Left to right: Nora, Nina Jean, Katherine, David, Mary and Jack. Photo taken in Oakland, California in about 1933.
Today is the 79th anniversary of the death of my maternal Irish grandmother, Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker. She was only 36 years old when she died, leaving behind a husband and five small children – two boys and three girls ranging in age from 8 to 14 years old.
Yesterday, my mom – who was 8 years old when her mother died and is now 87 years old – called me and said she wanted to share some of her memories so that no one would forget her mother. So I drove over to her house today and we spent the afternoon together reminiscing.
In her words (with a few clarification edits by me) are some free-flowing memories of her mother —
When I think about Mama, I think of all the little memories she left behind.
Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker: 1900-1937
She loved to sing while she cleaned the house. I remember watching her make the bed, stopping long enough to belt out a song like she was on stage – just like Judy Garland.
And of course all the chores had to be done on Saturday before we could head out the door, sometimes taking a long walk up to Dry Gulch – stopping to have lunch beneath a big shade tree. Or sometimes we took a walk to the NP Depot for penny candy – her favorite. Oh, and her other favorite was Mr. Goodbar. We kids felt like it was more for her treat than ours.
When it was cold and snowy outside, she would dress me up in my little red snow suit and galoshes – which took some time and effort. Then just before we’d head out the door, I would say, “I’ve gotta go to the bathroom.” Which of course made her so happy.
One time she lost her temper with someone – can’t remember who – and on went the little red snow suit and galoshes. Then out the door and around the block we went – until she calmed down.
Sometimes I’d climb into bed with her in the morning and she’d raise her arms above and behind her head to play a tune on the headboard with her knuckles.
She loved to dance.
She loved baseball on the radio and would sometimes jump up and down on the couch when her favorite team won a game. Once during a long illness in the hospital, the nurses took the radio out of her room so she wouldn’t become too excited.
She loved President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Daddy loved to tease her, saying “FDR is no good!”
Nora and her daughters, (left to right) Nina Jean, Mary and Katherine, on a camping trip near Lincoln, MT in 1934
I shared this picture [on the right] with my brother David one time. He said it made him feel sad that there were no pictures of him and his brother with their mother.
When we made the long car ride moving back to Montana from California – shortly after a long hospital stay for my mother when she was suffering from phlebitis – Daddy would stop every so often and he and the boys would help her out of the car and walk side-by-side with her, just a few steps at a time. By the time we got to Helena, she could walk pretty good. Daddy was so gentle with her.
I can still feel her touch and smell her fragrance as she fixed my hair into Shirley Temple curls.
My mom then called her only surviving sibling, Katherine – affectionately referred to by her nieces, including me, as “Auntie Katherine”. She was 12 at the time her mother died and is now 91 years old. We explained what we were up to and Auntie Katherine graciously shared some of her memories with us, as my mom and I chatted with her, handing the phone back and forth. (And oh yes, a few of my aunt’s memories triggered a few more of my mom’s memories, which are in shown in brackets below.)
Mama was always happy. A beautiful woman who loved life. She had beautiful auburn-colored hair. But I think she added the color herself, with a henna rinse. [We had a good laugh at that. And my mom added that she thought the added color came from the beauty shop. Another good laugh. My mom also remembered receiving a perm herself, not realizing at the time that it made her hair curly. And then wondered what happened to her “naturally curly hair” after her mother died. My mom: “I guess 4-year-olds aren’t the smartest kids on the block.” More laughing.]
Nora and daughter Mary in 1924
Mama called us ‘her kiddies’ and loved to skip up and down the street with us. She was like a kid herself. And she was a wonderful cook and especially liked to bake cakes and cookies.
On the night of the earthquake [October 18, 1935], Mama had a premonition and wouldn’t let any of us go to bed. She was ironing when the quake began and the walls began to cave in all around us. Our neighbor from across the street was with us and she headed out the door first, with the five of us kids right behind her. Mama was the last one out. [My mom chimed in again and said she remembered her mother going back into the house and the neighbor pulled her out just before a wall fell in.] It was a good thing we didn’t go to bed that night. The bed upstairs where all the girls slept fell in on top of the stove on the main floor. There wasn’t a thing left of our furniture.
The doctors told Mama she would never walk again after having phlebitis – but before she died, she was walking again – in high heels!
After Mama died, we five kids went looking for her in the funeral parlor. We finally found her covered body in the basement. We uncovered her to make sure it was our mother. At the funeral, she was in a bed rather than a casket. I’m sure Daddy would have had them do that.
Nora circa 1923
There is no denying that life was not easy for my grandfather and his five children after Nora died. And I believe the sadness of her death and the absence of her presence in our lives has even touched her grandchildren.
But thanks to two of her daughters, who have so generously – and joyfully – shared their precious memories, I feel certain that no one will forget Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker.
This is Part 3 of “Who is the woman in this photo?” Click here to read Part 1 and here to read Part 2.
Once again, here are the three photos I sent to Maureen for review prior to our phone consultation.
