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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
 Posted - 02/01/2014 : 19:58:04
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Looking through my bookshelf this morning I discovered 2 books I hadn't looked at for a long time. They have somewhat of a Norwegian connection.
I purchased them at a rummage sale in the late 1970s, to the best of my recollection, in the Riverside Park area (that is north of Gateway Drive) of Grand Forks, N.D.
It is a 2 volume set titled The German Element in the United States written by Albert Bernhardt Faust published by Houghton Mifflin Company, copyright 1909.
The title page of the first volume is inscribed:
"Through the kindness of my neighbor, Professor Olaf Brauner, to Mr. and Mrs. George D. Pratt whose deep interest in the people of the United States is widely known. AB Faust. Ithaca, December 24, 1913"
and this in a different hand:
"For George and Helen from Olaf and Nikoline, Christmas 1913"
and in each volume in red pen:
"Den"
I have only begun looking but found many references to Olaf Brauner.
Olaf Brauner 1905 New York:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MKMR-BXF
1875 Residence Oslo, Norway Olaf M Brauner born østre Aker:
http://digitalarkivet.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=f70301&personpostnr=30999&merk=30999
So you are invited to assist in finding more for him and the correct Pratt family... Many thanks & Happy New Hunting Year!
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 20:38:34
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Intriguing. A candidate:
George Dupont Pratt (1869 – 1935) and wife Helen Deming Sherman? He was Conservation Commissioner of New York from 1915 to 1921.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dupont_Pratt
An Olaf Martinus Brauner was on the faculty of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which certainly qualifies him to be "my neighbor Professor Olaf Brauner" in Ithaca:
"A Painter, Sculptor, teacher, and architect, Olaf Martinus Brauner was born in Christiania, Norway on February. 9, 1869. He studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, and at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School of Art, where he was a pupil of the celebrated American Impressionist artists, Tarbell and Benson. He was a member of the Gargoyle Society, the Central New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and the Society of Scandinavian-American Artists. He was a Professor of Fine Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York from 1900 until 1940. Olaf Brauner died on July 3, 1947."
http://www.oldsarumgallery.com/index.php/Current-Art/nor-easter-olaf-brauner.html
Tons of information about him online. This one's quite a compliment: "The history of visual arts at Ithaca College began in 1897, when Olaf Brauner joined the faculty to teach painting." A collection of letters written to him, here:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/olaf-brauner-letters-7188
Nice find, that book! |
Edited by - JaneC on 02/01/2014 21:01:48 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 21:00:30
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How interesting! I see in one of your links (to letters to him) there is something from "Bela Lyon Pratt" perhaps a small connection there.
Also interesting since his father Julius was listed as a "Xylograf" in the 1875 census. Xylography is a name for making wood cuts.
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Edited by - jkmarler on 02/01/2014 21:05:18 |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 21:04:03
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Yeah, just for the fun of it would be interesting to see how Olaf knew George. The Wikipedia piece does not include Bela Lyon Pratt - who was an artist - as a brother or half-brother to George. I love your idea of posting this.
Who is Nikoline, wife of Olaf? |
Edited by - JaneC on 02/01/2014 21:09:41 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 21:07:02
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| City directory for Ithaca, New York? 1910 census showing street and house numbers? |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 21:12:34
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Albert Bernhardt Faust was also a professor at Cornell:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bernhardt_Faust
Reports of deaths of American Citizens Abroad (Ancestry)
Nikoline Bernhardine Brauner, age 55
Naturalized US citizen
DEATH: 22 July 1925 - Fredriksvern, Norway
Cause: Concussion of the brain due to an accident
Death certificate issued by police of Fredriksvern & Dr. G Engh
Husband was with deceased at the time
Husband: Olaf M Brauner, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Address of relatives: Mrs. Julius F Brauner, sister-in-law, 433 N Aurora St,, Ithaca, NY
Signed by Vice Counsul, USA
Norway births (on Ancestry)
NAME: Olaf Marthinius
FATHER: Julius Fredrik Brauner |
Edited by - JaneC on 02/01/2014 22:51:18 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 21:22:55
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from Chronicling America:
An article in the New York Tribune 30 Nov 1913 that mentions the work of Olaf Brauner. Meanwhile, about that time (before Christmas 1913), he was signing your book! (guessing Olaf wrote the inscription, since he was the instigator of the gift) NOTE: That link was icky - so I deleted - but you can easily find the same at LOC.
Seems that Gertrude, daughter of Olaf M Brauner and Nicolina Bertsen, married Herbert F Johnson and their daughter Karen is a collector, married --Kelland then --Boyd. Grew up in her family's Frank Lloyd Wright designed home, Wingspread, in Wisconsin, and when as an adult she hankered for a house like that, of her own, Wright offered to design one:
http://kinnexions.com/kinnexions/johnson/rr02/rr02_053.htm#P11908
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingspread
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM2GXQ_Keland_House
Off the subject, entirely...but an interesting trail. :D
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Edited by - JaneC on 02/01/2014 21:50:20 |
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9301 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 22:39:23
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A Bella Lyon Pratt
Connecticut, Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934
Name: Bela Lyon Pratt
Birth Date: 11 Dec 1867
Age at Death: 49
Death Date: 18 May 1917
Death Place: Connecticut
Gender: Female
FHL Film Number: 3187 |
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9301 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 22:42:32
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And as usual a Family Tree for Bela Lyon Pratt. father is Geroge Pratt.
