Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of John James Wheaton

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Ancestors of John James Wheaton

Generation No. 3

      4. James Watson Wheaton, born 26 September 1857 in New York, New York; died 03 February 1942 in Mineola, Nassau County, New York. He was the son of 8. John Wheaton and 9. Laura W. Atwood. He married 5. Anna Lucia Bergstrom Abt. 1906 in Chicago, Illinois.

      5. Anna Lucia Bergstrom, born 21 December 1886 in Näs, Sweden ⁶; died 08 September 1955 in Mineola, Nassau County, New York. She was the daughter of 10. Per Jonasson Börgström and 11. Ingrid Margreta Jonsdotter.

Notes for James Watson Wheaton:
In the 1860 census, James, aged 3, is listed with his father John and grandparents Chauncey and Anna Watson. His residence was in the 5th ward; 47 Beach St. was in the 5th ward during the 1850 and 1860 census years.

James Watson Wheaton attended the School of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church from 24 Sept. 1868 to 27 June 1871. He was graduated 8 June 1871 and gave the valedictory address. In a history of the school, his parent was listed as Ann Watson, grandmother, and his residence was given as 47 Beach Street, Manhattan. (History, p. 189)

The school occupied a building known as the DeWitt Chapel, at 160 West 29th Street in Manhattan, at the time of his years there. (p. 88) Founded as a church school, it was originally open to all students regardless of their church affiliation until the number of potential students forced the trustees to limit enrollment to church members or attenders. In 1869 the school reopened its doors to members of the public. (pp. 91-92) Therefore we can assume that Ann Watson was a member of the Church, since James was admitted in 1868, at age 11.

The course of study consisted of algebra, arithmetic, astronomy, book-keeping, catechism, composition, drawing, elocution, geography, geometry, grammar and etymology, history of the U.S., natural philosophy (known now as physics), penmanship, reading, spelling and definitions, and universal history. (p. 92)

History of the School of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church in the City of New York, from 1633 to 1883; Aldine Press, New York; 1883.

After Chauncey's death in 1869, Anna and James apparently moved to the 19th ward of Brooklyn by the time of the 1870 federal census. James is listed with his grandmother's surname, but is the correct age, 12.

He married young, at age 17, to Emma L. Ketcham, also aged 17, according to the 1900 Federal Census of Chicago, Illinois. Living with the couple were their son, James, Emma's widowed mother, Sarah (?) Ketcham, and a girl listed as their daughter, Gladys Wheaton, age 5. Gladys, however, is listed as being born in Canada of Canadian-born parents. All of the other Wheatons living then at 2371 W. Ontario St were born in New York. So Gladys was perhaps a niece or adopted ...? Baby photos of Gladys are from a Montreal studio. James was apparently working for the Guardian Fire and Life Assurance Co. in Montreal at the time. An office photo, now very faded and blurry, was taken by a Montreal studio with offices at 1,3 and 5 Place D'Armes Hill.

In that case their residence in New York in 1874 was likely 78 Beekman Street. Emma, James and son moved from Brooklyn to Montreal after 1880. By 1900 they were in Chicago with Gladys.

In 1880 and 1900 James' occupation was given as an insurance agent.

The 1920 Federal Census lists the following for James Wheaton, living at 1335 Dakota Ave, Queens:
62 years ol age, married, born in New York. Father born in New Jersey. Mother born in New York(?). Occupation: insurance clerk.
Roll T625_1235, page 2B, New York State, Queens County, ED 371, image 1035.
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In 1922 he was inquiring about land his half-brother John William had bought in 1906, according to this handwritten letter to him:

309 Albany Ave.
Brooklyn, Sept. 23/22

Mr. J.W. Wheaton
76 William St.
Manhattan

Dear Sir;
      We will quitclaim our title to Lot 30 in Block 5, Stadts Wurtemberg for $25. to anyone who can show that they owned same at time Nassau County bor. (?) in (?) it (?) at the sale.
      We will sell and give a quitclaim deed In (?) it(?) as we got from Nassau Co. for three or four adjoining lots for $50. each.
      This offer is not to hold open for over two or three weeks.
            Yours truly,
            F.J. McManamy (sp?)
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James worked for 25 years for the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, which had offices in New York, London and Chicago. He was given a 17-jewel Swiss movement pocket watch as a retirement gift.

