Brita Greta Persdotter / married name Bertha Nelson

My fourth great grandmother (Clinton Kennington -> Carol Kennington -> William Edward Nelson -> William Andrew Nelson Jr --> Brita) came over to the U.S. from Sweden. Somewhere along the way she met William Andrew Nelson Sr. and they married and ended up in Pocatello, Idaho, for 30 years.

My mother-in-law and I went to Pocatello on Friday to see what we could find out about Brita.

We went to the public library and viewed the old Pocatello Tribune newspaper on microfilm. We figured her obituary would be in one of the December 1922 issues. It took a bit of time, but I found it! There was a death notice and also a funeral notice.


Pocatello Tribune
December 26, 1922

Pocatello Tribune
December 27, 1922

McHan was the same funeral home that handled her late husband's funeral in 1919, so we had already looked it up and learned it had changed names twice, but it was still around! It wasn't far from the library so we stopped in.

A funeral director pulled out a very old dusty ledger for us to see Brita/Bertha's funeral home record. It tells what she died of--cancer of the liver. She actually went to live with her daughter and died in Iowa, but is buried in Pocatello.

From there we headed to the court house, which wasn't far, to look up some of her son's information.

William A. Nelson Jr. married Dagmar Hattie Soleberg in Pocatello in 1902. Here is their marriage record. The microfilm computer at the courthouse didn't print very good copies, so the photo of the machine's screen is actually easier to read.

William A Nelson & Dagmar Hattie Soleburg

Also at the courthouse was their divorce record from 1907. The big ledger in one book was the index, which lead to a different ledger for the info about it.