52 Ancestors - #10 Joseph Samuel Marrom

Joseph Samuel Marrom, my husband's maternal grandfather, is our most stubborn research brick wall. While we have located several cousins, filled in family members for his children and visited his grave, we have been unable to document his parents, the names of relatives he may have lived with in New York City and Chicago after his emigration to the United States or discover the name(s) of half brothers or sisters that emigrated to South Africa.  The timeline below spotlights what we know and what we have discovered about Grandpa Marrom.

• January 2, 1874:  Joseph is born to Samuel and Esther Marrom.  His birthplace is either Tilsit, East Prussia as stated by his son William Lionel Marrom or Tauroggen, Russia as stated on his naturalization paper.  Tilsit and Tauroggen are both located in the Baltic.  East Prussia was a province of Germany and Joseph's parents are listed as being born in Germany in the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 US Censuses.  Tilsit located on the Lithuanian - Russian border became Sovetsk, Russia after 1946.  Tauroggen is now Taurage, Lithuania. This birth date was stated by Joseph on his World War I Draft Registration Card.
• Esther passes away while Joseph is still a baby.  Samuel remarries and has several more children.  Lionel remembered his father receiving a letter from a half-brother who lived in Capetown, South Africa.  The half-brother spelled his name "Meram."  When Lionel asked about the difference in spelling, his father explained the family in the United States felt the spelling of Marrom looked better.  In an effort to locate Merams in South Africa, we searched available South Africa directories.  Finding no Merams, we mailed letters to the Marams we found.  While this led to finding a family that had emigrated from Lithuania and had ties to the United States, we could not make positive connections.
• Family story indicated Samuel operated a hotel in Tilsit.
• About 1886 (best estimated from family stories). Joseph left his home for the United States.  The family story claims he traveled alone (he was 12 or 16 if one uses the age he claimed when he joined the US Army) and stayed with relatives in New York and then Chicago when he arrived.  No names of these relatives have survived.  In searching indexes and censuses, I have identified a few potential names but have not been able to confirm or located surviving family members to establish communication.
  
• November 7, 1891:  Joseph enlists under the Sam Marrom in the United States Army in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  He states his age as 21 years, one month.  He is described as 5 feet 5 1/2 inches tall with dark brown eyes and hair.  In addition it was noted that he three vaccinations in each arm with a scar over his left eye and a scar on his right knee.  He served in the army for a period of five years.
• April 21, 1896: Joseph marries Annie Selk in Paris, Idaho.  Paris is near Bear Lake. (Idaho, Marriages, 1878-1898; 1903-1942, FHL microfilm 1450967)
• December 21, 1896:  son, William Lionel Marrom, is born in Dingle, Bear Lake, Idaho.
• May 30, 1899:  daughter, Norma Marrom, is born in Montpelier, Bear Lake, Idaho.
• July 18, 1901: son, Howard Marrom, is born in Montpelier, Bear Lake, Idaho.
• August 8, 1902: Joseph receives his Certificate of Naturalization in the Fifth Judicial District Court in Bear Lake County. In this document, Joseph renounces allegiance to the Czar of Russia.
• 1903:  Joseph starts the Eagle Clothing Store in Preston, Idaho.
• March 30, 1904: daughter, Grace Marrom, is born in Blackfoot, Bingham, Idaho.
• April 26, 1906: son, Clifford Stanley Marrom, is born in Preston, Franklin, Idaho.
• September 23, 1910: son, Nathan Aaron Hawley Marrom, is born in Preston, Franklin, Idaho.
• 1912:  Joseph enters politics and is elected to serve as a City Councilman for Preston.
• October 15, 1913: daughter, Alice Marrom, is born in Preston.
• February 14, 1915: daughter, Esther Kay Marrom, is born in Preston.
• 1919 - 1921: Joseph serves as Mayor of Preston.
• May 1, 1924: daughter, Beverly Ann Marrom, is born in Preston.
• 1930: Joseph and family still at home move to Salt Lake City.
• July 16, 1935: Beverly dies in Salt Lake City.
• October 1937:  Joseph suffers a stroke.
• December 1, 1937: Joseph dies of pneumonia.

In our efforts to discover more information on Joseph's ancestors we started a blog, Marrom Quest, several years ago.  If you are interested in additional information on our quest, visit http://marromquest.blogspot.com/

52 Ancestors - # 9 Edith Louisa Gill

Welsh Flag

While Wales is a relatively small country it plays a fairly significant role in my family history.  Lines on both sides of my family go back to this corner of the United Kingdom.  With mystic stories of the knights, wizards, Druid priests and bards, the heritage is colorful and fascinating. Beyond the tales of King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, stories of the hard life of coal miner families, Tom Jones, the title Prince of Wales bestowed on the heir apparent to the English throne, I knew little about the country.

