Knute and Serine Lindseth

Ragnhild Lindseth, or Aunt Rae as many of us knew her, was Esther Nelson’s sister. She lived in Chicago with her mother, Serine, who we knew as Grandma Lindseth. Esther was given for adoption to Isaac and Elisabeth Koren Torrison (adoption papers are included on this site) when she was three weeks short of her 5th birthday. Even though Esther had been adopted by the Torrisons, the Lindseth members of her family kept in touch with her and later she and Ragnhild became very close. Ragnhild’s namesake sister was born July 24, 1886, and died August 2, 1886. Ragnhild was born February 12, 1888. She had two brothers, John and Carl, both of who died very young. It is my [JPN] understanding Carl was killed by a streetcar when he was 10 to 12 years old. I don’t have an exact birth date. John, who was born February 6, 1885, died March 2, 1919, while in Oregon. I have nothing on cause of death but assume it was some form of accident. Esther’s brother John gave her a $2½ gold piece on a chain for her 16th birthday (October 30, 1910) and she in turn gave it to her grandson, John S. Nelson, on his 16th birthday. John’s pictures comparing its size to a dime are below.

The pictures of the grave sites were taken at the cemetery, (Mt. Olive Cemetery, 3800 N. Naragansett Ave., Chicago). According to the cemetery records (which were not very complete) Aunt Rae was buried with her namesake sister in a separate grave, not with her parents and brothers. Consequently there are two different monuments and the graves are some distance apart.

Ragnhild worked for Western Electric and on July 24, 1915, was on the S.S. Eastland when it sank in the Chicago River. She told the story to Arlene and me when we were living in Chicago and how she managed to survive when over 800 people died. Here are websites where you can get more information if interested: 

http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com/chi-0720-eastland-disaster-pictures-pg/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Eastland

http://www.eastlanddisaster.org/

https://eastlanddisaster.org/survivors/survivor-story-theresa-ragnhild-lindseth-and-willard-brown

Serine (Serina) Eide was from Ølen, Norway, which is on the west coast between Stavanger and Bergen. Knute (Knud) Lindseth was from Ørskaug (Ørskog), Norway which is a district south of Alesund. (Jon Listhaug, grandson of Knud’s sister, now lives on the farm and his sister, Aud Listhaug McKernan, spends her summers at Mevik which was part of the farm at one time). I don’t have any history how Serine and Knute met, whether in Norway or in the U. S. They may have been married in Des Moines, Iowa, since the picture is from a studio there. I have not been able to find any more information at this point. Good challenge for anyone interested.

The old pictures that I have included were received from Magnhild Sørlie and Aud Listhaug McKernan. Included also are pictures from a visit of Andrea Streufert and Elise Nelson to Magnhild Sørlie in 2017.