The real information on Gladys

 Having found her parents in Buffalo NY, Joseph and Myrtle Nelson...I tried to find out who their parents were. That was a dead end. They also didn't show on any census records but that one. There were lots of Nelsons in Buffalo, note the spelling wasn't the Norwegian one of Nelsen.

Joseph Nelson was on a census in 1925 for Buffalo...listed as living at 117 Massachusetts Av, and listed as a chef. He was 37, and his wife, Myrtle A. is listed as a cashier, age 34. Their daughter Gladys M. is one year old.

There's a possible record of service in the armed forces for Joseph Nelson, who was born on 20 Jan 1888, and died on 14 May 1934, having lived in Buffalo NY.  There are many Nelsons on every list I looked at, so I'm not sure this is Gladys' father, as this is the only one with a service record.

We don't even know Myrtle's maiden name, just that she had an initial "A." on that 1925 census. That could have stood for her maiden name. The only other Myrtle Nelson that might have been her, was on a city of Buffalo Directory, where a Myrtle M. Nelson is listed as a salesgirl for a company called Flint & Kent, and her residence was 94 Victoria Av. That same year (1933) a Joseph Nelson is listed as an electrician. and in 1932 a Joseph had been listed living at 39 Babcock, without any trade listed.

Many of the records in Buffalo have a Joseph Nelson who was an electrician, living at 117 Imson St.  The year his daughter Gladys was born, (1923) he listed himself in the city directory as a fireman.

So I'm finding the fluidity of history. There are records, but many names which were the same for different people, almost the same ages.

I do know Gladys grew up in Buffalo, and then married there. She even gave birth to her one daughter, my friend L. there in Buffalo NY. What is really nice is that I knew her, and even visited her when she lived just a few blocks from me. She and her daughter's mother-in-law both lived in that senior apartment complex, which probably had a name, but I've forgotten it.

I am sorry not to have found a nice simple tree of this family, like the one from Norway to Minnesota that doesn't belong to them. But unfortunately that's the way our lives develop. I know many people who didn't like the idea of the government knowing any details about their lives. Unfortunately that means my ancestry data has big gaps in it.

Please look at yesterday's post of other photos of her with my family!

Another system of roots to our trees, not necessarily true

 I love following a photo which was posted on line on social media, finding that it leads to a new branch (or root if you will) of our family tree.

In this case this lovely woman pictured here was much older when I met her. Gladys. 

Gladys with my grandchildren

A wonderful photo of four generations of women...Gladys in front seated, her daughter L. leaning over, Glady's great-granddaughter wearing an elf's hat, and her mom, Glady's granddaughter pointing something out to her. 

So I added the latest photo to my Ancestry page about Gladys, and found lots of hints. She had been born in NY she said. But hints led to her family had been in Minnesota...and before that Norway! 

So I'm looking through the Norwegian family records, and there was this wonderful photo of Glady's possible father. I say possible, because I don't think she was his blood child...having been born after his own five children were born. I think she could have been fostered by him and his wife. This is based on my memory of something that was said in some history or other, where it was said the Nelsens fostered 7 other children.

Nels Martin Nelsen had been born in Norway, in Svartnes, Galsfjord, Troms. There he lived in a large port city on a peninsula, looking at moutains across the water. Below is a family photo of Nels as a young boy, with his parents, Nils A. Mathiasen and Madsine Josephine "Massina" Olesdatter, and his sisters Konstance and Helge.

Nels moved to the US in 1900. Here's a photo of him at Bird Island MN.

By 1903 he was living in Lake Lillian MN, where he lived the rest of his life. That year his mother Massina died in Lake Lillian. He married in 1906 with Henrietta Wicklund Solomonson when he was 19 and she was 20, in Lake Lillian MN.

They had five children, all mentioned in his obituary, none of whom were born later than 1913. Their sons Oliver and Eldon were still living with them on their farm in Lake Lillian in the 1940 census. 

Etta died in 1951, so is on the 1950 census, and Nels died in 1973. Interestingly enough, Etta is listed in 1950 as living with her sister, not in Lake Lillian. Here's Nels later in life.

I don't know who put the next 5 names of children on a census or Ancestry record for these Nelsens. But when Gladys M. Nelsen was added, it was a mistake. I just found her real Nelsen family!

So once again I've enjoyed getting to know a family which wasn't at all related to mine! Of course the Nelsens in Buffalo NY may have also had roots in Norway. I'll be checking on that in the next hour!

If you ever waited in line for a bus, the Sepia Saturday post is here for you. I've waited in line more at TSA to check in at airports...not since COVID though. Check out what others come up with for Sepia Saturday HERE.