Email response re; will and probate request

"Hi Jennie:

I was able to review our Probate Index for the three names that you indicated in your message.  I did not find a probate filed for the first two (Frank Joseph Marxer, William Henry Johnstone), but I did find a probate filed for John Augusta “Gust” Borgreen.  The Cause Number is 6864.  The date of death you indicated matches the file.  I have reviewed the file and I am wondering which documents you would like to have copied?  There is no Will on file; he died without one (intestate).  I am listing below some of the more important documents that you may wish to have based on the information contained within or for the fact that other family members’ signatures are present.   I did not include documents that set the date and/or times for hearings.

-          Petition for Letters of Administration (2 pg)

-          Order Appointing Administrator (2 pg; appoints Carl T. Borgreen as the Administrator of the Estate)

-          Letters of Administration (1 pg; document that gave authority to the Administrator)

-          Inventory and Appraisement (3 pg; shows that the estate’s assets were cash only)

-          Report to State Board of Equalization on Inheritance Tax (2 pg)

-          First and Final Account, Petition for Determination of Inheritance Tax, Allowance of Attorney’s Fees and for Final Discharge (6 pg)

-          Decree Allowing First and Final Account, Determination of Inheritance Tax, Allowance of Attorney’s and Distribution of Estate (5 pg)

-          Petition for Final Discharge (5 pg; includes “Vouchers” signed by recipients of inheritance)

-          Decree of Final Discharge (1 pg; closed estate proceedings)

Our copy charges are $1.00/pg for the 1^st 10 pages; $0.50/pg thereafter (based on the total number of pages being ordered).  You may use this e-mail as your request if you would like to order any copies.  Please make your payment by MONEY ORDER only payable to “Clerk of Court.”  Please indicate which documents you would like and be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope large enough to accommodate the number of pages you have requested.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Best regards,
Melissa "

Drat! I wanted to find a will or probate for Joseph Marxer and William Johnstone. I am happy to know that a probate packet exists for Gust Borgreen. I've ordered the pages referenced in the email and am impatiently awaiting their arrival. All is not lost on the Johnstone front, though. I do know that William's wife, Mary Alice, owned some property. He predeceased her so there may well be a will and/or probate for her. After I pick through Gust's packet, I'll write to see if Mary Alice has left anything for me. 

Is there such a thing as TMI?

I had to step back and take a big breath. I've had the happy problem of finding too much too soon. I began to feel a little overwhelmed and was feeling a bit buried in details and dates. I knew a break was in order when I couldn't keep one generation straight from another. So, I've had a few days to quiet the mind. I've read my latest issue of Family Tree magazine, watched the two newest episodes of WDYTYA (USA version) and found past episodes of WDYTYA (UK) on You Tube. It's been a lovely little vacation. Then yesterday morning I popped out of bed ready to write a letter to the county courthouse for wills and probates for three great grandpas. I counted it as something done but with breathing room before results come in. I feel refocused and re energized and ready to take just a small bite out of my to do list, for now.

Tech Tuesday... Hand Held Scanner

My new toy is the VuPoint Magic Wand hand held scanner. Think of all the times you've  been at the library looking at an old fragile book or without dimes for the copy machine or all the times the line at the machine as too long and your research time too short. This little gadget is the answer to many a researcher's prayer.
 I bought it over the weekend, played with it for a few minutes and had the technique down pat. The quality is good and it's small, portable, easy to use and comes with it's own handy carrying case and cleaning cloth. Come on! Who can turn down a handy carrying case and cleaning cloth?  My one tip is, scan each page a couple of times to make sure you get a good image. You can't view your scans as you go, you have to load them onto the computer to see how you did. So I scan twice, which takes seconds, and use the best result. In my opinion, this is a must in every researcher's tote bag.

