Cornelius Jansen Clopper (abt 1636 - abt 1686)

Bruce Westerdahl’s 8th G Grandfather

Cornelius Jansen Clopper was born in the Netherlands in Bergen op Zoom on the coast of the North Sea. The Zoom is a river and Bergen op Zoom means “Hills on the Zoom.”

Sometime in the first half of the 17th Century, Clopper immigrated to New Amsterdam in an area which is now the financial district in Manhattan. The specific date is unclear. 

According to tradition, Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from Native Americans in 1626 for a load of cloth, beads, hatchets and other trinkets valued then at 60 Dutch guilders.  According to my research, Minuit got the core of the Big Apple for about $72 by today’s standards.

Clopper established a business as a blacksmith on the northwest corner of Pearl Street and Maiden Lane. Check it out on Google Maps.  

On October 28, 1657, Clopper married Heyltje Peters, and genealogical records suggest they had seven children, and the oldest was John, from whom members of the Houck/Westerdahl families are descended.

When Cornelius died, he left a fortune of $10,000 He was one of the richest men in New York.

A 5th G Grandson of Cornelius and Heyltje was Theodore Roosevelt Jr, the 26th President of the United States. Teddy Roosevelt is also my 5th Cousin 3 times removed.

Isn’t genealogy fun?

Herman “Bud” Hamilton Houck  (August 27, 1906 - August 27, 1966)

Bruce Westerdahl’s Uncle

A lovable rogue. That’s how I remember my Uncle Bud, my Mother’s brother who was only five when his Mother died. Elsie Pearl was only twenty-seven. What a traumatic experience for the four children she left behind!

Effie Shuey Houck, Uncle Bud’s stepmother when Grandpa remarried, was not the warm and fuzzy type at the time according to my Mother. She was rigid and very demanding of her children, including Uncle Bud who I always thought  of as  a free spirit.

After only two years of high school, Uncle Bud began working for a bakery and soon established an excellent reputation for his pastries and specialty breads. When he enlisted in the Army in WWII in April of 1942 at the age of twenty-five,  he was sent to the South Pacific where he was a cook. As far as I know, he had no combat experience.

Uncle Bud was married twice, but my genealogical records about those events are incomplete. We do know that he and Gail Bonner, his first wife, had a son, Laverne with whom we occasionally correspond.  

Uncle Bud was only sixty when he died, undoubtedly a tragic victim of alcohol abuse. That addiciton prompted some relatives to label him the “black sheep” of the family and turn their backs on him.  What a shame for a man who appeared to love life and enjoy people!

Each year in early December, Nancy and I and other family members participate in the National Wreath Project at the Gettysburg National Cemetery. After creating Christmas Wreaths in the morning, we place them on the graves, and we always make certain we place a wreath at Uncle Bud’s burial site. 

Uncle Bud touched my life, and I hope there are others who, like me, remember him fondly.

Carin “Carrie” Nilsson Westerdahl (December 4, 1877 - March 19, 1938)

Bruce Westerdahl’s Grandmother

My comments about my Grandma Westerdahl are based on an interview with her daughter, my Aunt Eleanor “Lolly” Carlson in 1978. Unfortunately, my memories of Grandma are vague.

Grandma came to the United States in 1892 from Urglopsby in Skane, Sweden when she was just fifteen.  Before she met and married Grandpa in 1903, she worked as a maid for a butcher in Norwood, Massachusetts.   

Aunt Lolly’s first comment about her mother was, “She was a busy woman.” No wonder. Keeping house for a husband and four children (Gertrude, Carl, David and Eleanor) in the early Thirties involved a lot more work than it does now. From what I learned about my father growing up, raising him was a challenge enough for Grandma. 

Aunt Lolly said, Grandma was a good cook, and her favorite pastry was “a tart dessert made with a sweet cookie dough made in a muffin tin with a fruity cram like filling. Coffee bread was also a favorite, "because it was fun to help her make it.” I believe the family recipe for spritz cookies initially came from my Grandma Westerdahl.

Family members today love to go to the ocean. It’s in our DNA, and according to Aunt Lolly, Grandma loved to go places where she saw water. She didn’t swim, but she loved to see the water. Perhaps it reminded her of Sweden and the family she left behind.

I remember Grandma always wore dark, long dresses and her hair was always in a bun. She made her own clothes, and because Grandpa liked her in purple, she had a soft purple satin dress.

Grandma died of stomach cancer in 1938 when she was sixty, and Aunt Lolly, a nurse in training at the time, was her care giver before her death. Well over one hundred friends and relatives attended her memorial service. Family records indicate Grandma is buried in Riverview Cemetery in Shelton, Connecticut; however there is no record of a headstone.

The photo above with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Gert was probably taken in the fall of 1904.

Carl Gustav Julius Petterson Westerdahl (Sep 14, 1878 - Aug 15 1942)

Bruce Westerdahl’s Grandfather

I knew Grandpa Westerdahl well. When I was probably five or six, I spent a summer near a retirement home for Swedes in Shelton, Connecticut where he was the Superintendent, and we interacted often. In the late Thirties, I also attended the church in East Orange, New Jersey where Grandpa was the pastor. I sometimes wonder if that experience led to my years in the pulpit?

Grandpa was born in Lilla Edit in Sweden, and he emigrated to Boston from Sweden in 1896 when he was eighteen with his father, Svante, and his brother, Axel. 

