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.  

  

  

  

  

Decoration Day Musings (continued) and How the Hansens Celebrated the Day in Grass Valley

 

  

Greenwood Memorial Gardens Cemetery picture courtesy of Hooper and Weaver Mortuary

Rough and Ready Highway, Grass Valley, California

  I posted several days ago about the origins of Decoration Day and my paternal Great Great Grandfather's military service in the Civil War.  I wrote from the perspective of someone who never knew the term "Decoration Day";  I have only known a holiday called Memorial Day that marked the end of the school year and the beginning of summer.  Memorial Day became an official federal holiday in 1971.  As my family did not have any family members who lost their lives in any military conflicts we did not observe the day by attending parades or visiting gravesites to honor anyone.  It was a day off from school, and marked a time of transition from spring to summer.  

  My mother, Margaret Hansen Boothby, started an interesting conversation through email about what Memorial Day meant to her,  after reading my last post.  Here are her thoughts and her story.......

"When I was growing up this holiday was always referred to as "Decoration Day".  Flowers from Nana's (Emma King Hayes Van Duzer) garden were taken out to Greenwood Cemetery, the graves were weeded and raked, then the flowers put on the graves in canning jars.  It was a day of great reverence, not for fallen military heroes or relatives, but a day to honor family dead, at least in our family.  Many families took picnics to Greenwood and ate on the lawn close to their ancestors' graves but we never did that.  If the weather was good, we might have a picnic or eat outdoors.  ALL the stores were closed as were the bars.  Earlier in the month of May there was always a discussion as to whether or not the garden flowers would be 'ready by decoration day'.  Maybe our family was different in its celebrations of the day because there were no men who had died in any wars, at least that I know of...none whose graves we went to anyway."

  "The name of the holiday was changed.  Not everyone was happy about that!  My family and many others of the parents' and grandparents' generation always referred to it as Decoration Day."

  "Veterans Day in the fall was a different thing.  Then, all veterans, including living veterans and those who served but did not die in wartime were honored.  Gravesites were visited and cleaned again.  One year Grandma Hansen (Vere Burrows Hansen) insisted we go to Sylvan Cemetery to visit Grandfather Hansen's grave (John Hartwig Hansen), so I remembered that.  I had no idea what the Spanish American War was all about, but it was fun to visit the cemetery."

  As I research and write my family's stories, I find that everyone remembers things in their own unique way, from their own unique perspective.   But, all versions come together to make a complete story!  I think I have a more rounded, complete view of what Memorial Day means to my family.  I have two ancestors who served in the Civil War, one from my maternal side and one from my paternal side.  The end of that war brought about a way the country as a whole wanted to remember the sacrifice.  It evolved to include the unique way my mother's family and the community of Grass Valley marked the day.  It evolved to include how I viewed the day as I grew up.  

  As I continue my research I am struck with how neglected and forgotten many cemeteries have become.  I too want to get out my rake and garden gloves and attend to hidden headstones.  I would like to decorate with beautiful flowers from my garden!   I remember my visit to the Pine Grove Cemetery in Nevada City last fall and seeing someone sitting in the sun, eating her lunch and reading for a short while. I don't know if she was sitting by a family member's grave, or if she just wanted a quiet spot to spend her lunch break,  but  I thought that was a very nice way to spend a warm fall afternoon! 

   Perhaps my generation is missing something very special, there at the cemetery.  I have listed family members whose graves can be found at the Greenwood Memorial Cemetery in Grass Valley, as well as the Old Elm Ridge Cemetery.  If you have a chance, take some flowers with you, "decorate" and visit.  The Greenwood cemetery is still kept in beautiful condition, thanks to the Hooper and Weaver Mortuary.  Other cemeteries are in much poorer conditions.  You can join groups such as the Comstock Cemetery Foundation in Virginia City, Nevada or the Hillside Cemetery Preservation Foundation in Reno, Nevada to help preserve places where other family members are buried.  That is also a wonderful way to honor and remember our  Hayes/Hansen/Burrow family members.  Those cemeteries are still open for visitation if you are interested. 

Emma King Hayes Van Duzer's plot at Greenwood Memorial Cemetery, Grass Valley, California.  She is buried with her second husband, George F. Van Duzer.  The plot is located in Block 10, #74.  

Dorothy Ross Hayes Arthur is buried with her husband William Arthur at Greenwood Memorial  Cemetery, Grass Valley, California. The plot is located in the Garden of Devotion K-3.

  

Francis Charlotte Hayes Holman is buried next to her husband Joseph Holman at Greenwood Memorial Cemetery, Grass Valley, California.  The plot is located in the Garden of the Last Supper, Sect. 30, 31, Row 16. 

Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" Hayes Hansen is buried with her husband, Harold Lloyd Hansen in the Greenwood Memorial Cemetery, Grass Valley, California.  The plot is in the Garden of Devotion, K-3. 

  

  Hulda Elizabeth Hansen is listed by Find A Grave as being buried in the Greenwood Memorial Cemetery,  but doesn't list where the plot is.  She was buried in April of 1905.  

Jack Klemmet Hansen is buried in Block 7, #49 (Nankervis Plot) at the Greenwood Memorial Cemetery, Grass Valley, California. 

 Dale Richard Boothby is also buried at the Greenwood Memorial Cemetery, Grass Valley, California.  His plot is located in the Garden of the Last Supper.  

John and Elfreda (Levers) George are buried in the Old Elm Ridge Cemetery on Kidder Avenue in Grass Valley, California. Elfreda was Emma Van Duzer's aunt, sister to her mother Anna Levers King.  The plot is located in Block B # 125,6 and 135,6. There are quite a few George family members in this cemetery.