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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Mother's Day, 2014

Happy Mother's Day!  These are some of my female ancestors in photos.



My mother.

 

 

 

 



4xGreat-Grandmother
Susannah (Dice) Rodenberger

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Gafvert Sisters!

Ellen Gafvert and Lillie Johnston
Atlantic City, New Jersey
July 1960

Daughters of Knut and Wendla (Ronning) Gafvert, Ellen Elinora was born Sept 4, 1899 and Lillie Marie on Sept 5, 1905, both in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania.

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.