Those Places Thursday - Is That Building Still Standing?

Some of you may remember the photo I posted on my very first "real" post for Wordless Wednesday. If you have forgotten, you may visit it here.

One of my readers asked if the building in the background was still standing as she wanted to look for it when she visited the area. It got me wondering, too. I have always admired the house but I never thought to look to see if it still existed. Sure, I thought, I'll find out where it was and let her know. It should be easy. I'll just look at the 1900 census again and get my 2nd great-grandparents' address because I'm fairly certain that was where the photo was taken. So I pull up Ancestry.com, view the census image, and find that no house number nor even a street name is written for them. Drat!

No problem. I'll just email the cousin that shared most of the photos I have of that family and see if he has an address, perhaps written on the back of the photo or something. No luck. He didn't have an address, either.

Now what? Oh! City Directories! Yay! So I check Ancestry.com and archive.org but I strike out there, too. Cyndi's List doesn't give me a link to a city directory, either. I had a copy of the Bye family page in the 1905 Town Register for Kennebunk and Wells, but it didn't have addresses.

I'm getting pretty desperate at this point. Where do I go from here? I consult Kathleen Hinckley's Your Guide to the Federal Census. Page 151 talks about Enumeration District Descriptions and Maps. She says that the E.D. descriptions are available in microfilm at the Family History Library. I think to myself, I can look up their E.D., find it on a map, and try to trace the route the enumerator took and at least get it fairly close. So, I check the FHL library catalog and proceed to order the film online. I get the message "The film you requested is already at your selected Family History Center. Please contact your Family History Center for viewing." YES!!!

At the first opportunity, I trek on down to my FHC to find the film. It's right where it should be. I'm on a roll (pun intended)! The description I found for Kennebunk, York county, Maine, E.D. 236 is "All that part of town lying east of the B. & M. R.R." Well! I found a really great map of 1895 Kennebunk in the American Memory Maps Collection. The B&M R.R. appears to be in the far south-western corner of town, which means that E.D. 236 is almost the entire town of Kennebunk.

B&M R.R., Kennebunk, Me., 1895 / G.E. Norris, Brockton.
Image from American Memory Maps Collection, Library of Congress.

Further review of Hinckley's book informs me that the FHL has photocopies of the census maps on microfiche, but I could only find them in book format in the catalog. It also says that photocopies can be ordered through the National Archives, however the URL she provided must be outdated because I get an error loading the page. <sigh>

It's time to change tactics. A more detailed study of the census page on which my 2nd great-grandparents appear, I note that while they are renting their home, the first two families on that page own their homes. Eureka! I can search the land deeds for those families and pinpoint their property. Since I believe the house in the photo is that of a neighbor, it very well could be one of their homes! I immediately return to the FHLC, locate the film number for the Deed Grantee index, v. 3-5, Kennebunk-Z, 1886-1905, and place an order.

As I was viewing the Deed Grantee index, I noticed that there are several deeds granted to the Tvedt family, one of whom is the father of Julian Tvedt, the boy in that photo. This got me thinking...by 1900, Julian was living with his aunt Hilda (Bye) Crowley and her husband, Cornelius Crowley, in Spencer, Worcester county, Massachusetts (see my previous post "Monday Madness - Religiously Insane!" for that sad story)...perhaps Julianna and Frances were visiting Hilda when that photo was taken and I am looking in the wrong location entirely!

By this time, some of you are probably thinking that I am wasting my time and that I should just contact the Kennebunk Historical Society and ask them if they are aware of where this unique building might be. I thought of that and wrote to them. They are willing to try to help me so I sent the photo and the census and crossed my fingers.

As I am very weak in the area of  land and property research, I want to continue on this path to gain the experience if nothing else.To that end, my next step is to order the deeds for some of the Bye neighbors and try to plot them on a map. I might also start looking in Spencer, Mass. for that building but I think I will ask the historical society there first, assuming the Kennebunk historical society responds with a negative.

I will post an update when I get some findings, positive or negative, from the avenues I am pursuing now. This is proving to be a much larger project than I imagined and is in danger of becoming the subject of a future Madness Monday post...

Thanks for dropping by.

 
  Those Places Thursday is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers.

Monday Madness - Religiously Insane!

"Hans O. Tvedt, a Norwegian of this town went to Insane Asylum in Augusta a few days ago. He is said to be religiously insane."  This was an entry made in Andrew Walker’s diary on Friday, 6 November 1896 (Kennebunk, Maine).  The subject of that entry was the husband of my Great-Grandaunt.

Hans Olaves Tvedt was born about 1855 in Østre Molands parish, Aust-Agder, Norway to Samuel Joakim Tvedt and Marthe Olsdatter.[1]  He married Clara Eugenie Bye, daughter of Carl Olavus Hansen and Julianna Marie Rasmusdatter, between 1880 and 1883 probably in Arendal, Aust-Agder, Norway.[2]  It is believed that Hans and Clara immigrated to the U.S. in either 1880 or 1884. His younger brothers, Anthon (Antoine) Marthin Tvedt and Samuel Marthin Tvedt immigrated in 1880 and 1884 respectively.[3]  The brothers settled in Kennebunk, York county, Maine.  Hans created a successful leathergoods business in Kennebunk where they manufactured leather trunks from leatherboard.  They actively recruited other Norwegians to immigrate to Kennebunk to staff the factory, which is presumably why Clara’s family came to the U.S.