I remember Grandpa as a heavy set man with dimples and a mustache who whistled a lot and played the accordion on which he was self-taught. I suspect he had a natural talent for music.  Grandpa’s daughter, Eleanor, my Aunt Lolly, confirmed my impressions of him referring to him as a jovial, caring patriarch.

He called Lolly his “lilla stumpa,” or “little thing” in Swedish.

Aunt Lolly and others spoke often of Grandpa’s gentle hands. I even remember hearing that he had “healing” hands. For example, according to my Dad, if someone had a headache, he would lay a hand on the person’s brow, and they would feel better. Aunt Lolly said Grandpa would put her to sleep by tapping his hand with a rhythmic pattern.

My Aunt Janet who was married to Grandpa’s son, David, said Grandpa always made her feel at home. “He was exceptionally friendly, and I was always greeted with love.

Grandpa was born Carl Gustav Pettersson. After he arrived in America, he signed documents Carl W. Petersson, then he applied for citizenship in October of 1900 as Carl Wasterdahl, which was his mother’s maiden name.  He was married in 1903 as Carl W. Petterson, and he was buried in Miami, Florida in 1942 as Carl G. Westerdahl. 

I just called him Grandpa, and I loved him.

Jacob Robert Hartman (19 March 1869 - 18 March 1953)

Nancy Ogden Westerdahl’s Grandfather

Unfortunately, Nancy does not have fond memories of her Grandpa Hartman or the trip to his home in Hampton from Gettysburg every Sunday with a chicken dinner prepared with loving hands of her Mother, Grace Hartman Ogden. 

Bob, as he was known to others, must have been well liked in the community, because he was elected to three offices including justice of the peace, clerk of the courts and secretary of the school board. He was also a Mason, a secret fraternal organization whose members supported each other and contributed to charities.

For twenty-five years, Bob owned Hartman’s Mill, located on the Hanover-Abbotstown Road, one mile south of Abbotstown. He sold the business in 1936 at auction. Grandpa Hartman was also a barber for a time, and we still have several of his whetstones and his strop he used to put a keen edge on a straight razor. 

Nancy remembers Grandpa Hartman as a stern, grim man who never treated her Grandma with affection despite the fact she waited on him hand and foot, cooking on an old cast iron wood stove, baking, washing in water hand pumped from a well, ironing, cleaning and raising four children: Grace, Ima, Ira and Lloyd. Unfortunately, another daughter, Mary Catherine, died just one month after she was born. 

Nancy remembers a pig sty at Grandma and Grandpa’s home in Hampton. We wonder if Grandma also took care of the pigs?

The trip to Hampton referred to above, was very unpleasant for Nancy. Unfortunately, her father, Charles,  smoked cigars on the trip, and in the winter with the windows closed, the odor often resulted in Nancy arriving car sick in Hampton. 

Grayce Walter Hartman  

Feb 22, 1900 - Aug 7, 1996

Nancy’s Aunt  /  Gma Ogden’s Sister-in-law

Nancy’s Aunt Grayce was a remarkable woman whom we visited for the first time after our young family moved to Jacksonville, Illinois. She and Uncle Ira lived on a farm outside of Rochelle, Illinois in flat country that was typical of most of the midwest.

One of our earliest memories happened the morning after we arrived, when we were awakened from a comfortable sleep in a feather bed by the sweet aroma of an apple kuchen baking in Aunt Grayce’s kitchen. What a delightful way to get awake!

Undoubtedly, Aunt Grayce is responsible for our interest in genealogy. She kept meticulous records of the Hartman and Walter families, and she did all her research without the benefit of a computer.  

Though Aunt Grayce had many other interests and important positions in her community, she is probably best remembered  for her interest in plants On several occasions, she shipped plants to us from her garden, then at an advanced age, she came to visit them in our garden at Thrushole. She knew most plants by their Latin name.

Aunt Grayce was not a blood relative on the Ogden/Hartman side of the family, but she is a role model for each of us and a joy entry in our memory banks.

Bruce

Nancy Ogden  

Bruce Westerdahl

Today, May  15, 2014, marks the sixty-sixth anniversary of a special day in our lives. Sixty-six years ago, on May 15, 1948, Nancy and I danced in each others’ arms at the Junior Prom at Gettysburg High School.

Those who followed http://www.nancyandbrucetheearlyyears.com/ may recall our first dates were a hayride and a party, but in both cases Nancy asked me. Early in April of 1948, I asked Nancy to a Girl Scout dance, but the Junior Prom was a big deal!

Although dinners, tuxedos and limos were not yet popular back then, the Junior Prom was special with an orchestra, decorations, flowers and, of course, the  Crystal Ball!. 

Here’s the report on the evening from Nancy’s diary:

"Got my flowers this morning about 9:30. It was a wristlet of 8 talisman rosebuds  with a big silver bow in the middle.  The dance was called “Sous la mer” (Under the Sea) ——  the  decorations were dear and the orchestra was swell. After the dance we took a ride out around Barlow’s Knoll. We stopped awhile and he kissed me a whole lot. Came home about 12:30 and Mother and Daddy were still up eating so Mother made us each a hamburger and some drinks, He left at 1:00. I had a wonderful time."

That night, May 15, 1948, marked the beginning of a different kind of relationship between Nancy and me. The phrase that best described that partnership at that time was simply, “We were going steady.” It meant we wanted to be with each other more than we wanted to be with anyone else. 

The decision was initially sealed with an exchange of class rings, later a fraternity pin and finally, on May 30, 1953, it was forever sealed with wedding rings and vows before God and a congregation of family and friends.