Joseph Wilhelm Norgran

Joseph Wilhelm Norgran was my 2nd great grandfather, my mother's mother's mother's father. I know little about him, but the information I have from official documents and the memory of one who knew him, however briefly, leads me to imagine that I know him: a hard worker, an enterprising man who crossed an ocean to build a new life for his family. He labored as a carpenter, earning enough to buy a house for his large family, and making room for a boarder, a fellow Scandinavian man.

He was a man of faith, and much of the detailed knowledge I have of his family comes from the Bible he left behind. I have only one picture of him, below, with a brood of children, all smiling. The young girl at his elbow is my great grandmother, Madeline. I wish I could have known her too.

Pictured are Joseph Norgran, right, with wife Anna and children Katarina, 
Amelia, Emil, Olivia, Madeline, Liley, Albert, and Virginia (in order of birth). 

The following is a timeline of events with source citations.

Date of Birth

Joseph Norgran was born in October of 1870.
Three sources give his year of birth as 1870:

1. The 1910 United States Federal Census, enumerated on the 26th of April 1910, gives his age as 39, indicating that he has not yet had his 40th birthday.
2. The 1940 United States Federal Census, enumerated on the 9th of April 1940, give his ages as 69.
3. The family Bible, possibly inscribed by Joseph himself, gives October of 1870 as his time of birth.

Place of Birth

Census records say that Joseph was born in Sweden of Swedish parents, but this is in conflict with other information I have about him. My grandmother, Priscilla (his granddaughter) as a child thought him to be Norwegian. 

I have been in contact with a grandchild of Virginia, who says that a grandchild of Joseph's youngest brother, Karl Emil, has been on several trips to Finland gathering information of the family history. They have information on the Norgran family (originally spelled Norrgrann) going back several more generations. They maintain that Joseph was born in Tjärlax, Finland.

I cannot at this time explain the disagreement between official American records, oral tradition, and the results of research abroad, and I cannot with certainty say which is correct, though I am inclined to believe the family research over the census documents, which are inaccurate in other particulars. If, hopefully when, I find immigration records pertaining to Joseph, the mystery will be solved. 

Marriage to Anna Oriljrhook

Joseph was married to Anna, a Dutchwoman, sometime around 1898. He was 28 years old. My contact on the Burke side has November 23, 1898 as the date and Rotterdam as the place. I assume this comes from the Bible that went down through that branch of the family. A couple of things support that date:

1. The 1910 Federal Census says that Joseph and Anna had been married 11 years. That would have been 1899, but...
2. Katarina was born in Holland in 1899, so I think it reasonable to assume that they were just shy of their 12th anniversary at the time of the census.

Children

Joseph had nine children with Anna: three were born Holland and the rest in Baltimore. Their names were:

Katarina

Amelia

Emil

Olivia

Madelina

Liley

Albert

Joseph (died in childhood)

Virginia

Arrival in the United States

Despite exhaustive search, I have not located any records of Joseph's arrival in America. The 1910 Federal Census, for year of immigration, lists 1903, with the 3 written in boldly over a 5. So 1905 was written first and corrected to read 1903, which was given as Anna's immigration date as well. 

However, I know for a fact that Anna arrived in 1905, and I believe that Joseph did so either in the same year or the year before. When Anna arrived at Ellis Island in May of 1905, official documents state that she was going to join her husband in Baltimore. She had with her a two month old son, Emil, whose age suggests that Joseph and Anna had been apart no longer than 11 months or so. 

As of 1940, Joseph had been naturalized as a citizen. I have not found any documents relating to this.

Residence: 1905-1948

Joseph Norgran highlighted in the Baltimore, Maryland City Directory, 1915

At the time of Anna's arrival in the United States, Joseph had an address in Baltimore, and he lived in Baltimore for the rest of his life.

Addresses for Joseph Norgran in Baltimore:

• 1434 Hull Street, a house, owned free (no mortgage). 
• 1910 Federal Census, 1915 City Directory (CD), 1918 CD
• He lived here with his wife and 5 children and a Norwegian boarder by the name of Albert Evanson
• 1437 Hull Street, a house
• 1920 CD, 1921 CD, 1922 CD, 1926 CD, 1929 CD
• He lived here with his wife, and children that remained at home
• 717 Harvey Street, a house
• 1940 Federal Census
• Family Bible
• He lived here with his daughter Virginia, her husband, Alfred Burke, and their daughter, Rita Ann. He was then widowed.

It seems odd that the family would make a move from 1434 to 1437 on the same street. I wonder if the houses were renumbered or if someone at the City Directory or Census made a mistake.

1437 Hull Street as it looks today

Occupation

All of the documents I have compiled for Joseph describe him as a carpenter. The 1910 Census says that he worked at a railroad, the 1940 says that he worked at the shipyard.

Joseph's occupation listed in 1910 Federal Census

Documents indicate that he continued to work full time after his 69th birthday.

Death

The family Bible gives Joseph's date of death as the 19th of  April, 1948; he was 77 years old. I have no official records of this. His granddaughter, Priscilla Paul (the daughter of his daughter Madeline), remembers that he died of a blood clot on the brain.

Remembrances

Priscilla says the following about her grandfather:

I don’t remember my mother’s mother, but I do her father, as he died when I was about eight [she was actually 11 years old]. He was from Finland and didn’t pronounce his J’s. He was a good Christian man, and I now have his Bible. He and my grandmother, who was from Holland, brought a few children over on the boat, arriving at Ellis Island in New York. He died of a blood clot on the brain, which I guess was a stroke. I remember him being in bed, in a coma. They had him laid out at the house, like they did in those days. There was a picture of him in his casket; I don’t know who has it now. The story about my grandfather was that he had a Model T Ford, and drove it five miles an hour. He would arrive at everything after it was over. His name was Joseph Norgran. 

She remembers Joseph talking about his "yob" (job), and says that Joseph reportedly told his grandson, Alfred Burke, Jr., to "stop 'yumping' on the steps."

Source Citations

Year: 1910; Census Place: Baltimore Ward 24, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland; Roll: T624_561; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0393; FHL microfilm: 1374574.

Year: 1940; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland; Roll: T627_1535; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 4-684.

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. [Citation in full available. Ask me if you need it.]