RAGK...Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness

This post led to several emails from Cheryl at Heritage Happens and offers to help translate the document.
Today I received a translation of the document from Cheryl. It reads as follows:

Transcription of text in document

Certificate for Moving Out
1. Nir. 30 page 31
2. Farm hand Johan August Johansson Berggren
3. From Ossjo Westergard, Ljunga parish
4. Born 1863, (sixty three), Ljunga parish, Kronobergs county
5. October 8, named and confirmed by the Lutheran doctrine
6. He is a minor but is free to marry
7. -
8. -
9. Has had cowpox
10. Can read....Approved
11. ...Passable...Christianity Knowledge
12. ......Been on the interrogations
13. Entitled to the Holy Communion
14. -
15. Enjoying Civic trust
16. -
17. -
18. Completed this year's military service. (He is too young)
19. Moves to ..America...
20. Registered for census...Here for next year.....
21. Testified...Ljunga....parish, Kronobergs county
22. Sweden, June 9, 1883

? Svenson
Pastor

transcriber added "Parish is Sodra Ljunga in Kronoberg county
page 31 = the page in the Church Book of Household
pastor's first name is unreadable.

This new information led me right to the Swedish Church Records at Ancestry.com and this entry that has eluded me for months and months. #53, second from the bottom. Now to decipher the names of his parents.

But in moments, I've jumped miles ahead in my research of this stubborn brickwall Great Grandpa. 

Big thanks to Cheryl and her translators for all their help with this document. I can not say thank you enough.

Messages from England

Original photos sent by email and copy of message from 2002

Photo after applying a bit of photoshop magic

Great Great Grandpa William Johnstone

I've been in contact with a UK cousin. Philip is a third cousin once removed to be exact. He has been generous to share a family three, photos and some old family details that I didn't have previously. I've been able to share some immigrant information and details about the American cousins. It's been fun and enlightening and thoroughly wonderful. Some of the UK relatives had no idea they even had American cousins. We had no idea what had become of the UK clan. The best part of this whole thing continues to be the sharing and reconnecting with long lost family. I have lots of information to sift through and put into context. There are lots of name and dates to add to the tree. And now I have some faces to put with those names. Who would have thought? 

Crossing the Pond

I bit the bullet and subscribed to the World Delux membership at Ancestry.com for one month. In the first few minutes of active membership I found a host of information and quickly zeroed in on my maternal Great Grandfather, William H. Johnstone. Months ago, I received a scap of paper with the names of William's siblings on it. Using those names and the names of his parents I was able to find William and his family on both the 1891 and the 1901 England Census. The information gathered here is phenomenal.
                                            1891:

Name:                              Willie Johnstone
Age:                                   6
Estimated birth year:       abt 1885
Relation:                           Son
Father's name:                 William Johnstone
Gender:                            Male
Where born:                     Stanley, Westport, Lancashire, England
Civil Parish:                     West Derby
Ecclesiastical parish:       Stanley St. Ann
County/Island:                  Lancashire
Country:                           England
Registration district:       West Derby
Sub-registration district: West Derby (Rural)
1901 Name:  William Johnstone Age: 16 Estimated birth year: abt 1885 Relation: Son Father's name: William Johnstone Mother's name: Elizabeth Johnstone Gender: Male Where born: Liverpool, Lancashire, England Civil Parish: West Derby Ecclesiastical parish: Stanley St Anne County/Island: Lancashire Country: England Registration district: West Derby Sub-registration district: West Derby, Eastern

Of course this same information was available for all members of the family, so I found place of birth and
approx. years of birth for the parents and siblings too. It helps to put everyone in their proper context within the family unit. I did notice a difference in place of birth info on these two censuses. In 1891 William's place of birth is listed as Stanley, Westport, Lancashire, England. In 1901 it is given as Liverpool, Lancashire, England. This tells me that I need to research a gazeteer for that place during those years. Perhaps the place name changed. 


 I can see from the actual census document that they lived at the same address all that time. This tells me that I should look in that place for other records as well. 


This was time and money well spent. Hopefully the remainder of my one month membership will be as fruitful.

Banner Days

Yesterday was a banner day for my research. I received an envelope from O'Connor Funeral Home in Great Falls which contained records for 4 great grandparents and one great great grandparent. Big thanks to Stephanie who helped to look up the information and sent it to me, free of charge. Now this info wasn't really earth shattering. I did learn the married names of the daughters of one set of great grandparents and I learned the locations of their children at the time Great Grandpa died. I also learned that one great grandfather had 3 surviving siblings in the UK, two sisters and a brother, but no names there. I have the list of the siblings' names and maybe I can figure out who was still living. The fact that nothing really vital was learned here isn't really the point. It's another record of an ancestor to help to track the events of their life and death and it'll be filed with everything else for posterity. It was really interesting to see what the going cost of a funeral was in the 1930's, though; $400 and change, roughly.