He died in 1942 at the Nassau Hospital, Mineola, New York, because of an intestinal obstruction caused by a carcinoma of the colon. His address at the time was 138 Jerome Avenue, Mineola.

Business card: J.W. Wheaton & Co., Insurance, 159 LaSalle Street, Chicago; general agents, Inland Fire Insurance Company.

More About James Watson Wheaton:
Census: 1870, 19th ward, Brooklyn, New York ⁷
Cremation: 07 February 1942, Fresh Pond Crematory, Queens, New York
Fact 1: ashes lost
Graduated: 1871, grammar school
Occupation: Bet. 1880 - 1942, Insurance agent
Residence: Bet. 1925 - 1942, 138 Jerome Ave., Mineola, NY

Notes for Anna Lucia Bergstrom:
Anna died while reading the newspaper in her living room of a heart attack. Her address at the time was 138 Jerome Avenue, Mineola, New York.

The 1920 Federal Census of New York, Queens County, gives the following information about Anna, living at 1335 Dakota Ave:
33 years of age, married, immigrated 1901, naturalized citizen, born in Sweden, mother language, Swedish. Father born in Sweden, mother language Swedish. Mother, ditto. No occupation listed.

Anna had a cousin, Gustav Falk, who was living in Duluth, Minn., 22 Sept. 1913, and a brother Carl, living in nearby Aurora Village, in the 1920s.

In the 1930 census, she is listed as being 43, putting her birth year as 1885, marrying at age 18, putting the marriage year as 1905. Since we have her living in Moose Jaw, Sask., Canada in 1904, Anna must have come to Chicago soon after and there met James Wheaton. At the time, James was already married to Emma L. Ketcham, and there is every indication that he had an affair with the considerably younger Swedish immigrant. Their son, Clarence, was born in 1907. The affair left the three adults in a quandary. James had two households to take care of, one in Chicago (Anna) and one in New Jersey, where Emma and daughter Gladys had moved by 1907. In his 1909 diary, James refers to efforts by Anna's family in Sweden to convince to leave James and come back home. He was obviously pained by the possibility, and Anna, too, seemed reluctant to leave, as she remained with James until his death in 1942. There was apparently much more love and affection between James and Anna, than between James and Emma.

John A. Wheaton once said that his father had married young, and that the marriage did not work out. Emma and James never divorced, which meant that James and Anna were never legally married, establishing by long years of commitment a "common-law" marriage. Since she could not legally inherit James' estate, the couple took care of placing the 1925 deed to 138 Jerome Avenue in Anna's name alone.

Anna was apparently quite musical, playing both banjo and piano, as well as well read, at least in Swedish. She belonged to the Foresters of America and the Vasa Order, a Swedish-American social organization. Her over-attachment to Jackie, her youngest and only surviving son, however, lead John and Helen Anderson to elope in 1952. They were convinced that Anna would never agree to the marriage, or any marriage for that matter. Helen and John lived with Anna until her death in 1955.

More About Anna Lucia Bergstrom:
Burial: 12 September 1955, Plainlawn Cemetery, Hicksville, New York
Census: Bet. 08 - 09 April 1930, 138 Jerome Ave., Mineola Village, Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, NY ⁸
Fact 1: Plainlawn Cemetery, New York
Immigration: 1901, To US ⁹
Residence: 1925, 138 Jerome Ave., Mineola, NY

Children of James Wheaton and Anna Bergstrom are:

Clarence Bergstrom Wheaton, born 09 March 1907 in 2814 Graveland Ave., Chicago, Illinois; died 1932 in Queens, New York.

Notes for Clarence Bergstrom Wheaton:
In the 1920 federal census of New York State, Queens County, the following information is listed for Clarence:
age 12, single, born in Illinois. Father born in New York, mother born in Sweden.

