He came from southeastern Minnesota, an agricultural county. Roads headed eastward from there went down the wooded, tall limestone-sided bluffs, until stopped by sand spits and backwaters that said the Mississippi River had been reached. Businesses and river barges concentrated at the old steamboat town of Winona, still a college town, training area teachers and, in his day, the nearby Mayo Clinic's nurses. Up-river was Ramsey County, where he would marry. A bit further south, given as Tomah in their eldest son's birth record, was his wife's home, in Monroe County, a place, in the time of the French, once known for the chiefs called the Decorah and for a queen of note, called "Glory of the Morning", of a different set of chiefs. The bluffs were beautiful on both sides. He and his wife would go to other beautiful places.
They would have a large family. She was Lizzie/Elizabeth Viola of Wisconsin, maiden name maybe Laurence, when around the French influences seen in Wisconsin, but otherwise Lawrence, amidst more British people.
He and Lizzie Viola married in another Miss. River place, Ramsey County, so their eldest might have been born there. They then proceeded to move, first to Missouri, then to California.
Eldest to youngest, their children are below. Their last few birthplaces were aound Sacramento, the not-yet-incorporated Del Paso Heights area. Other birthplaces are listed if known. (The ten children are mostly daughters, husband's surnames are listed , if easily found in records):
====================
TEN CHILDREN
(born 1910 to 1932)
====================
Ina b. Minnesota,
Ida Viola b. Missouri (m. Leo Marshall Berry),
Walter Willie Jr b.Red Bluff in Tehama County,
Annabel,
Margaret Myrtle (m. Frank Francis Damiano d.Yokahama WWII, Robert T. Ogg),
Himself b. Biggs, Butte County,
Elizabeth,
Eleanor Marie (m Robert M Cordero, Raymond S Ferry, Billy Harry Smith, used Ferry),
Betty (aka Phyllis Bettyjean),
Patricia Ruth (aka Patty R, m. Richard Dare)
==========
DATE NOTE: He was the youngest child in a big family, so listed last by his parents when asked to name their children in Minnesota state or US censuses. His mother was still living for his 1900 US Census. The form that year asked for month and year of birth. His was given as Nov. of 1892. (His mother would know it best, as she was there, and painfully aware?)
The problem? The date on the stone does not match his mother's opinion.
He met and fell in love with Lizzie/Elizabeth Lawrence. She was born in 1887. Voila! Records began to show him as born in 1887. They married in Jan. of 1910, so she was 23. Would a young woman of that age want to be courted by an 18 year old? So, hHe neglected to tell her?
His best record online at FamilySearch was eight years later, in Red Bluff. He would give November 22, 1887, not 1892, as birth date . That was on his required registration for WW I, done in 1918, to be left with his county draft board. He noted he was a father of three, so needed to stay at home to support them. He had work, his occupation was "teaming" (he owned wagons driven by his teams of horses, available for hire, still a decent occupation then, soon to be outdone by trucks),
JB 2021 Oct
Contributor: JBrown, IA, MN, Calif, AustinTX (48697180) Oct 2021
View Memorial
They would have a large family. She was Lizzie/Elizabeth Viola of Wisconsin, maiden name maybe Laurence, when around the French influences seen in Wisconsin, but otherwise Lawrence, amidst more British people.
He and Lizzie Viola married in another Miss. River place, Ramsey County, so their eldest might have been born there. They then proceeded to move, first to Missouri, then to California.
Eldest to youngest, their children are below. Their last few birthplaces were aound Sacramento, the not-yet-incorporated Del Paso Heights area. Other birthplaces are listed if known. (The ten children are mostly daughters, husband's surnames are listed , if easily found in records):
====================
TEN CHILDREN
(born 1910 to 1932)
====================
Ina b. Minnesota,
Ida Viola b. Missouri (m. Leo Marshall Berry),
Walter Willie Jr b.Red Bluff in Tehama County,
Annabel,
Margaret Myrtle (m. Frank Francis Damiano d.Yokahama WWII, Robert T. Ogg),
Himself b. Biggs, Butte County,
Elizabeth,
Eleanor Marie (m Robert M Cordero, Raymond S Ferry, Billy Harry Smith, used Ferry),
Betty (aka Phyllis Bettyjean),
Patricia Ruth (aka Patty R, m. Richard Dare)
==========
DATE NOTE: He was the youngest child in a big family, so listed last by his parents when asked to name their children in Minnesota state or US censuses. His mother was still living for his 1900 US Census. The form that year asked for month and year of birth. His was given as Nov. of 1892. (His mother would know it best, as she was there, and painfully aware?)
The problem? The date on the stone does not match his mother's opinion.
He met and fell in love with Lizzie/Elizabeth Lawrence. She was born in 1887. Voila! Records began to show him as born in 1887. They married in Jan. of 1910, so she was 23. Would a young woman of that age want to be courted by an 18 year old? So, hHe neglected to tell her?
