generation of men who registered for the "old man draft" World War II, plus the 1940 census is available, he should be findable.
Yes, that's him, last child I could find for Samson and Synneve. Data matches my mom's birth certificate. I'm a bit of a random researcher, and have been able to do a little with the 1940 census with others, including my mom's stepdad, including finding his "old man registration" for WWII....but not with Robert. No idea at all where to even begin looking for him on that!
At one point I followed a few clues about next oldest child, Dagny, figuring they might have had a close relationship, due to ages. Found some interesting info - a previously unknown relative in the same line of work as myself! - but, she disappeared, too, in the Denver region.
Meanwhile, I'm starting to explore a whole new area of Norway. My grandma's family originated in Skien, clear across the country, and I'm trying to figure out why the spinning wheel they brought across with them is so atypical of that region. Thinking they may have acquired it after they left the Gjerpen area, perhaps in north Europe....but that's awhole 'nother topic! |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 05:07:54
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Well, the 1930s were a difficult time. Since he's in the SSDI you could buy a copy of his SS5 (application for the number) that might at least tell where he was at the moment he filled out the ap, something about his employment. Spendy, though, last time I checked $35.
What about his siblings? Is he recorded as surviving in their obits? |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 05:34:29
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Yes, the obits of the parents and/or siblings might name him especially if they predeceased him.
Where and when did the family members die? Since you've done a lot of legwork, let us know what you can so we won't go looking. He possibly could be an informant on one of their death records (a long shot).
Where was he hospitalized in 1965? Have you sought an obit for him 1966?
Have you ordered his death record? His death record should be signed by an informant, who could be a wife or a child born after 1930.
Like you, I am not finding him so far in 1940 searching Ancestry on only that census year or in the WWII draft searching in military databases. |
Edited by - JaneC on 25/03/2014 05:35:26 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 05:41:34
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| Since it appears they got divorced, you might also want to get copy of the divorce records. It might contain an address for him. |
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slaleike
Junior member
USA
57 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 05:51:37
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Thanks to both of you for your help. I should have been in bed an hour ago; best friend from HS is in town and I need to get up early tomorrow.
I'll pick this up again in a few days, but briefly:
No mention of Robert as surviving or predeceased in Jenny's obit, which is the only one I could find. In the obit for one of Jenny's children, which came up on a google search for "Jenny Offerdahl," I learned that I am related to the OP in this topic. We went to the same HS, clear across Wisconsin from where Jenny died.
On my mom's birth certificate, he is listed as a house painter. My hunch about railroad work was in place as a child; finding his WWI draft registration confirmed that at least for that time period, he worked for a railroad. Railroad name is in my records, but I did find a connection for that company and IA one evening.
I found the hospital admission listing in a newspaper scan just last night; it listed Robert as a resident of (I think) Hartley, IA.
Am trying to do this on a very limited budget. Not much time for it, but every once in awhile, the bug bites and I get lucky, as I did last night when finding this site....again. Last time I was here, I was looking up the Skien branch.
The only surviving family member to know about Robert thinks it's scandalous that I'm looking, and won't talk to me about it. I believe my grandma's brothers and one of her sisters basically ostracized her and my mom. Whether before or after Robert left is unknown.
But again, so many thanks to you for the hints and suggestions you've already given. I'll bring my notes in here the next time I sign on, most likely at least Friday or so. But thanks....and I'll be back with the other details I have, few though they are. You folks sure seem to have this researching figured out! |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 12:50:18
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Well, Robert's SSN was issued in Iowa and the number itself
Social Security Number: 479-20-7706
is not one of those issued to long-time railroad employees which start with as I recall 797 or some such.
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 17:30:00
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Okay, thanks for letting us know you'll be back. A few records in the meantime to help ground the locations of family members.
