Joseph Janson's last will and testament

Oh, such a beautiful fall day today!  It's breezy and 64° and I'm happy ☺.

Yesterday, we heard from Bob G, a Johannes Janson descendant (his mom was a Daniel).  Bob's sent info before, about that side of the family and about the Zeeland, too, the ship that carried both families to America.

If you recall, Johannes had a son named Joseph, who became the blacksmith and village clerk in Buckman.  That made two Joe Jansons to keep separate, i.e., if the newspaper said Joe Janson had visitors from New Munich, then you knew it was old Joe, but if the paper mentioned Joe Janson's daughter who was working in Little Falls, you knew it was blacksmith Joe.  The problem ended in December 1911, when our grandpa's father Joseph died.  What Bob found was a last will written by (old) Joseph and his wife Franziska, from February, 1911.

The document must have been a transcription because the handwriting is too even and legible and (carelessly misspelled), but it gives us a list of what they owned, as well as who their close friends were (Ignatz Ronellenfitch and Joseph Weisbrik). This is soooo cool!

THANKS, BOB!

Elizabeth Naber 1873-1911

One of the conundrums Larry and I ran into early in our search was the numerous different Elizabeth Nabers we found.  We eventually discovered that my grandmothers' father, Gerhard Naber, had married twice to women named Elizabeth and with the second Elizabeth had a daughter they named... Elizabeth.  

When great grandpa Gerhard died in Iowa, his widow Elizabeth moved to Buckman with her sons John and Gerhard, and daughters Margaret and Elizabeth.  A third daughter, Katherine, already lived in Pierz (Mrs William Bahns).

Evidently, the younger Elizabeth had kidney troubles* even before they left Iowa, and finally died of it in April, 1911:

 I was struck by the life/death/funeral/burial economy of the announcement in the paper.  Sure, the Pierz Journal was a weekly, and this all happened within a week.  It was strange, tho, seeing it all on one page.

* Bright's Disease is an older classification for different forms of kidney disease. It was named after Dr. Richard Bright, who described the condition in the early 19th century. Lack of understanding of kidney function naturally meant that several different conditions could be considered Bright's Disease. These include inflammation of the kidney, commonly called nephritis. Inflammation may be the result of too much protein being shed through the kidneys, called proteinuria, or hematuria, which causes blood in the urine. As well, Bright's Disease might describe kidney failure due to high blood pressure or retention of fluids.

Those symptoms most commonly associated with Bright's Disease were intense pain on either or both sides of the lower back. Fever might be present and intense edema, or retention of fluids, might cause the extremities to appear extremely swollen. Breath could be labored and difficult, particularly if kidney failure caused fluid to accumulate in the lungs, or was caused by metastasized cancer.

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...

Joseph and Wendelin Janson NEWS

From the Pierz Journal, April 20, 1911--
"Joe Janson Sr. left for California Monday to visit his son Wendeline, who is running a truck farm out there.  Joe will stay a year for his health.  He has rheumatism and we hope it will help him".

Wow!  Three short sentences and look what we've learned: 1) Great grandpa tried California weather as a cure. 2) Wendelin did something besides the railroad, at least for awhile, and 3) Buckman knew Joseph as the Senior Joe Janson because his cousins' son was also Joe Janson (blacksmith in Buckman).

It's hard to imagine Wendelin trying something as agricultural as truck farming.  On the other hand, just cuz it's in the paper doesn't make it true.

Grandpa Anton said his father was weak and ill when they moved home from trying Virginia in 1902, but we didn't know that he went to California for his health 9 years later.  He didn't last a whole year--he died after 8 months, on December 19th, 1911. I wonder, did he die in California?
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So, I went looking for the Joseph Janson obit in the Pierz Journals of December 21 and 28.  No luck.  All I found was this, in Math's "Buckman" column, complete with misspellings:
(Yes, yes...I know you're supposed to copy something exactly.  Tough ☺).
"Sebastian Janson returned to his home in Wadena Saturday.  He was here to attend the funeral of his father Joe Janson".