As I go back on my family lines, my great grandmother, Edith Louisa Gill Backman, is the first of my forebears on my direct line to have been born in Wales. So I decided it is high time to gather a few facts about this ancestral country. Continuous human history in Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, dates back to 9000 BC. With this extensive history I obviously won't have space or time to do more than mention a few highlights and perhaps some favorite tidbits of information I have unearthed.

The Iron Age was the period associated with the Celts who dominated the area until the arrival of the Romans in 43 AD.  The Romans retained control until the 5th century when they departed their outposts on the island.  This opened the door to invasion by the Anglo-Saxons.  In the subsequent splintering of the British language ad culture throughout the island, the Welsh people were the largest group to successfully retain their language and culture.  This continued through centuries of dominance by the English and incorporation into the United Kingdom.

The Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century led the country to turn increasingly nonconformist in its beliefs and away from the UK's dominant Church of England.  The Industrial Revolution brought dramatic increases in population as a result of the explosive growth of the coal and iron industries.  I will stop here as it was in the late 19th century when my ancestors left Wales for the United States.

Dragons have always intrigued me so it was not surprise that the Welsh flag is one of my favorite national flags.  The white and green bars of the flag are associated with the Tudors who claimed Welsh ancestry while the dragon dates back to a dragon banner carried by the Welsh hero Cadwaladr in the 700s.  The flag is known as Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon.

The color white in flags is often used to represent peace and honesty while the color green is often used to denote hope, joy, and love.  In many cultures it also has a sacred significance.  The color red of the dragon is often used to represent bravery, strength and valor.

Let me introduce you to Edith or Edie as she was often called.  She was born July 20, 1870 in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales.  Located in South Wales, Pontypridd is about 12 miles north of Cardiff and is the gateway to the beautiful valleys of south Wales.  It is also famous for its Old Bridge which has stood since 1750.

Edith Louisa Gill

Edie's parents were David Richard Gill and Sarah Ann Hodges Gill. At the time of her birth she had three older brothers; David Richard Gill named after his father, Thomas George and Henery (Henry) Hodges Gill, an orphaned cousin who was adopted by her parents.  Two other siblings, Sarah Jane and William Henry, had not survived childhood.  Four other siblings would be born after Edie:  Elijah, Emily Jane, Albert James, and Joseph John.

Prior to her birth, David and Sarah joined the LDS Church and the family left Wales and set sail for the United States in 1878 aboard the Nevada. Departing from Liverpool, the ship arrived in New York on July 10, 1878.  Next the family traveled by train to Salt Lake City and eventually to Fillmore, Utah.  They would return to Salt Lake City and make that their final home.

On November 26, 1890, Edie married William Jacob Backman in Logan, Utah.  Logan was selected as it was the site of the nearest LDS temple.  The Salt Lake temple was not dedicated until April 6, 1893.  The happy couple would welcome their first child almost a year to the day later.  Little William David Backman (Bill) was born November 19, 1891 in Salt Lake City.  There would be a little gap in additional children as her husband would leave to serve a mission in Sweden.

Following William's return in 1893, the family would continue to grow.  In 1894, Evelyn joined the family.  A second daughter, Edith Louise was born in 1896 followed by Richard Samuel in 1899.  Little Richard would not survive the day.  Three more sons would be born to the couple:  Franklin Gill (Bud) in 1901; Herbert Spencer (Spen) in 1903; and, finally George Siegfried in 1909.

As difficult as it was to deal with the death of little Richard in 1899, a more difficult time would face the couple in 1902 when little Evelyn would become ill and pass away on November 16, 1902.  She would be buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  Her death was very difficult for Edith to come to terms with.

Hand-painted dish belonging to
Edith Louisa Gill Backman

Edith was a kind, loving mother.  Her daughter wrote of how grateful she was for the help her mother gave her with her children, Donna and Jack, who were born just 13 months apart.  She helped Edith again when she was pregnant with her second son, Bill who was born in January 1925.  Shortly after his birth Edie was diagnosed with liver cancer.  She had surgery in February but her condition continued to deteriorate until her death on December 13, 1925.

My grandmother, Edith Louise Backman Martin, gave me the hand-painted dish pictured at the right.  This dish had belonged to her mother and she remembered it being used on many occasions on her mother's table.  

David Richard Gill Family
Back row:  Elijah, David, Independencia Ruth, Albert, and Joseph
Front:  Sarah Ann, David R. Gill, Edith and Thomas
Photo from Amber McKean family collection

 

52 Ancestors - #8 William Jacob Backman

William Jacob Backman
August 14, 1886 (age 18)

William Jacob Backman is my other paternal great grandfather.  I am fortunate to have a copy of a collection of his thoughts which has given me a better appreciation of the person he was.  I will be using many direct quotes to help you get to know him as well.

