Remembering Renate
Remembering Renate: Renate (Fooken) Pedersen (1867-1901)
Family Story Studio, 2017, pp. 44 (Writing, Editing, Design, & Layout)
For many years of my life Renate's story has been a haunting mystery to me. My great-great grandmother married an older man (they didn't even speak the same language!) and died young - supposedly in childbirth - but no one knew exactly when, only sometime after the 1900 census in Sims, North Dakota.
Her lines on my family tree were mockingly blank; the lack of information bothered me as I more easily filled in the blanks on other lines. How could someone be forgotten like that? What was she like? What happened to her? This published essay is not only an effort to answer these questions through carefully sourced documents, social history, interviews, and photo analysis, but it is also a personal journey that reveals how researching our ancestors can better help us know and honour them.
Family Story Studio, 2017, pp. 44 (Writing, Editing, Design, & Layout)
For many years of my life Renate's story has been a haunting mystery to me. My great-great grandmother married an older man (they didn't even speak the same language!) and died young - supposedly in childbirth - but no one knew exactly when, only sometime after the 1900 census in Sims, North Dakota.
Her lines on my family tree were mockingly blank; the lack of information bothered me as I more easily filled in the blanks on other lines. How could someone be forgotten like that? What was she like? What happened to her? This published essay is not only an effort to answer these questions through carefully sourced documents, social history, interviews, and photo analysis, but it is also a personal journey that reveals how researching our ancestors can better help us know and honour them.