The Frank & Addie Colwell Family

Re: Dad's Uncle Charlie and Aunt Elizabeth Sand: 
In 1910 or so, Charlie Sand left home and went "up north" to work in a logging camp.  In Itasca county, Minnesota, he met Elizabeth Colwell, eldest daughter of Frank and Addie Colwell.  

 Elizabeth married Charlie in 1911.  She was 19 and he was 25.  We found them next in Canada (1911 census there), then in International Divide, Idaho (1920), running a boarding house.  By 1930, they'd settled in Wenatchee, Washington, on a fruit farm.  

Elizabeth's brother had a baby but couldn't take care of him for some reason, so Charlie and Elizabeth adopted and raised William Charles Sand.

He was born July 10, 1936 and looks about 4 here?  So this family photo was taken about 1940.

Elizabeth looks about the same age below, posing with her mom and  brothers, and it looks like both pics were taken with the same faulty camera, huh?  That accounts too for Elizabeth wearing the same dress, and for little William  being so well dressed (those aren't "everyday" clothes ☺). 
Heaven forbid that a male Sand should dress up, tho.

So, Charlie, Elizabeth and William must have made a trip 
to Minnesota three years before she died.

And then, there's this photo we've seem before--taken before 1921, we think it's a group of cooks and servers for a wedding, probably one of the Hesch boys'.  We know the back row is Louisa Rausch Sand and two of her daughters (Angie Hiemenz and Lizzy Hesch) and a Mrs Dengel.  We know the second woman from the left in front was a third daughter, Vernie Wintermeyer.  

But wow, the kneeling woman on the right looks like

...Elizabeth Colwell Sand, doesn't she?

Charlie Documents

(A quick story I heard lately:
Uncle Tony said he never met gramma's brother Charlie Sand, but that he heard about him from his mom, in particular about the trip to visit Charlie in 1941.

Turns out Marie Wintermeyer had a brand new 1941 Chevy, and they decided to break it in by taking a long trip.  Wenatchee, Washington qualified ☺.  So, Marie and her cousin Fronie Hesch, and their moms Vernie and Lizzie, drove to the west coast to visit and pick fruit in Charlie's orchard.  See THIS post).

Earlier this month, Charlie's grandaughter Kathryn was moving, and found that her dad had saved more of Charlie's stuff than she knew (see Larry?  It's not just me...lol).  But as usual, cool new documents create more question.

For instance, why would Charlie have sent to Little Falls for a certified copy of his birth certificate in 1954--when he was 68?  And look--he was born in December 1886, but his birth wasn't registered till January, 1887, which probably accounts for the discrepancies in his birth date on various records...

 And this affidavit from 1918: we know Charlie and Elizabeth moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada right after they married in 1911, but here they are in Bear Lake, St Louis County, MN, (about 70 miles north of  Duluth), 7 years later.  This was when Minnesota was doubting the loyalty of German-speaking Americans, but what an odd bit of proof he was required to show.  Also, it proves that even his parents forgot exactly when he was born!

Now THIS photo (above) is interesting because it was taken on the same day as THIS photo, but what was the occasion?  Was it their wedding photo?  Probably not, as Charlie was 25 in 1911, and Elizabeth Caldwell was 19.  (Besides, their wedding witnesses were Agnas Ryan and Elizabeth Buhl, not Charlie's  brother and sister).  We know they were running a boarding house in an Idaho mining camp in 1920, but I doubt Vernie and Frank would have gone to see them there.  We don't know the answers yet, but stay tuned!

THANKS for these Kathryn!


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The comment from my sister (below) got me to find the 1940 family photo of dad's parents, brothers and sisters to compare Charlie's 'look' with them.  Matt and Ted are in the middle, back.  She's RIGHT!


(Just so you have it straight, Lizzy Hesch and Charlie were siblings, so it makes sense that her kids might look a bit like him, as well as sibs Vernie and Frank (standing) in◄ that photo). Cool, huh?

He's no longer lost!

For a man I thought was "lost" to the family, we keep finding documentation of Charlie Steven Sand.  Ancestry recently published more military records--this batch is from the "old man" draft in 1942 for WWII.  We'd found Charlie earlier, in Duluth in 1917 when he signed up for WWI, and here's his second registration card 25 years later, in Wenatchee.

Oh, and thank gawd for the excellent records Washington state has online--here's Charlie marrying his second wife, Nellie.  Isn't that cool?

(Thanks for thinking of Charlie, Larry)

ADDED LATER: I was looking for train drawings, so I tried "Great Northern" at Internet Archives and found this travel book.  I think it was intended to be a fun read on an endless train trip across the country.  Below are a few pages from Washington state.  It sets the stage in the country around  Wenatchee, and you can see why Charlie and Elizabeth chose it--

(This just TICKLES me! ☺ )

MORE about Charlie Sand!

 Here's another reason why the internet's amazing, and Larry's a godsend:  he found a family tree on Ancestry that included Charlie!  Some of the photos there were from my tree, which is fine. ( It's exactly what Ancestry.com is for).  BUT, there were also three photos I'd never seen before because only Charlie had them, I suppose.
◄Do click this photo--it biggify's nicely.  It's the Mike Sand farm west of Buckman, "the farm where Charlie grew up".  I'd guess it was taken in the 1920s;  we're looking north east and the road is directly below the plane.

