Eleanora Marie (Theviot) Nolan (1879 - 1972)

Born 15 Oct 1879 in St. Paul, Minnesota

Ancestors

Daughter of Heinrich Theviot and Bertha Laura Anna (Pickler) Theviot

Wife of James Joseph Nolan — married 21 Jun 1904 in St. Francis Church, Brainerd, Minnesota

Descendants

Died 15 Jan 1972 at age 92 in Brainerd, Minnesota

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Marty McGowan [send private message], Meg McGowan [send private message], Brendan McGowan [send private message], and Mary Pat Nolan-Grigsby [send private message]

Biography

Early Life

Nora was the second of five children born to Henry and Bertha Pickler Theviot. Her birth was registered in St. Paul, Minnesota,^[1][2] though her family was living in Belle Plaine, Minnesota.^[3] She may have been born at the home of her grandmother in St. Paul.

Her father moved to Brainerd, Minnesota in 1881 "as he saw a bright future in Brainerd. Brainerd was booming and he bought quite a lot of property."^[4]The family followed a year later when Nora was three. Their new home was above her mother's millinery store. "The building had just one large bedroom upstairs and two small rooms up in the back. Then there was a hallway with stairs down and a large living room, dining room, large kitchen and two bedrooms off the kitchen."^[4]

The next year, 1883, Brainerd was struck by a black diphtheria panic. "My oldest brother got it, and my dad sent a wire to my grandmother in St. Paul. . . She took the a.m. train, brought her big black shawl, got in at noon and went to our store where we lived, and my father handed me out of the window downstairs where I slept with the maid. Mother was upstairs with the sick brother. . Three days after, one brother died, and in three days, the other. Mother nearly lost her mind,"^[4] Nora lived with her grandmother for a year and returned after another child was born. ^[5] "The new sister made Mother get over her loss of the two boys."^[4]

Nora and baby Adelaide.

Nora recalled happier times growing up in Brainerd. A neighbor Mrs. Dressen "made ice cream (delicious) and used her living room to serve it." In winter, there was a skating rink and toboggan slides. A large toboggan slide "started at the corner of North street down to 8th St. We’d go up steps, on the corner of 8th and Front and back along Front."^[4]

Education

Nora attended school in Brainerd, but did not finish high school as her businesswoman mother had her stay home to care for her youngest sister, who was born when Nora was 15.^[6] According to Nora's daughter Margaret, this caused some conflict between Nora and her mother.^[7]

Nora also worked in her mother's millinery store before her marriage.^[8][9]

Marriage

Nora married postal employee Jim Nolan,"one of the most popular young men in town," when she was 24 years old. The local newspaper described the ceremony as "One of the prettiest weddings that has occurred in Brainerd for some time." After a wedding breakfast at the home of her parents, the couple left for a eastern wedding trip of a few weeks. "A large delegation of friends of the young folks, with rice and old shoes, made things lively until the departure of the train."^[10] In 1905, Jim and Nora made their home at 620 Maple Street in Brainerd.^[11]

Family Life

Nora and Jim Nolan raised a family of six daughters and one son.^{[12][13][14][15]} Nora's youngest daughter Betty remembered her mother as "very disciplined and hard working." She was "an excellent cook, raised a huge garden, canned a winter's supply of fruits and vegetables," sewed for all her children, and was "an excellent financial manager raising a large family on a limited salary." Although she "put everyone else's" interests and needs ahead of hers," she also enjoyed playing bridge and pinochle, and "her favorite hobby was picking blueberries at Pelican Lake property" that her father owned. ^[16]

Another daughter Margaret gave similar recollections of her mother (who was known as "Nonie" within the family):

"Our kitchen had two stoves in it--one was a gas stove that my mother used during the summer and the other was an old fashioned range that burned coal and wood in the cold winter months. Our home was heated by coal. I remember I could hear Nonie up on cold winter mornings shoveling coal into the furnace. She was able to keep it running a lot better than Dad was.

"We always ate in the dining room with a linen table cloth every night. Betty and my chores were to set the table to clear and wash the dishes when we were through. . .

"Nonie was an excellent seamstress. She made all our clothes. I don’t remember having a store bought dress until I was a senior in high school and got one for graduation. I marveled at the things Nonie could do with the sewing machine. I remember one time I was invited to a birthday party and I wanted a new dress and Nonie knew that I wanted a new dress. The dining room table was always her sewing room. The morning before I went to school she had a pattern laid out. When I came home at noon, she had the dress basted together and by the time I came home from school she had the dress all pressed. . .

"In the evenings, during the school year, we always had a lot of homework to do. I guess in those days the dining room was sort of the family room, because we would all sit around the dining room table and do our homework. Nonie always saw to it that if we had homework to do, we got it done. And if we needed help, she was always there to help us. I always thought that there wasn’t anything that Nonie couldn’t do. . .

