Uncle Carl

I come next to my uncle Carl, for whom I was named as I happened to share his birthday anniversary. Another intelligent person, sadly limited by the circumstances of his early childhood and early maturity. And I suspect with a personality of considerable diffidence and unease, particularly for persons of his own age, but the opposite sex. Sometime or other I shall have to look more carefully at the accumulation of written material I have regarding him (mostly letters to him from family members) which came into my possession by circumstances that I don’t recall. These relate to the years around 1900 when he was attending a business school in Des Moines, and will probably afford some insight as to the family life on the farm at that time as well as to clues as to uncle Carl’s situation.



Carl Peterson, at 79 and 19 years of age

From the cursory inspection I have made of this material so far I conclude he was unable to secure employment based on his training and probably discouraged and homesick he returned to the family farm and life which he never subsequently really left. That is, he lived in the family home though his activities led him into farming land other than the Peterson acres and of course his custom threshing and corn-shelling operations.

He liked small children and I think he would have liked to have been married and had a family of his own. His one attempt at courtship was indicative of his social ineptitude and probably ended any further activity along this line. He had observed one of the young women of the Swedish community and decided she would be what he wanted in a wife. He called on her, asked for the lady’s hand in marriage. She declined and that ended that. She was later on a Mrs. Theodore Swenson. I vaguely picture her husband but I have no recollection of her at all. This information came of course indirectly to me — probably from my sister Vivian who in turn would have had it either from my mother or from one of my aunts.

Generally he was either diffident or brusque when in contact with people, even with members of his immediate family. At meals he would always keep his eyes averted — I don’t ever recall him looking at anyone when he was eating and oftentimes in social conversations (as before or after Sunday meals at my grandmother’s house, with individuals such as “uncle” Albert). These conversations were characteristically stilted and limited to stylized remarks about the weather, how the crops were doing, etc. Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever heard a really substantive discussion on any subject during visits to my grandmother’s. Nothing about politics.

Even religion was hardly discussed — perhaps all opinions that would have been expressed would have been so similar in nature that no give and take of real discussion would ensue. Even Bible or devotional readings and the subsequent ritual recitation of prayers were stylized, repetitive and stereotyped. I really wonder what those participating ever got out of it. Typically uncle Carl would be the reader and all the others present would join in the prayer. Uncle Carl’s reading was word for word and tended to be in a monotone voice — it was as if he had learned to read that way as a young child and never changed. When he would be sitting reading the newspaper or Wallace’s Farmer, his lips would silently form as he slowly progressed through what he was reading.

I suppose he had in earlier days held roles in the church — such as deacon or trustee. When I was old enough to be aware of this activities I don’t think he ever participated in such roles in the church — he attended the two Sunday services and the occasional funeral and that was that. No Lutheran Brotherhood, no Bible study group during the Sunday school hour. As I believe I wrote earlier he led the opening part of the Sunday school service on one occasion (taking the place of my father who normally performed this function). I recall feeling vaguely disquieted during his stern, forbidding performance. Even a bit ashamed at the way he conducted himself.

As a bachelor with simple material tastes he typically had discretionary income that was a relatively high percentage of his total income and he used a considerable part of this for contributions to church causes such as mission work. These were in addition and separate from his normal contribution to the local church which he kept at a reasonable level but not excessive. As I have mentioned I don’t recall him ever attending a Lutheran Brotherhood function, either a normal regular meeting or the annual father/son banquet. I think he would go to the annual Sunday School picnic but I’m not sure. He was not a man for social contact, jesting conversation, etc.

He liked to be physically comfortable as to his attire. Particularly he did not want his clothes to bind him at the neck or waist. He always bought shirts that were over-sized as to neck size so that they would provide plenty of looseness around his neck. As a consequence his shirts were too large in other respects. For example the sleeves were always too long so he had to turn up the cuffs. Similarly he bought suits that were over-sized around the waistband and he always wore suspenders — I doubt that he ever had a belt.

He liked to be cool — one time he made a shopping expedition of considerable extent to Fort Dodge trying to locate a pair of dress-up shoes that were perforated so that air circulation would keep his feet cool. He did find a pair but they were sort of inferior as to how they were made. When he was working he always wore Wolverine work shoes, a really comfortable shoe — he indicated he was never bothered by his feet being too warm when he was working. One time after we were living on the farm he came to the farmhouse as he had some work lined up for me to do and I was putting on some work shoes for the purpose which apparently didn’t fit or he didn’t think they were suitable. I guess they were shoes that my mother had provided and she had skimped on the quality because of all the other needs of the family. He ascertained what my shoe size was — perhaps I tried on the shoes he was wearing — and shortly thereafter he furnished me with a pair of Wolverines similar to his. They were indeed a big improvement and I suppose I used them for most of the time I worked for him on the farm.