 What a stunning photo to find on the web ►  It's Charlie Sand on the occasion of his First Communion.  He would have been about 12, and since he was born in December 1887, this was 1899 or 1900.

Larry and I noticed major similarities between this photo and Grandma Elizabeth Sand's First Communion photo--we believe the two photos were taken on the same day.  It's not only the Nelson's backdrop and floor or the identical wicker chairs, but notice the pillow on the chair to the left.  I think too that they were holding the same candlestick.

LOL--yup, same day!  Compare below--these photos haven't been together in 110 years.
(BTW, Lizzy was born in December 1888, only a year later than Charlie).

◄Here's an even more surprising photo--that's Veronica Sand and Frank Sand standing behind Charlie and his wife Elizabeth (Colwell) Sand.   It's not their wedding day, since Charlie was 24 and Elizabeth 19 when they wed.  Had to be later, and Larry says it's a "booth" photo, so maybe Vernie and Frank went visiting.
But, just look at those faces and notice the hair or ears or face shape that one or the other of us has inherited.  Isn't that COOL?






More info, added Nov 9th, 2010--

Larry saw that Charlie's grandaughter Kathryn had added a couple more pictures to her Ancestry tree--THANK YOU to her!  

And here's a time line of Charlie's life, all these years later: 

Buckman, Minnesota, December 18th, 1885 or 1887

Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1911

 Duluth, Mn  (registered for the draft) in 1918

Continental Divide, Idaho in 1920

 Wenatchee, Washington,  in 1930

William was born and adopted in 1936

 Elizabeth died in 1943

◄House was built in 1946

 Charlie and Wm moved to another orchard in Wenatchee in early 1950s

 Charlie died in 1967

 Wm died in 2004

Thanks AGAIN, Kathryn and Mr Research!
                 ☺

More about the Sand family in Wenatchee, Washington

You realize, don't you, that the Hesch History blog would be way less than half its' size without Larry?  

 Larry found a connection again this week that made us both think Charlie Sand had kids after all...
The link is about a mens chorus in Wenatchee and one of the long-time directors was Ed Sand.  If you click the link on the left side of that page, you'll find 13 photos of the Wenatchee Apollo Chorus.

Cary Sand, 2nd from left, and Ed Sand, right, on bass

Isn't it cool?  I'd love it if someone from Wenatchee finds this...let me know if you have Minnesota connections, ok?

Which one was he?

Last night, Larry mentioned that we still have a mystery concerning Grandma's brother, Charlie Sand.  He's the most elusive for a number of reasons:

What we know about him for sure is that he was closest in age to Elizabeth (Grandma), and they were children of Mike Sand and Louisa Rausch. ( In the photo, Elizabeth is second from left, and Charlie is on the right). He was born in December, 1887 and she was born in December 1889, according to the 1900 census, below.
(I always thought grandma was born in 1888!).

We know too that Charlie left home as soon as he could.  We found him next in the 1911 Canadian census in  Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, but now he had a wife named Elizabeth.  He was 24 and she was 19.  Who was she, and how did they meet?  Well, the World's Best Researcher found her death certificate in Wenatchee, Washington where we know they eventually settled and owned an orchard...

Name: Elizabeth A. Sands
Death Date: 02 Nov 1943
Death Place: Wenatchee, Chelan, Washington
Gender: Female
Race:
Age at Death: 51 years 11 months 24 days
Estimated Birth Year: 1892
Birth Date:
Birth Place:
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Charles S. Sands
Father's Name: Frank Colwell
Father's Birth Place:
Mother's Name: Alelene Roberts
Mother's Birth Place:
Occupation:
Street Address:
Residence:
Cemetery:
Burial Place:
Burial Date:
Additional Relatives:
Film Number: 2024170
Digital GS Number: 4224850
Image Number: 1804
Volume/Page/Certificate Number: 166
Collection: Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960

WOW!  So Larry checked Minnesota census records for Frank Colwell , and found him, his wife Addie and oldest daughter Elizabeth in Popple township, Itasca county, Mn in 1905, when Elizabeth was 13.
So, when Charlie left home, it looks like he went to the logging camps up north. Evidently, Charlie and Elizabeth decided against Saskatchewan, cuz here they are in Mn:
In 1918 when men signed up for the WWI draft, we had a problem--there were at least six 'Charles Sand' registrations in the US, and more than one was  born December 18th.  Wow. So, which one was ours?  If this one is Grandma's brother, why did he say he was born in 1885?  Ahh, because that would make him OLDER, and perhaps less eligible for fighting a war.  (Cook is in St Louis County, near Duluth, Mn).

We know Charlie and Elizabeth were working for a mining company in Idaho in 1920--he was a foreman and she was a cook in their boarding house.  Here's a description of the company they worked for, we think.  The "town" in the 1920 census is Continental Divide, Idaho.

Oh, and look what else Larry found:

 ITASCA CO
Certificate No C-67
Date of marriage 1/22/1911
Groom's name CHARLES SAND
Bride's name ELIZABETH CALDWELL

Wow.  THANKS to Larry!!!