Yesterday I found my great-grandmother's obituary that ran in the New York Times. She was laid to rest in the historical cemetery, The Evergreens, in Brooklyn, New York. I called the cemetery this morning to see if she was placed with her husband, in hopes that I could at least get the date of my great-grandfather's death.
The nice lady at The Evergreens searched their database and it turns out Maria (Svahn) Belin was put to rest alone, in a plot purchased by her only son Herbert.
So my great-grandfathers disappearance remains a mystery to me. It does not help that his name was spelled every possible way and sometimes used his middle name as his first.
His name was Gustaf Emil Belin. In the 1910 Brooklyn New York Census Maria is listed as head of household with her son and a few boarders at her boarding house. Gustaf was still around for the 1900 Census, so something happened to him between 1900 and 1910.
7 comments:
So, you're back to doing the geneaology research, eh? This is interesting! Did you notice that she died on my birthday?
Could Mr. Belin have traveled back to his homeland after his wife died?
oops, I just reread your post more carefully -- could he have traveled back to his homeland before she died and perhaps died over there?
I don't know either, maybe Dad does?
Howdy to both of you :-)
Mom, I had some prompting. Was contacted this week by a gal in Sweden who is researching the family of an 87-year old woman there in Sweden. The client's name is Elisabeth and she is/was Gustaf's niece.
Cheryl, In an online Italian website hosting a database of death certificates for people doing research we found an entry for Gustaf E. Belin (40yrs) who died November 29, 1907 in Kings County, Brooklyn... looks like a strong possibility so I have ordered a copy. It takes 4-6 weeks for delivery, so now is just a matter of waiting.
The few times I have asked dad about family stuff he never seemed interested in going there with me, so i really don't like to bug him. There is an exception of course, that photo you gave me of the Swedish weightlifters, Dad and I had a wonderful lengthy conversation about.
Yesterday, i found the article that ran in the Brooklyn Eagle back in 1894 of the Swedish weightlifting club. I sent a copy along with the photo you gave me to the researcher in Sweden so she could give them to Elisabeth.
I was just talking to Dad on the phone and he was telling me he thinks Gustaf passed in 1907. I called him back when I read your comment and he said it must be him!
There is a hellacious thunderstorm breaking loose right now so I had to make that conversation & this comment short...but Dad is really interested in what you've discovered.
He's away from the computer, in traffic right now, and the weather isn't cooperating but he's going to check this out when he's able. He was very surprised about Elizabeth, and like I said very interested in your info :)
ok, lightning is flashing, gotta shut down the computer take care.
Hey Mikey,
This is all rather spectacular. For all these years I had never heard another belin family name other tha dads mother and father's. My understanding had been that Dad's father had died when dad was a baby and your data supports that. I thin dad was born in 03 so that would have made him 4 years old in 07. I was told that he never really knew his father. The derivation of the Belin family name is pretty wild as well. I had come to believe that it had been brought into sweden by some earlier settlers from france. Belin is a name that you can find in france as in Pierre Belin Dupont one of the people associated withthe early days of Dupont Chemicals. Keep up the digging maybe we are all kings and queens once or twice removed.
By the way I have something for you that I think you will really like. Send me your address and I will ship it down to you. You will be quite intrigued with what I send you....
Latter Daughter... Pops
Hi Dad,
Yes, Grandma had told me the story of Pierre Belin Dupont contacting your dad around war time, to inquire about the possibility of being related and that your dad wasn't interested in pursuing it. Grandma was convinced Belin was of French origin. The story I got she theorized that the french escaped to Sweden during the French revolution and went on to include the possibility of the branch of the family being wealthy or nobility, after all, (in her words) it would have been the only way they could have managed that sort of escape. :-)
I also found the newspaper article that you had briefly posted in your blog some time ago. It was printed in the Brooklyn Eagle back in 1894. It's the article about the Swedish Weight-lifting club. A pretty interesting and slightly humorous read.
Post a Comment