Wendelin's "Dan Janson"

Back in November, 2009, I posted a letter that grandpa Anton's brother Wendelin wrote as Anton lay dying at Wendelin's house in LA.  He was angry that Anton hadn't stayed in Minnesota, and, I think, that it was beginning to seem like Jansons came to California to die...on Wendelin's dime.
In the letter, he wrote that  "we can't let this thing end up like Dan Janson..." Larry and I had no idea what that meant--we hadn't discovered Daniel yet (in Rice, Mn) and what could have happened that upset Wendelin so?  
Eventually Larry and I pieced stuff together,and realized he meant his father's COUSIN Dan, the Janson immigrant who'd settled in Rice.  
"None of you would be in Buckman or St Cloud today without the help from here.  I’ll tell you again, we just can’t afford to let this end up like Dan Janson we just can’t".
Whew.  Dan Janson died in Sacramento, California November 10, 1910.  Grandpa Anton died in 1955, so Wendelin was still smarting about something that happened 45 years earlier.  Did Mom and Uncle Reinhard even know what he was talking about?


Frankly, we don't know the story either, but we can speculate:  based on the fact that even in 1955 when grandpa Anton died there, he couldn't be shipped home unaccompanied on the train.  A relative had to claim the body and go along with it--so in 1910, was Wendelin elected to take time off work, identify the body, and take Daniel home?  And oh-oh, was he expected to pay for both, plus doctor bills?  

Daniel and Wendelin would have known each other, surely, but they probably weren't close, or it wouldn't have bugged him quite so much.  Obviously it did anyway, all those years later.

Jansons in the Pierz Journal

ACK!  It's such a shame that mom's family was so private.  The Janson mentions are rare in the 'Buckman News' column in the Pierz Journal, even with Math Hesch being a close neighbor.   Still, once in awhile.....

This visit may have been the occasion this photo was taken, huh?

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OK, this one refers to Joe Janson the blacksmith in Buckman, not our great grandfather Joe.

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A whole string of extended family mentions here, starting with the news (still new to us in 2012!) that GG Joe went to California to recuperate.  Was this the occasion for one of the financial setbacks Grandpa Anton spoke of?

Grasping at straws, see?  But this proves grandpa was spotted in town.

 Great grandpa Joseph Janson died on December 19, 1911

December 28, 1911

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Finding this next clip was stunning for a number of reasons--one being that the PJ didn't know Daniel's name, but printed the item anyway.  Also, Daniel must have been well known in Pierz/Lastrup/Buckman, because of his brother John Janson.  People "knew" which Janson they meant, I guess.

We didn't know that Daniel died in California, either.  

From the Pierz Journal, December 1, 1910:

 (BTW, Larry thinks it's cool to see an incidence of a  letter misplaced by the typesetter ☺)

This state fair seal was in the Journal.  I just thought it was cool.

Hundred year old Janson news

 From the December 21, 1911 Pierz Journal--a clipping just loaded with family connections!

The first line about Mrs. Naber and son:  That was our grandmother Maggie's mom, Elizabeth, and brother, John.  (It still surprises me to find diverse relatives in the Buckman News!)

The party held at Ignatz Ronellenfitch's farm (first place south of the Janson farm) is interesting too.  Everyone who read that would have known that (my g-grandpa) Joe Janson had died two days earlier, and that the Jansons and Ronellenfitchs were relatives from the same town in Germany...so loosing Joe made celebrating a bit harder.  Still, that set of guests insured SOME merriment.

Lastly, "J. B. Brander was a visitor at the home of Joe Janson Sunday."  Was J.B. Brander the parish priest?  Maybe Math was implying that he visited as a family friend rather than the pastor, huh? I suppose they would have been making funeral arrangements that night...