Sibling Saturday - Part 5 Voldermar Verno

What is more satisfying than when you find the right key to the lock and are able to open the treasure chest filled wonderful items? Well, figuratively speaking. I am talking about names. I have spent many hours searching for my ancestors finding nothing, and then suddenly, with the right name, there they are. One of the first was my great granduncles-and aunts who emigrated to the US. I was looking for Nelson, Neilson, Svenson, Swanson, Richard, Holmer, Holmberg - you name it. Until I at Minnesota Historical Society found one death certificate with the name Richardson on it. Richardson was the key to get more information, census records, death certificates, muster rolls, obituaries and finding out one of them was in the Spanish-American war. And finding living relatives in the US.

I got a new key a couple of months ago. This time it was about my great grand uncle Volodja Verno, born 1900 in Pskov, Russia. I have known fairly much about uncle Volodja and I have some nice, identified pictures of him.  When you know who is on the picture, perhaps you don't spend much time trying to figure out what that thing that is written on the photo really means. Especially if it is written a foreign language like Russian in cyrillic handwriting. I just assumed his full name to be Vladimir.

Couple months ago, I got help with translating the text:

"To my dear niece Lucie. Uncle Volodja.
Nömme 1932"

"To my dear niece Lucie. Uncle Volodja. Nömme 1932". The niece is my grandmother. The other photo that, besides that is is a really nice picture, doesn't seem to have more information than a name, which probably would be Volodjas.

Voldemar Verno

Well, not Vladimir or Volodja, but Voldemar Verno. I didn't realize it at once, but after spending some time searching I understood finding out his name was Voldemar was not just like having access to a key, but close to having a master key.

I found a database on-line I didn't have knowledge of, Estonian Biographic Index, http://www.nimed.ee. Sure, I did spend a couple of euros buying points to see the records, but it was so worth it. And after a while a also noticed the record I was paying for, was free to look at in the main database but the convenience of only needing to search at one place is nice. Especially since those findings tend to show themselves late at night right when you were thinking of going to sleep.

So, besides finding out on what cemetery uncle Volodja is buried (and a map exactly where at the cemetery) I found out the date when his wife died. I found in interesting document in Estonian with his name on it.

I found out he got divorced from a woman named Linda Rosalie in 1931.

Now, this was all about Volodja but it didnt end with that. I found similar documents about other of my Verno line and also on my Seck line. Those documents I wouldn't have found (at this point) unless I had not got knowledge on his name.

Uncle Voloja, born in 1900. In 1925 he married Linda from who he divorced in 1931. He was one of the sponsors when my grandmother was christened in Tallinn, Estionia 1922. As you can see in the nice pictures he was into theatre and dancing. He later married Alice Cernova, or as I have found out, also called/spelled Aleksandra Tschernova who was a dancing teacher.

Voldermar Verno and to the top right, Alice Cernova (Aleksandra Tschernova)

When I was in Estonia and Tallinn last summer, I went to the cemetery to look for his grave and I found it.

Headstone of my granduncle Voldemar Verno at
Metsakalmistu cemetery in Tallinn, Estonia

The blogposts about the other Verno-siblings:
Part 1 - Sonja Verno (Oeberg)
Part 2 - Maria Verno (Belinski)
Part 3 - Valentina Verno (Kiljar)

Part 4a - Pavel Verno

Part 4b - Pavel Verno update

The Verno siblings: Julie, Voldemar, Helena, Valentina, Maria, Pavel and Sonja / Sofie

Sibling Saturday - Verno siblings part 1 - Sofie Verno

The Verno siblings are my great-grandaunts (Helena, Valentina, Maria), uncles (Voldomar, Pavel) and my great-grandmother Julia. My grandmother was born in Estonia but the generation before her seems to come from a part that today belongs to Russia. I don't know very much about that part of the family and that makes it so much more interesting. Also, mainly all information is in Estonian and Russian, two languages I don't know and that ofcourse makes it a little (well, much to be honest) harder to find information and takes a lot more time. On the other hand, great pleasure everytime a tiny bit in the puzzle is solved.

Verno siblings, Julie, Voldemar, Helena, Valenrina, Maria, Pavel and Sonja

Sonja Verno was my greatgrandaunt. Sonja (or Sofie as she was known as in the US where she immigrated) was born December 18, 1896 in in Pskov (Псков), today in Russia. The Estonian name is Pihkva. She was the daugther of August Verno and Anna Lindenberg, both of them born in Russia.

Sofie Verno (aka Sonja)

According to a document from 1920s she was an Estonian citizen and she was an actress (näitleja). Perhaps that is how she met her husband who was in the same businesses, Leo Oeberg, an actor. They got married in Tallinn May 1, 1921.

In Estonia Sofie was an actress

At my grandmothers christening in 1922 in Tallinn Sofie and her brother Voldemar were sponsors so even if I don't know much about them they seem to have been close.

Sofie and Leo arrived with USAT General W C Langfitt in New Orleans, April 6 1950. They settled in San Francisco, California where Sofie worked as a dressmaker.

In 1956, a year after her husband Leo died, she became a US citizen. She lived at 400 Pierce Street.

400 Pierce Street in 2011 (Google maps)

Sofie died October 31 in 1961. Most of the information about places and dates I got from two different  documents, her funeral record (found at ancestry.com) and her petition for naturalization (at Familysearch.org). Those records are  is really a great resources, telling place and date of birth and death, parents names and birthplaces, occupation, when, where and how she came to the US and martial status. In the petition you can read that Sofie had eye color grey, brown hair, was 5 feet and 3 inches tall and weighed 136 pounds  (about 160 cm and 75 kg).

Part of funeral record

The funeral record also says the funeral was November 2 1961. She and her husband Leo are both buried at the Serbian Cemetery in San Francisco. The Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco have among other things a picture of the headstone and I got permission to use their picture in my blog.

Leo and Sofie Oeberg.
Photo is used by permission from Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco

Sofie and Leo didn't have any children.

Sofie Verno timeline

Talented Tuesday - actor Leo Oeberg

I don't know much about this man, Leo Alexander Oeberg. He was born in Russia, June 29 1891,  to Alexander Oeberg and Paula Ludagovsky. May 1, 1921, he married my great grand aunt in Tallinn, Estonia,  Sonja Verno.

In 1950, Leo and Sonja emigrated to the US. In USA Sonja was known as Sofie.

March 16, 1955 Leo dies in San Francisco. In the funeral record I found at Ancestry.com, it says his occupation was actor (stage).

Leo Oeberg funeral record

So, thats all I know. I would love to find a picture or any information on where he might have been an actor, any play he might have been in, anything.

Leo and Sofie (she died in 1961) are buried at Serbian Cemetery (Colma, San Mateo).