My great-grandmother’s brother, Nels STEFFENSON, disappeared around 1892. At least, that’s what probate records in Mason County, Michigan, claim.
My great-grandmother, Celia, and her brother Nels were the children of Swan STEFFENSON and Mary HANSEN.
The entire family has been a bit elusive. For starters, their last name is spelled differently in almost every record I’ve checked. It’s STEFFENSON in the 1900 census, but it’s STAFFSON in the 1910 census and STEFFSON in the 1920 census. It’s STAFFANSSON on Swan’s (and yes, it it appears to be Swan – not Swen) naturalization records, but it’s STEPHENSEN in his wife Mary’s obituary.
The family first appears in the 1900 U.S. census in Mason County, Michigan. Celia had married William James HALL in 1898 in Mason County, and there is evidence that the family came to the area in the 1880s – but from where? Celia was supposed to have been born around 1877 in either Virginia or West Virginia, but her brother, Otto, was supposed to have been born in Sweden around 1879.
But back to Nels …
According to Mary’s obituary, published in the 11 June 1923 edition of The Ludington Daily News, Nels had not been “heard from in many years, but is supposed to be in Washington.”
Mary’s probate records (found in Mason County under the name Mary STEFENSON) sheds further light on the mystery. According to an affidavit dated 16 June 1923:
“Otto STEFFENSON, being duly sworn, says that he is a son of the above named Mary STEFFENSON, now deceased; that the only children or heirs at law surviving said Mary STEFFENSON are deponent, Otto STEFFENSON and Celia STEFFENSON HALL, respectively a son and daughter, and deponent further says that there was another son, Nels STEFFENSON, who was born, to-wit, 49 years ago, and who left Ludington during the year 1890 in company with his father, then living, and a mill crew, and went to the State of California; that two years later the father returned to Ludington, leaving the son Nels in California; that since said year of 1892 when the father returned, various of the relatives have written to said Nels STEFFENSON, but that all of such letters were returned undelivered, and that no one to deponent’s knowledge has ever heard from or been able to discover any trace of said Nels STEFFENSON since the year 1892; that in the year 1892 said Nels STEFFENSON was unmarried.”
A probate hearing was set for 9 July 1923 to determine the legal heirs of Nels STEFFENSON at the time of his disappearance. At the hearing, Otto STEFFENSON said that Nels had “disappeared 30 years ago on or about the 17th day of July 1890” and that he had not been heard from since.
Nels’ heirs at the time of his disappearance were determined to be Otto E. STEFFENSON and Celia M. HALL, which meant the two siblings split their mother Mary’s modest estate later that year.
However, this story leaves me with many questions.
1. Why did Nels stay in California? And why didn’t he communicate with family members after he and his dad parted in 1892? Or did he? The obituary says Nels was believed to be in Washington, but later probate records indicated he disappeared in California and there was no mention of Washington. Was the obituary in error? Or had Nels communicated with someone from Washington after 1892? And if so, why no mention of that in the probate documents?
2. Why is there no mention of Emma, the fourth sibling in the family? She appeared in the 1900 census records of Swan and Mary STEFFENSON as a 16-year-old daughter, but I have not yet found further mention of her. The probate records regarding Nels’ legal heirs make no reference to Emma. More interesting is the fact that Mary’s obituary doesn’t mention a daughter – deceased or otherwise – but it does mention Nels, the son that supposedly hadn’t been heard from in 30 years.
I’ve not spent a great deal of time with this mystery, but I do wonder about it from time to time. Any thoughts?
A separate but related mystery is that my great-grandmother Celia not only had a brother who “disappeared,” but one of her sons did as well. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for her.
But that’s a story for another day.