What happened to them after I left the farm to attend the University I don’t know. Maybe I used them the summer between my two years at Iowa that I spent back on the farm. Maybe after that one of my brothers inherited them, they were probably not worn out.

About six years ago (maybe in the mid-nineties) I was along with Jean at the shoe store in Medford where she is able to order her everyday shoes in her unusual size. It crossed my mind to inquire of the clerk if Wolverine shoes were still being made. He either indicated that they were not or that they were not part of Red Wing shoes. He recommended the latter and I bought a pair of work oxfords. Since then I have only purchased Red Wings for either normal or “dress-up” use. Then again at Norris shoes I encountered SAS shoes and have used them.

When my Red Wings got a bit rundown I would simply get a new pair and relegate the old pair to gardening use. The first pair I had of Red Wing shoes had soles of some sort of composition with fibers intermingled with the material. The soles were the longest lasting o any that I have ever encountered. When after long use they were finally retired from gardening the upper parts of the shoes were cracked and disintegrating but the soles looked virtually unworn. When next I was in Norris I requested a similar pair but was informed that that type of sole had been discontinued. As so often happens when a really superior item is made, somehow or other it is discontinued. I really cannot understand why this happens.

Uncle Carl had also located a store in Fort Dodge that made overalls (the bib type) of a softer, more flexible material than the usual denim. He used these until I think the store went out of business.

Emma Sophia

My grandmother as I knew her was, physically a small, stooped old lady, doubtless suffering from osteoporosis. Her most prepossessing feature was her face and head which was quite beautiful even at her advanced age. Her forehead was high and this aspect of her was enhanced by the way she wore her hair, drawn back from her face. Actually there is not much resemblance from the way she appeared as a middle-aged person (from pictures of her) or as I knew her in later life as compared to the teenage adolescent she was at the time of her marriage.



Undated portrait of Emma, probably around 50 years of age

Her hands were gnarled from the years of household toil throughout her life. She was a soft-spoken person with a placid exterior, but underneath she was a person of strongly held beliefs and opinions and was quite determine in achieving her objectives. Perhaps most strongly held were her religious beliefs. In a way I think these were a defense mechanism against the rigors of her early married life on the farm and the vicissitudes of child-bearing and the sexuality of her husband. I don’t think it was specifically the result of her early religious instruction either in Sweden or in this country — her contemporaries in the community and amongst her relatives reacted in a variety of ways all the way from a commitment such as she had to a pro forma acceptance of such people as my as my uncle Reuben and aunt Agnes to a more or less skeptical toleration.

I think she transmitted her negative attitude on sex to her children, although several escaped in part from this influence (my mother, uncle Milton and aunt Lillian). Although uncle Serenus married he had only one child and I surmise the reason there were not more was abstinence from sex for a number of reasons.

My grandmother certainly transmitted her religious convictions to all of her children and some of them were I think rather extremely fundamentalistic (the most tolerant were I suspect my mother and uncle Milton — both because of the kind of marriages they had and exposure to influences outside the nuclear family). My mother, for example, was mildly uneasy with such subjects as evolution but she did not regard it as the anathema that uncle Carl, aunt Esther, aunt Ruth or aunt Laurine would had regarded it (in my opinion of their beliefs).

At the same time there were hidden of seldom-glimpsed aspects of my grandmother that were probably at odds with her simplistic Christian beliefs. One incident stands out vividly in my remembrance. For some reason I was in the kitchen of her home in Gowrie and she and I were the only persons present. There was an Iowa thunderstorm in progress and after a loud thunderclap she turned to me and remarked quite seriously that that was Thor riding in his chariot. Was her remark just a superficial repetition of a folk-tale from her childhood in Sweden? Or had there been transmitted to her some deep-down elements of the long-ago Scandinavian lore and religious beliefs? I wonder. Even when she was a child in Sweden the country had been Christian for a very long time. For her to have made such a remark, totally at odds with her usual character, has always been a source of amazement to me.