In addition to the funeral home records, I received an email from cousin Rainer in Liechtenstein which contained ancestors' names and vital dates going back three more generations than I had found in my research. Not only direct ancestors but all siblings, spouses and children. Using that information I was able to go back one more generation on familysearch.org. Those films, containing church records of baptisms and marriages, are on order and should be arriving shortly. They will be in German, so hopefully I can scan them and email them to Liechtenstein for translation.

Lastly, I connected with one more  relative, a second cousin who lives just 3 hours away from me. He and his wife had found my tree on Ancestry and had accessed some of the files I've attached there. I saw their activity posted and sent them a message to please contact me. We've emailed a couple of times since and I've shared what I have with them. Hopefully, we can meet up some day soon. We live so close. What a fun and fruitful day it was. Reach out, connect, share and reap the benefits of each other's research.

Wedding Wednesday....Matt and Mary Bell

Marriage certificate of Matt and Mary Bell, 1893

May I just say that the changes to Family Search are awesome?
I was never really a fan of that site and everyone said it was the go to site for genealogy. It was just never user friendly enough for me. But now things are different and I'm in serious like with Family Search. I especially like the scanned documents that are being shared on the site. 


This marriage certificate is one that I found just minutes ago. I'd been to the public library today and happened to find a book in the research room called At the foot of the Beartooth Mountains: A history of the Finnish community of Red Lodge, Montana -  (1998) by Leona Lampi. I remembered that my great great grandpa, Matt Bell, had lived there and my great grandma, Elina Bell was born there. I scanned the index and found Matt's name and a couple of photos of his boys. I know little about this branch of the family tree, so I placed a hold on the book through the interlibrary loan program and jotted a down a few notes from the copy in the research room. I came home and logged onto Family search to see what I could find and lo and behold the marriage certificate popped right up. It's a boon too, with names of both the bride's and groom's parents' and the towns they came from in Finland. All new info to me. Also, the marriage month and date were information I didn't have before. Now I can't wait for the copy of the book to come so I can scour the pages for more information. Another productive day of sleuthing.

Mystery Monday.....I've found you Andrew!

1900 Federal Census

Today just confirms further why it's so important to search the collateral lines. I've been searching for my great great grandfather Andrew Marxer. I knew he came to the US in the 1880's and that he stayed in MN while his son Joseph, my great grandfather came to MT. I knew there were at least two of Andrew's children with him in MN. What I didn't know is who he lived with in his later years. Through family information and a compiled county history I tracked down his son-in-law, Frank Nascher. Frank married Andrew's daughter Maria "Mary" and I found Andrew living with them until at least 1900. But I had to search for Frank Nascher to get any result. Andrew just wasn't showing up on the indexes. Evidence points to a 1909 death date for Andrew, so now I'll be searching St. Paul city directories for even more information. I've also located a MN death entry for an Andreas Marxer in the FHL catalog. I'll be ordering that film to make sure that it's really great great grandpa Andrew and to glean any more information I can find there.

Research the Collateral Lines

Collateral Ancestor

Definition: An ancestor not in the direct line of ascent, but of the same ancestral family.

I've been having a bit of trouble with my maternal great grandmother, Johanna "Jennie" (Felt) Borgreen.

I can't seem to find her parents' names. I ordered her death certificate and came up empty. As I was searching the 1900 census, I found Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Borgreen living in Belt MT with their small children. I scanned up and down the page and was very surprised to find a listing for Andrew Felt and family living right next door to them. I noticed that some of Andrew's children had been born in WY. I knew that Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Borgreen had lived in Rock Springs WY and the census showed that a few of their children had been born there. I also noticed that Andrew immigrated to the US, from Sweden, one year before Great Grandma. It became almost obvious to me that they may be related and their close age made me think that perhaps they were siblings. I thought that maybe Andrew would have some of the answers I was not able to get from Great Grandma. So I began to track Andrew and family through time. Below is a timeline for Andrew and his family and my sad version of source citations. I have all sources clearly sited in my records but I'll spare you the details here. 

