scandinavian ancestry

Four siblings Blank left Sweden for a new life.

Gerda Maria Blank was one of them. She was born in Hvarf, Västra Götalands  Län, Sweden in the year of 1886. Her emigration records show that she arrived to Ellis Island on November 26 1904, destination brother Emil Blank, 710 31st N. Avenue, Minneapolis, MN.

I could not find her living with her brother in the Minnesota State census in 1905 so I had to ask my Swedish client Kajsa for more information on Gerda. She told me that Gerda and her three children were mentioned in a Swedish estate inventory as living in Illinois. At the time of the estate inventory Gerda's children were listed with 'address unknown'. A note about an address for a Patricia Van Dyke, a child (probably) to one of Gerda's children was what I had to to work with. My search for a Gerda born in Sweden in 1886 gave result. I found her listed in the 1920 and 1930 census as a wife of Oscar Pearson. They lived in Cook County, Illinois. Listed were also their children Eva, Dorothy, Eleanor and Edward. To verify that this was the Gerda (called Gertie in the cencus) I was looking for, I had to find the birth of these children. I ordered the birth certificate of Eleanor.  She was namned Eleanor Hedera Pearson and she was the child of Oscar Pearson and Gerda M Blank. Bingo, that was the start of the more "serious" research.  Besides the 1930 census there isn't much to look into to be able to "round-up" family members. And especially the female members of the famliy that sooner or later ends up getting married. One way was to try and find Gerda in the SSDI, but that seemed to be a hopeless case. I searched for a long time without a satisfying result. Could she have died early? Could she/they have left the state? I finally decided to look into the Cook County archives directly as I was sure she was there somewhere. That resulted in a couple of possible hits. And one of them was her! She lived with her daughter Eva. She was widowed at the time of her death, and she did not have a social security number. No wonder I had such a hard time finding her! Next step, Eva. Eva was the informant at the death of Gerda. Who would it be at the death of Eva? I found her death certificate and sister Dorothy Casino was listed as the informant. Next step, was Dorothy still alive? I did not think so as she was born in 1917 so I started my search for her in the SSDI and obits, from the year of Eva's death until today. It didn't take long to find her. Dorothy Casino nee Pearson died in June of 2002. And listed were her children John and Richard.  Her obit told me that she was the " beloved wife of the late Nicholas; loving mother of John (Joan) and Richard; fond sister of the late Eleanor Van Dyke, Eva and Eddie Pearson; dear aunt of many nieces and nephews."

So there was the name Van Dyke finally! Eleanor married a Van Dyke and she wasn't too hard to find now, as I knew her name.  Eleanor died early 2002. Eleanor Hedera, wife of the late Harry van Dyke had 6 children, all still alive supposedly and Patricia is one of them.

This is a brief summary of Gerda Maria Blank's destiny in her new country and the research I did on her. I sent a full report to Kajsa. But I still have some work to do, I never consider myself  'done' with a case.  If I can find more, whatever that might be, I'll keep on looking.

Update October 20, 2008

I just got an email from my client saying that she is now connected with the family in Chicago. And that makes me so happy. After all, that is why I do this, day after day.