Lena Tohm, b. 28 November 1896 at Winnipeg, Manitoba, adopted by Caroline Bittner and Daniel Tohm, 1898 at Winnipeg, Manitoba
Father: Lars OhlsonMother: Maria Ohlson
Spouse: Abdul Haddie Nasserden, b. at Syria
Described by Hazel Nasserdon
He was another immigrant, rather an exotic one, from what is now known as Lebanon, then it was the French protectorate of Syria. His ancestors were connected to Persian royalty, fled that country after some political upset. His name was Abdul Nasserden, Mom called him Abe. I imagine the Tohms approved of him because he did not drink!
Married 4 June 1918 at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Children and grandchildren:
Edward Nasserden, b. 1919, m. Alma Rempel, 1948; 9 grandchildren
Mabel Nasserden, b. 1920, m. John Elbridge Ramsay, 1947; 3 grandchildren
Hazel Nasserden, b. 1924, m. Arthur Jack Wilkinson, 1949; 3 grandchildren
Rosa Doris Nasserden, b. 1926
John Tohm, b. 28 October 1893 at Minnesota or Montana, d. 28 November 1946 at Oregon, adopted by Caroline Bittner and Daniel Tohm, 1898 at Winnipeg, Manitoba
Father: Lars Ollison
Mother: Maria Ollison
Description provided by Hazel Nasserdon
Mom (Lena) went out to work in a boarding house at age 14, her brother (John) attended an Adventist College & settled in the States, lived at Bakersfield, California, died in a farm accident in l946. Gordon, who was a conscientious objector in WW2, was put in the Medical Corps. Later became an opthamologist.
Spouse: Lydia Rau
Married: 1912 at North Dakota.
Children and grandchildren:
Lucille Tohm, b. 1916
Gordon Tohm, b. 1921
The Adoption Story
The Children's Home of Winnipeg was founded in 1884 and was started by the Women's Christian Union to provide a home for needy, deserted and homeless children. The Ollison children were admitted in 1898. An entry dated September 6, 1898 indicated that the youngest child, Lena, was "from the Salvation Army". There are also entries for Katie and Emma Ollison appearing in lists of children leaving the home between 1898 and 1903.
Lena and John were two of five children of Lars and Maria Ollison, Swedish immigrants, who had come north to Winnipeg from Minnesota. Maria never fully regained her strength after the fourth child was born. Disaster struck! Lars was injured in fall from a building. Maria had no friends or relations and died shortly after her husband. The children were wards of the Children's Home in Winnipeg when the Tohms came by looking for a boy to adopt. The head of the home persuaded them to adopt the brother and sister. Two girls, Anna & Emma, were handed over to a Mennonite family. A third sister, Katie became a servant and disappeared until Lena found her many years later. Emma spent most of her life in a mental institution. Anna remained a Mennonite throughout her life. Katie and Lena kept in touch for many years.
Excerpts from Hazel Nasserden's writings
It was quite a jolt when news came of an inheritance from Emma who had left a considerable estate to her two surviving siblings, Annie and Lena, and to her brother John's children. Evidently the money from the Krahns (foster parents) plus her old age pension had just kept accumulating. Amazing!
Annie had remembered Lena's married name. The authorities easily traced my brother Edward through his political involvement (he spent ten years as an MP in Ottawa). We got in touch with our Mennonite cousin: Isaac, George, Helen and John. Another girl, Ann had died in 1970. The family name was Fehr. Annie must have retained some feeling for her lost family, she named two of her children after Lena and John.
It's a tragic tale. Leaving Minnesota, striking out on their own in Winnipeg, was a disastrous move for Lars and Maria Ollison. The only relative the older children recalled seeing again was an Uncle Gilbert who took them driving with his spirited team of horses. Obviously he didn't stick around so they were strictly on their own when Maria fell sick. In our reconstruction of the sequence of events the two preschoolers were given up first, then the two school girls at the end of June 1898. There seems to have been some connection with the Salvation Army (someone thought Lars had played in their band) It seems logical that it was the Salvation Army that stepped in to help, got the older children into the Home, cared for Maria and baby Lena until she too had to join the rest of the family. No doubt the administrators of the home did their best to find new homes for the orphans. By today's standards they handed them out rather casually, with little follow-up. There wouldn't be many Swedish couples applying. There weren't many of them around. Other immigrants generally had large enough families of their own. Motivation for both the Tohms and the Krahns was similar- they hadn't been blessed with more than a couple of off-spring, now pretty well grown, not much hope of more.
Lena's memories of childhood centre around life at Waldheim in Saskatchewan. Both she and brother John bonded well with the foster parents but clearly John was the preferred child, attending school regularly, later sent to college to become a minister of the Seventh Day Adventist Church which the Tohms joined after their daughter Tillie married a widower, Jake Dirksen, who lived in the States and belonged to that sect. Lena's schooling was sporadic, too often she was kept out to herd the cows, or help her mother who was not in the best of health. After the family's move to Edmonton, Lena was frequently sent to help a rather grim relative, Mrs. Benke, then about age fourteen she went to work in Mrs. Shearing's boarding house.
Lena was attracted to nursing (perhaps because of sister Katie) but that never worked out. She left Edmonton to look after her mother who'd had a cataract operation. The Tohms (who moved often) were now living in Young, Saskatchewan. Here, Lena caught the eye of a young bachelor neighbour, a steady, sober, industrious type who didn't drink- he was of a much different background and culture but apparently there were no parental objections when he and Lena made a match. It proved a happy, successful marriage that lasted 56 years, until 1976. Lena lived as a widow for 18 more years, dying just short of her 98th birthday. She'd been the youngest of her family and she was the last to go.
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