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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
 Posted - 09/02/2014 : 02:43:23
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| Welcome back Carrie. Interesting strategy to try to find the business partner... |
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2014 : 15:28:22
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Well, I found a new avenue to explore for Iver's disappearance! I admit my mind tends to want to speculate too much, but this does seem unusual. Perhaps someone here can offer some insights if you are interested.
Recall that Iver F. Iverson emigrated to Chicago in 1879. At the time, he was a sailor. He married Elen Marie Tesli and they had one son, Arthur Louis Iverson, born 1883. Around this time, Iver's elderly mother Johanne also came over from Norway and lived with the family. By 1890 they all moved to Brooklyn and established a stationery / bookstore / cigar shop.
In 1899 they moved back to Chicago. Johanne died that year. The family shows up in the city directory through 1901, after which they disappear from the listing for several years. Arthur Louis shows up again in 1905 as an architectural draftsman. There is no further record of Iver and we do not know what happened to him.
Now here is the new information.
I was looking through the death record of Johanne, who died at the family home at 270 North Hoyne in Chicago in 1899. The witness was someone named Patrick Fitzgerald, of 538 West Huron. So I started looking up Patrick Fitzgerald. He is listed as a “dray,” “drayman,” and “glazier” for various years, and kept a stable address since 1874. In 1899, he is in the directory at the 538 W Huron Address. Brushmaker John Fitzgerald is listed at the same address. I do not know whether they are brothers, or father/son.
Now, in 1900, both Patrick and John Fitzgerald are in the directory at 538 W Huron. Iver and Arthur Louis Iverson are listed at 190 W Huron.
In 1901, John Fitzgerald, Iver Iverson, and Arthur Louis Iverson are listed. Patrick is missing!
In 1902, none of them are listed!
In 1903, Patrick Fitzgerald, Iver Iverson, and Arthur Louis Iverson are still missing. But John is back… at 270 North Hoyne Avenue (which is where the Iversons had previously lived, and where Patrick was the witness to Johanne’s death!) The fact that John had been living with Patrick, and then Patrick disappeared, and then John changed addresses to the old Iverson address, seems unusual to me.
John (now called John J. Fitzgerald) remains at the 270 N Hoyne address as a brushmaker through 1906, after which I stopped looking. Arthur Louis Iverson shows up as an architectural draftsman in 1905, living at 296 S Irving. In 1906 and 1907 he lived at 149 S Irving, and then moved out of town as confirmed by records and family history.
I am not sure if the city directories are just incomplete, or whether maybe they did live somewhere else from 1902-1904 range. But the fact remains that Patrick Fitzgerald and Iver Iverson go missing in the same year and never show up again after 1902, and they had apparently been close friends or associates. Very interesting...
Any ideas where I can go from here?
Thank you again!
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2014 : 17:45:51
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| Interesting. BTW scans of the original handwritten 1880 US census are free to anyone to view at Ancestry.com. This census year + 1940 are publicly accessible without paying the Ancestry.com subscription fee. |
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2014 : 18:07:49
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From previous research I found that Iver's son (Arthur Louis Iverson) and family moved to Rockford, Illinois, where they resided from 1907-1910.
Now I find that a John Fitzgerald, born approx. 1874 in Illinois to parents from Ireland (a match to the John above)... lived in Rockford in the 1910 census. https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MKFT-KTF Again I do not currently have access to the census image or city directories from that time. Might anyone with access be willing to see if the two John Fitzgeralds are a match? Thank you. |
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2014 : 18:11:59
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| Ah, thank you! I just got a chance to look at the handwritten census from 1880. It is the same family! And the first two children were indeed born in New York. Curiouser and curiouser... |
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 17/03/2014 : 19:57:09
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Hi again everyone,
I received some death certificates for the Iverson family and am wondering if anyone might be better with interpreting handwriting!
For Ellen Maria Iverson (wife of Iver), I'm having trouble reading the burial location (#10). This was of interest because her mother Ingeborg Theslie was buried at Mt. Olive in Chicago, but I'm not sure about Ellen. It looks like the writing says "____ home?" Notice also how the "e" at the end of "home" is written like a capital E, whereas the other "e's" are not written that way. The capital E is consistent with Ellen's son (my great-grandfather Arthur Iverson) based on other writing samples I've acquired.
EDIT/UPDATE: There is a Chicago cemetery called Forest Home. I think that's what the writing says.
Next is Ellen's elderly mother, Ingeborg, who was apparently placed in an asylum after Ellen's death. The cause of death was "_____ dementia," but I cannot figure out that word.
EDIT/UPDATE: I think it is "senile dementia?"
And finally we have Petra Teslie (Ingeborg's daughter, also Ellen's sister), who died very shortly after arrival from Norway to the United States. She was 11. It looks like the cause was cerebrospinal meningitis. Was this relatively common for travelers? I'm also trying to make out their address, because there was no census or other directory record of the family at that time. It looks like 48 __ Lee or 48 ___ Lec. ? This would be in Chicago. (Ellen married Iver Iverson shortly after her arrival, so I only knew of her married address, not her original location in Chicago, which is why this is of interest.)
Thank you, everyone. :-) |
Edited by - Carrie B on 17/03/2014 20:52:44 |
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 17/03/2014 : 20:03:46
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| It's also interesting to note that Ellen was listed as "widowed" at the time of death instead of "married," given that her husband Iver disappeared from my research as of 1902. According to family legend, Arthur (their son) didn't know what happened to his father Iver... but this "widowed" instead of "married" might indicate that they believed Iver had died? |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 17/03/2014 : 20:38:45
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There is a handwritten note on Petra's saying "Graceland Wold A."
Perhaps she's buried in this Graceland cemetery in Chicago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceland_Cemetery
Ellen's cemetery might be Forest Home aka Waldheim German Cemetery, quite a few folks are there and of the 407 cemeteries named in Cook county at findagrave the only one with "home" in any language as part of its name.
http://graveyards.com/IL/Cook/foresthome/ |
Edited by - jkmarler on 17/03/2014 21:02:58 |
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 17/03/2014 : 23:40:46
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| Thanks, JK, great find! I guessed at Forest Home above, as well (sorry for doing an "edit" rather than posting a new comment), and am going to call them tomorrow to see if anything else can be found out. :-) |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 18/03/2014 : 01:57:10
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| There are a couple of Iversons buried at Forest Home (searching at findagrave) but maybe the sexton's records will any Iverson without a headstone, including both Ellen and Iver. |
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Carrie B
Medium member
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 18/03/2014 : 22:49:29
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| Great observation about Graceland. From you noticing that reference, I was able to contact Graceland and they verified the plot for "Peter" Teslie, with the correct age and date. I also verified Ellen's burial site with Forest Home, but the cemetery was not able to do any further research at this time. I'm hoping to visit Chicago this summer and find out more. |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
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Topic |
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Looking for Iver F. Iverson
