52Ancestors52Weeks Week 47 Theme: Thankful .................Pictures Preserve Moments in Time For Future Generations

 From the King Family Album taken before 1906, possibly in San Francisco, California.

  The theme for this week is thankful...I thought I'd share this small photograph that I found in the my Great Grandmother's family album.  It was either taken in Grass Valley or in San Francisco around 1903-1906.  I love the shadow to the right; that may have been my Great Grandmother Emma Lavinia King Hayes Van Duzer.  The picture captures someone's prize turkey strutting his feathers.  He probably  ended up gracing a Thanksgiving table somewhere that November.  I wonder what Emma's family was grateful for that particular year?  This picture preserved a moment in time, but I am left to guess at where it was taken, when it was taken, and who took the picture.  And whose turkey was this? 

  Whether it is family history on my side of the family or my husband and children's rich Mayflower ancestry, I am thankful for all the generations who have gone before us.  I am also very grateful and thankful for all the boxes and boxes (and more boxes) of pictures in my possession that I am able to share with family.  Each picture has preserved an instant of out of time and holds past lives still forever, for not only myself, but for future generations. These photographs are like return tickets to moments that have otherwise come and gone.  What a rare gift! 

    Now if only each and every picture had some kind of identification written on the back......

  

  

  

   

52Ancestors52Weeks Week 46 Theme: Birthdays.....Remembering Hulda Elizabeth Hansen

 

Hulda Elvine Kristine Hansen Klemmetsen b. about 1857 Christiana, Norway, death date unknown.   Hulda Elizabeth was named after her Aunt on her paternal side. 

Elizabeth Jane Hurd Burrows b. May 4, 1855 Tamaqua, Pennsylvania d. April 8, 1935 Oakland, California.  Hulda Elizabeth was also named for her Grandmother on her maternal side. 

  The theme for this week's challenge is Birthdays.  Birthdays are usually joyous occasions celebrated with family and friends to mark another year lived.  This little one, sadly, did not live much longer past her "birth" day.  But, she was always remembered by her family and frequently talked about so that her three younger brothers would not forget that they once had a sister. There is not much information on little Hulda; just a short obituary, a mention in the Big Book of Burials and a burial in an unknown plot at Greenwood Cemetery in Grass Valley, California in 1905.  She is still remembered, even though she did not live long enough to celebrate even a first birthday. 

  Hulda Elizabeth Hansen was the first  child born to my Great Grandparents John Hartwig and Vere Burrows Hansen. She was born on April 11, 1905 in Grass Valley, California.   Her first name of Hulda honored John's older sister Hulda who lived in Norway.  I believe John was very close to his sister and her family, as we have many pictures, newspaper articles and letters from the Klemmetsen family in Norway that were saved by my Great Grandmother.  Hulda's middle name  Elizabeth honored Vere's mother Elizabeth Jane Hurd.  Jane was very involved in all of her children's lives, and I believe she and Vere were also close.  Waiting for Hulda's birth must have been an exciting time for the whole family, as she was the first child for John and Vere.  Sadly, Hulda Elizabeth  died thirteen days after her birth.  

  This is taken from The Morning Union Grass Valley, California Thursday, April 13, 1905: 

  BORN--In Grass Valley, April 11, 1905, to the wife of John Hansen, a daughter.

This is taken from The Union April 25, 1905:

  INFANT DAUGHTER DEAD.

Hulda Elizabeth, infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hansen passed away yesterday morning at 5 o'clock, after a week's illness.  The child was only 13 days old. A severe attack of congestion of the lungs was the cause of death.  The funeral will be held this afternoon at 2 o'clock, from the family home, and will be private. 

  Infant mortality was still very high at the turn of the century.  I don't know if she was born prematurely and did not have well developed lungs, or if she just caught an infection that she couldn't fight off.  It must have been devastating for my Great Grandparents.  Vere had lost her father Alexander Burrows to suicide just a year before in 1904. 

  Hulda's memorial is located on the Find A Grave website, and provides additional information that was taken from the Big Book "Record of Burials in Greenwood Cemetery, Grass Valley, 1867-1930, page 11: 

 

  "Hulda E. Hansen died April 24, 1905, aged 13 days. Resident of Grass Valley. Native of Grass Valley. Cause of death: Pneumonia. 

  Hulda's memorial on Find A Grave states that she was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, but does not give an exact location for her burial.  Through Find A Grave you are able to contact the person who originally created the online memorial you are viewing.   The person who created the memorial posted it in 2017. I was curious about this person's profile, as she described a project that she worked on at Greenwood Cemetery that lasted a few years.  She worked with a group of researchers that "walked, dug, documented, researched, and made new maps..."  I thought maybe she had more insight into the location of Hulda's gravesite.  

