Why Did Tjede Fly From Moline?

This is part of the 1940 census enumeration for Tjede Ehmen. The location answers why she flew from Moline, Illinois, to Washington State to see her daughter later that year--as evidenced by the newspaper item located on  Genealogybank. She was living in Rock Island with her daughter and her family.

The Staaks lived at 1822 13th Street in Rock Island at the time of this enumeration. Tjede is listed as an 87-year old German native with an 8th grade education. Henry F. Staack's educational level is listed as "C-6" and his occupation is listed as a teacher in a "private college." 

Too bad the employer is not listed. However, it was not too difficult for me to guess who that employer was given the family's residence and their likely denomination. We'll save more about Henry Staack for a future post. 

87 Year Old Takes a 1940 Plane Ride

The newspaper article appeared when I performed a search for "Ehmen" on Genealogybank, "Woman 87, to Fly Over Own Early-Day Trail." Tjede Ehmen was the woman and her husband was actually Wilm Ehmen despite what the article says. Rev. Ehmen actually was a first cousin to my great-great-grandfather Foche Goldenstein and was the pastor who baptized Foche's daughter Tjode, my great-grandmother in Dawson County, Nebraska, in 1882. The article also includes a picture of Tjede.

The above article appeared in the Seattle Times on 9 October 1940--page 13 and was obtained digitally on GenealogyBank.com. The town of Golden is spelled incorrectly in the article--it's not the Gliden that's listed.

The article mentions that Tjede flew from Moline, Illinois, without mentioning why she was in Moline.

A little additional searching revealed why---and we'll have an update on why in a future blog post.