.

Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Aunt Linda's Photo Album. Post One. 1900 to 1957. (Mattson Line)

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Aunt Linda is my mother's sister.  She came to Utah for my cousin Camille Mattson's wedding (to be the subject of an upcoming post).  I have the pleasure of her company here at the Fortress.  Aunt Linda brought a couple of her photo albums and has given permission for me to post her pictures to this family history blog.

This first post will cover the years 1900 to 1957.  Linda and Luella's comments will be written below each photograph (if they have anything interesting to add).

Let's get started....


Great Grandmother Ida Tornberg Mattson with son Walter and husband John Albert Mattson
Lead, South Dakota.  1917

Great Grandmother Vesta (left).  Grandma Violet's mother.
Taken at Hot Springs, South Dakota.  The others in the photo are unknown.
early 1920's

Grandpa Walter Mattson in the Civilian Conservation Corps (far right)
1937

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 17–23. James McEntee was the head of the agency. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments. 

The CCC was designed to provide employment for young men in relief families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression while at the same time implementing a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000; in nine years 2.5 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a small wage of $30 a month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families).



Raymond Lidman and Grandpa Walter Mattson.  
Raymond's was John Albert Mattson's Grand Nephew (grandson of his sister Josefina).
1942

Luella Mattson.  1941
Mattson Ranch.  Montana


Aunt Linda.  1942.
The dress Linda is wearing (and the shoes) belonged to Grandpa Walter when 
he was a baby.  In 1912, baby boys and girls wore dresses.  It made it easier to
change diapers.  



Aunt Linda 
Linda said it is Luella and Luella insists it is Linda.  After a few minutes of 
debate and comparisons with other photographs, they both agreed it was Linda.



Luella and Linda on the Ranch


Young Luella with her Grandmother Vesta (Violet's mother).  
Vesta is holding Linda.  Belle Fourche, November 1941


Luella with baby Linda
November 1941













Luella with younger sister Linda on the Mattson Ranch in Montana.
Linda is wearing overalls.  Luella is wearing socks that went all the way up
and pinned to her underware.  Such clothing was necessary to keep warm
 according to Great Grandma Ida who insisted on it - a Swedish thing.


Linda added the following story as she and Luella discussed the photograph above.  
"Grandma Ida wouldn't let Luella and I wash our hair if it was baking day. Washing loosens hair and it might end up in people's food.   She made us cover our hair with a bandana.  Grandma Ida always insisted the table be set properly with the spoon, fork, plate, glasses all in their proper place.   Oh, and do you remember [speaking to Luella] that Grandma called us 'Steena'." 

  
























Mattson Ranch
Joe Howard, the mailman holding Linda.  Luella is in the rocking chair.
1942

Joe would stop and have a cup of coffee when he delivered the mail.  He would stop again for another cup on his way back.  He was a regular around the Mattson home.  

"Mother always had a pot of coffee on the stove ready for anyone who'd drop by," Luella remembered.


Uncle John
1943



























John Mattson
1943


Marvin Mattson
1944


Luella, John and Linda
Mattson Ranch.  1943



Uncle John and Uncle Marvin.  1947
Grandma Violet had just come from town with new clothes for 
the kids.  Then it was straight out for photographs.




























The kids on the Montana Ranch
Left to Right:  Ring (the dog - a border collie), Linda, Luella (the skyscraper) Marvin is standing in front of Luella, then Dickie Dennson and John.

Dickie was a neighbor who spent a lot of his free time at the Mattson home playing with John and Marvin.


Great Grandpa John Albett, Luella and Grandma Mattson are the tallest.
The smaller children (left to right):  Carleen Moss, John Mattson, Irene Moss (white dress), Marvin Mattson and Linda Mattson standing in front of the Mattson car.



Grandma Violet with her two daughters Linda and Luella
Summer 1951
On the Mattson Ranch



Grandpa Walter Mattson with his two sons John and Marvin
Summer 1951
Mattson Ranch





Linda, Grandma Violet and Cousin Diana Pierce (daughter of Violet's brother Walter) 
at Belle Fourche Park
1951

Linda, Charles Williamson, Marvin, Luella and John
Summer 1955.
Charles and Luella were dating at the time.  The photo taken in the Mattson's backyard in 
Spearfish, South Dakota.








 June  1956
Luella with her husband by one day Charles Williamson the day after their wedding.  The family decided to take a tour of the Black Hills.  In the picture left to right;  Newlyweds Luella and Charles, Grandma Violet, young Marvin, Grandpa Walter and Linda

"We really didn't have a proper honeymoon.  After the reception we drove to Newcastle [Wyoming] for the night then came back to Spearfish the next day," Luella explained.  



Linda on the porch of the Mattson home in Spearfish.  June 1956




A tour through the Black Hills the day after Charles and Luella's wedding
June 1956.  Great Grandma Vesta and her husband are with them

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Grandma Violet and Grandpa Walter Mattson. Their Engagement Photograph




Violet Pierce and Walter Mattson
Engagement Photograph.  1938.
Parents of Luella, Linda, John and Marvin Mattson.

The Mattsons and Lidmans. Then and Now.

Uncle John and Luella with the descendants of Josefina Mattson Lidman
Helen Lidman Rosencranz, John Mattson, Lenora Lidman Starling,  Luella,  Carlene Moss Rosencranz, (her mother was Emily Lucille Lidman) and Francis Rosencranz .  Lenora, Clara and Helen are still alive.