  I was able to get a response from her regarding my desire to find a more specific location.  She stated that..."We only know of Hulda because of the "Big Book" of Burials in Greenwood Cemetery which by the grace of Hooper and Weaver,  I was allowed to have photo copied.  I transcribed it to Find A Grave.  She is in one of the older blocks, which we prodded in and sometimes dug to locate markers below the surface. We also used a metal detector.  We spent a few years there."  I was able to work with this person and add Hulda to John and Vere's  memorials on Find A Grave.  I am working on adding her brothers, as well, so that the whole family will be listed together.  Their memorials were added by different people. 

  So, I know for certain that Hulda is buried at Greenwood Cemetery.  She is buried there along with her younger brothers Jack and Harold Hansen (see my previous post from June 4, 2021 Decoration Day Musings and How the Hansens Celebrated the Day in Grass Valley).  My next project will be to locate where the older blocks of the cemetery might be, so that I can add a picture of the general location to her memorial.  I am still in contact with the lovely person who worked on this project. 

Jack, Harold (my Grandfather) and Robley Hansen. Photograph taken around 1910 or 1911 in Grass Valley, California.  These boys were Hulda's three younger brothers. 

  I am sorry that little Hulda did not live to celebrate her future birthdays.  But, she will still be remembered by her family for many generations to come, thanks in part to the work of a small team of researchers in 2017.  

  

  

  

  

52Ancestors52Weeks Week 45 Theme: Stormy Weather ........Snow , Snow and More Snow! Family Pictures Are Wonderful Documentation of Storms.....

  This week's theme is stormy weather....I have always been struck by how many pictures I have of family members posing in the snow.  Living in Northern California and Northern Nevada always meant winter and spring snow storms.  What better way to remember the fun after the storm than by having your picture taken? 

  These are a few pictures taken from various family albums on both my mother's and father's side of the family.  They document how we all "weathered" the storms in our own  neck of the woods.  Enjoy!

*****

Written on back...."Gertrude Elizabeth, her two sleds and her two playmates and all the snow we've had this winter"  (no date).....probably taken around the early 20's.  Reno, Nevada.  Gertrude Burrows (middle) lived on Thoma Street in Reno with her parents Roy and Lucie Burrows. 

Dorothy Ross Hayes  in the snow with her dog.  Auntie Dot was born May 17, 1910, and this picture looks like it may have been taken around 1915/16-ish.  Grass Valley, California. 

Dorothy Hayes (Arthur) fourth in from the left and Betty Hayes (Hansen) on far right, bending over.  Auntie Dot was born in 1910, and Grandma (Betty) was born in 1917, so this was probably taken around the early 30's.  It looks like a girls' day out in the snow, somewhere in northern California, complete with skis and a sled.  

Robley Hansen (Bob) with giant fur mittens.  Taken around the late 20's, early 30's.  Uncle Bob was living in Reno at this time.  From the Bob Hansen Family Album. 

Claire and Margaret Hansen (Mom) wearing their wool snowsuits after a Grass Valley snowstorm around  1946-47? This is one of the pictures that survived the 1950 house fire.  This is one of my favorite pictures!

 Lavinia Claire Hansen in her wool snowsuit.  Taken the same date as the above picture. 

 Millicent Gay Hansen on a toboggan on her way down a street in Reno, Nevada.  Gay was born March 9, 1934 so this picture may have been taken around 1936.  Her parents were Robley (Bob) and Alma Hansen.  From the Bob Hansen Family Album. 

Skip Hansen and Greta in front of the new house on Arlington in Reno Nevada, 1948.  Skip's parents were Robley (Bob) and Alma Hansen.  From the Bob Hansen Family Album. 

  Alma and Bob Hansen after the snowstorm in 1948.  I love the perspective in this picture!   From the Bob Hansen Family Album.  

*****

And, yes, I have pictures of houses and neighborhoods to go with pictures of people in the snow! 

Francis (Hayes)  and Joe Holman's house in Grass Valley after a 1946 snowstorm.  Auntie Fran and Uncle Joe lived across the street from Nana (Emma King Hayes Van Duzer) and the Harold Hansen family on South Auburn street for awhile.  This is another picture that survived the fire at the Hansen house in 1950.  I believe this is the same storm that my Mom and Auntie Claire are pictured in above. 

