Mystery Monday: The 1944 job application

~ Lark Dalin Robart ~ Leave a comment
My father, Cid H. Dalin Jr., in 1944 at age 17

As part of my 2016 resolution to organize my small mountain of genealogy records once and for all, I am in the process of transcribing and analyzing all documents I have collected over the years. Yesterday, I worked on an interesting document I discovered only a few months ago. The document is a job application and comes from the personnel files of the Northern Pacific Railway Company. Apparently, my father applied for a job as a “yard clerk” on May 13, 1944 – when he was a junior in high school and only 17 years old. Continue reading →

Tombstone Tuesday: Gravestone of a Mother and Daughter

~ Lark Dalin Robart ~ Leave a comment

 

Mary and Nora

Gravestone of Mary M. Williams and Nora M. Blacker

Transcription:

Mary W.                                                    Nora M.

WILLIAMS                                               BLACKER

1924 – 1952                                               1902 – 1937

Mary and Nora were my mother’s sister and mother, respectively. They both died very young. Mary was 28 and Nora was 371.

They are buried side by side at Forestvale Cemetery in Helena, Montana. John David Blacker, my grandfather, is buried just to the right of this gravestone.

NOTES

  1. Since the gravestone was laid, we learned that Nora was born in 1900 and not 1902. ↩

Serendipity

~ Lark Dalin Robart ~ Leave a comment
This is me organizing old family photos that my mother gave me – way back in 1967. Gotta love that pixie haircut!

I love old family photos. I mean I really love them. So much so that it makes me sad when I find “orphaned” family photos in antique shops or on the walls of restaurants. How did they end up here? How could anyone give up these family heirlooms? And I’m always certain there’s someone in that family – someone like me who would give almost anything to have those precious photos back. Continue reading →

A double mystery: Brita’s maiden name and her son Johan

~ Lark Dalin Robart ~ Leave a comment

The story my father told me so long ago about his grandparents Andrew and Brita Dalin left me with two mysteries – well, at least two.  The first is the mystery of Brita’s maiden name.  I remember my father saying, “Well, it was something like Anderson or Johnson – I think.”  In all my years of research, I’ve managed to narrow it down (if you can call it that) to either: Continue reading →