Clara Rasmussen (1894-1960)

Clara Rasmussen was born in February of 1894 in the state of Iowa, according to my grandfather’s beautifully measured handwriting. Clara was his mother, whom he was somewhat estranged from because of his relationship with his  father. It appears that Dennis Donahue longed to know more about his mother’s past and her heritage.

The notes that Dennis kept revealed the names of Clara’s father and siblings along with the dates of their birth. Clara’s father, Hans Peater Rasmussen, was 25 years old when she, the first born in her family, was born. She was followed by her brother Rasmus Niels in 1895, her sister Berthilda in 1897, Anna in 1899 and little brother Marius in 1901. This was all that Dennis’ notes provided and I was left with the arduous task of tracking the family down through federal and state paper trails. Thankfully my father had also retained documents from the 1970s when Clara’s brother Rasmus had passed away. My father and his siblings were tracked down and were given a small inheritance that was meant for their deceased father. Therefore I also had a full name for him and a date of death.

From my own research I’ve located the Rasmussen family in a town called Cedar Falls in Black Hawk County Iowa in the year 1900. Iowa’s early residents were primarily Scandinavians, Slovaks, Hispanic, German, and Greek immigrants. In 1900, Clara was a child of 6 years old, but attending a local school. Her younger siblings would have been cared for during the day by their mother Mary. Clara was born one year after her parents were married and only two years after her mother came to the United States. Her family lived in Iowa until sometime before 1905, when they packed up their belongings and followed the rails north to Wisconsin where they settled near the Minnesota border. The 1905 Wisconsin state census and the 1910 U.S. Federal census show the family living on their land in Luck, Polk County. Luck was a Danish settlement, and the Rasmussens likely knew individuals who lived there. The Rasmussen family continued to live in Luck, Wisconsin for at least another 5 years.

Another federal census was taken in 1910, which recorded the family living on their “General farm” which they now had a mortgage on. At this time, Clara’s parents, “Hans P.” (40) and “Mary B.” (38) have been married for 17 years and their children are aged 9-16. Rasmus N., Berthilda, Anna & Marius are all attending school, while Clara who is now 16, works as a servant to a private family.

After 1910 and before 1919 Clara Rasmussen would have met and married Edward Donahue of the neighbouring state, Minnesota. I do not know how, when or where the couple met and at this point these facts are of greatest interest to me. I have been curious as to why Edward, a through-and-through Irish American would marry a first generation Danish American. With further research I found that the American Library of Congress has noted that Danish Americans, more so than other Scandinavian Americans, “spread nationwide and comparatively quickly disappeared into the melting pot…the Danes were the least cohesive group and the first to lose consciousness of their origins”[i] Also, historians have pointed to the higher rate of English use among Danes, their willingness to marry non-Danes, and their eagerness to become naturalized citizens as factors that contributed to their rapid assimilation. It appears that since Hans P. and Mary B. both wrote, read and spoke English as immigrants, their children would have easily navigated American culture. So, it seems that the mystery here lies in Edward’s interest in a Danish girl. His farming family did often hire farm help from Scandinavian and German countries, so it might simply be that while he grew up he became familiar with their cultures.

What I have found of the Clara & Edward saga is evidence of Edward crossing the border into Canada and living in Saskatchewan as a single man in 1916. At this time it appears that he and Clara did not have a relationship. Their first child, my grandfather Dennis E. Donahue, was born in 1919 which means that between 1916 and 1919 Edward and Clara had met, married and moved in together in Carmichael, Saskatchewan where Dennis was born. Knowing that the trend was often to start a family soon after marrying, my guess that Clara and Edward were married in Gull Lake in 1918 is at least an educated guess.

Clara & Edward went on to have another 3 children after their first child, my grandfather, Dennis (who was named after his grandfather, Dennis Donahue): Donald Joseph Francis Donahue (b.1920),Vernon Charles Donahue (b. 1921 in Gull Lake, Sask.), Florence Mary Donahue (Francis) (b. 1923), Alice Evangeline Donahue (Clark) (b.1925).

Until the 1920 Canadian census is released, it will be difficult to find the Rasmussen family members who were living in Canada. I am unsure as to whether or not the rest of the family moved up to Canada or if they simply visited.