1012 S. Arlington, Reno, Nevada.  "First Winter in Home That Bob Built 1948".  Taken from the Bob Hansen Family Album. 

Unknown young man shoveling snow in front of Grass Valley Drug mid to late 40's.  Sterl Boothby was owner and head pharmacist in the late 40's and then the 50's. 

Frank and Dena Brondolo.  Picture taken in 1952, on Mainhart Drive,  Grass Valley, California.  They lived in San Francisco, but loved coming to Grass Valley and then up to Reno for some casino fun.  Frank was Terry Brondolo Boothby's (Nino's) older brother.  From the Brondolo Album.

 Mainhart Drive in a snowstorm, sometime in the 50's.  Grass Valley, California.  This is the house that my Dad, Dale Boothby, grew up in!

Late 1960's snowstorm on Banner Mountain, Nevada City, California. That is Dad's (Dale's) jeep buried in the snow.  This is the house that I grew up in!

The Alden home after a January 2021 snowstorm, Reno, Nevada.  

Still documenting!  (My Grandson ).....Reno, Nevada. 

*****

52Ancestors52Weeks Week 44 Voting.......Roy Burrows Was Elected To City Council in 1915 As Women Exercised the Suffrage For the First Time in Reno

 

Roy Alexander Burrows b. January 23 1881 Grass Valley, California d. October 23 1943 Reno, Nevada.  Picture taken at the Riverside Studio in Reno 1920. 

  The theme for this week is voting...do you have any politicians in the family tree? Anyone involved in the women's suffrage movement?  I learned that My Great Grand-Uncle Roy Burrows served for several years on the Reno City Council.  In fact, he won another term in 1915 after women in Nevada were given the right to vote in local races.   His wife Lucie would also participate in another local election as a clerk in 1918. 

        It would still be another 5 years before women could vote in national elections. 

      Taken from the Nevada State Journal May 5 1915:  

ALL RECORDS FOR VOTING SMASHED BY ELECTORS OF RENO

"Reno smashed all records for voting yesterday....The large vote was due to the fact that women exercised the suffrage for the first time in the city of Reno and few of them neglected the opportunity to participate in an election that held a large interest for the community....

  In the Sixth ward there was real excitement; Roy A. Burrows and Joseph E. Johnson running neck and neck as the count progressed. On account of the large number of candidates for councilman the vote progressed slowly in the sixth, and that added zest to the contest, for there was the element of suspended interest to thrill those interested. Burrows won finally by 54 votes.....

  First Women Voters...There was rivalry among the women voters to see which would be the first to cast the ballot. Lucy M. Van Deventer claimed the honor in the first ward. Miss Minnie Flanagan was the first in the booth in the second ward.  And Mrs. Josie Lancaster was the first to cast her ballot in the third ward. 

  Women took the time to go to the polls, while many men neglected to perform their civic duty. For instance, in the second ward 162 men who were eligible to vote failed to put in an appearance, while only 8 women did not vote. 

  One new face will appear at the city hall, that of Roy Burrows, elected to the council from the sixth ward. Burrows will fill the vacancy that has existed for about a year. "

  The article continues on...

  "Early in the day women, voting for the first time in Nevada, outnumbered the men as voters. They did not have the slightest difficulty and it was evident that they had studied their sample ballots well and had made up their minds for whom they intended voting, and they did it without confusion.

  The afternoon found the streets thronged, every store in town having closed at 1 o'clock to permit their employees to vote and work for their favorites....there wasn't the least bit of disturbance in any section during the day in any part of the city. In this respect this election was one of the quietest held in Reno.  Although Chief of Police Hillhouse had taken the precaution to station extra officers at the polling places there was nothing for them to do". 

Nevada was a "black hole" in the west when it came to suffrage in 1914. 

  Women were not granted the right to vote on Nevada's entrance into the Union in 1864.  A bill was introduced in 1869 to allow women the vote by Curtis J. Hillyer, who argued that "women possessed at least as much intelligence as men, followed the same laws, paid the same taxes, and most importantly would introduce a new standard of public morality to the public process".  Both houses of the Nevada legislature passed the amendment that year, but it failed the mandated second vote two years later. It would be forty years more before suffrage became an issue again in the state, and on November 3, 1914, women were given the right to vote.  They voted for the first time in local races in 1915, in statewide races in 1916, and gained the right to vote nationally with the 19th Amendment ratified in 1920.  

https://nvsctlawlib.libguides.com/c.php?g=1078723&p=7870328

  A big question on the ballot in the election of 1915 was the saloon ordinance.  The initiative would have cut down the number of saloons in town to forty. The above article read..."A strenuous campaign was waged both for and against the measure, and the final count shows that the proposed ordinance was defeated by a majority of 1,411".  It would be interesting to see how many women voted for the ordinance as opposed to men! Was the prognostication of  Curtis J. Hillyer correct? 