More About Clarence Bergstrom Wheaton:
Census: Bet. 08 - 09 April 1930, 138 Jerome Ave., Mineola Village, Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, NY ¹⁰
Residence: 1920, 1335 Dakota Ave, Queens, NY ¹¹

ii.

John Atwood Wheaton, born 07 September 1914 in Ozone Park, New York; died 09 May 1991 in Roslyn, New York; married Helen Maria Anderson 22 September 1952 in Elkton, Maryland.

      6. Ernst Emil August Anderson, born 26 August 1875 in Ödeshög, Sweden ^12,¹³; died 28 June 1952 in Brooklyn, New York ¹⁴. He was the son of 12. Anders August Svensson and 13. Maria Christina Johansdotter. He married 7. Karolina Hermana Maria Olsson 1901 in New York.

      7. Karolina Hermana Maria Olsson, born 23 October 1875 in Vamlingbo, Sweden ¹⁵; died 01 February 1915 in Ozone Park, Queens County,, New York ¹⁶. She was the daughter of 14. Peter Timotheus Olofsson and 15. Anna Maria Persdotter.

Notes for Ernst Emil August Anderson:
Tracking down Ernst Andersson was not an easy task. My eldest uncle, Ernest, only knew that "Pop" was born 26 August 1875 near Lake Vättern in Östergötland, Sweden, and that he used to fish as a boy with his father, Anders Swensson, on that same lake. Upon searching for his birth records in the archives in Vadstena, I had to check every parish along the lake's eastern shore for the correct Ernst Anderson, guessing (correctly as it turned out) that Ernst's family would not have wandered too far from the lake during his boyhood. There were 21 parishes along Lake Vättern in Östergötland and 3 parishes in the neighboring län (county) of Småland.
After nearly a day of checking the parish archive books, I found Ernst in the Ödeshög födelse- och dopbok (birth and christening book), vol 38, 1871-1875. If I hadn't been in a library I would have shouted "eureka!" What a thrill to actually find him after plowing through 16 other parish records. The librarian, in fact, had told me that my search was "impossible."
Ernst's father was an "arbetare," or tradesman. Family stories say he was a carpenter.
Ernst followed his older siblings to America in 1896. On the ship, he met and fell in love with a woman from the island county of Gotland, several hundred kilometers away, Karolina Olsson. They married on arrival at Ellis Island, New York. However, see below.

The 1900 Federal census for New York does not verify the story that Ernst and Caroline met on the boat coming over, nor are two such people listed as traveling together in the Ellis island ship manifests.
There is an Ernst Anderson, b. August 1874, living as a boarder at 358 Ocean (?) St. in Brooklyn. He is listed as being single, a carpenter and an immigrant to the US in that same year. We know however that Ernst came over in 1896. Also listed as a boarder is a Charles Anderson, b. May 1880, another single carpenter. This Charles may or may not be related to Ernst. His brother Carl was not born in 1880, according to the landsarkivet records.

The Ellis Island records website has two possible landings for Ernst Anderson:
      (1) 25 April 1894, age 19, from Skofda, Sweden, on Ship Teutonic.
      (2) 8 May 1896, age 21, from Liverpool, on Ship Germanic.

If he left 10 April 1896 from his home parish, he could have landed in New York by May 8. Perhaps the 2nd one is the better choice. On that same ship, the SS Germanic out of Liverpool, England, there were 30 persons from England, 510 from Ireland, 11 from the US, 4 from Russia, 1 from Poland, 115 from Sweden, 84 from Norway, 5 from Denmark and 31 from Finland, for a total of 789 passengers. (Source: ship's manifest, Ellis Island Records web site)

The 1930 census has Ernst living with his friends, James and Anna Wheaton, in Mineola, New York. His immigration year is given as 1896, so doubtless he came on the Ship Germanic. Ernst and his wife, Caroline, were good friends with the Wheatons, who had been their neighbors in Queens. Ernst helped the Wheatons build their new house in Mineola in 1925, and boarded there perhaps after it was completed.