I have yet to find evidence of Andrew's death. I do know that he was living in 1920, so can narrow my search a bit with that information. My goal is to find the place of death and order his death certificate. Hopefully there will be something of use there. I'll also do some city directory searches and newspaper research. I found a land patent for Andrew and maybe that will help me track him a bit farther. Heritage quest, which I use for census research, doesn't have the 1930 census up yet. I know that Ancestry.com does but am not ready to subscribe again, just yet. Maybe after the holiday bills are paid, I'll renew my subscription for a couple of months. I'd like to see if any of the Felts are listed on the 1930 census. But I can wait a little bit for that.

Timeline for Andrew Felt

1874 Andrew Felt born in Sweden¹

Married: ¹

1887 Son Axel born in Sweden¹

1889 Married in Sweden to Celia ¹   Selma (Paulson) ⁶ⁱ  Thelma (Paulson) ⁶ⁱⁱ

1890 Immigrated to US¹

1889¹ (1890) ⁶ⁱ  Son Victor born in Rock Springs⁶ⁱⁱ WY¹      

1893 Son Elmer born in WY¹

1895 Daughter Agnes born in WY¹

1899 Son Andrew born in MT¹

1900 Family is living next door to Gust and Jennie Borgreen in Belt MT¹

1902 Daughter Mary was born in Cascade County MT²

1907 Andrew received a land patent in Cascade County⁴

1910 Family is living in Cascade County MT²

1910 Andrew and Victor are working in a coal mine²

1910 Census lists Axel as a cripple²

1911: 26 Jan 1911 Victor married Maggie Defoe (sic) in Belt MT⁶ⁱ

1913 Victor and Maggie are living in Wisconsin³

1913: Son, Charles, born to Victor and Maggie.³

1915 Victor and Maggie are living in Wisconsin³

1915: Daughter, Selma, born to Victor and Maggie.³

1918: 23 Nov 1918 Axle died ^& buried at Pleasant View Cemetery Belt MT⁵

^{Between 1920 and 1925 Victor divorced Maggie3, 6ii}

1920 Andrew Felt family living in Cascade County MT³

1920 Living at home Andrew, Selma, Elmer, Mary³

1920 Andrew is a farmer³

1920 Elmer is a farm laborer³

1920 Victor is living in Anoka County, Minnesota with wife

         Maggie and her parents³

1925: 17 Dec 1925 Victor married Elizabeth Bann in Great Falls MT⁶ⁱⁱ

1957: 4 Feb 1957 Victor died and is buried at Manchester Cemetery⁵

¹1900 Census

²1910 Census

³1920 Census

⁴Land Patent

⁵ cemetery listing

⁶ⁱMontana marriage index ref# 4716

⁶ⁱⁱMontana marriage index ref# cn12609

Alternate surname spellings:

Felt¹

Felts²

Feldt³

"Amanuensis Monday" Distracted Research isn't always bad

While searching for a land patent for my great grandfather I was led hither and yon around the internet to no avail. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an index listing for the marriage of said Great grandpa and his bride in 1891! I had looked for this record several times in the past and always came up empty. But here it was, out of the blue.

It's important to note that both the groom's surname and the bride's entire name are misspelled, but I've learned to expect that. Previously I had only the year of marriage and now I have the exact date and place. I've ordered a copy of the marriage certificate for my files.

The land patent search continues but I count this as a very good research day, indeed.

Transcript from index
Details for Marriage #1523783
Groom Last Name: Borgrun
Groom First Name: Gust (27)
Groom Residence: Rock Springs
Bride Last Name: Felts
Bride First Name: Johana (23)
Bride Residence: Rock Springs
Place: Rock Springs
Date: 5 Dec. 1891
County of Record: Sweetwater
State: Wyoming
Volume B2
Page: 61


WYGenWeb Project

UPDATE 22 Dec 2010

Found this little darling in my email today!
Thanks to volunteer Wanda Wade,
at the WY State Archives, for her speedy
attention to my little query.
I could not have received a better Christmas present
from Jolly Old St. Nick, himself.

My Favorite Spot

This is my spot at the local public library. I spend as much time there as possible looking at microfilm and utilizing all the other resources available to me in the Heritage Room. I order my microfilm from the interlibrary loan program and wait, like a kid at Christmas, for the email to come to my inbox. "Your item is ready for pick up". Then I rush down to the library at the first opportunity and while away the hours searching and researching to my heart's content.