Photo #1, date unknown but estimated early 1880s to early 1890s
Photo #2, ca. 1910
Photo #3, date unknown
Maureen’s Analysis
First, I’d like to say how much I enjoyed my chat with Maureen. She was very friendly and generous with her tips and observations. I would recommend her to anyone who might need a professional to take a look at their family photos.
Maureen estimated that Photo #1 was probably taken around 1890. And she made a comment that she thought the boy in the photo looked ill, which is interesting considering Johan died when he was only 4 years old – and Maureen knew nothing about that fact prior to the phone call.
Having already established that Brita is probably the woman in Photos #2 and #3, Maureen agreed that the woman in Photo #1 is probably Brita Dalin. Her assessment was based primarily on the woman’s large eyes, which she said were quite visible in both Photo #1 and Photo #3, and only slightly less obvious in Photo #2 due to the glare from the glasses she is wearing.
On an interesting side note, Maureen asked if I knew how Johan had died. I told her that I had only recently located a birth record for Johan but not a death record. The morning after we talked, I made another search for his death record and located it at Ancestry.com. He was four years old when he died in April of 1892 and the cause of death was listed as “lung inflammation”.1 In addition, Maureen commented that Brita looked very sad in all three photos. And I agreed.
Maureen also thought Photo #3 looked like either a passport photo or perhaps a photo taken to finalize her citizenship. I have not yet located any record to show that she traveled to a location requiring a passport nor have I located any citizenship documents, although her husband Andrew filed a “Declaration of Intention” to become a citizen in 1918.
Oh, and then a funny thing happened. You know, one of those “How in the world did I not see this before??” kind of thing.
As I was reviewing the back of Photo #2 for this blog post, I noticed there were six medallion-type images that contained references to several locations and dates, as well as several words that resembled the phrases “Silver Medal” and “Bronze Medal”. After running a few of these phrases through Google Translate (Swedish to English), it appears the back of the photo contains images of six medals that were awarded to the photographer in various years, including 1879, 1882 and 18892 – which means, of course, that at least Photo #2 must be dated after 1889.
And then for fun, I cropped head shots of all of Brita’s children (from two different photos) so I could compare them side by side. The birth order of these children is as indicated in the photo.
Do you think the little boy on the left is the sibling of the four children on the right? I think the lips of the three boys, and possibly Freda, are similar. And Johan, Cid and Osma all seem to have high foreheads.
In conclusion, the discovery of the death record of Johan finally puts to rest the story my father told me so long ago – about his grandparents Andrew and Brita who immigrated to the United States, and how they had a son named “John” who was born in Sweden but died when he was a young boy.
And here I want to say a great big “Thank You!” to Maureen for her assistance in helping me fill in the pieces of this family story.
Next, I plan to search Swedish records for more information about Andrew and Brita and their birth parents.3
Copyright (c) 2016, Lark M. Dalin Robart
FOOTNOTES
Gavleborg County, Halsingland, Sweden, Death Records, Hudiksvall, Johan Lars Anders Dahlin, 1 April 1892; image, “Sweden, Selected Indexed Death Records, 1840-1860 and 1878-1942,” Ancestry.com (https://ancestry.com : accessed 24 May 2016); citing Swedish Church Records Archive. Johanneshov, Sweden: Genline AB. ↩
Although “1889” is a little difficult to read and could be “1869″. ↩
In between drafting and finalizing this blog post, I did some research on the web site Arkivdigital.com, which proved very successful. I’ll be reporting on those findings in an upcoming blog post. ↩
Recently, I’ve been hearing and reading that it’s possible to find family-related items on eBay just by searching either on a surname or location. So I thought I’d give it a try. I didn’t have much luck searching on surnames but I did have some luck searching on place names.
The first item I located was a postcard of Hudiksvall, Sweden – where my Swedish great grandparents Andrew and Brita Dalin lived before they came to the U.S., and where Andrew was most likely born.
I asked my husband, who has some knowledge of vehicles, if he could date the postcard based on the car coming down the road. He thought the earliest date could be about 1935. Although my great grandfather was born much earlier in 1859, it was still fun to find this image of a street scene – possibly a street my ancestors may have walked down.
I also found a great magazine article about the mining town in Montana where my great grandfather David Lyman Blacker and his partner John Keating had their first mining success in 1866 – and where my great grandparents David and Ada lived until they moved to Helena in late 1882, early 1883.
The real bonus came when I actually located several references to my great grandfather and his partner Keating in the article, although my great grandfather’s name is misspelled as “Blackner” – which explains why the surname search was unsuccessful.
And here I’d like to give a special “thank you” to Tom Russell who dedicated his retirement to searching for and acquiring items related to “Old Western History and Memorabilia”. Then he spent hours indexing articles like this one and posting them on eBay for some lucky family historian like me to discover. Sadly, Tom passed away in 2014 but his daughter Debbie continues to post and sell his items on eBay. Thanks, Tom and Debbie!
Everybody should try searching eBay. You never know what you might find!
Yesterday, I wrote a post here about the passing of my great grandfather David Lyman Blacker. Today I would like to share two newspaper articles that appeared in the local papers the day after he died.
The articles are interesting and informative – and quite often incorrect. I’ve transcribed both articles and included footnotes so you can see what I mean.