From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Today we learn about our Lidman relatives (on the Mattson side).  We begin with a Relationship Chart.
Lidman Relationship Chart


The Carl Lidman Family.
1940 Federal Census

John Albert was our Great Grandfather.  His sister Josefina was our Great Grand Aunt.  They were both born in Sweden.

Josefina married Charles Lidman.  The family lived in Lead, South Dakota.  Josefina visited her brother John Albert on the Mattson ranch several times.  Today I'd like to share photographs of the Mattson and Lidman families.     


 Great Grandpa John Albert is having a button reattached to his trousers by his Grand niece Helen on the Montana Ranch.  The ranch garage (tractor and car) is behind.



 Grandpa Walter Mattson on his tractor




Raymond Lidman with his Great Uncle John Albert and Great Aunt Ida.

Raymond Lidman died in 1999.  He was my 2nd cousin once removed.   



 The Mattsons and the Lidmans in the early 1940's. 
Left to right.  Great Grandpa John Albert,   Rose Lidman,  Raymond Lidman,  Great Grandma Ida,  Ed Lidman, Lenora Lidman and Helen Lidman


Great Grandpa John Albert.  Early 1940's


Great Grandpa John Albert with (L to R) little Luella, Helen Lidman, Great Grandpa John Albert, Lenora Lidman.




The Lidmans visit the Mattsons.  1942
Top Row (L to R)  Rose Lidman, Ernest Rosencranz, Helen Lidman, Edward Lidman, Great Grandma Ida, Lucille Lidman.  Bottom Row (L to R):  Lenora Lidman, Luella Mattson, Ed Moss holding daughter Carlene, Walter Mattson holding daughter Linda.


A Lidman and Mattson Reunion.  2008.
L to R:  Wife of Ronnie Rosencranz, Rose Starling (her mother is Lenora Lidman), Helen Lidman, Aunt Bev, Uncle John,  Lenora Lidman, Luella, Charles, Carlene Moss Rosencranz, Francis Rosencranz.

Monday, October 15, 2012

And Just When you Thought It Was Safe To Return - MORE MATTSON PHOTOS!

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Just in time for Camille's wedding this weekend.  Just when you thought it was safe to return to the blog, I zing you with MORE MATTSON PHOTOS!  Yes folks,  I discovered a few more photos from Aunt Bev's photo album I had to include in our family history.  Time to sit back and enjoy,

Simply,
Victor


Aunt Bev

Grandpa Walter Mattson.  Grandma Violet Pierce Mattson
Taken Shortly Before Grandpa's death


 John Mattson
Missionary Photo
John and Bev


John and Bev, as the years pass.


  
Joseph and Jake Mattson


Camille and Angie Mattson


The Mattson Men
John with sons Kirk, Joe and Jake


The Mattson Women
Bev with Daughters Gina, Angie Camille and Candace.









 Camille, Jake and Joe
Black Hills  1983

J

John and Violet Mattson and the Dennis Grave in Hot Springs.  1983

Kirk and Jake on the old Mattson Ranch in Eastern Montana.  1983

 And now, a series of photos of Ma and Pa Mattson of Brodus Montana and their offspring
 in their Goin to Town finest.  This photo was takin right after Sunday Meetin.




The family gathered outside the saloon to have their photo took.  Ma Mattson wanted the photo took
at the photo salon by the Methodist Church but the boys wouldn't oblige, bein' neck deep in cards an drink you see.  Besides, daughters Angie and Camille (front left end) weren't  neighborly with most of the town's women folk.  Seeins how they knew most of their husbands......
Ma Mattson finally got 'em to settle down for their photo.

"Ma, its a hot as a whorehouse on nickle night," Kirk complained while pulling on his scarf.

"Kirk Mattson, don't you put a spoke in the wheel.  I ain't gonna have my photo took on a lick and a promise, no suree.  You boys ain't gonna beat the devil around the stump all afternoon.  We gonna get this done by hook or by crook.  Am I clear on that?"  Ma Mattson shouted while waving a pistol haphazardly in the air.  "Now Fetch those whiskey crates, set yerselfs down and let's getter done." 

"Yes ma'am," Pa Mattson replied as he cut the swell and struck a pose.   


Finally, the Mattson Boys with a friend sittin Simon pure for their photo to be took.  Shortly after the photo they robbed the Bank of Missoula.
Kirk is the leader of the gang. He's so mean he'd steal a fly from a blind spider.  They say he'd make an ordinary fight look like a prayer meetin.  The last man to tangle with him got beat up so bad there wasn't enough of him left to snore.

Behind Kirk is Jacob.  You know him by his teeth.  They are so crooked he could eat corn on the cob through a picket fence.

Beside Kirk is Joe.  Looks ain't Joe's strong suite.  They say he's so ugly he looks like the hindquarters of bad luck.
"His face looks like a dime's worth of dog food," one woman said who saw him recently.

The last boy in the photo is new to the gang.  I don't right recall his name but I remember what they say 'bout him.  He couldn't teach a hen to cluck.  He didn't have nothin under his hat but hair.

Keep an eye out for the Mattson Gang.  Specially if you have a bank in yer town heavy in coin.