Her life in Gowrie was simple, uneventful, a regular and repeated occurrence of everyday, every week and annual events in regular order. She mostly ran the household — aunt Esther and aunt Ruth participated but my grandmother was tacitly in charge. Certain things she always did — such as doing the dishes after a meal. Other could wipe the dishes but she did the washing. Probably as a carryover from her days on the farm when getting the water itself was a major task, she would wash the dishes with only a couple of inches of water in the dishpan. Perhaps it was hot water as much as the water itself that was at a premium.

The Sunday dinner was masterminded by her — we were quite often there for this meal, after the conclusion of the church service. Almost invariably there would be some sort of pot roast and mashed potatoes and gravy. Generally when we were there for dinner we would stay for a visit in the afternoon, followed by an early supper at 4 or 5 o’clock. This would put the dinner time (which was always on the late side because the church service would not be over until 12:15 or so) and the afternoon meal fairly close together.

She always attended church, morning and evening (as long as the latter was continued) and I suppose such activities as the Ladies Aid and the Women’s Missionary Society. Since her household expenses were low she had enough income to make rather substantial contributions to her favorite church activities.

She liked to work in the garden, growing both flowers and vegetables. She baked wonderful apple pies with about as tender a crust as I have ever encountered. The cookies she made were limited to a few recipes but there was almost always a supply of her chocolate cookies (with chocolate frosting) on hand. I can see her still going to the cupboard where she kept them and supplying me or a group of us with this goodie. She also made sort of a rolled cookie (like a jelly roll that was sliced in two before it was cooked) and a cookie which was draped over a cylinder (like a rolling pin) during the baking process. And of course at Christmas time she made the Swedish bakalsar which I liked then and even more so now on the occasions when Jean has made them. They are particularly good when served hot.

Another Swedish recipe was krupkocher (sp?) which was a thick potato pancake with little bits of salt pork in them (maybe she used bacon in her later years). These were seldom served at the meals that I participated in but I was certainly aware of their existence. And at Christmas time there would be gryn, lutefisk, a cinnamon-rice dish and sylta which was sort of a head cheese. The lutefisk and sylta were low in my estimation but the gryn I liked and still do.

She carried on a voluminous correspondence with those of her children who lived away from Gowrie — all in Swedish. She had had some schooling in English but very slight and rarely wrote anything in it. She spoke English but with her children her conversation was mostly Swedish, particularly in the absence of non-Swedish speakers, like her grandchildren. As long as she was capable she made shopping trips to the grocery store and she would go to the post office for mail delivery, etc. but it was a rare and unusual event when she would exceed this limited ambit, even to visit the farm when we were living there.

I visualize her life and outlook from the time when she moved to the house in town as almost totally limited in outlook to church, family and a few particular friends. She certainly read her Bible, but except for the letters she received I suspect she read little else. For most of her life, perhaps all of it, there wasn’t a radio in the house, she never saw a movie or went to the circus, rarely went on picnics — an intelligent, likable but subtly dominating figure whose personality and outlook had been shaped by the limitations of her environment.

The Peterson Farm

My grandfather in the course of his lifetime acquired 200 acres of prime Iowa land and at the time of his death the Peterson farmhouse was certainly above average for a country residence. My impression is that the farmstead was really a showpiece with most of the modern conveniences. In addition he had purchase the lot in Gowrie where my grandmother’s house was later built. This lot he had used for a couple of corncribs where the corn crop could be stored for sale at an appropriate time.



Original Peterson farmhouse and granary, circa 1883. From left, Carl, Jonas, George, Emma, Esther.




Peterson farmhouse, east side, shanty to the right, circa 1950

Transfer of the corn crop could be made relatively easily in the wintertime, a time of low farm activity. In addition the condition of the road in the winter would facilitate the transfer. Roads in those days were probably un-graveled and in the spring, summer and fall months could be muddy indeed, hampering if not inhibiting altogether the hauling of heavy loads of grain. Even in the early days we were on the farm there were two miles of un-graveled roads on one of the two alternative routs from the farm to the town of Gowrie. When corn was being shelled this was the route prescribed by my uncle Carl (assuming that the roads were passable) in order to be easier on the horses’ hooves. The horses were never shod when we were on the farm, but I think in earlier times some of them were, particularly those used for non-farm work (transportation). Horseshoes would of course protect the horses’ feet.

I don’t know offhand the order in which my grandfather acquired the parts of the Peterson farm. The first acquisition was certainly the “home 80.” The account I have heard regarding this is that this 80 acres and the adjoining 80 acres of the Woodard farm were one piece of land at the time my grandfather bought the “home 80.” Old Mr. Woodard was also interested in purchasing part of the original piece of property. He and my grandfather drew lots to see who would purchase which half. My grandfather got the east half which I think was the better land and had a slight rise on which he built the farmstead.