US Social Security Death Index
Name: Robert Offerdahl
Last Residence: 51301 Spencer, Clay, Iowa, USA
BORN: 14 Feb 1900
Died: Dec 1966
State (Year) SSN issued: Iowa (Before 1951) <-------- lived in Iowa when applied for Social Security #
1929 City Directory for Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin
Name: Robert J Offerdahl
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1929
Street address: 315 5th
Residence Place: Wausau, Wisconsin
Occupation: Traveling
Spouse: Eleanor Offerdahl
Publication Title: Wausau, Wisconsin, City Directory, 1929
US Social Security Dath Record
Aagot Nelson
Last Residence: 54650 Onalaska, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
BORN: 16 Feb 1886
Died: Nov 1975
State (Year) SSN issued: Illinois (Before 1951)
a bride Jennie Offerdahl married Edmund W Farris 22 June 1912 Hennepin county, Minnesota
lived Fargo ND in 1920 and then in Onalaska, La Crosse, Wisconsin where sister Aagot died in 1975
1930
Onalaska, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Edmund Farris 39 born Iowa
Jennie O Farris 37 born about 1893 Minnesota, parents b Norway
Eugene Farris 14 born North Dakota
Dorothea Farris 4 born Wisconsin
Samson Offerdahl 68 born about 1862 Norway <----------------may have died before 1940; obit may tell whereabouts of son Robert
1940
Onalaska, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Edward W Farris 48
Jennie O Farris 46 born about 1894 Minnesota
Eugene M Farris 24
Dorothea A Farris 14
Paul E Johnson 13 born about 1927 Minnesota, nephew
This couple appears in 1959 in Onalaska city directory and other years as well
Minnesota Birth Index
Dagny Amanda Offerdahl
Born 17 Oct 1896 in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota
Father: Samson Offerdahl, age 36, born Norway
Mother: Synneva Hansen
1920
Denver, Denver, Colorado
Dagny Offerdahl 24 born about 1896 Minnesota, parents born Norway
1925 Iowa State census
Davenport (Ward 6), Scott, Iowa
Dagnya Offerdahl born about 1897 in Minnesota, single
Mother: Tyrmunse Hanson born Norway
Father: Samson Offerdahl born about 1860 Norway
Robert's mother Synneva died 1924 in Hennepin County, Minnesota. |
Edited by - JaneC on 25/03/2014 17:40:44 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 17:45:16
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A possible Dagny in SSDI:
Name: Dagny Oneill
State of Issue: New York
Date of Birth: Saturday October 17, 1896
Date of Death: Friday June 16, 1989
Est. Age at Death: 92 years, 7 months, 30 days
Birthdate matches Dagny Amanda Offerdahl's in Minnesota.
And she was born in Minnesota per the 1940 census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KQQ9-S6F |
Edited by - jkmarler on 25/03/2014 17:52:11 |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 25/03/2014 : 20:50:48
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As transcribed on Ancestry.com:
1940
New Rochelle, Westchester, New York
Address: 405 Webster Avenue
Dogny O'Niell 43, married, born about 1897 Minnesota, nurse secretary in a doctor's office
Residence in 1935: Mount Vernon, Westchester, New York
Of note, Dagny is found in city directories in Minneapolis with nurse type occupations. Copy of her original death record could be ordered to confirm.
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Edited by - JaneC on 25/03/2014 23:49:37 |
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slaleike
Junior member
USA
57 Posts |
Posted - 29/03/2014 : 05:15:23
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Hello again all you marvelous researchers! I'm exhausted from a lovely few days with my best friend from HS, so have just posted a few things tonight. I hope it is OK that I have started a new topic for this family line, including the Offerdahl name. I have been having a lot of fun looking through the information pages on this site, but find the lack of "Search" a bit daunting. (I'm fairly easily distracted.....)
So, I started another topic (Offerdahl family: Samson, Synneve & children) and have posted info from my notes I have about Robert. I will try to get up the little extra I have on Dagny tomorrow or so. My internet time is sporadic and varied, but I will try to balance what I now do with plenty of stops here. Have learned so much already! Thanks again! |
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slaleike
Junior member
USA
57 Posts |
Posted - 29/03/2014 : 05:20:35
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quote:
Originally posted by jkmarler
Well, the 1930s were a difficult time. Since he's in the SSDI you could buy a copy of his SS5 (application for the number) that might at least tell where he was at the moment he filled out the ap, something about his employment. Spendy, though, last time I checked $35.
What about his siblings? Is he recorded as surviving in their obits?
I might try checking on that application after a few months, depending on how far I get before then. That is pretty expensive.
Have tried to check the obits for siblings, as well as lots and lots of other Offerdahls in IA, looking for some little clue. Nothing! Though the day I searched for Jenny's obit and found a familiar surname there was indeed memorable. |
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