More About Ernst Emil August Anderson:
Baptism: 27 August 1875, Ödeshög, Östergotland, Sweden ¹⁷
Burial: Unknown, Evergreen Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York ¹⁸
Census: Bet. 08 - 09 April 1930, 138 Jerome Ave., Mineola Village, Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, NY ¹⁹
Emigrated: 24 April 1896, To New York ^20,²¹
Fact 1: carpenter/cabinetmaker
Immigration: 08 May 1896, Ellis Island ²²

Notes for Karolina Hermana Maria Olsson:
Caroline was admitted to St. Anthony's Hospital, Queens County, on 5 Dec. 1914 because of pulmonary pertussis (?). The handwriting on the death certificate is unclear. She died 2 months later.
Her address at the tme was 1461 Chester Ave., Ozone Park.

The 1900 Federal census for the 22nd ward, Brooklyn, has a possible listing for Caroline Olson. She is listed as living with her brother-in-law ----- Nielson at 506? Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn. This Caroline was born July 1879 in Sweden of Swedish parents and was single at the time. Her occupation is listed as seamstress. She is listed as being an immigrant to the US in 1895, at the same time as her sister Ellen Nielson. Thus her immigrant year is the same as the one we have, but not her birth month. The census page is indistinct and difficult to read. (1900 federal census, Kings County, New York, roll T623-1060, book 1, p. 201b)

The Ellis Island records website has four possible Caroline Olsons:
(1) Caroline Olson, arrived 30 Nov 1892 from Sweden via Liverpool, on Ship City of New York,
(2) Caroline Olson, arrived 23 August 1895 from Sweden via Liverpool, age 23 (unmarried), on Ship Campania.
(3) Carolina Olson, arrived 13 Sept. 1895 from Sweden via Göteborg, age 19 (unmarried), on Ship Sicilia. Occupation servant.
(4) Carolina Olson, arrived 22 Oct. 1895 from Sweden via Halsingborg, Sweden, age 24 (unmarried) on Ship Virginia. No occupation listed.

Of these, the third one fits the information we have best.

Her family nickname was Lina, according to a letter sent to John J Wheaton by a mutual cousin.

More About Karolina Hermana Maria Olsson:
Burial: 1915, Evergreen Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY ²³
Emigrated: 30 August 1895, From Ejsta, Gotland to Ellis Island ²⁴
Fact 1: seamstress
Immigration: 13 September 1895, Ellis Island ²⁵

Children of Ernst Anderson and Karolina Olsson are:

		i.		Arthur Anderson, born 1902 in Brooklyn, New York; died 1903 in Brooklyn, New York.
		ii.		Ernest Clarence Anderson, born 28 February 1904 in Brooklyn, New York ²⁶; died 12 March 1987 in Cresskill, New Jersey^26,²⁷; married Katherine Miller; died 2000 in Cresskill, New Jersey.

More About Ernest Clarence Anderson:
Census: 02 April 1930, 11 Lloyd Road, Jamaica, Queens County, New York ²⁸
Military service: 1942, Bomb disposal corps, US Army
Residence: 1934, 379 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York
Retirement: 1964, Fire insurance underwriter, Sun Insurance Co., NYC

iii.

Herbert Oscar Anderson, born 01 December 1911 in Brooklyn, New York ^29,²⁹; died January 1990 in Honolulu, Hawaii^29,²⁹; married (2) Josephine Gray; born 07 April 1908 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania ³⁰; died 11 December 1976 in Chicago, Illinois^30,³¹.

More About Herbert Oscar Anderson:
Census: 02 April 1930, 11 Lloyd Road, Jamaica, Queens County, New York ³²

More About Josephine Gray:
Burial: 1976, Irving Park Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

iv.

Helen Maria Anderson, born 16 July 1914 in 1461 Chester Ave., Woodhaven, New York; died 04 December 1994 in 400 Streble Farm Lane, Lebanon Junction, Kentucky; married John Atwood Wheaton 22 September 1952 in Elkton, Maryland.

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