The Names We Share

On July 16, 2023, I traveled 18 minutes with my husband and kids from our home to visit the Pullman National Historic Park. On this day, we drove. But we also could have taken our commuter train just a few stops up the rail line right to the park's visitor center doorstep. Our family loves visiting museums, national parks, and interesting landmarks. We love filling our National Parks Passports with new stamps. There was something deeper and more meaningful to this visit for our family. We were visiting our ancestors' home, walking in their footsteps where they lived, worked, played, learned, and worshiped. On this day, we learned a bit more about what their lives were like in the company town and how our family was a part of American history. My second great grandfather, August HELENIUS, was a tinsmith for the Pullman Palace Car Company. He lived in the company town with his wife, Naima, and their six children. August and Naima were Finnish immigrants who came to the United Sta...

My maternal grandparents, Ed SULLIVAN and Miriam HUFERD Sullivan, met during their college years. They both attended Chicago Teachers College (CTC). My grandfather was 2 years older than my grandmother. He enlisted in the army not long after he started his first year at CTC. When he returned from World War II and re-enrolled at CTC, he was just a year ahead of my grandmother. The above photograph is of Ed and Miriam on a date some time before they were married. While searching yearbooks online, it was quite fun to find the two of them next to each other in club photographs in the 1947 Chicago Teachers College yearbook. My mother said they were already dating by this point. Below is one of the CTC 1947 Student Council Class representatives photographs. Ed and Miriam are in the middle row, 5th and 6th from the left:   Below is the CTC 1947 International Relations Club. Miriam and Ed are in the middle row, 9th and 10th from the left:  

My maternal grandmother, Miriam (HUFERD) SULLIVAN, was a kindred spirit of mine. She was an elementary school teacher and avid artist, as am I. When I graduated with my degree in art education, she told me she wished she had become an art teacher. As I researched my genealogy, I came across her yearbooks from Chicago Teachers College and discovered she was on yearbook staff and even served as one of the editors, just like me. As I dug through the yearbooks to glean as much information as I could about my grandmother and her time in college, I noticed a drawing on the inside of the cover of her senior yearbook. In the drawing, there is a woman sitting on a stool working on an observational drawing. I thought to myself that it looked like my grandma and wondered who created the drawing. I looked at the bottom of it and sure enough, there was her name. Here is the artwork my grandma co-created for the Chicago Teachers College 1948 yearbook:   And here is a detail of her name at the bo...

Before the Rockford Peaches there was Katherine VAUGHAN and the University of Chicago Women's baseball team, about 40 years before the women's baseball league during World War II. My Great-Grandma Katherine (VAUGHAN) SULLIVAN received her teaching degree from the University of Chicago. I knew about this through my mother. Recently, I found her in the yearbooks from her time at U of C and was excited to find her in the team picture for the University of Chicago Women's Baseball team from 1902. My parents have a large portrait of Katherine in their dining room, so I knew right away which woman was her in the photograph. In the team photo below, she is in the third row, second from the left. To read more about the history of women's sports at the University of Chicago, click the link below: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/look-back-history-uchicago-womens-athletics And more, including the photo above of the 1902 baseball team: https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/e...

Every time we take the commuter train into downtown Chicago, a few stops into our ride we will hear over the PA system "Next Stop, Pullman". When we look out the window to the east, we are looking right at the new Pullman National Monument, one of our newest National Parks. But its not really new. The buildings are old. The neighborhood has historical designations and protections. The new national park is the old Pullman factory and company buildings and the surrounding neighborhood of homes and row houses George Pullman built for his employees. The National Pullman Porter Museum is part of it as well.  In all these decades of growing up and living near the Pullman neighborhood, I never imagined it was part of my family history, part of my family's story. Through my research, I have found that around the time my 2nd great grandfather came to America, Pullman was home to a significant Scandinavian immigrant community. Also, my great-great-grandpa was a metal smith going ba...

Below is the immediate family and descendancy of August Johan HELENIUS and Naima LINDVALD, my 2nd great-grandparents, who were the oldest generation of my HELENIUS line to come to America. Living people are not listed for privacy. I have only included information I have personally verified through documents like census, birth, marriage, and death records. If you think there are errors, please reach out to me. This descendancy tree is not yet complete. I will update as I confirm more information. Parents & Siblings All family in this section born and died in Finland to the best of my knowledge  Carl Johan HELENIUS (1832-1909), m. Amanda Sofia LINDHOLM (1849-?) Karl Alfred HELENIUS (1868-1848) Gustaf Rudolph HELENIUS (1870-1951) Oskar Walfrid HELENIUS (1873-1952) Noak Israel HELENIUS (1875-1876) Maria Gustafva Gustafsdotter JERNVALL (1846-?), Naima's biological father unknown, m. Karl Gustaf JEDERHOLM (1829-1878) Artur Alarik JEDERHOLM (1878-1880), half-brother Descendants ...

Below is the immediate family and descendancy of Walter Clarence BLUE (1883-1950), my 2nd great-grandfather. Living people are not listed for privacy. I have only included information I have personally verified through documents like census, birth, marriage, and death records. The photograph above is from the back of a law enforcement ID that belonged to Walter. He was 58 years old in this photo. That would mean the year was 1940 or 1941. This was shared with me by the great-great-grandson of Lestina ARCHER, Walter's wife at the time of this photo. Parents Father: Henry BLUE (1855-1927) Mother: Mary J DILLMAN (1861-1943) Siblings Delbert BLUE (1879-?) Ernest BLUE (1881-1951) Ada E BLUE (1888-?) Clare Celeste BLUE (1891-1953) Edith BLUE (1893-1968) Viola Mae BLUE (1897-1981) Spouses & Descendants Walter Clarence BLUE (1883-1950), m. Mabel Adelia WALKER (1886-1936), m. Lestina ARCHER (1886-1974) Kenneth W BLUE (1908-1977), m. Hazel HELENIUS (1910-1965), m. Saloma BROWN (1906-1994...