Finnestad Ancestry

On July 26, 1913 Mary (Vallem) Sanderson, her husband Seward, 6 of their children and a nurse were on their way home when the vehicle died while crossing a railroad track near Sugar Grove, Kane County, Illinois.    Seward, the driver, attempted to crank the vehicle in order to start the engine while a train was approaching.   As he saw the Burlington Express #57 lights he yelled for the family to flee the vehicle.    Unfortunately Mary and Seward's daughter, Lillian was thrown forty feet from the vehicle and died.    Her sister Violet was found nearby but fortunately only received injuries as did their mother.    Everyone else survived with apparently no injuries. The Ashton Gazette reported the accident on the front page of their July 31, 1913 edition. Seward Sanderson was the driver, his wife Mary (Vallem) was in the front passenger seat with daughter Violet Myrle and son Charles LeRoy.     Sitting in the back seat were ...

In my initial research into the Finnestad family tree, I was provided information from one of Rachel Vallem's descendants that her eldest child, Marie Vallem had died as an infant.     I recently stumbled upon the death information for Ellen Mary Vallem in the database,  'Illinois Deaths and Burials, 1749-1999'.  Her name was misspelled as Vallim which is one reason why it was difficult to track down this record. The listing states Ellen was born and died in Dement township, Ogle county, Illinois.   The database indicates she was buried in Alta township, Lee county, Illinois.   Dement township is on the northern border of Alta township, Lee county. Ellen Mary Vallem was the eldest daughter born to Rachel (Finnestad) and Lars 'Lewis' Vallem.    She was the granddaughter of Mari (Iversdatter Nord-Skaar) and Ole (Olson) Finnestad Sr.      Following her death, one year later Rachel and Lars had another daughter and n...