Visit with Helen, August 2009

I was up in New England briefly this August, so I took the opportunity to go visit my grandmother Helen Helen Minerva Emma Johnson. Below are notes and question/answer from our discussion.

Helen is quite frail and is content to sit in an easychair in the kitchen (the hub of activity). Her son Phil Private User and his girlfriend Pam also live at the Walpole house and care for her. She seems to remember a lot about the past, but sometimes ended up repeating the same stories a few times. I tried to get to every question on the list, but I think she got tired after a while. Phil had some old photos which he brought out. This seemed to perk her up a bit and she was nostalgic. I particularly remember when she was looking at one photo of her mother and she said she really missed her. It was touching. First, I'll write the answers I did get from the questions, then add any additional notes at the bottom.

Re: looking at pictures online: They have a very slow internet connection that is attached to Phil's cellphone, so it wasn't possible to show her the photos on the geni site.

Erin's Questions: Private User

*In re: to Helen's parents, Anna Anna Emilie Petersen and Karl Karl Petersen ...can you ask her about their personalities/disposition? I don't know why but I find that aspect of people interesting esp. when looking back at your family tree. I.e. was she quiet? outspoken? serious? a jokester? did she have any favorite expressions? That sort of thing..

Anna was very strict. Helen said "like it was the end of the world" if you did something wrong. All she had to do was look at you.

*From what I've been told, I know Anna was pretty religious and that Karl left a lot to be desired in term of taking care of his family, but that's all I know about them. I figure Helen could give us some more insight.

Yes, Anna was religious. Helen said she "lived by the bible". She attended St Paul's Episcopal Church every Saturday (Sonny & Helen also went). The minister also came over frequently to the house. Anna would serve tea and chat with him for hours.

Helen then said Anna was "like god--she knew everything going on in the house."

*The other thing I'd want to know is if Helen has any recipes from her Mom (someone said Anna was a great cook and Helen's favorite dish was apple kuken)

No recipes written--she kept them all in her head. Anna's favorite food was bread soup (something made with any extra bread and milk).

*Just a reminder about the sheet music....and ask what songs does Helen remember her Mom singing? Was it at church or at home?

She said she sang and had a very loud voice...I don't think she remembered any of the songs in particular. Helen said Anna sang particularly when she was doing the washing; in fact, her voice was so loud that Helen and Sonny would hide!

However, when she spoke, Anna never talked fast, she thought before she spoke. Anna was also "mono-syllabic", meaning yes and no answers, not very verbose.

*Helen once told me that she and Sonny looked like her Dad, and that her other sisters looked like their Mom. Is that true? My mind is *very* fuzzy on that...

Yes! Then Helen said her sisters were very prissy and didn't want to spoil manicures by cooking!

Mike's Questions:

1. Half-sister Hanne:

o Whatever happened to her half-sister Hanne? Who did she marry? Where did she live? Did she have children? What was Helen's relationship with her like? What are Helen's memories of her? Does Helen have any photos of her? When did she pass away?
-They did seem to see Hanne often. She described her as a carrot-top, but later as fat with grey hair. She worked at the Gillette plant in South Boston. She acted as a mother to them. There are a few photos, I will see if Phil scanned them yet. Later in life, she married a Jewish fellow, but had no children.

* a.) You might consider showing her the photo of the girl under Anna Emelie Anderson's profile to find out of that girl is Hanne or if that picture is of Anna herself at a younger age.
* (I believe it is Hannah after seeing the older photos, but I will find them to compare.)

* b.) Also, try to find amongst all the photos the Christmas cards written in Danish between Anna and Hanne. I saw them last time i was there. they were very cool.
* I didn't see any, but I think Phil will scan them if he comes across any.

* c.) Ask her about a family bible and if she knows where it might be. she mentioned that to me before, but I don't know if she or one of her other siblings has/had it
* Suggestion was Vivian's daughter Pat and her daughter Susan

* Ask her if her half-sister's name was Johanne, Hanne, or Hannah
* Hannah

* Find out if her sister's full name was Hannah Ahlberg, which is listed on both Sonny and Helen's birth certificate as a witness to the births who was living in the home
* It was Morse...they called her "Morsy" (Although, now I wonder if this was the husband's last name...)

* Why did Hanne come to the U.S.? Why did she stay in Denmark for 5 years after her mother and step-father emigrated to America?
* She didn't come right away because of money (or lack of it I should say!)

