On the day I was to sort through a three-ring binder labeled “Ancestors and descendants of Julia Christine Thompson (1888-1964)”, I received an edit request on Find A Grave for Ludwig Charles Ogren, Julia’s brother-in-law.

Julia’s older sister Esther Maria Thompson married Ludwig, who was a Swedish immigrant, on the 23rd of February 1918 in Columbiana, Ohio. Originally named Gunnar Ludwig Charles Ågren, Lud’s parents and he immigrated to the United States when he was a toddler. The family settled in New York.

How and where Ludwig and Chicago-born Esther met is a mystery. I’m also curious about how they ended up in Ohio. And I’m a bit confused regarding their daughter Ruth. Was she adopted?

But I digress.

The proposed edit I received on Find A Grave was a request to link Ludwig to his parents August and Ida.

To confirm those possible connections, I looked at the documents I have in Esther’s digital folder. Easy peasy verification, Esther’s marriage record lists Ludwig’s parents and her parents.

But wait! Esther’s mother is not recorded as Maria Peterson, she is called Maria Holmes.

You may recall that Maria’s brother Johan Gustav changed his surname from Peterson to Holm and used that surname on his World War I draft registration and in the 1920 census. How interesting that Esther would refer to her mother by a variation of Holm rather than Peterson.

The name these siblings chose is connected to their father Peter Johan Johannesson and refers to the Holmens farm on which he was born. See the third line of the snip from page 166 of ”Åh, du blåe himmel”… Tånnö! Gårdarna och torpen i Tånnö socken below:

The Holmens farm is another of my Peterson family mysteries. Because there were parish fires and a district office fire, it may not be possible to learn more about Peter Johan Johannesson’s early life.

I’d already been thinking about this when I printed Julia Thompson’s pedigree chart, the first step in sorting her three-ring binder. Julia is my maternal great grandmother. Peter Johan Johannesson is Julia’s maternal grandfather. Beyond Peter, Julia’s pedigree chart is blank. (Just for the time being I hope.)

Before I can look into records that may help me find find Peter, I have to organize Julia’s binder. Following my newly tweaked system, I printed a dated relationship chart (Julia to me) and then printed dated family group sheets for each of Julia’s paternal direct-line ancestors; her father Peter Thompson (1857-1938), her paternal grandfather Tønnes Christiansen (1814-1886), and her paternal great-grandfather Christian Tronsen (1779-1852).

Next I printed dated family group sheets on colored paper for Julia and each of her siblings; Oscar Thompson (1883-1939), Alfred Thompson (1885-1885), Esther Maria Thompson (1886-1948), Julia Christine Thompson (1888-1964), Emma Thompson (1890-?), and Edward Arthur Thompson (1895-1952).

Then I printed a dated Family View Report for Julia, choosing the ‘blended family’ option on Family Tree Maker. Julia was married twice, first to Harry Wilhelm Tolf and then to Franz Emmanuel Chinell. On the same color paper, I printed family view reports for each of Julia’s four children; Harriette Kathlyn Tolf (1909-1954), Earl Norman Tolf (1911-1971), Oliver Tolf (1915-1961) and Francis Roy Edward Chinell (1928-2022).

I put each chart and report in it’s own page protector and arranged them in Julia’s binder in the order above. Of course, now the real work begins. I’ll sort through all the pages already in the binder and decide what to keep there, what to move to a different binder, what could or should be scanned and saved digitally, what items I’m missing.

It’s a great opportunity to revisit this branch of my family tree and a chance to explore what resources may be available to fill in any missing pieces.

One final thought about Julia’s brother-in-law, Ludwig Ogren who I mentioned above; his Find A Grave memorial is currently a Burial Unknown. This project reminded me that I hadn’t located Ludwig’s final resting place. To correct that, I ordered his death certificate. I hope to update his memorial soon.