  Roy Burrows was not new to politics in Reno.  He had previously been on the Central Trades Council in 1907, and had appeared before the Reno City Council (Nevada State Journal Aug. 31, 1907) to get a permit amended so that laborers could hold athletic events on North Virginia Street and Commercial Row on Labor Day of that year.  Maybe he got the bug to run for a bigger office at that time, or just saw the need to provide leadership in a growing community. 

   Roy was a prominent  contractor and builder in Reno, and was instrumental in constructing many beautiful neighborhood homes in the older part of the city.  For a time, he worked with Robley/Bob Hansen (his nephew), as Roy Burrows and Hansen Contractors until Uncle Bob started his own construction business in town.  In 1936 Roy took out a building permit for a brick home at 524 Ridge Street in Reno, to build  a home for F. P. Strassburg (a stock broker).  The architect was the prolific F. J. De Longchamps.  (Reno Evening Gazette April 2, 1936).  De Longchamps was a local architect and  is best known for his design of the Washoe County Courthouse, the Riverside Hotel, the Reno Post Office, and several buildings on the University of Nevada, Reno campus to name a few!  He also designed stately brick homes for prominent Reno residents, as well as smaller English Tudor cottages, that still remain a charming part of old Reno. 

  Roy's wife Lucie (Mrs. Roy Burrows in the Fifth Precinct) was listed as an election official for the September primary election  in 1918.  The first three names listed were those of inspectors, the last were clerks.  She served as clerk for the Fifth Precinct that year.  Nevada State Journal August 8, 1918.  I can imagine how excited she was to vote for the first time in the 1915 election!

  Roy  was first elected to the city council in 1912 and served through 1916.  He ran again in 1920 according to this ad in the Reno Evening Gazette September 4, 1920. 

Reno State Journal 1931.  He was still running for City Council.  This was a year after his daughter Gertrude died of appendicitis at the age of 13 (see the post from October 12, 2020 on Roy Burrows and his family for more history). 

Roy Burrow's obituary from The Union (Grass Valley) October 26, 1943.  He passed away on October 23, 1943 in Reno, Nevada.   He was remembered as a contractor and builder, but it should be remembered that he also participated in the growth and development of his community by serving his constituents as a councilman from the Sixth ward for many years. 

   Roy's wife Lucie participated in the election process as well after the 1914 vote to allow women suffrage in Nevada elections.  Many women were instrumental in the fight for women's suffrage in Nevada (indeed, they were not "given" the right, but had to fight for it).   I could not find any sources to give me insight into Lucie's part in the change in state law, or what she thought about women's rights to vote,  but I do know she thought her right to cast a vote as a full citizen was important enough to get involved in the local  primary election of 1918.  

**********

  The Burrows/Hansen side of the family was always staunchly Republican.  Mom (Margaret Hansen Boothby) remembers being allowed to walk into town each day to watch the proceedings of the Republican Convention to elect Eisenhower on Grandma Hansen's (Vere Burrows Hansen) brand new TV.  She thought it was "beyond exciting to watch all the wrangling and parading and voting" while Grandma Hansen explained what was going on. She remembers that it was the beginning of her interest in politics.  And of course, remember that  Grandma Hansen did shake the hand of Teddy Roosevelt in 1903!  (see the post of 1/14/21 "Her Patriotism Unbounded").

  There were also many political arguments in Mom's house when they lived with Nana (Emma King Hayes Van Duzer) as Nana was an FDR Democrat and Mom's dad (Harold Hansen) was a Republican.  "They could really get into it!"  I can imagine!  Mom always took great pride in voting, and passed it down to my sister and I.  

 Other Burrows/Hansen family members who were elected to public office:  

John Hartwig Hansen (Mayor of Grass Valley) (see the post of 5/3/20 "John Hartwig Hansen")

William Lockyer (California Attorney General (6 years) and California State Legislator 25 years  (see the post of 10/16/20 "Alfred Lord Tennyson and Arnold Schwarzenegger; Their Connections to the Burrows Family in Grass Valley").

 

  My Dad, Dale Boothby, also served on the Nevada County School Board for 20 years, which was an elected position.   Mom took me to the firehouse (our polling place) to see his name on the ballot!  My family has a wonderful history of serving their communities for which I am thankful. 

Relationship Reference:  Me->Margaret Hansen Boothby->Harold Hansen->Vere Burrows Hansen (sister to Roy Burrows).