The east forty and the north forty came next I think but I don’t know the order. The last piece to be bought was the south forty. This land had low land in the southeast extremity. At the time of the purchase (the story goes) he could have bought the whole 160 acres of which the south forty was a part for no additional cost. The land was low and wet however and he decided against it, figuring I suppose that the land would never be much good for farming so he would only be paying taxes on it. This was a mistake of course I think one of the fewer ones in his financial dealings.

These acquisitions could be elucidated further by looking in more detail at the papers I have of my grandfather’s or by researching Webster county records. Looking at the papers if a project I must undertake as part of this looking at my past — whether the research at the Webster county courthouse will ever be done is another question. I shall write more of this later.

My mother relates that my grandmother felt the financial pressure during each of the acquisitions of the parts of the Peterson farm and was relieved when each period of debt was over. I suppose that each purchase had its effect on the resources for everyday living which would have impinged directly on her.

Another avenue for evaluating my grandfather, and my grandmother also, will be the early letters, copies and translations of which I have dating from the late 1870s and early 1880s. These also I will write about at a subsequent time after re-reading them more thoroughly. These cover the period shortly before and after my grandparents’ marriage.

Grandfather Peterson, Husband and Father

My grandfather Peterson made a return trip to Sweden in the middle 1870s and on his return he was accompanied by several relatives, including my grandmother. She was a step-niece by marriage but not a blood relative. They were married not long after the end of the trip to this country. After a brief period in which my grandfather returned to Montana to work (maybe he needed the money to set himself up as a farmer) the 80 acres comprising the nucleus of the Peterson farm was purchase and the farmstead was established.

During the time my grandfather was back in Montana on his second stay there, my grandmother was in Andover, Illinois, with relatives and it was there that my uncle Carl, the oldest of the Peterson children, was born. My grandfather wanted to move to Montana but my grandmother was strongly opposed to the idea and she prevailed. We have been through Phillipsburg, Montana, where my grandfather worked as a miner (in the late summer of when we took Laurel to enroll at ISU in Ames, and later on another trip) and it is indeed beautiful countryside in the foothills of one of the ranges of the Rocky Mountains. I speculate that it appealed to my grandfather because it resembled the rocky forest/farmland combination of his homeland in Sweden.

In a way the marriage between my grandparents was a mismatch between a young girl, hardly more than an adolescent and certainly naive in sexual matters and a man who was more than twice her age who had lived the rough life of the Montana frontier and was much more worldly wise. I mention at this point the letters written from this country back to Sweden by my grandfather, grandmother and as I recall some other relatives. These came to light when Verner and Marlys visited Sweden and in visiting with relatives were told of and received in whole or in part a few selected letters.



Emma Sophia Sjostrand and Jonas Peterson, wedding day

Among these was the first letter my grandmother wrote back to Sweden after arriving in this country,. I wrote to the relative and he sent me [photocopied] copies of quite a few items, covering the period 1875–1885 approximately. Some of these letters which my grandfather wrote show an attitude toward my grandmother which was certainly respectful of her and indicating a genuine love and affection for her. On the other hand he appears to have been a man of strong sexual urges and this aspect of his personality probably came as a considerable surprise and disillusionment to my grandmother.

At any rate I have been told by my sister Vivian (who doubtless got it from my mother) that my grandmother did not enjoy sexual relations at all. My sister Vivian graphically comments on the picture of my grandmother being chased by my grandfather around the bridal bed, he with a large erect sexual organ.

The picture I have of my grandfather from my mother and other relatives was of a stern, rather unforgiving person in a way, who was respected and almost feared, but not really liked or loved. I really think this was his exterior and that beneath this facade he had a genuine feeling and concern for his wife and children. Doubtless life as a farmer was not easy in those days — hard physical toil with income modest and uncertain at times because of drought, etc. These factors may have contributed to his outward personality.

His regard for his children and his wife showed up in such matters as his giving each of his children a watch when they came of age (or at some such time), the features of his last will and testament and the picture of him sitting playing with aunt Laurine as a child out on the lawn east of the farmhouse. By that time he had I suppose largely ceased from farm labor except for the well-pumping chore he had taken on. On the other hand he could be brusque as when he haphazardly stepped on the head of my mother’s treasured doll which she had left in a precarious place, and offered no compassion to her. One of her brothers apparently tried to mend it for her.

