Quaker Cousins - Olney Albertson

Olney Albertson has a little different name. But he was another one of Nathan Elias Albertson's 1st cousins so he was my 1st cousin 3 times removed. Olney was the son of Nathan Wyatt and Barbara (Hockett) Albertson. Nathan Wyatt was the youngest of Nathan Elias' uncles. He was just 4 years older than my great-grandfather. Olney's mother was the sister to Nathan Elias' wife, so this makes Olney also Nathan Elias' nephew as well as 1st cousin. I'm not sure which relationship takes precedence.

It appears that Olney was an only child. He was born in Hardin County Iowa 8 Jul 1875. He was younger than 2 of Nathan Elias' children, just 3 years older than my grandfather. It has been interesting trying to follow Olney through the records now on-line. He is listed as a 4 year old with his parents on the 1880 census in Grant township, Hardin County Iowa. By the 1885 state census the family is shown in Union township in Hardin County and Olney is now 9. For the 1900 census when he should have been 25 I cannot locate him. His parents are still in Hardin County. On 27 Nov 1901 Olney was married to Bertha Mae De Tar in Oskaloosa in Mahaska County Iowa. The marriage record showed Olney as a teacher. It was less than 6 months later when Olney's mother died.

It was sometime within the next few years that Olney moved to California and worked at Whittier College located in the town of Whittier. Then it was a Quaker college and apparently Olney had continued in his Quaker heritage because he is listed in the Whittier Monthly Meeting records. The Yearly Meeting of the Friends Church in California in the Sixth Month of 1906 was held in Whittier. Olney was mentioned in the minutes as the chairman of the nominating committee and was the Superintendent of Bible School Work. He led in singing, "There Shall be Showers of Blessing" at one of the sessions. I really liked reading that since I can't count how many times I have played that hymn over the years. The minutes also noted that he had labored earnestly and efficiently at the college, but was leaving to take a position in the Whittier public schools. It listed his address as 119 Berkeley Way in Whittier.

The Santa Ana Register newspaper reported in 1909 that Prof. Olney C. Albertson had been elected as principal of the Union High School in Whittier after teaching there a year. The 1910 census shows Olney and his wife Bertha living at 119 Berkley Way, although Ancestry has indexed it as Hartley Hay. It shows his occupation as Prof Science at High School. That summer the newspaper in Oskaloosa Iowa reported that 3 former Oskaloosans were working in the school at Whittier California, including Olney as the principal of the high school.

In the summer of 1913 Olney and Bertha went back to Iowa for a month and visited her parents in Eddyville. In various Whittier city directories from 1920 through 1929 Olney and Bertha were listed living at 119 Berkeley Way and his occupation was principal of the Union High School. It was in October of 1921 that Olney's father died at San Diego, California.

Olney and Bertha were listed in the 1930 census twice. The enumeration done on 10 Apr showed them in San Diego as Superintendent of Public School, but on the one on 17 Apr they were still in Whittier as a teacher in the public school. I don't know exactly what that means.

It appears that in the fall of 1930 they took a European trip as the U.K. passenger lists show them arriving at Liverpool England from New York aboard the Adiatic on 18 Sep 1930. It was 22 Dec 1930 when they arrived back in New York from Naples Italy on the Presidente Wilson. Olney listed his occupation there as Supt. School.

In the 1934 city directory for Whittier, Olney and Bertha were still living on Berkeley Way, but his occupation was shown as agent for Pacific Mutual Life Insurance. The 1940 census places them at the same address, but his occupation was this:

I am guessing it has something to do with insurance, but am unsure exactly what this is.

By the 1942 city directory, they are still in Whittier, but at a new address on Friends Ave. Olney died 23 Jul 1958 and was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier. Bertha died just a few years later on 24 Jan 1961 and was buried next to Olney.

Isn't it amazing what you can learn about a person by looking on-line.