Flora Sorenson

— Posted inBiography — 4 min read
Entry in Bethel Lutheran Church baptismal register for Flora Sorenson. Column 1 (entry number): 4. Column 2 (date of birth): 1/1. Column 3 (date of baptism): 3/2. Column 4 (name): Flora. Column 5 (parents names): Nils Hansen Sorenson and Katrina Marie.

Flora Sorenson is my great grandmother. She was born 1 Jan 1889, the daughter of Nils Hansen Sorenson and Katherine (Hansen) Sorenson, the 5th of 7 children.1

On 23 Jul 1910, she married my great grandfather William Solle in Chicago, Illinois.2 The couple resided in Madison, Wisconsin at 1119 Elizabeth St in 1920,3 1930,4 and 1940.5 William died in 1947.6 They had two children, my grandmother Lillian (born 1911) and William (born 1917).7

On 6 May 1950 in Dubuque, Iowa, Flora married widower Michael Lucey.8 They continued to reside in Madison until Michael’s death in 1963.9 In Aug 1965, Flora moved to the San Diego area to live with her son William.10

On 10 Nov 1970, Flora Lucey died at the Tri-City Hospital in Oceanside, California of a ruptured aneurysm. Her remains were cremated.11

By the time I was born in 1970, my grandfather was divorced from Lillian and we were estranged from her and the Solle family. I knew nothing about the Solle and Sorenson relatives as a young person. Finding out who they were was a primary motivation for starting my genealogical journey in 2009. However, I have little knowledge of what Flora was like, nor any photographs of her. I don’t even know the disposition of her cremains. All I know is what I’ve been able to find in records, and those records don’t reveal much of what kind of person Flora was.

  1. Bethel Lutheran Church (Madison, Wisconsin), Ministerial Records of Norwegian Lutheran Congregation of Madison, 1882-1890, Baptisms page 5, entry 4 for Flora daughter of Nils Hansen Sorenson; digital images, Ancestry.com, “U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969” (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60722/images/41742_314945-00055 : accessed 2 Jan 2023). Note: Some entries on the same page note a year, but the entry for Flora does not, indicating that she was most likely baptized the same year she was born, 1889. However, her death records state a birth date of 1 Jan 1888, which could be consistent with this record if the year was mistakenly omitted.
  2. “Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7CW-1JG : downloaded 3 Sep 2012), William Lolle [sic] and Flora Sorensen, 23 Jul 1910. Note: Images may be viewed only at a Family History Center or an affiliate library.
  3. 1920 U.S. Census, Dane County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Madison, enumeration district (ED) 56, sheet 4A, dwelling 59, family 73; digital image, Ancestry.com, “1920 United States Federal Census” (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4390346_00874 : accessed 2 Jan 2023).
  4. 1930 U.S. Census, Dane County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Madison, ED 13-44, sheet 10A, dwelling 197, family 240; digital image, Ancestry.com, “1930 United States Federal Census” (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4547875_00266 : accessed 2 Jan 2023)
  5. 1940 U.S. Census, Dane County, Wisconsin, Madison, ED 13-42, sheet 4A, household 76; digital image, National Archives and Records Administration, “1940 Census Population Schedules, Enumeration District Maps, and Enumeration District Descriptions” (s3://nara-1940-census/population-schedules/wi/dane-county/ed/13-42/m-t0627-04469-00244.jpg : downloaded 22 Apr 2021)
  6. Dane County, Wisconsin, death certificate, local registrar’s no. 57 (1947), William Solle; Dane County Register of Deeds, Madison.
  7. 1920 U.S. Census, Dane County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Madison, ED 56, sheet 4A, dwelling 59, family 73.
  8. “Solle-Lucey Marriage Announced”, Wisconsin State Journal, 10 May 1950, section 2, page 4, column 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/402313645/ : accessed 2 Jan 2022)
  9. Dane County, Wisconsin, death certificate, state death no. 151 (1963), Michael Eugene Lucey; Dane County Register of Deeds, Madison.
  10. “Moves to California”, Wisconsin State Journal, 15 Aug 1965, section 5, page 2, column 4 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/402363431/ : downloaded 6 Aug 2022)
  11. San Diego County, California, death certificate, state file no. 70-146391 (1970), Flora Lucey; San Diego Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk, San Diego.

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