Monday, October 31, 2011

Mystery Monday... The Plot Thickens

A few weeks ago I posted a family mystery titled What Was Elvira Up To? Since that time I've dug deeper and found some very interesting items. 


Timeline:
*Eleanor's born on 22 May 1914, in MT...SSDI
*Elvira married Fred Goldhahn on 23 Jun 1914 in Geraldine MT....marriage record at familysearch..org
*Elvira and Fred divorced before the 1920 census...1920 US Federal census

*Elvira married Walter Lofstedt on 20 May 1920...marriage record at familysearch.org.
*Walter was also reportedly married to Elvira's sister, Ruth. There are three children with the Lofstedt surname. A girl was born in 1915 and twin boys in 1917. Ruth died in 1919....family interview, census records.
*In 1930 the twin boys are living as 14 year old boarders in CA. The girls is living with Ruth and Elvira's parents in MT.....1930 federal census
*Elvira married John Whiting ...Gust Borgreen probate 
I still have no idea where Elvira ran off to when she went missing, but she obviously had a baby while away. 
This is all news to the remaining family members, who were all either too young to remember or weren't born when this all transpired. Next step is to track down Eleanor's death certificate and try to determine exact place of birth. Then order the birth certificate to try to determine paternity. I have Eleanor's marriage record, which shows Walter Lofstedt as her father. But, she may have just used his name when he and Elvira married. This is about as mucky a mess as I've found in my family research. I'm determined to sort it out as best I can with the records available.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Friday Funny....from the joint

Carl Borgreen, Ellen (Johnstone) Borgreen
and Elvira & John Whiting
For more Friday Funny posts, click here

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Workday Wednesday....Nurse Nellie

Nellie Johnstone
Ellen "Nell" (Johnstone) Borgreen graduated from the Columbus School of Nursing in Great Falls MT in 1933.
She was employed by Dr. C. H. Peterson for a time, before her marriage to Carl Borgreen. After Carl's untimely death in 1959, Nell went back to work as a nurse, first at Park Place and then the Cascade County Convalescent Hospital.

I remember going to work with Grandma Nell and all the antics she would share with us. Her stories were hilarious and even though she griped about her job, I'm sure she secretly like the work because of the way she told the stories.

There was the man who hoarded sugar packets in his boots.
One day, as she walked past a patient's room she was hit with a bucket of water. The poor man thought he was back on the farm and cleaning stalls. Once she heard a woman's voice coming from the closet. When she opened the closet door the old lady shouted "I'm not done yet!" She thought she was in confession. But another resident had shut her in the closet because they were tired of listening to her talk.
One elderly lady needed something to do every day to keep her busy. Grandma Nell found a basket of hand towels and that lady folded towels happily. When she got near the bottom of the basket, Grandma would "accidentally" knock the pile over and the lady would gladly start folding again. There are too many stories to share on one small blog. Grandma Nell was a colorful gal who brought fun and frivolity everywhere she went.

Friday, October 14, 2011