Ivey family tree (Van Soelen) » Adolph Jacob van SOELEN (1843-1923)

Personal data Adolph Jacob van SOELEN 

• Alternative names: Adolph J van Soelen, Adolph J Vansoelen, Adolph J Vansolen
• He was born on May 19, 1843 in Amsterdam, Holland.Sources 1, 4, 5

  other sources suggest he could have been born in 1844 or 1845

• Alternative: He was born in the year 1843 in Holland.Source 1
• He was baptized on October 25, 1973 in Provo Temple, Utah.
• Baptized (at 8 years of age or later) by the priesthood authority of the LDS church on October 25, 1973 in Provo Temple, Utah.
• Obtained citizenship on April 2, 1874, St Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States.Sources 6, 7
• Profession: Blacksmith.
• Resident:
• in the year 1920: Los Angeles Assembly District 61, Los Angeles, California.Source 1
• in the year 1890: St. Paul, MN.Source 3
• in the year 1880: Breckenridge, Wilkin, Minnesota, United States.Source 4
• in the year 1920: Los Angeles Assembly District 61, Los Angeles, California.Source 1
• (Arrival) in the year 1873: He said he arrived in Detroit Michigan.Source 1
• (Arrival) in the year 1862.Source 1
• He died on March 4, 1923 in Los Angeles CA, he was 79 years old.

  Attention: Deceased (March 4, 1923) before baptism (October 25, 1973).

Household of Adolph Jacob van SOELEN

He is married to Karen Marie LARSEN.

They got married on January 2, 1875 at Ramsey St. Paul Minn, he was 31 years old.Sources 2, 8, 9, 10

Child(ren):

1. John N van SOELEN  1875-1881
2. Christina Jane van SOELEN  1877-1945 
3. James A van SOELEN  1879-1881
4. Jeanette van SOELEN  1883-1956 
5. John van SOELEN  1885-1885
6. Nellie van SOELEN  1886-????
7. Theodore van SOELEN  1890-1964

Notes about Adolph Jacob van SOELEN

Adolph came to the US in May 1873 and moved to Ramsey county Minn. He made citizen application in April of 1874

Adolph moved to Southern California and lived with his daughter Christina Jane until his death.
He remained single after Karen died and never remarried.

Note: This is a copy of an email I sent to Fred Van Soelen also a great grandson of Adolph and Karen

It is nice to hear from you. I have been working on and off for several years now on the Van Soelen/Larsen lines.

It has been an interesting project and although I have just barely begun I have already discovered many interesting facts about these two families.
Karen and Adolph had seven children during their short life together. Only
four of those children lived to adulthood and Karen only lived to be forty years old before her untimely death. Adolph never remarried and died some
30 years after Karen while living in California with Jane the second oldest daughter. ( my grandmother)

So let me start with what I know and go to the spot in their histories where I
found each of them in the United States.

Adolph Jacob Van Soelen

I have found several spellings of the Van Soelen name but think this is the most common and correct way – at least until we get into Holland then who
knows. I found several references to Adolph with no middle name and just the initial J . Also Van Soelen is spelled in a variety of ways. I have
discovered that the people who took the census data were not always careful about spelling and dates varied from time to time.
My first official record of Adolph is a State of Minnesota document dated April 2,1874 stating that Adolph J. Van Soelen ( they spelled it Solen but
he signed it Soelen) born about 1844 ( other census records say 1843 May 19 in Holland ) The record states that his ship arrived in Detroit Michigan in May 1873. He would have been 30 or 31 at the time.

Why and how he went to St.Paul, Minnesota I have no idea. We just know that on April 2, 1874 he applied for citizenship in Ramsey county Minn.
The next official record is a marriage license in Ramsey county authorizing Adolph Jacob Van Soelen to marry Karen Marie Larsen on Jan 2, 1875 . We know that she was from Denmark and was born around 1852. (as stated on her death record in Ramsey county 23 Jan 1892)
Karen was 23 at her marriage and Adolph was almost 32.
Early on we find reference to Adolph as a blacksmith in the St. Paul area.

Karen Marie Larsen
I have even less information about Karen Marie Larsen. I yet cannot find when and where she arrived in the U.S. or the name of where in Denmark she came from. I also really want to find her parents but Larsen in Denmark is like Smith in the U.S. I think.
We know about her marriage date and to whom. Also with the help of a really nice person I met on line who does family history work in St. Paul I was able to find all of the Van Soelen children.
It is a rather sad story and truly reflects the hardships of that era of history.
After their marriage in 1875 the first son is born in either late 1875 or early 1876 in St. Paul. His name was (1)John N. Van Soelen.
My grandmother (2) Christina Jane Van Soelen was the second child born on 19 April 1877. Grandmother and her sister Jeanette later took license with the truth and “made themselves” five years younger on future census data for reasons only known to them. My grandfather was several years younger than grandma and perhaps vanity of the day played into the change and because later in life her sister would live in California with Jane consistency of age necessitated Jeanette to make a corresponding adjustment to her birth date as well.
James was born next in 1879.
Jeanette came next on 16 Dec 1883 ( also called Nettie)
John ( no middle initial) was next born in Feb 1885
Nellie was next born in July of 1886
Cornelius Theodore was the last born 15 Feb 1890
( the 1900 census listed Cornelius G Van Soelen but
I think they got it mixed up with Cornelius T. and
later Theodore dropped the Cornelius )

In November 1881 John N., in a diphtheria epidemic, died
at age 6 years and was followed by his brother James 2 yrs. 6 months
in December of the same year also of diphtheria. In just two months
the Van Soelen family lost two children.
On September 29 1885 just 8 months old the second John died of enteritis .
In a short three years three of the seven children died.
Theodore born in 1890 would only have his mother for a short two years
and then on January 2, 1892 Karen Marie died at age 40. I am told that
The oldest girl then 15 Christina Jane did much to try and help her grief stricken father to shoulder the role of mothering a yet very young family.
The girls followed their sister Jane to California along with Adolph for the
remainder of their lives. Theodore after traveling part of the world settled
and married, rasied a family and became a renowned artist. You know the
rest of that story much better than I.
Hope this helps and I will keep digging to try to find the family in Europe.
Keep in touch – after all we are cousins - Ed

Oct. 10,2011

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