"Nonie did have beautiful vegetables, at different times she had corn and beans and peas. Betty and I would quite frequently take a wagon full of vegetables and go around the neighborhood selling it. Nonie was an excellent cook and she made wonderful donuts. Every Saturday morning, she would get up early and bake dozens of donuts, and we would take those around and sell them. We had regular customers we would service every Saturday morning.

"On Sundays, we went to mass. I don’t remember ever going to mass as a family--I suppose we did on occasions, but Nonie always used to get up early and go to church, and Betty and I used to go to the children’s mass. Dad wasn’t a frequent attender of Mass. . ."^[17]

Later Years

Nora was widowed when she was about 71 years old. She remained in her home for a time, but later moved in with her daughter Eleanor, who lived at Pelican Lake outside of Brainerd with Melba Griffin. She also spent part of the year with her daughter Margaret. "She didn't like staying at the lake in the summer, because Eleanor always had so much company and their meals were always late." ^[18]

Nora survived colon cancer later in life and lived to age 92. She spent the last three years of her life at the Good Samaritan Nursing Home in Brainerd.^[19] She is buried in the family plot in Evergreen Cemetery, Brainerd.

Sources

1. ↑ Minnesota Births & Christenings Index, FHL Film no. 1314526 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5QJ-SQ1Q?i=294&cc=1920099
2. ↑ "Minnesota Births and Christenings, 1840-1980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FD75-CP2 : 4 December 2014), Theviot, 13 Oct 1879; citing Saint Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, reference v 2 p 227; FHL microfilm 1,314,526.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MZ9G-13D : accessed 10 Oct 2014), Leanora Yhoist in household of Henry Yhoist, Belle Plaine, Scott, Minnesota, United States; citing sheet 52C, NARA microfilm publication T9.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} "AS I REMEMBER BRAINERD," Recollections by Nora Nolan, cir. 1961
5. ↑ "Minnesota, State Census, 1885," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-12143-41284-52?cc=1503044 : accessed 10 Oct 2014), Crow Wing > Brainerd > image 17 of 95; citing State Library and Records Service, St. Paul.
6. ↑ "Minnesota, State Census, 1895," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11708-161338-82?cc=1503031 : accessed 10 Oct 2014), Crow Wing County > Brainerd city, Ward 01 > image 30 of 30; citing State Library and Records Service, St. Paul.
7. ↑ Nolan Oral History.
8. ↑ Brainerd City Directory, 1901-1902, p. 168
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9S3-7SP : accessed 11 October 2017), Elenora Theirot in household of Henry Theirot, Brainerd city Ward 1, Crow Wing, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 55, sheet 1B, family 27, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,761.
10. ↑ Brainerd Arena, June 24, 1904, p. 1
11. ↑ "Minnesota, State Census, 1905," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-159387-239824-69?cc=1503056 : accessed 10 Oct 2014), Crow Wing > Brainerd, Ward 05 > image 1 of 38; citing State Library and Records Service, St. Paul.
12. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2LL-8JC : accessed 11 October 2017), Eleanor M Nolan in household of James Nolan, Brainerd Ward 2, Crow Wing, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 31, sheet 6B, family 131, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 694; FHL microfilm 1,374,707.
13. ↑ "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWY7-ZTQ : accessed 17 June 2019), Eleanor Nolan in household of James J Nolan, Brainerd Ward 2, Crow Wing, Minnesota, United States; citing ED 117, sheet 4A, line 24, family 71, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 829; FHL microfilm 1,820,829.
14. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X3ZM-B4R : accessed 11 October 2017), Elanore Nolan in household of James J Nolan, Brainerd, Crow Wing, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 5, sheet 7B, line 96, family 174, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1084; FHL microfilm 2,340,819.
15. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KSKX-J3S : accessed 11 October 2017), Elanor M Nolan in household of J J Nolan, Ward 2, Brainerd, Brainerd City, Crow Wing, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 18-5A, sheet 5A, line 15, family 75, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1916.
16. ↑ From "Grandmother's Book," notes from Betty Nolan to her granddaughter Sarah White.
17. ↑ Nolan Oral History
18. ↑ Nolan Oral History
19. ↑ "Mrs. Nolan, 92, Dies at Home," Brainerd Dispatch, n.d.

• Parental relationships are confirmed by an AncestryDNA test match between Nora's granddaughter Meg McGowan and her sister Amorita Theviot's granddaughter, Meg's second cousin. Their most-recent common ancestors are their great grandparents, Henry Theviot and Bertha Pickler. Predicted relationship from AncestryDNA: 2nd Cousins, based on sharing 166 cM across 11 segments; Confidence: Extremely High.