Tombstone Tuesday: Esther Elizabeth (Anderson) Kellman

Photo by Joan Kobernik Hoeft - Find A Grave contributor

Esther Elizabeth Anderson was born on 1 September 1889 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the daughter of my 2nd-great-grandparents Andreas Troedsson/Andrew T. Anderson and Marthe Elisabeth Eriksdatter/Erickson. She married Carl Winton Kellman on 15 November 1913 in Chicago. They had two sons, Carl Winton Kellman and Robert Anderson Kellman. By 1930, the Kellman family had moved to Sycamore, DeKalb County, Illinois. Esther's husband Carl died on 11 November 1944. Esther moved to Selah, Yakima County, Washington in 1960. She died on 17 November 1970 in Yakima, Yakima County, Washington. She was buried in Terrace Heights Memorial Park in Yakima, Yakima County, Washington.

52 Ancestors: Week 24 "Heirloom": Andrew T. Anderson's Chairs

My 2nd-great-grandfather Andrew T. Anderson (born Andreas Troedsson) was a wood turner. He made a set of six chairs, one for each of his children: Anna Matilda Anderson, Edward Theodore Anderson, Albert Bernard Anderson, Esther Elizabeth (Anderson) Kellman, Reuben Alexander Anderson, and Ruth Elvira (Anderson) Matson.

My parents have the chair that was made for his son Edward (my great-grandfather, and my father's grandfather).

My cousin Carla has two of the chairs. One of them was made for her grandmother, Esther. Esther did the needlepoint on the chair.

Photo by Carla Harcum

The other chair was made for Anna, the oldest daughter.

Photo by Carla Harcum

Carla and I would love to know where the other three chairs are. Hopefully they are still with family.

Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections

The Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections contain 45 full-text titles from the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Nearly 93,000 issues are available. In addition to newspapers, the collection includes trade journals from different fields. Access is free. You can register and help correct the OCR text so that information will be easier for others to find.

Some of my ancestors lived in Illinois, so this resource is very useful to me. I have already found many items of interest. I learned where my paternal grandparents  Henry Cornelius Gatlin and Helen Martha Marie Anderson held their wedding reception.

 True Republican, 24 June 1939, page 4. Available from Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.

I learned that my grandfather Henry Gatlin was on the committee that was in charge of the arrangements for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's annual summer field day.

Chicago Packer, 16 July 1938, page 2. Available from Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.

I learned that my great-grandparents Edward Theodore Anderson and Ellen Victoria (Dahlquist) Anderson traveled from Florida to Lakeside, Michigan in 1957 so they could celebrate my great-grandfather's 75th birthday with family at my grandparents' summer home.

True Republican, 16 August 1957, page 2. Available from Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.

Some news from out of state is included as well. I found out that my great-grandfather's brother William D. Gatlin, who served four prison sentences, escaped from jail in Bloomington, Indiana in 1912.

The Day Book, vol. 1 no. 306, 18 September 1912, page 25. Available from Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.