Ina—
Ina Hall was my maternal grandfather’s first wife. We only learned about her after my grandmother’s death in 1989. The story that was passed down was just her name, and that there were two children who had died. There was speculation that they died in a fire or the Spanish flu. To me, it was just an unbelievably tragic thing that happened to him, and I wanted to know more. Thanks to a number of online resources, including newspapers, public records and genealogy websites, I was finally able to learn much more of the story. The story INA is based on those facts.
Clinton Claude McCracken circa 1914 
C.C. McCracken 
John Robert and Ellen McCracken family about 1908 
JR McCracken and baby Clinton 
Vera and Clinton 
Ellen Hotopp McCracken, mother and midwife 
Agnes age 3, Elizabeth, 1 
Dode, Agnes, Lizzie 
Sylvia 
Dora “Dode” McCracken Miller 
Ethel McCracken Barrett 
Ellen McCracken’s wedding ring found in June’s house 
Platt and Catherine Hall family around 1897 
Ina 9 years old 
Ina at Morningside College Crescent Literary Society 
Ina 
Another year 1907 
List of McCrackens buried at Graceland Park cemetery in Sioux City. Inez is Ina. 
Map of Sioux City, IA and Sioux Falls SD area
Mary–
Mary Siedschlag was my husband’s great-grandmother. She came to the United States in 1862 with her family and settled in Chicago, before her father was employed in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She married John Christian Severin, Jr, and moved to Nebraska with him, and had 15 or 16 children. There are conflicting accounts of that. Twelve survived childhood. She died in 1910 from complications of diabetes, but her husband, who was five years older than she was, lived another ten years.
John Christian Severin Jr. (Chris) and Marya Maria Siedschlag (Mary) wedding photo in Fort Wayne, IN 1866 
Chris and Mary Severin’s family portrait taken in 1894 
Auguste Tapp Siedschlag 
Dr. Alexander Siedschlag Von Mansfelde 
John Christian Severin Sr and Anna Elisabeth Lindekeugel 
Amelia Severin and husband Henry Cramer 
Daughters Bertha, Betty and Anna 
Sons John J., Herman, Arnold and Otto 
Chris Severin 
Guttenberg farm as it looks today 
Chris and Mary, probably around 1909 
Chris after the 1900 house was built 
Homestead plats in 1870 Buda Township Lancaster County, Nebraska
Nellie–
Nellie and Ben are the parents of my father, Burl Melvin Johnson, and I have some memories of them up until age ten when Nellie died of cancer. But I was quite surprised to find out a lot more details about their lives in Brewster, Kansas, and that they had even lived in Edgemont, South Dakota for a few years. I assumed they had always lived in Ashland, Nebraska, where they are both buried.
The overriding theme in this story is due to my father’s perspective. Once his mother died, he no longer kept in contact with his father. Since family was otherwise very important to him, and he didn’t explain much about his parents, I had to assume that there were valid reasons behind his decision. We do know that Ben was in treatment for alcoholism, and that he had a mean streak, from what my father said.
Nellie Irene Smith probably shortly before she moved to Kansas in 1916 
Ben Johnson taken from family portrait, probably around 1910 
Top half of wedding certificate 
Bottom half of wedding certificate 
Marshall and Arminta family portrait around 1910 
Map showing location of Ashland, Nebraska between Lincoln and Omaha 
Nellie in the 1957 with brothers Harry and Verner 
Burl Melvin high school senior photo from yearbook 
More activities from yearbook 
Donald Dean senior high school photo from Edgemont, SD 
Don when he came to visit in 1960s 
Ruby Smith’s death certificate. Ruby’s maiden and married name were both Smith. 
Engagement announcement for Maryellen McCracken and Burl Melvin Johnson 1942 
Article in the Edgemont Tribune when Burl was awarded Purple Heart during World War II 
Zella Hess’s death certificate 1927
Katie—
Katie is my husband’s great-grandmother on his mother’s side. One of the things I found interesting as I started researching where her parents lived was that she was the sole heir to the farm that her father had bought a few years after they moved to Nebraska. When she married Hicke Baumfalk, he moved onto her family’s farm, and eventually Hicke and her father bought some adjacent land together. Another curious thing about Katie was that there are two portraits taken of her, one with Hicke, which had to be sometime before 1913, and a second one with William, whom she married in 1917, and she looks so identical in the two photos that you would think they were photoshopped, but this was long before that was possible. You will see those below.
“Katie” Frauke Jurgens Freese and Hicke Weltes Baumfalk’s wedding photograph Feb 1889. 
Hicke as a young man probably at his parents’ house near Pickrell, NE 
Hicke’s sister Dena who married August Dissmeyer, William’s brother 
Dick Hick Baumfalk, Katie and Hicke’s second son, who moved to Wyoming 
Rekka Baumfalk, Katie and Hicke’s daughter 
Deed from courthouse showing land sale from Jurgen Freese, Katie’s father, to her and Hicke Baumfalk 
Katie and Hicke probably around 1913 
William and Katie, probably when they married in 1917 
Map showing Pickrell, Filley and Beatrice, which is south of Lincoln, NE 
Marker on grave at Zion Lutheran cemetery near Pickrell. He was actually born in 1864.
Writing the Next Chapter 