I have also heard that on one occasion in order to meet the required dues for church membership he earned the money by hauling a load of coal from the coal mines near Lehigh to Gowrie. Such a trip with a wagon and a team or horses would have been a long arduous journey. Such an effort would scarcely have been made by an unfeeling person.

Grandfather Jonas Peterson

I come now to my grandmother’s house and first of all I shall describe the members of the Peterson family — my mother had done this from her viewpoint in the family history she wrote, but my impressions I think are rather different than hers were.

I shall start with my grandfather, even though I actually never saw him and my impression is based on what I have heard about his life and doings, plus a few items of written evidence. Of the early life of my grandfather in Sweden I know nothing — aside from a few vital statistics gleaned from the usual genealogical sources. He first came to this country about 1870 and he seemed to have been an individual who soon acquired information as to the possibilities for furthering his economic position as a part of his general approach to life. Thus, instead of settling in one of the places were Swedish immigrants were congregated (largely in the Midwest, perhaps in response to some pioneering immigrant who settled in some particular spot and attracted further, later, Swedish friends and associates) he ended up as a “gold miner” in Montana. This is what I heard from my mother and other of her siblings and his life there is buttressed by a few written relics.

One time when I was visiting my mother after she had moved form the little brown house to my grandmother’s house (this was after my father had died and after uncle Carl and aunt Esther had moved to the home in Madrid) and I was sleeping during my stay in one of the upstairs bedrooms. By chance I looked in the dresser drawers, largely empty, and found a packet of papers belonging to my grandfather and which he had apparently kept together in a little case as mementoes and records of his doings. I was intrigued by these and asked my mother if I could have them — she replied yes with the proviso that she would check with my uncles if they would want them. Apparently they didn’t so I have them it must have been on a subsequent visit that I actually acquired them. My recollection is that I was alone on this visit, perhaps I was just stopping off for a day or so while on a business trip.

The papers were largely having to do with the notes, mortgages, etc. having to do with the purchase of the parts of the Peterson farm. A few indicated that he had dealings with persons engaged in buying and selling farm real estate and this may be a clue to his business activities outside the farm.

There was a small residue however and three items pertain to his activities in Montana. Two were receipts for registered mail sent from Phillipsburg, Montana, to a Peterson, probably a brother in Elysian Fields, Texas. What he sent I don’t know but I suspect that it was money. Later I acquired copies of letters he sent back to Sweden shortly before and for several years after his marriage to my grandmother, and in these he mentions trying to get back some of the money he had loaned to various relatives of others. As a single man in the free-wheeling milieu of the frontier he might well have been in the position of having excess funds with which he could help out relatives.



Registered mail receipt [In the 1870 census, there is no Henry Peterson, born in Sweden, living in Texas. However, in the 1880 census, there is a Swedish-born Henry in Panola County, Texas, age 32, with a wife Francis, age 28, born in Alabama, and two sons, Miles, 4, and John, 2 — LS]

I have been in Elysian Fields twice. It is located in the northeast part of Texas and is thus on the way between Houston and Iowa. It is in the “piney” woods country which is really beautiful country, mixed forest and open grassy countryside. So the name Elysian Fields is rather appropriate. Someone with a background in Greek and Roman history must have been an early settler in the area as there is a Carthage in the area also. Elysian Fields is now little more than a crossroads, at least where we were told that the original site was (I seem to recall that a more substantial community exists now at the present site.) There is a fairly extensive cemetery but our looking revealed no names of interest.

The first trip to the town was made with Jean on an excursion to Iowa while we were living in Houston. On the second Palma was with me and we were driving north at the end of the summer of the year when I was back consulting at Shell (1975) after my retirement. She had come to Houston that summer and had worked first as a temp and then at Pennzoil. The third item was some recording of food items etc. which I deduced to be records at the time her was “batching” it in Montana — perhaps at the location where the 1870 census placed him.

My grandfather appears in the 1870 census near Butte, Montana. From the scanty information in the census he seems to have been living with several other individuals in some sort of makeshift living quarters. I surmise they were all miners. Since my grandfather had the nickname of “Gold” Peterson I had the original impression that he was an independent operator, perhaps a placer miner with a claim. I have concluded that this is incorrect and he more likely was a hard rock miner, and what he moved was not gold at all but some other ore for an organized company (like Anaconda). Perhaps he had the idea of being a seeker of gold and changed his tack due to lack of success. When we passed through Phillipsburg (I think it was when we took Laurel to Ames in 1977) Jean and I visited the courthouse in Phillipsburg and looked at the record of placer claims — there was no mention of a Jonas Peterson. Phillipsburg as a site is significant since that is where the post office was at which the two receipts for registered mail I have were sent from.



