Introducing the Hansons
Last month, I posted about the Olsons—my grandmother's mother and aunts and uncles, at least twelve of them in all.
My grandmother's immediate family was much smaller: she was the eldest of only six siblings. In order of birth:
- Helen C. Hanson, 1908
- Janet B. “Bea”/“Bee” Hanson, 1911
- Pearl I. “Hap”/“Happy” Hanson, 1912
- Norma E. and Norman E. Hanson, 1916 (twins)
- Harold Hanson, 1918
Mostly I'm not going to focus much on the Hansons in the photos I'm posting, other than my grandmother and her parents. But I may post occasional photos of the six siblings together; they seem to have gotten together every few years. The most recent photos of all of them together that I have are from 1997.
When I started doing genealogy research last year, Ancestry.com told me that the last of the Hanson siblings had died several years earlier. So I was particularly sad around February of this year when I learned that Pearl had just died, having lived to the age of 103. I don't know anything about her later years, so maybe she wouldn't have been able to answer questions anyway, but I still feel like I missed an opportunity; she was probably the last person still alive who could have identified some of the people in these photos, but I didn't know she was alive until too late.
I do intend to get in touch with various of her descendants, though, who may be able to shed some light on some of the photos. We'll see.
Here's another link to the Facebook album collecting photos of Helen's family. I think it's visible to anyone, even if you don't have a Facebook account. I'm posting a few photos each Thursday; this week, I'm up to 1914, so there are only three Hanson kids so far. The current series (of Helen's family before Helen got married) will probably run for another six months or so.