And a Wikipedia Article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bela_Pratt
Bela Lyon Pratt
Birth 11 Dec 1867 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut
Death 18 May 1917 in Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts
George Pratt
Birth 12 Oct 1832 in Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts
Death 4 Jun 1875 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut
wife is
Sarah Victoria Whittlesey
Birth 23 May 1831 in Salem, New London, Connecticut
Death 30 Nov 1923 in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri |
Edited by - AntonH on 02/01/2014 22:49:00 |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 22:55:13
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Parents of George Dupont Pratt,
Charles Pratt, b 1830 Watertown, Massachusetts (son of Asa Pratt ? - mother Elizabeth Stone?)
Mary Helen Richardson (Source: New York, Marriage Newspaper Extracts, 1801-1880, Barber Collection)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Pratt |
Edited by - JaneC on 02/01/2014 23:01:16 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 23:04:07
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Sidebar to the subject. Here is a link to an image of the passport of Herbert Lee Pratt, a brother of George Dupont Pratt. Apparently this collector has mounted many of the passports in his collection. Who knew such a thing was being collected?
http://www.passportland.com/images/pratt-herbert/pratt-herbert.html |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2014 : 23:05:36
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That's really interesting.
Speaking of passports, Olaf M Brauner application for a US passport 28 April 1924 says he was born 09 Feb 1869, emigrated Oct 1883, lived in Boston MA and Ithaca NY; naturalized at Ithaca 1898; he will be visiting Norway and France for the purpose of painting. His father Julius F Brauner is deceased. His passport application is to include "my wife Nikoline B., my children Erling B (17), Olaf (14), Arnliot R (12), and... illegible....must say Karen A (20) " And then to have Nikoline be killed in an accident**....She died 22 July 1925, and the family arrived back in New York 11 Aug 1925 (home address 414 Buffalo St).
**I added that detail to death record above
"Mrs. Olaf M Brauner Dies; Led Physical Therapy Unit"
Mrs. Inga Lohne Brauner, former president of the American Physical Therapy Association, died Sunday in Ithaca, New York, where she lived. She was the widow of Olaf M Brauner, professor emeritus of fine arts at Cornell University. Mrs. Brauner, a native of Norway, ..."
--New York Times 12 Jan 1966
"Olaf Brauner, 77, Portratist, Dead: Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at Cornell; Had Works Exhibited Here, Abroad"
[among other biographical details, it says:] "His first wife, Nikoline Bernsten, whom he married in 1895, died in 1925." [names his mother as Andrea M Holter]
--Special to the New York Times, 04 Jan 1947
--from ProQuest Historical Newspapers database
Olaf M Brauner of Ithica married Miss Inga Lohne of NY 23 October 1926 at the home of Mr and Mrs A B Trowbridge, Flushing, Long Island, per NYTimes announcement 24 Oct
Gertrude's husband
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=JOHN&GSfn=H&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=51&GScntry=4&GSsr=881&GRid=94224860& |
Edited by - JaneC on 02/01/2014 23:44:54 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2014 : 03:12:04
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This article about Olaf Brauner's and Nikoline Berntsen's wedding was rather interesting. Boston Journal (Boston, Mass. Thurs. 27 June 1895 page 3:
"Quaint Wedding.
Prof. Brauner of Cornell Married to Miss Berntsen in True Norwegian Style.
There was a quaint wedding yesterday in the tiny German Lutheran Church at the corner of Shawmut Avenue and Waltham Street, and a pretty delineation of Norway and her customs. The bride, the groom and the clergyman were Norwegians, and the service was performed in the language of far-off Norway.
The wedding invitation, quaintly written, announced the wedding of Nikoline, daughter of Mrs. Karen Berntsen, to Olaf M. Brauner. The ceremony was performed by Rev. B.E. Bergesen, and hundreds of curious ones eagerly watched the cuious rendering of the service. The air was heavy with the scent of June flowers, which were thickly scattered all around. There were huge masses, half hiding the little pulpit, and dense clusters were dotted here and there along the aisle. Through the floral pathway the bride was led by her brother, Carl Berntsen, County Auditor of the Burlington Road, Iowa.
Miss Mary McGovern was bridesmaid. The groom was attended by his brother Einar Brauner. The relatives of both bride and groom were present, also many friends. After a honeymoon, spent at Marion, Mr and Mrs. Brauner will reside at Ithaca, N.Y. The groom is a professor at Cornell, and the bride is a graduate of the Normal Art School."
And this in a column titled "Lights of New York" by Walter Trumbull published on Wednesday, 27 May 1931 in the Evening Tribune (San Diego, Calif.) pg 4
"...Olaf Brauner, known for his portraits of the Herbert Pratt family, Irene Castle and many others, is at the head of the department of painting and fine arts at Cornell. They tell me that perhaps twenty years ago he decided he would like to paint a group of his wife and children. But he wished to paint them in a certain manner, at a definite time in spring when the lower sun, entering a window of his house gave him an effect of horizontal lighting. He started the picture in a spring when sunny days at Ithaca happened to be few. Before he could complete the work, the light changed with the season.
The next spring he brought out the canvas to finish what he had begun: but how could he finish it? The children had grown. The passing of a year had changed them. The picture must be changed, painted over. And again the bright days were too few. New springs came and went: the children kept on growing always it was the same. . Always the painter had to change his picture: never would time stand still long enough for him to complete it. Finally his wife died. He showed the picture at some exhibitions. It was labeled 'Brauner family. Uncompleted.'
Years passed, a lot of them. The children were grown. Then, toward the Autumn of his life, Olaf Brauner married again. He has had, they tell me, two more fine children. In them, he must see his youth renewed. More famous now, perhaps a surer workman, will he some morning, when the light is right, start another painting and find enough bright days to complete it? Perhaps. .... Summer wanes; winter comes but somewhere always is another spring." |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2014 : 03:14:49
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| Thanks to all for contributing! |
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Olaf Brauner