1. Mother Anna:

Her mother handwashed all the laundry, hung it in the sun and ironed it.

o Does she know if her mother was adopted or if she had siblings back in Denmark?
o No, not adopted to her knowledge. She thought she had a sister called Eileen and maybe a brother Carl?

o Ask her if her mother might have been of Swedish descent (last name Anderson is Swedish, not Danish). It's a moot point if indeed Anna Emelie was adopted as I remember hearing from Helen long ago
o She said no, that she changed it to an "o" when she came to America. She also called her "triple A" for Anna Amelia Anderson.

o Does she have any photos of her mother? (check the one I have posted under her geni profile)
o Were Anna and Karl legally divorced? When?
o She wasn't sure...

o Does she have any of the lace her mother made? Or any of the sheet music she composed?

1. Father Karl

She says "Karl with a K. That made him aristocracy in Denmark." (Not sure what that means though!)

o Show her the photos we have posted of Karl Petersen and ask her to verify that they are him

o Ask her if she met Karl's sister Emma Petersen and her husband Eiler
o No, she didn't.

o Ask her if she had a relationship with Karl after her mother's death in 1937
o I got the impression she did not...maybe seeing him once in a while.

o Did she know him and his 2nd wife Hellen?
o

o Does she know why he was in jail in 1930?
o Not paying for the house (or maybe rent?)

o Ask her if she knows when Karl died and where he might be buried. Was he buried in NYC in a pauper's grave?
o She said no.

o Did Karl become a naturalized citizen?
o

o Did she and Al have a relationship with Karl after he left her mother?
o

1. Sister Margot

* Who is the father of Alex Petersen? Was it Edward Cowan? Was he married? When was Alex born? Where was he born?
* Margot was a live-in family housekeeper and had an affair with Alex's father. His name was Raymond Swan. (They had a rhyme about Alex: He's half swan, he's half goose; he's a swoose.) I am not sure if he was a son in the family...that was the impression I had though.

* Why did Evelyn raise Alex Petersen?
* (I think it was money, but they were a bit evasive on this...)

* Where did Margot live?
* Dedham/Winchester, MA

* Did Helen have a relationship with her?
*

* When did she pass away? Where?
*

1. Brother Sonny:

Anna would say "My son-son, Sonny"

* Did Sonny and Anna have a child in 1945 before Dana was born in 1947?
* Yes. No elaboration there.

* Did Sonny have a relationship with his father Karl?
*

1. Sister Evelyn:

* Did Helen have a relationship with Evelyn and her children? Did she ever see them?
* Not really. Lived in East Dedham, her mother didn't want her there. Helen helped her on Saturdays however.

1. Other:

Show Helen some of the older Petersen/Johnson photos I posted and see if she might be able to identify some of the kids in them who we don't have labeled.

NOTES:

*While growing up, the Petersen family lived at Court St, so there was always work for them to do. It was a town with rich people (although they were poor). They would pay 25c for 5 loaves of bread. Helen would wash dishes to make money for the family. Anna kept money on a shelf in the pantry to save it.

*Anna had brown hair and hazel eyes. She wore her hair the same every day--a sort of Gibson Girls hairdo. She would pull it all forward, braid it, and pile it on top of her head.

*Anna had been pregnant for a total of 13 times!!

*To economize, the family used everything they had.

*Anna had nicknames for her children:
*Vivian - called her Wiwi
*Helen - Fuffin, meaning curly-haired
*Evelyn - Ewie

*Helen used to also do housework and make dinner for rich people in the town of Dedham for $6/week.

*Anna would make Swedish cookies with left-over butter. She would say "good cook, no recipe" and point to her head.

*Helen says Karl was so handsome and tall, a big man. Also a smart man. She said Anna and Karl fought a lot and that is why he left.

*Helen met Al while out with her friends. Helen and Al ran away and got married at a Justice of the Peace in NH. Two other couples also went, but they backed out!

*Of Al, she said he could fix anything that broke; he has agile fingers.

*Dora, Al's mother, was a tall, beautiful woman. They said she married a man that could fit under her arm! She was a love-child of a Swedish fiddler (they weren't married). She was from Stockholm. A Helen Johnson in Reading, MA--family raised Dora.

*Albin's father Albin: in 1943, he was a proofreader at a printing press, the Plympton Press or Norwood Press, in Norwood, MA. (Peter, his grandson, even remembered how big this industry was in the area--in 8th grade he had to take a course in typesetting!).