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Born into poverty in North Olmsted, Ohio, George was the son of immigrant parents only two years removed from England. He learned the trade of a butcher after accepting a position at a butcher shop in Cleveland where he would work his entire life, starting at clerk and eventually becoming owner/operator. George raised two children in Cleveland with his wife Edna.
The daughter of a stage coach driver, Frankie was born along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in the village of Petersburg. By the age of 8 her family relocated to North Ridgeville, in Lorain County where she spent the rest of her childhood. Here she met her husband and at 20 years old they married and moved to Cleveland. Together, they would have 7 children and eventually move out to rural Medina to take up farming; Here her husband died following a long illness at 59. Frankie would live a full life with her children and grandchildren and passed away in Medina at 81.
Born in Berea, Ohio, the son of a merchant tailor, George was the eldest of nine children. They were a fairly prominent family in the village as his father was very active in the community, eventually holding position of mayor during some of the town's most troubled times. George married in Lorain county at 25 and lived and worked in Cleveland as a machinist & laborer. He went through multiple periods of unemployment and eventually moved the family out to Medina where he became a farmer. After a few years in the area he became ill. The sickness never seemed to be diagnosed, but persisted for year before he finally succumbed at 58.
Marie and her twin sister Julie were born in 1858 daughters of a sailor in the seafaring town of Svelvik, Norway. Marie was 1 of 6 children and 1 step-brother in the house. She lost her mother at 9, her step-mother at 15 and cared for her siblings and father until he passed away in 1888. Marie married ship's captain Cornelius Christoffersen 3 months later. Together they had 6 children; 1 whom passed in infancy. Marie followed her sister from Norway to Cleveland, Ohio in 1907. Although they made a nice life here, tragedy followed. 1914 saw the death of both her son Oscar and Julie's husband. This was followed by son Rudd in 1926, her husband in 1927, and son Chris in 1929. She outlived all the men in her life but died herself at 74 in 1933. Julie followed 2 months later.
Cornelius was born in Svelvik, Norway in 1860, son of a sailor. He took to the sea like his father by the age of 15. He married the girl he grew up down the street from named Birthe Marie Andreasen. The couple was wed in 1888 and 2 months later Cornelius received his official captain's certification. He captained his own ship for years and even captain a ship to China, but gave it up in 1907 to move his wife and 5 children to America. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio near his wife's twin sister and changed the family last name from Christoffersen to Christopher. Here Cornelius became a sexton for a local church where he worked the rest of his life. He died in 1927 at the age of 67.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio to a machinist and laborer, Mona was the second youngest of seven children. She spent her early years on the southern end of Cleveland's west side before moving out to Medina closer to the age of 10. She met her husband while living with her brother and working as a packer for an aluminum manufacturer in Wooster at the age of 24. Together they had 2 children, but the marriage didn't last as her husband's drinking and rebellious side saw him abandon them. Mona would move back in with her mother and brother, and raise her children as a single mother. She had a wonderful relationship with her in-laws and gained a loving second family. She never remarried and lived in Medina the rest of her life.
Born to a ship's engineer in Haugesund, Norway, Thora was the youngest of seven children. She was raised by her mother while her father was regularly away at sea. At the age of 9 her mother died, prompting her father to remarry and provide another caretaker for her and her siblings. 4 step-siblings would follow in the coming years. At 16, Thora boarded the S.S. Kristianiafjord and joined her sister Anna in Cleveland, Ohio. When she turned 20 she married a Norwegian sailor and they raised 2 children together before his untimely passing 11 years later. Thora would eventually marry again, but lose her 2nd husband as well. She lived to be 94 and passed away in Cleveland.
Born in Svelvik, Norway, Christoffer immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio at the age of 17 with his parents and siblings. He was a third-generation sailor, son of a ship's captain, who had worked his way up to the rank of first mate (second in command under the captain). Christoffer sailed the Great Lakes aboard steamships moving goods like coal and ore from port to port and train to train aboard ships like William C. Atwater. Christoffer died young from complications due to cancer and left behind a wife and two children.