Page from 1870 census, listing Jonas P Peterson, age 25, male, white, occupation: quartz miner, place of birth: Sweden, not yet a U.S. citizen.

The Stenholms and the Renquists

At this juncture I have sort of completed the travel from the little brown house to my grandmother’s following a route kitty-corner through the park and through the business section of Gowrie. I bypassed the school building as I’ll cover that later on. But I want to mention two other buildings before starting at my grandmother’s house.

The first is a correction of sorts and that is there was a third residence in Gowrie that rivaled Nils Lindquist’s residence and “John” Johnson’s house in construction and relative elegance. That was the Stenholm house which was in the same block as Albert and Molly Rosene’s and faced the park on its west side. It was built of sort of a pink stone or brick and had a porch in front with two-story columns. Stenholm (Pete) had a farm implement dealer (International Harvester) in Gowrie who had died in a swimming accident, either before I was born or when I was too young to remember the occurrence.

Anyway the house looked pretty elegant from the outside — I may have been in it but I have no recollection of the interior. Pete’s widow inhabited the house in sort of solitary splendor during my youth. Mrs. Stenholm was a sister of my aunt Edith (married to my uncle Serenus) and thus an aunt of my cousin Eugene. I recall Eugene staying at the Stenholm house during one or more of his parents’ visits back to Gowrie.

Aunt Edith grew up on a farm about one mile due east of the Peterson farm. Her siblings experienced several traumatic accidents. One brother, Constant, died in the same swimming accident as Pete Stenholm. During the time we were on the farm, Ernest, who was farming the old homestead, dies from an encounter with e Brown Swiss bull he owned. Constant had farmed it until the time of his untimely death. Whereas Ernest was a so-so farmer, Constant was up and coming and at his death left the farmstead with perhaps the best corncrib and barn in the threshing run. Next on the docket for Constant I have heard was a new house but that was never built. Constant died and the old house continued on in use for an indefinite period. It was still in use when I left Iowa for good to begin work in California.

The other house I want to mention, not for the architecture but for the inhabitants, was the Albert Renquist house. Albert was married to Maria (née Callestrom) and if my reading of genealogy is correct, a cousin of my grandmother’s. They lived in a modest structure on the very east end of Gowrie. We always called them uncle Albert and aunt Maria, even though that wasn’t correct, either for us children or for my mother (if I have the genealogy right).

Albert and Maria had one son, Harold, whom I liked very much. He was a rather quiet, bookish person, easy to talk to and tolerant both of ideas and people. He was I suppose 4 or 5 years old than I. It was Harold who introduced me to the Tom Swift, of which he had several.



Harold, Maria, and Albert Renquist, in an undated photo


The Renquists had a radio before we did and I recall hearing it in use during one of our periodic supper visits to the Renquist home. It was one of the small table models and I have the vague impression that on one of these visits the program that Orson Welles put on about the invasion of Martians was discussed. This must be erroneous though as the occasion was well before our move to the farm and I think the Welles program was in the middle 1930s.

Harold was mostly blind in one eye, resulting from an injury in a forceps procedure at his birth. This did not keep him from military service in WWII however, which I think was in some sort of clerical assignment. Later in life he located in the Twin Cities area and I think he married and had a family. He worked for the federal government. I’ve had no contact directly with him since before I went to school at Iowa but I’ve head about him indirectly over the years. Had circumstances been different I’m sure we would have had a continuing congenial association over the years.

Albert worked off and on as a painter and during the time we were on the farm he painted the outside of the farmhouse and I think the shanty. He had painted the other buildings some years earlier, but weather had prevented the painting of the house. I assisted in the painting, being given the tedious task of the windows with all the separations between the panes of glass.

The Renquist family subsisted in part on the income from a farm in southern Minnesota. It was on a trip to attend to farm business that Albert was killed in an automobile accident. Maria was very dependent on Albert psychologically and seeing to her welfare afterward was indeed a burden for Harold. As I have mentioned Maria was a Callestrom, hence a Seashore, and as a consequence was intelligent but somewhat unstable personality-wise (my opinion). Some of the Callestroms were really dithering females in my estimation — they had this sort of slightly mad look in their eyes and face, which Maria certainly had.



The Callestrom sisters. I don’t know which one is Maria. The only one I can identify, because she is identified in a different photo in my dad’s photo album, is the one at lower right, who is Daisy.