Knut and Wendla Gafvert

After a visit the McKeesport-Versailles Cemetery I drove up O'Neil Blvd.  I found the home of my great-grandparents, Knut and Wendla Gafvert.  My Uncle Ken and Aunt Doris were born there at 1110 O'Neil Blvd.  Tried to find 1919 Butler Street where my father was born, but the block was an empty field.

Then, I drove along 5th Ave, McKeesport, PA.  The Johnston's Maytag Store was located at 1013 5th Ave.  The "Warehouse" Building is #1003.  The 2 story red brick building is #1017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tombstone Tuesday - Seibert E and Marie C (Doumont) Johnston

Seibert E. Johnston
1877-1935

At the McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery, McKeesport, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania, Seibert Ellwood Johnston (b. 16 Jul 1877, d. 21 Jul 1935) and his wife Marie Catherine (Doumont) Johnston (b. 15 Nov 1877, d. 13 Aug 1944) share a grave.  Marie's name is not on the gravestone.

Workday Wednesday - McKeesport Tin Plate Co.

Seibert W Johnston, born 27 September 1908, married Lillie Marie Gafvert on 20 April 1927 at age 18.  He worked for McKeesport Tin Plate Company.  His payroll badge is in a tin frame which doesn't show well in this photocopy.  Note the badge lists his age as 20 and the date - 4 days after his wedding.



McKeesport Tin Plate Co.
Pay Roll No. 4029
Seibert Johnston
Nationality:  American; Age 20
Height 5-9; Weight 136; Color Hair Li; Color Eyes Bl
Signed:  Seibert W Johnston
H.M. 4/24/27



Funeral Card Friday - Lloyd H Johnston, Sr.

In Memoriam - on front
Willig Funeral Service, McKeesport, Penna. - on back



In Memory
Lloyd H. Johnston, Sr.

Born
August 1, 1913

Passed Away
February 25, 1967

Funeral Service
Willig Funeral Home
220 Ninth Avenue
McKeesport, Penna.
Tuesday, February 28, 1967

Officiating
Rev. Harry Hull

Final Resting Place
McKeesport-Versailles Cemetery

 Lloyd Howard Johnston was the 6th and youngest child of Seibert Ellwood and Marie Catherine (Doumont) Johnston.  He was born in the family home at 1919 Butler Ave, McKeesport, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania.  Lloyd and his family, wife Mary L Berletic and son Lloyd H Johnston, Jr (Bud), lived in this house.

Johnston, page 355
Lloyd H (Mary L) serviceman J Hirshberg Co Inc h1919 Butler
[1944 McKeesport, Penna directory from Ancestry]

Brothers Lloyd H, Ralph A, and Earl S Johnston
Taken by brother Seibert W Johnston
That is Seibert's Cadillac parked outside of 1919 Butler St, McKeesport, PA.
Photo printed in Feb 1970 after Seibert W Johnston's death
Photo taken before Feb 1967 - exact date unknown

Sunday's Obituary - Wendla Rönning Gafvert

My great-grandmother.  Wendla Eleonora Rönning was the daughter of Per Rönning Johansson and Wendla Sundström.  Wendla and her sister, Klara Susanna Rönning, were born on 17 July 1876 in Strömnäs, Gudmundrå förs., Vasternorrlands Ian, Sweden. 



In 1890, Vendla Eleonora Rönning, b. 1876 in Gudmundrå, Västernorrl. l., was enumerated in the Swedish census with her mother and siblings while living in Hornön, Nora, Västernorrlands.  Her father had died three years earlier:  29 October 1887 in Hornön.

 

received from Paul Fredell

http://www.foark.umu.se/census/y/index.htm



On 9 September 1892, Wendla's mother, Wendla (Sundström) Rönning left Sweden with her youngest child, daughter Hildur, age 8.  Six months later, Wendla's twin sister, Klara, age 14, and youngest brother, Konrad, age 11, emigrated to the U.S.  In November 1894, Wendla's brother, Per Adolf Leonard Rönning, left from Trondheim, Norway to the intermediate stop in Liverpool.  No records have been found for his arrival in Liverpool or the United States.



SS Rhynland

Aboard the SS Rhynland sailing from Liverpool on 26 August 1896 and arriving in Philadelphia on 6 September 1896 was Wendla Ronning, 19, Laborer, Nationality is Sweden, Last Residence - Throndhjem[?].  Wendla's final destination was to McKeesport, PA to join her mother, Wendla Ronning.  Her passage was paid for by her mother, had never been in the U.S., and she had $5.00.

Manifest SS Rhynland
Line 9 - Wendla Ronning

On April 8, 1899, Wendla Ronning married Knut Gafvert in Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania.



[from Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, PA]



Knut and Wendla Gafvert had four children:  Ellen Ellinora, Elmer G., Lillie Marie, and Theodore O.

Knut and Wendla (Ronning) Gafvert

Wendla Gafvert died 31 March 1945 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania at the age of 68.

  

The McKeesport Daily News

Monday Evening, April 2, 1945

Mrs. Wendla Ronning Gafvert, 68, a resident of the city for 45 years, died Saturday evening at her home, 1110 O’Neil Blvd.

  Survivors are her husband, Knut Gafvert, two daughters Mrs. Lillie Johnston, of McKeesport, and Ellen, at home; one son, Theodore, at home; 5 grandchildren and two sisters, Mrs. Clara Fredell of Clairton and Mrs. Hildur Howell of New Galilee, Pa.

  Mrs. Gafvert was born in Sweden, July 17, 1876.  She belonged to the Swedish Methodist Church and its Ladies Aid Society.

  Funeral is to be from the Willig Funeral Home tomorrow at 2 p.m. in charge of the Rev. Melvin J. Na? and burial is to follow in Versailles Cemetery.

Funeral Card Friday - Marie C (Doumont) Johnston

Marie Catherine Doumont, daughter of Desire Francis G Doumont and Rosine Joseph Thierry, was born 15 November 1877 in Belgium.  The Doumonts, aboard the SS Noordland from Antwerp, Belgium, arrived in New York on 19 May 1887.  They settled in Washington Co, Pennsylvania. 

Marie married Seibert Ellwood Johnston on 8 June 1898 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania.  Marie and Seibert E were my great-grandparents.

Marie Catherine (Doumont) Johnston died 13 August 1944.  She was buried in the same grave as her husband, Seibert Ellwood Johnston, at McKeesport Versailles Cemetery, McKeesport, Allegheny Co, PA.