Today I spent a few hours looking through the Great Falls Tribune from June 1932. I was actually looking for a death notice for my maternal great-great grandma, but came up empty on that. Instead and unexpectedly, I found a notice that my paternal great grandpa had been released from the hospital on 15 June 1932. I have his death certificate that states 3 Sep. 1932 as his date of death. He had cancer. I hadn't expected to find him in the paper but was happy that I was able to walk away with something of interest to add to my files.

I've ordered more film from the State Library for the death dates of each of my great grandparents. Now I just wait for my notice to come. Merry Christmas to me.

Swedish, Anyone?

If there is anyone out there in Blogland who can read this document and translate it for me, I will be forever in your debt. Thank you, in advance.

A Poem for Judy

Judy Ellen Borgreen

This poem was written by my grandfather, Carl Borgreen, for his daughter, Judy. Judy is my mom. Grandpa was a deep soul and left many of these little treasures behind. He died suddenly, when Mom was only 17 and left a vast hole in her heart, and in the hearts of everyone who knew him.

Mom has a bulging packet of photos and poems, cards and newspaper clippings and I'm slowly making my way through it all. I'm scanning everything so that it can be assembled in a meaningful way and shared with the family. I never knew Grandpa personally, but through these snippets and the stories of him, I feel a very powerful connection to him.

City Directories

Oh the wonderful things you can find in the city directory.

You can find out your ancestor's address in a given year, other adults who lived in the home with them, their occupation and the address of their workplace. You can also find out if they've recently moved out of the area and the directory will sometimes list the date of death for the husband, if the wife is still living. The directories came out annually; much better for tracking ancestors than the once a decade census. They are also fun for looking up the neighbors of your ancestors. This is another good way to find long lost relatives, as many times our ancestors lived near family. 

Check Cyndi's List to find directories of the area your ancestors lived in.

images from google

Tombstone Tuesday...Find a Grave.com

Ruth Borgreen

 Borgreen family marker

 Johan August "Gust" Borgreen

 Johanna "Jennie" (Felt) Borgreen

Old Highland Cemetery in Great Falls MT

I was so happy the day I found Find a Grave. What a fantastic resource this site is when you are trying to

locate ancestors' final resting places from far away. At the time I found these grave site photos, I didn't even know what cemetery these ancestors were buried in. This was a very productive internet search. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the work that is done by the people who volunteer for this project. You can browse by location, date, and/or name. So helpful. You can search famous graves or just stroll through looking for  interesting epitaphs. And in true "pay it forward" style, you can join the Find a Grave contributors and help out with the project. So Fantastic!

Wedding Wednesday

Albert and Elina Johnson
June 27, 1913

Joseph and Katherine Marxer
May 27, 1884

These are my paternal great grandparents. 

Joseph and Katerine Marxer were married in St. Paul MN in 1884. They lived there for a couple of years before coming west to homestead near Great Falls MT. Joseph was a stone mason and helped to build many structures in and around Great Falls. He built the home that he and Katherine would raise their family in with his own two hands. They eventually went into farming, but when Joseph had to go to town for work or supplies, he'd walk the 10+ miles in order to save on livery fees for the horses. When he returned home, he'd carry all the food and supplies for his family on his back. Joseph and Katherine had 15 children over the years. My grandfather, Edward Marxer was the youngest of this bunch. When Edward married my grandmother, Marie, they took over the ranch and lived there with their own children until they retired. I spent many happy times at the ranch and rambling around the old house and all the many acres of property. I would often run down the gravel road to the old stone school house that Joseph helped to build and that his children attended. Even as a small child I knew that the history of that place was rich. I haven't been there for many years, but the memories are vivid in my mind.

Albert and Elina Johnson were married in 1913. Albert came from Sweden in 1890. Elina was born in Red Lodge MT in 1894. They met and married in Red Lodge and raised their two daughters in Roberts Montana.

Albert was a farmer by trade. Interestingly, I know little about him as a person but have a pedigree chart from a cousin that traces his family back 7 generations. There is also a long and quite detailed compiled family history on the Johnsons that mainly covers the story of his parents and their arrival and life in MT. Albert and Elina died in the 1960's and my hope is that my dad and his brothers can shed some light on what they were like as people.