Readers Respond

Richard Tingblad, Whitman, Massachusetts: My grandparents Claus and Emma (Eliason) Anderson both died in a tuberculosis epidemic in Brockton, Massachusetts, in the early 1900s. They left seven orphaned children. The youngest, my dad, Herbert, an infant, was adopted by another Swedish immigrant couple, Carl and Anna (Erickson) Tingblad. The eldest, Sadie, who was 16, went to work as a maid. The rest of the children were sent to the Swedish Christian Orphanage in Cromwell, Connecticut. Herbert was not told that he was adopted until he was 21. After believing himself to be an only child, he was astonished to discover that he had six siblings.

Jodie Biles, Lexington, Kentucky: My mother was orphaned at age 10. Her mother died in 1925 from the long-term effects of the Spanish Flu, and her father died the following year due to a work accident. My mother was raised by her older sister, Eva. I never realized how traumatic my mother’s life had been or how close she was to my Aunt Eva until Eva died in 1976. That was the first time I ever saw my mother cry.

Amy E Hogg, Guelph, Ontario: My ancestor Dr. Isaac Brock Hawkins contracted cholera in 1832 while caring for passengers arriving at Port Stanley, Ontario, from New York. Isaac passed the illness to his wife, Rachel (Ryckman); they were both dead within a week of each other. Isaac and Rachel left seven children under the age of 10, who were taken in by neighbors in the community.  All the children were allowed to keep the Hawkins surname.

Carol Austin, Garden Grove, California: My great-great-grandfather Marcellus Hasha was an orphan. He is listed on the 1850 census in Jefferson, Texas, as a 15-year-old who was born in Louisiana and living with an unrelated family. DNA tests have shown that Marcellus was Cajun, and that he descends from the Hache-Gallant line.

Brendan O'Donnell, Fairfax, Virginia: My paternal grandfather, John J. O'Donnell Sr., was orphaned at age 13 in 1903 in New York City. The nuns of the parish school he and his sister attended arranged for the siblings to be taken in and supported by two parish families. John enrolled in Manhattan College at age 23 and graduated with a degree in civil engineering. He later established a contracting company that specialized in renovating Catholic churches for the Archdiocese of New York—his way of paying back the nuns who helped him.