The Anderson Story

Remember my cemetery story?  Well, I kept investigating.  I started back with Miranda Ericksen and Carl Ephraim Petersen.  Here is what I found out:

• In 1900, Carl was still single and living with his parents in Ephraim.
• In 1910, he had married Miranda, was living in Salt Lake (on 700 South), working as a day laborer, and had 7 children (3 of his own and 4 Miranda had previously).
• They moved around a lot.  I thought they lived in Magna forever, but there are a couple of Salt Lake addresses before Magna and then again on Carl Ephraim's death certificate. His obituary says he resided in Magna for 27 years and was employed by Kennecott.  My dad says he remembers his grandpa, Van, saying that his parents moved around a lot to keep ahead of creditors or for whatever reason.  On more than one occasion, he came home from school in the afternoon and found a note saying that the family had moved and for him to wait there for them to come pick him up.   

• In 1918, he had to register for the draft for World War I and listed his address as "General Delivery, Magna."
• When he died in 1949, he had retired from Kennecott and was back living in Salt Lake City on James Court.  He died of a "cerebral vascular accident" and cardiovascular disease.  His daughter, Ruth Coon, not his wife, was the informant. 
• Miranda died in 1957.  Of course, I can't find a death certificate or any other information for her as a widower as so much of her story remains a mystery.  When did she come to the U.S.?  How many children did she have and how did she lose the ones she had?  What happened to her first husband?  How did she die?

When I ran out of information for those two, I decided to move on to Miranda's children.  Instead of starting with Thomas (the guy we found at the cemetery), I started with her oldest son Kristian Rudolf Andresen (also known as Chris Anderson).  His story was interesting and is full of military records.  Here is what I found out about him:

• He was born in Norway in 1890.  I think he probably immigrated to the U.S. with his mother around 1900.  
• In that 1910 Census mentioned above, he was a 20 year old single man living with his mother and step-father in Salt Lake City and was working as a grocery store driver.
• In 1920 he was living as a single man at a boarding house in Salt Lake and working for Kennecott, but a lot had actually happened during those last 10 years.  World War I happened and he was quite involved.  
• His draft registration card gives us a little glimpse of what he looked like - 5' 9", medium build, blue eyes and brown hair.  (I have to assume his dad - Theodore Anderson - was tall because the photographs of his mother make her appear very short.)  He registered for the draft in June 1917 and then enlisted in August.  He served "overseas" one year later, from August of 1918 until January 1919.  I have no idea if overseas means trenches in France or paperwork in England, but we could probably do some investigation into his unit - Battery E 145 FA (I assume FA means field artillery, but I'll leave the military history up to my dad).  He was honorably discharged that same January 1919 with the rank of Corporal. 
• In addition, he must have undergone some training at Camp Kearny, San Diego, because in May 1918 he petitioned for naturalization.  I thought that was interesting.  The United States says, "hey, please register for the draft and by the way, we'll let you become a citizen."
• One piece of information on the naturalization record that could prove important is that he says he came to the U.S. in 1900 through Boston.  This is the first clue I have found about he and his mother's immigration.  It could probably stand some more research.
• In 1930 he was still working for Kennecott, but by the time his step-dad died in 1949 he was living in Seattle, Washington.  He died in Seattle in 1965 and is buried at the Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park in Seattle.
• So what happened to Chris Anderson?  I don't really know.  What took him to Seattle?  Was he ever married?  I can't find any marriage records or death records.  There are lots of Chris Anderson's listed in Seattle in the 1950's and 1960's and I have nothing that positively identifies THE Kristian Rudolph Anderson we are looking for.

The rest of the family . . . .

Children of Miranda Louise Erickson & Theodore Andresen

1.  Kristian Rudolph Anderson - explained above


2.  Thomas Anderson - He's the guy we went to look for at the Magna Cemetery.  I was able to add in his wife and find the names of 5 children (including 1 son who is buried by his parents in Magna).  He lived most of his adult life in Magna, also working for Kennecott.  I assume his other children are likely alive and in their 80's and 90's (until I am able to find otherwise).  I'd like to find out if he also served in the military during WWI, but I haven't been able to find that.

3. Theodore Anderson - This one need some more work.  He's listed on Family Search with a wife and children, but there is a little bit of doubt in my mind that the sources are correct.  They say he lived in Idaho and worked as a mechanic which very well could be, but another source that this is based on is his WWI draft registration, which is also in Idaho.  I have a hard time coming up with an explanation as to why his older brother would have registered for the draft in Utah, while he did in Idaho and at a much younger age.  It's possible, I guess, but then he's buried at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  Since all of these guys have such common names, I sometimes get hung up on whether the resource attached to them are actually them.

4. Frank Iner Anderson - Frank was born in Utah.  According to the 1910 Census he is the only one of these 4 brothers who wasn't born in Utah.  That gives us a little bit of a clue into when his mother immigrated to the U.S. and she may have very well been pregnant with Frank when she did.  I sort of lost steam and haven't done a lot of work for Frank.  In Family Search, he is listed with a wife and children.  There are no sources attached.  I'll work on that.

Children of Miranda Louise Erickson & Carl Ephraim Petersen

5. Ruth Genevieve Petersen Coon
6. Van Carl Petersen (my great grandpa)
7. Parley Knute Petersen (his son Ken, still lives in Hunter near my parents)
8. Judith Petersen (died as a baby)

That's the story.  As you can see, it's not complete, but it's something right?  I find this kind of stuff interesting.  I don't know if it really does anyone any good.  Throughout all the research I've done over the last week or so, I've only found 3 people who need temple work (and only partially) done, so I can't say that's my whole purpose.  I think I just like to know about people's lives.

Miranda Petersen died in 1957.  Are there any of her relatives still alive today who knew her and what could they tell me about her?  That's what I want to know next!