His best record online at FamilySearch was eight years later, in Red Bluff. He would give November 22, 1887, not 1892, as birth date . That was on his required registration for WW I, done in 1918, to be left with his county draft board. He noted he was a father of three, so needed to stay at home to support them. He had work, his occupation was "teaming" (he owned wagons driven by his teams of horses, available for hire, still a decent occupation then, soon to be outdone by trucks),
JB 2021 Oct
Contributor: JBrown, IA, MN, Calif, AustinTX (48697180) Oct 2021
View Memorial
He came from southeastern Minnesota, an agricultural county. Roads headed eastward from there went down the wooded, tall limestone-sided bluffs, until stopped by sand spits and backwaters that said the Mississippi River had been reached. Businesses and river barges concentrated at the old steamboat town of Winona, still a college town, training area teachers and, in his day, the nearby Mayo Clinic's nurses. Up-river was Ramsey County, where he would marry. A bit further south, given as Tomah in their eldest son's birth record, was his wife's home, in Monroe County, a place, in the time of the French, once known for the chiefs called the Decorah and for a queen of note, called "Glory of the Morning", of a different set of chiefs. The bluffs were beautiful on both sides. He and his wife would go to other beautiful places.
They would have a large family. She was Lizzie/Elizabeth Viola of Wisconsin, maiden name maybe Laurence, when around the French influences seen in Wisconsin, but otherwise Lawrence, amidst more British people.
He and Lizzie Viola married in another Miss. River place, Ramsey County, so their eldest might have been born there. They then proceeded to move, first to Missouri, then to California.
Eldest to youngest, their children are below. Their last few birthplaces were aound Sacramento, the not-yet-incorporated Del Paso Heights area. Other birthplaces are listed if known. (The ten children are mostly daughters, husband's surnames are listed , if easily found in records):
====================
TEN CHILDREN
(born 1910 to 1932)
====================
Ina b. Minnesota,
Ida Viola b. Missouri (m. Leo Marshall Berry),
Walter Willie Jr b.Red Bluff in Tehama County,
Annabel,
Margaret Myrtle (m. Frank Francis Damiano d.Yokahama WWII, Robert T. Ogg),
Himself b. Biggs, Butte County,
Elizabeth,
Eleanor Marie (m Robert M Cordero, Raymond S Ferry, Billy Harry Smith, used Ferry),
Betty (aka Phyllis Bettyjean),
Patricia Ruth (aka Patty R, m. Richard Dare)
==========
DATE NOTE: He was the youngest child in a big family, so listed last by his parents when asked to name their children in Minnesota state or US censuses. His mother was still living for his 1900 US Census. The form that year asked for month and year of birth. His was given as Nov. of 1892. (His mother would know it best, as she was there, and painfully aware?)
The problem? The date on the stone does not match his mother's opinion.
He met and fell in love with Lizzie/Elizabeth Lawrence. She was born in 1887. Voila! Records began to show him as born in 1887. They married in Jan. of 1910, so she was 23. Would a young woman of that age want to be courted by an 18 year old? So, hHe neglected to tell her?
His best record online at FamilySearch was eight years later, in Red Bluff. He would give November 22, 1887, not 1892, as birth date . That was on his required registration for WW I, done in 1918, to be left with his county draft board. He noted he was a father of three, so needed to stay at home to support them. He had work, his occupation was "teaming" (he owned wagons driven by his teams of horses, available for hire, still a decent occupation then, soon to be outdone by trucks),
JB 2021 Oct
Contributor: JBrown, IA, MN, Calif, AustinTX (48697180) Oct 2021
View Memorial
They would have a large family. She was Lizzie/Elizabeth Viola of Wisconsin, maiden name maybe Laurence, when around the French influences seen in Wisconsin, but otherwise Lawrence, amidst more British people.
He and Lizzie Viola married in another Miss. River place, Ramsey County, so their eldest might have been born there. They then proceeded to move, first to Missouri, then to California.
Eldest to youngest, their children are below. Their last few birthplaces were aound Sacramento, the not-yet-incorporated Del Paso Heights area. Other birthplaces are listed if known. (The ten children are mostly daughters, husband's surnames are listed , if easily found in records):
====================
TEN CHILDREN
(born 1910 to 1932)
====================
Ina b. Minnesota,
Ida Viola b. Missouri (m. Leo Marshall Berry),
Walter Willie Jr b.Red Bluff in Tehama County,
Annabel,
Margaret Myrtle (m. Frank Francis Damiano d.Yokahama WWII, Robert T. Ogg),
Himself b. Biggs, Butte County,
Elizabeth,
Eleanor Marie (m Robert M Cordero, Raymond S Ferry, Billy Harry Smith, used Ferry),
Betty (aka Phyllis Bettyjean),
Patricia Ruth (aka Patty R, m. Richard Dare)
==========
DATE NOTE: He was the youngest child in a big family, so listed last by his parents when asked to name their children in Minnesota state or US censuses. His mother was still living for his 1900 US Census. The form that year asked for month and year of birth. His was given as Nov. of 1892. (His mother would know it best, as she was there, and painfully aware?)
The problem? The date on the stone does not match his mother's opinion.
He met and fell in love with Lizzie/Elizabeth Lawrence. She was born in 1887. Voila! Records began to show him as born in 1887. They married in Jan. of 1910, so she was 23. Would a young woman of that age want to be courted by an 18 year old? So, hHe neglected to tell her?
His best record online at FamilySearch was eight years later, in Red Bluff. He would give November 22, 1887, not 1892, as birth date . That was on his required registration for WW I, done in 1918, to be left with his county draft board. He noted he was a father of three, so needed to stay at home to support them. He had work, his occupation was "teaming" (he owned wagons driven by his teams of horses, available for hire, still a decent occupation then, soon to be outdone by trucks),
JB 2021 Oct
Contributor: JBrown, IA, MN, Calif, AustinTX (48697180) Oct 2021
View Memorial
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