From Johnson to Westerlund (and back)

When I started looking into family history I knew practically nothing about the Johnson family beyond those relatives that I'd actually known. I did know that my dad's dad's name was Frederick (right, thanks to Ron Johnson for the image), and that he'd died when my dad was very young. I think that was pretty much the extent of it. When I got going on the research I quickly found records of the family in the national censuses of 1940, 1930, and 1920, as well as the New York state census of 1925. I even got a copy of Fred's draft registration card for World War I (see below). He was tall, of medium build, with blue eyes and light brown hair, and born in E. Hempstead, New York.

A visit to the Herkimer County Historical Society early on gave a couple of good hits: the obituary for Fredrick Johnson in the Evening Telegram and a copy of the marriage license for Fredrick and Nellie White (below left). This marriage license was the first indication I had of the names of my great-grandparents. For Nellie, this was straightforward: Luke White and Elizabeth Farnum. For Fred, the parents were given as Alfred Johnson and Charlotte Rumstorn. Spoiler alert: two of the first red herrings! While we were in the Valley, I applied for a copy of Fred's death certificate from the Ilion village office. That arrived a few weeks later, but it gave his parents as Alfred Johnson and Hannah Barthelson (below right). So, the names of his mother don't agree; that's something that would have to be resolved.

But then a roadblock: although I "knew" the names of his parents, I was unable to find anything about the family in the available censuses. They should have shown up at least in the 1892 and 1905 New York censuses and the 1900 and 1910 national censuses (Fred was born in 1888, but the 1890 census data was almost entirely lost in a fire in 1921). Also, a request for the birth certificate of Fredrick Arthur Johnson, born June 9, 1888 in Hempstead came up empty. So here I was, stymied, for quite a while.

Following up on other leads, Fred's obituary said that he was survived by his wife, five children, and a sister, Mrs. William Coperwitch of Woodhaven, L.I. My mom had told me that dad had an Aunt Wilma, and that her husband was a cop in New York City. This was all news to me. Some of you, I know, actually knew Aunt Wilma, but she was a total mystery to me. I could find them in the census records, though.

Eventually, I hit on the idea of writing to the New York City Police Department and asking if they had any information on William Coperwitch that they could share with me. The NYPD came through bigtime, sending me a thick packet of records of his assignments, promotion, pension records, even a photograph of him (see at right). Since Wilma was covered in his pension, there were even a few documents relating to her. And this was the critical record, although it took many months for me to finally put two and two together. On the pension card for Wilma it gives the date that she married Bill Coperwitch: 29 April, 1923. When the light clicked on, I requested a copy of their marriage license from the City of New York. When it came ... wait for it ... it gave her maiden name as Wilma Westerlund and her parents as Alfred (no last name given) and Charlotta Borthelson. Now it seemed like one of those situations where you take two steps forward and one step back. Wilma Coperwitch as Fred Johnson's sister agrees with the obituary and with family recollection. The names "Alfred," "Charlotta" and "Borthelson" are consistent with the Johnson/White marriage license and Fred's death certificate. But Alfred's surname was given as Johnson in both documents, and Charlotta almost matches the marriage license, while it's Borthelson that almost matches the death certificate. So although I got all excited about this finding, the number of discrepancies really made me worry.

What resolutions of these problems that I've been able to make have come in small snippets. First, a search through census records for a Westerlund family with father Alfred turned up, as expected, records for 1892, 1900, 1905, 1910 and 1920. (Somehow, they were missed entirely in the 1905 census. I traced the census takers' steps and they just skipped the building they were living in at the time!) One of the children is a boy named Arthur, born in 1888 (same year as Fred). Another is a daughter named Wilma. The mother's name is given as Hannah C. (1892, 1900), Hanna (1905), Charlotte (1910), and Hannah (1920). So if her name was Hannah Charlotta or something similar, then the first names on the documents I had would be consistent.

Now the question became, is Fred Johnson, living in Ilion, the same person as Arthur Westerlund, formerly living in Brooklyn? I don't have a smoking gun, something like a legal name change document. But here's the best I have so far. When Alfred passed away in 1923, he died intestate, that is, without a will. As a result, the surrogate's court held hearings to formally give Wilma the authority to deal with outstanding debts and property. Those probate records are online, although they're not indexed! So I slogged through hundreds of cases from the Queens surrogate court until I finally found those relating to the estate of Arthur Westerlund. He had two heirs, daughter Wilma and son Arthur. Arthur travelled to Queens to formally sign away any claims he had to the estate. On these records it shows that Arthur Westerlund was then living in Ilion, New York.

Where did the name Rumstorn on the Johnson/White marriage license come from? Another lucky hit from ancestry.com solved part of that question. In 1915 a Mrs. Westerlund of 494 Elton St. in Brooklyn signed the papers to commit her mother to the New York City Home for the Aged and Infirm, Brooklyn Division. This is the address given for our Westerlunds in the 1912 Brooklyn city directory. The reason for the committal was given as "Dest"(itution). The mother's name was Charlotte Rundstrom. I've since found the marriage license for Hermann Runström and Charlotte Barthelsson. So Rumstorn on the Johnson/White marriage license was really Rundström, and it wasn't Fred's mother, but his grandmother! The question I still can't answer is how or why her name was put on the license. That's one that's yet to be solved. Any ideas?

Of course, the last question is why or how did Arthur Westerlund come up with the name Fredrick Arthur Johnson? For that I have no good answer. Fred's paternal grandfather was Johan Erik Westerlund, so perhaps it was a throwback to the old Scandinavian patronymic naming system: the surname of the son of Lars Andersson is Larsson while the surname of the daughter would be Larsdotter. In fact, if you go back to the early 1800's there is a Westerlund ancestor named Lars Jansson. Other than that, though, I have nothing to go on. But beyond the question of why did he choose to change his name to Johnson is the question of why he chose to change his name at all? My pet theory is that it may be related to the anti-German sentiment that was widespread in the U.S. around the time of World War I. People, companies and even towns changed their names. For example, the town of Berlin, Michigan changed its name to Marne. I mention this because my mother's great-grandfather, Patrick Connel Burns, lived and is buried in Marne. To be sure, Westerlund is not a German name, but would the distinction have been understood by the people in upstate New York? I would hope so, especially considering the large numbers of Germans that lived in the area - remember, the township name is German Flatts - but who knows?

So that's the story of the change from Westerlund to Johnson. There are still a few holes in the evidence and some unanswered questions remain. Maybe we'll get lucky and come up with some correspondence between Fred and his family in Brooklyn/Queens that will answer those questions. Do any such letters exist? Check your attics, bibles, and scrapbooks!

As a final note, I'd like to ask for your help. I'm still experimenting and learning this blogging software, and while the layout looks OK on my computer, you may be seeing something very different. So please let me know if there are problems with the display, size of images, anything that you find annoying. Thanks.