So, what happened to Hans in 1896?  He went from a prosperous businessman living the American dream to a raging lunatic at the insane asylum within 16 years or less.  Well, to begin with, he and Clara had only one living child, Julian Martine Tvedt (discussed in a previous post), who was born in Maine in 1888.  While I have been unable to locate any records, we can safely assume that Clara either miscarried or lost children before and maybe after Julian.  Clara died on 6 March 1895 of consumption.  Hans sold his leathergoods business to his brother Samuel shortly after.  Hans must have been consumed with grief.  His son Julian was only six years old when he lost his mother but his father was apparently unable to care for him; Julian was sent to live with his mother's sister Hilda (Bye) Crowley.  

Hans was admitted to the Augusta Mental Health Institute on 21 October 1896, 20 months after Clara’s death, and remained until his death nine years and seven months later.  The Augusta Mental Health Institute’s records are difficult to decipher.  Below is the transcription as best as I can make it out:

21 Oct 1896: Hans Tvedt of Kennebunk, 1st ad., Native Sweden, age 35, was admitted to the Augusta Mental Health Institute. Religious id?????  predominate. Thinks his friends have turned against him.
30 Oct 1896: Very delusional and despondent.
5 Nov 1896: Delusions in regard to religious matters.
10 Jan 1897: No improvement mentally. [This is repeated for 1 Apr and 10 Apr 1897]
20 Jan 1899: Well disposed. Has fixed delusions.
30 Jan. 1900: No change in past year.
18 Mar 1901: No change in past year.
14 Dec 1902: Much the same.
12 ??? 1903: In good physical health. No change mentally.
19 Oct 1903: ditto
15 Sept 1904: Much the same in every respect.
5 May 1906: Recently became very much excited and noisy
8 May 1906: Very much exhausted. Mania is exhausting.
12 May 1906: Died this morning. Exhaustion Mania

Here is the record that was sent to me. If anyone can make out some of the words that I was not able to, please let me know.

 

Acknowledgement: My cousin, Karl Bye, found much of the information in this story. He discovered the diary entry and the information about the leathergoods business. Thank you for sharing your finds with me, Karl! It inspired me to research poor Hans' story a little further.

Thanks for dropping by.

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[1] 1865 census for Christiania, Norway, Samuel Joaki Tvedt household, numbers 22 thru 29, 0918 Østre Moland.

[2] Marriage record has not been located to date. Place of marriage is assumed based on the parish where her sister Marie Elevine Bye’s 1881 birth was recorded. Marriage date is estimated based on assumption that they were married before they immigrated.

[3] Antoine and Sam’s naturalization petitions.  No immigration or naturalization records have been found for Hans.

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Thriller Thursday - Railroad Crossing Tragedy

The Springfield Daily Republican, Springfield, Mass.: Friday, February 24, 1939

The family were returning from a "happy day's work" remodeling an old house which they planned to move into in May. Julian never regained consciousness and died of his injuries on 24 February. The Springfield Daily Republican of 27 February said: "Mr. Tvedt was born at Kennebunk, Me., of Norwegian birth, the family having extraordinary musical ability. His grandfather was a band conductor of Norway and his mother a concert pianist. He graduated from the Washington missionary college at Washington, D.C., and studied the violin with his grandfather. He had taught violin several years. On August 17, 1932, he married Barbara Newton of Vernon. Besides his widow and five-year-old son, Carl, he leaves two uncles, Tersac [sic] Bye of Portland, Me., and Samuel Tvedt of Kennebunk, Me." 

The Atlantic Union Gleaner of March 29, 1939 reported that Barbara and Carl were still convalescing in the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Barbara died in 1984 and Carl died before 1983.

Julian Tvedt posing with his violin.

Julian Martine TVEDT was my 1st cousin twice removed. He  was raised with my great-grandmother Oscara Francesca BYE who was five months older than he. His mother, Clara Eugenie BYE, died of consumption when he was six and a half years old. His father, Hans Olaves TVEDT, was admitted to an insane asylum when Julian was eight years old (a topic for a future "Thriller Thursday"). He was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Hilda Sennove BYE, and her husband, Cornelius F. CROWLEY.

Julian Tvedt and Frances Bye, circa 1898.

Cornelius "Tom" Crowley and Hulda (Bye) Crowley, 1928.

Wordless Wednesday - Julianna Marie (Rasmusdatter, Christenson) Bye

Julianna Marie (Rasmusdatter, Christensen) Bye with daughter Oscara Francesca Bye and grandson Julian Martine Tvedt in Kennebunk, York county Maine about 1900