Andrew Richardson and the Spanish-American war, part 2

As I wrote in an earlier post I suspected Andrew Richardson, my great granduncle had participated in the Spanish-American war after I found a Veteran Grave index record at Minnesota Historical Society. It didn't take 30 business days for the record to arrive but Ive been checking the mailbox everyday waiting for that letter to arrive. The day before yesterday was my lucky day. Every weekday at lunch I drive home to take the dog out for a walk. Just letting the dog into the house again that day I saw the yellow post car and waited for the postman to drop the mail off. There it was. All the way from Minnesota. How exciting it is before you open it. You think "Now all my questions will get answers".

I sat down in my car and opend it. At least I didn't open it standing next to the mailbox even if I wanted to. Two pages. A lot of fields with great information to fill out.. which hadn't been filled out. Well, it did say he served in Philippine Insurrection, birthdate was 1858 and birthplace Sweden, no more details than that. And then the feeling you get when you realize you didn't get any answers, just a few more questions. But that is why we all love genealogy and family history research right?

So many interesting fields to fill out,
homcome are most of them empty?

Drove back to work and used the last minutes of my lunch to scan the papers and email it to Andrews relatives in the US.

Well, I also sent an email to Aitkin County Historical Society, giving them the birth and death data of Andrew and telling the story of that he might have been in the Spanish-American war, asking if they had any obituaries or newspaper clippings since their homepage said they have local newspapers on microfilm. (Ive been searching genealogybank.com, newspaperarchive.com and chroniclingamerica.loc.gov with no luck).

Yesterday (within 24 hours), I got an email reply from Aitkin County Historical Society with an obituary of Andrew Richardson attached to it. What a joy! Answers to my questions, yes, Andrew was a Spanish-American War veteran.

But then also a little sadness reading the obituary. He was found dead by a man named Frank Fowlds on the floor in his cabin seven miles from Palisade, where he lived alone . According to the coroner E E Seavey he had probably been dead for about three days. He lived much to himself making occasional visits to Minneapolis.

Andrew Richardson Obituary 1928

So, now I know for sure he was in the war and he had a government pension. I have emailed Aitkin County Historical Society trying to express how grateful I am for their help but the truth is I really can't explain how happy I am with words. Im sure you all know that feeling too as well. They day I get to the US and Minnesota their museum is definitely on my list on places to visit.

The search may continue. I now need to find out how to find out where to find him, how long and where he served during the war. Any suggestions? I think he was in Wisconsin aroud that period of time.

Andrew Richardson Death Certificate page 1

Andrew Richardson Death Certificate page 2

In Sweden Andrew Richardson was known as Anders Nilsson Rickard Holmer. Born in Vinslöv, Kristanstad, Sweden January 26 1858.

Father:
Nils Svensson Rickard
b. August 8 1828, Kviinge, Sweden
d. May 27 1913, Vinslöv, Sweden

Mother:
Elna Holmgren
b. September 27 1820, Vanneberga, Sweden
d. March 14 1886, Vinslöv, Sweden

Siblings:

Anna Nilsdotter Rickard, in US aka Anna Nelson (married to Jens Nelson)
b. March 23 1853, Vanneberga, Sweden
d. July 17 1905, Swanville, Minnesota, US

Karna Nilsdotter Rickard (my greatgreat grandmother)
b. October 6 1855, Vinslöv, Sweden
d. January 10 1919, Bubbarp, Sweden

Nils Nilsson Rickard, in US aka Nels Richardson
b. February 23 1860, Vinslöv, Sweden
d. March 24 1935, Long Prairie, Minnesota, US

Elna Nilsdotter Rickard, in US aka Ellen Nelson (married to 1) Johannes Ericsson 2) Nels L Nelson)
b. July 6 1862, Vinslöv, Sweden
d. White Bear Lake, Minnesota, US

My Andrew Richardson in the Spanish-American war?

Just like any tree in my garden my familytree needs some trimming at times. And with that I don't mean cutting of branches (unless I discover someone is in the tree that shouldn't be there of course). I see it as giving the exsisting tree a little bit of extra care. Like now, after the release of the 1940 census, adding that information to the persons that are in the census. Or when I find a database or function on a webpage I haven't seen before, doing lookups on the people in my tree that it applies to.

A couple of days ago, I found a people finder at the Minnesota Historical Society homepage I hadn't noticed before. I typed in the names of my relatives who emigrated to Minnesota and I got an interesting match. My great-grandmothers brother Anders Nilsson Rickard Holmer (known in the US as Andrew Richardson) showed up in the Minnesota Veterans Grave Index.

The dates wasn't exactly right, his death certificate say August 1 as his date of death and the VGI said August 4 (which happens to be the date he was buried). According to the little information I am able to see at the page his military service was during the Spanish-American war. It didn't take me many minutes to press the buy button and pay 9 USD. Now I am just waiting for this paper to arrive in the snail mail...

Andrew was one of the first emigrants I found related to me which has made him feel a bit special. He was born in Vinslöv 1858 and for six years (1875-1881) he lived in Kristianstad. (For at least a couple of years he was an artillerist.) I don't know if that qualified him for the Spanish-American war in some way, after all, in 1898 it has been seventeen years since he was a soldier in Sweden. There are great info about people who was in the war, like this homepage. Seems like most of the soldiers were in their twenties or early thirties. Anders on the other hand would have been 40 in 1898. Most annoying I can't find any Andrew Richardson in any list. At the time, he might have been in Idaho or Wisconsin.

Anyday now I will get that document and hopefully be able to add some extra information about Andrew Richardson. He never married and died in Aitkin, Minnesota in 1928. He was buried at Pine Grove Cemetery.