The first is titled “Death Claims David Blacker”. A transcription of the article is below the image.
“Death Claims David Blacker”, undated clipping from unidentified newspaper. Privately held by Nina Jean (Blacker) Dalin. 2016.
DEATH CLAIMS DAVID BLACKER
VENERABLE PIONEER PASSES AWAY AFTER LONG ILLNESS LAST NIGHT.
David Lyman Blacker, one of the best known pioneers of Helena died at the family home on Rodney street last evening after an illness extending over a period of several months. He had been suffering with paralysis and this coupled with his his [sic] extreme age was the cause of death. In his passing the city loses one of its most highly esteemed and venerable citizens, and the state one of its oldest pioneers. Mr. Blacker was a native of Missouri1 and at the time of his death was approaching his eighty-second year. he was married in this city, February 22, 1879, to Miss Ada Buchenau2, and leaves surviving him his wife, three daughters, Misses Helen katherine and zetta, a son, Jack, whose home is now in Seattle and a brother, J. C. Blacker, a resident of Radersburg. His family with the exception of his son Jack, was at the bedside when the final summons came, as was Moses Morris, an intimate friend of nearly half a century.
Upon his arrival in the west, Mr. Blacker located in Colorado where he conducted a bakery in several of the mining camps of that state. In 1863, after spending three years in Colorado he joined in the rush to Alder Gulch in this state, where with associates he engaged in the mining business. Two years later he came to Helena3 and has since made his home in this city, although his operations have been extended to different parts of the state. For a number of years he was interested and successfully conducted some mines at Radersburg with John Keating. Later he embarked in the cattle business in which he also achieved considerable success.
Mr. Blacker was a member of King Solomon lodge of the Masonic fraternity and the funeral will be held under the auspices of that order, but as yet the day and the time have not been decided upon.
George F. Ingram, vice-president of the Lewis and Clark society of Montana pioneers has appointed a committee, comprised of A. M. Holter, Con Kohrs, T. C. Power, Henry M. Parchens, Williams Simms, J. C. Sanders, Ben Benson, Harry Hay Sr., S. T. Hauser and J. B. Willson to represent the soceity at the funeral of Mr. Blacker. The vice-president also requests that all members of the society attend the funeral.
The second article is titled “Dave Blacker Answers Call”. Transcription of the article is below the image.
“Dave Blacker Answers Call,” The Helena Daily Independent, 18 Apr 1911, page and column unknown. Copy provided by Historical Society of Montana Library, 14 Aug 1980. Privately held by Nina Jean (Blacker) Dalin. 2016.
DAVE BLACKER ANSWERS CALL
Well Known Colorado and Montana Pioneer Expires at Home in Helena.
HE WAS 81 YEARS OLD
Old-Time Resident Had Lived in Helena Since 18654 and Had Numerous Friends Throughout the State–Date Due to Old Age–Date of Funeral Not Yet Decided Upon.
David Lyman Blacker, pioneer of Colorado and Montana, and good citizen, died last evening at the family home, 335 North Rodney street, after a lingering illness, death being due to old age. When the end came, Mr. Blacker was surrounded by his wife, three daughters, a brother and Moses Morris, his friend for over half a century.
Mr. Blacker was born in Missouri5 August 29, 1829, and was married in Helena February 22, 1879, to Miss Adah Buckner 6. In 1860, Mr. Blacker went to Colorado, where he conducted bakeries in the well-known mining camps of that state. In 1863 he was attracted by the discovery of gold in Montana and went to Virginia City, where he engaged in mining in Alder gulch.
Lived Long in Helena
Two years later he came to Helena 7, and this has been his home ever since, although he has conducted operations in various parts of the state. In Radersburg, Mr. Blacker was interested in mining, being in company with John Keating. Later he branched out into the cattle growing business, in which he was very successful.
Mr. Blacker leaves a wife and three daughters, Zetta, Katherine and Helenn [sic], and one son, Jake [sic] Blacker, who is now in Seattle; as well as a brother, J. C. Blacker, whose home is in Radersburg.
Arrangements for the funeral will not be completed until the day of the son’s arrival is ascertained.
Mr. Blacker was a member of King Solomon lodge of the Masonic fraternity, under the auspices of which the funeral will be held.
FOOTNOTES
After a careful review of all sources for his birthplace and birthdate, of which there are many, I believe it is more likely that “Mr. Blacker” was born in Pennsylvania. I previously wrote a blog about this issue which you will find here. At this time, I think the basis for the statement that he was a native of Missouri may be that he spent a number of years there prior to moving on to Colorado and then Montana. ↩
David and his wife Ada were married in Doniphan County, Kansas on February 22, 1871. See Doniphan County, Kansas, Marriage Records, Book A, p. 80, David Blacker-Ada Buchenau, 1871; Probate Judge’s Office, Troy. ↩
Numerous records, including the birth records of his first three children, and a newspaper article stating he was moving his family to Helena in 1882, indicate he did not move to Helena until some time in late 1882. ↩
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The real bonus came when I actually located several references to my great grandfather and his partner Keating in the article, although my great grandfather’s name is misspelled as “Blackner” – which explains why the surname search was unsuccessful.