His life story begins in Sweden and had a bit of a twist as his parents joined were early converts to the Mormon Church.  As a result, he was one of the few Swedish children who were not baptized by a "Priest of the State Church." This created a bit of a situation for William at the age of seven when he was to start school and there was no legal or accepted religious documentation of his existence. Finally at the age of eight, he was able to start school with the help of a family friend.

As converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church as it was more commonly known, the family looked forward to the time when they could emigrate to the United States and move to Utah.  The opportunity for William and his brother Gustave came in the summer of 1877.  Gustave left Sweden with his Uncle John and William left under the care of John C. Sandberg, a LDS missionary returning to Salt Lake City.

William arrived in Salt Lake on October 6, 1877 and lived with the Aaron Jacobsen family until the following year when his parents, brother George, and sisters, Anna and Bertha arrived in July 1878. Shortly after their arrival, little Bertha passed away.  This was William's first experience with the death of a loved one.  As a boy of 10, he remembers his Mother's grief causing him the greatest pain at the loss.

Adjusting to life in America William remembers feeling shocked when he was teased by other boys as he tried to speak English.  To add insult to injury, they called him a Dane. It seems the boys thought all Scandinavians were Danish.  His English gradually became more fluent as he spent more time with the Jacobsens.

In the 1880 US census, the Backman family is shown as living on Second South in Salt Lake City.  The surname is spelled "Bachman."  The "h" and "k" in the name seem to be used interchangeably in many documents.  At the time the family consisted of his parents, Samuel and Hannah (Anna Johanna), brothers (Gustave and George), sister Anna and William.  Samuel is listed as working for the railroad.

In his memoirs, William explained the Backman name came from the Swedish Army to distinguish one of his ancestors from the multiple Swensons, Nilsons, etc.

William wrote about some of the jobs he did during his life.  He started working in 1879 at the age of 11.  His first job was weeding and thinning carrots and turnips for a man name Levi Reed.  Other youthful jobs included peddling vegetables door to door, delivering hats for a Millinery shop, and washing dishes at a saloon up Little Cottonwood Canyon. In 1883, he started work in the railroad's tinshop with his father. He would work as a tinsmith for the rest of his life.

At the age of 21, William noticed Ede Gill (Edith Louise Gill) standing by her gate visiting with another young man.  He stopped to talk and joke for just a few minutes. Even though he had known Ede for several years, those few minutes changed his life.  He courted Ede and they were married November 26, 1890.

The happy couple soon started their family.  A son, William David (Bill), was born November 19, 1891. In the fall of 1891, William received a call to serve a mission for the LDS Church.  With the backing of his brothers he departed for Sweden on February 20, 1892.  While his wife and young son were in the care of her father.

While he enjoyed the social aspects of religion and the values it encouraged, he had never had strong feelings for the doctrines of any organized religion.  His time in Sweden was filled with internal conflicts.  He suffered horribly from homesickness for his wife and little boy and struggled to reconcile his feelings toward religion and preaching it to others.  The financial panic of 1893 provided the final push he needed to return early from his mission.  With money becoming tight for all of his family members back home, he received a letter from his wife with a few dollars in it that she had earned to laundry.  He felt the time had come for him to return home and look after his family.

William Jacob holding little Bill, Ede,
Ede's sister Ruth holding Lyn in front of the
Backman home at 24 Jeremy Street

Upon his return to Salt Lake his life seemed to pick up right where is left off with his wife.  He
struggled a bit with his now almost two-year old son.  Father and son struggled to get close until the birth of his new sister, Evelyn (Lyn) in 1894.  With his mother so involved with the care of a new baby, little Bill discovered his Father again.

The family would continue to grow with the birth of Edith (Babe) in 1896.  The joy at the birth of a second son, Richard Samuel on April 30, 1899 would be short lived as the little infant did not survive the day.

Another son, Franklin Gill (Bud), was welcomed on July 30, 1901, Herbert Spencer (Spen) joined the family on December 12, 1903, and finally, George Siegfried on October 9, 1909.

As William wrote in his memoirs, the family enjoyed a pleasant life and always had enough to meet their needs in comfort.  There were difficult times as well included the death of little Lyn at the age of eight in 1902.  Ede would begin suffering from the symptoms of liver cancer.  She would pass away on December 13, 1925 leaving a gaping hole in William's heart.

After a few years, William married a widow, Mary Ann Haywood Gillespie in 1929.  They would enjoy watching their children's families grew.  William passed away on September 17, 1943.