Emma Albertson, Artist

After my father, Lester Albertson, died in 2004, the time had come to go through the many papers in the “office.” It was there that I found a picture which was a scene of a rock formation and it appeared to be a watercolor, done in shades of brown.

It was signed Emma Albertson.

Even though I have been doing Albertson research for over twenty years, I did not remember anyone named Emma Albertson. I had no childhood memories of ever seeing that picture, so it must have been hidden away for a long time. I checked through the children of my grandfather’s brothers and there was no one named Emma, nor was any of the son’s married to someone named Emma. So, who was Emma? Certainly she must have been a fairly close relative to have sent our family a picture she had painted.

So now I needed to check my great-grandfather’s brothers.

My great-grandfather, Nathan Elias Albertson (1849-1917), had three brothers: William, Jesse and George. George died as a young child. The 1900 census showed Jesse in Marion County, Indiana, with four daughters: Sabina, Esther, Elizabeth and Gertrude. This census showed William in Kossuth County, Iowa, with two daughters: Dora E. and Jennie R. Looking back at the 1895 Iowa State Census, I discovered William in Hardin County with two daughters, Myrtle E. and Dora E. Maybe William needed some more investigation. Since the Albertsons had been Quakers for many years, I checked the published Iowa Quaker Records. The Honey Creek Monthly Meeting in Hardin County listed William Albertson with three daughters: Myrtle, Emma D. and Jennie R. Here was Emma. Apparently her name was Dora Emma or Emma Dora and was switched in various records. Hurray, I had found my Emma Albertson.

Now I wanted more information. Where was she in 1910? She and her younger sister Jennie were living with their parents in Boulder, Colorado. Emma was listed as Dora E, age 24 and still single. In 1920 William and his wife are still living in Boulder, but neither of the girls is living with them. A census search for Emma Albertson in 1920 produced no results. She was probably married by now. How would I find her married name?

Then one of those serendipity moments that happen ever so often in genealogy did happen. I had continued to sort through my father’s papers. One interesting item was the “Cherished Memories” book provided by the Poole-Larsen Funeral Home at the time of my grandfather’s funeral in April 1948. There were pages for Relatives Attending, Friends Who Called, Flowers, and Cards of Sympathy & Letters. So there were eleven pages of names to go through. On the eleventh page, the next to last entry, there she was: Mrs. Emma Albertson Scholz, Greeley, Colo.

With a name and a place, the research continued. Scholz was not a very common name, so I found Emma on the 1920 census as Dora E. Scholz in Adams County, Colorado, with her husband Albert. On the 1930 census they were in Weld County, Colorado with a daughter Alberta. Greeley is in Weld County, so next I used the USGenWeb website on the Internet. Weld County has a master index online and Dora E. Scholz had two listings. She was in the Probate Index and the CemBkII, page 204. The Weld County, Colorado Tombstone Inscriptions book had been filmed by the Family History Library, so I ordered the film, #1597899, through the Cottage Grove Family History Center. In Volume II, page 204, I found “SCHOLZ, Dora E. 1885-1958 (d. 8 Feb. 1958 72 y) ‘Mother’.” Now I had an exact date of death, so I used the online free obituary lookup page . My luck was holding. There was a volunteer for Greeley in Weld County. Soon in the mail came a copy of the death notice and obituary for Mrs. Dora E. Scholz. Included in these was the following information: “Mrs. Scholz, widow of Albert E. Scholz, retired from the Greeley school system in 1951. She had taught industrial arts and art.”

I continued to follow up clues on this family and eventually received a copy of her father’s obituary from Boulder, Colorado. His obituary from 1927 includes a listing of surviving children and there she is: Mrs. Emma Scholz.

It was 129 years today, on March 14, 1886 that Dora Emma Albertson was born. Although I don't have a photo of Dora, I do have this picture to remember her by.