♂Charles Thomsen

Charles Thomsen (23 July 1874 – 13 April 1943) was a Chicago-born son of Schleswig-Holstein immigrants who worked as a postal supervisor for the United States government and, at his death, was a Past Master of South Park Lodge No. 662 of the Freemasons. A family history adds that he was postmaster at the stockyards station. He was the elder brother of Christine Magdalena Thomsen (1883–1961), the grandmother of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007).

Early life

Charles was born in Chicago on 23 July 1874, the son of Anders Hansen Thomsen (1847–1931), born at Heist in Holstein, and Bothilda Catharina Jensen (1851–1925), from Jejsing in Schleswig, who had both come to America and married in 1872. He signed himself “Charles P. N. Thomsen”. Both of his grandfathers bore the names Peter Nicolai, his father’s father as Peter Nicolai Thomsen and his mother’s father as Peter Nikolai Jensen, though the records do not spell out his own middle names in full.

In the 1880 census the family was enumerated under the name Thompson in Hyde Park Township, then a separate town south of Chicago, where “Charley” was at school and his father was a teamster. A younger brother, Christian Martin, born in 1879, died in 1884, and his sister Christine was born in 1883; she was the only one of his brothers and sisters to survive to adulthood. In June 1900 Charles, single and living with his parents in Chicago’s 30th Ward, was working as a clerk in the tea trade.

Marriage and work

On 26 August 1903, in Chicago, he married Alice Emily Dunckley (1875–1954), born on 8 January 1875 in York Township, Ontario, the daughter of Richard Dunkley, a bricklayer, and Sarah Ann Harris. Their only child, Charles Dunckley Thomsen (1912–1972), was born in Chicago on 29 October 1912.

When he registered for the draft on 12 September 1918, Charles was living at 11340 Forest Avenue and working as a post office supervisor for the United States government at 715 West 51st Street. The registrar described him as of medium height and stout, with blue eyes and brown hair. In 1920 the family was still on Forest Avenue, and Alice’s widowed father, Richard Dunckley, was living with them. By 1930 they owned a house at 7429 Maryland Avenue, valued at $5,000, and had a radio. They were still there in 1940, the house then valued at $3,500, with their son no longer at home.

Death

Charles died in Chicago on 13 April 1943, aged 68, still living on Maryland Avenue; his death record gave his occupation as superintendent. His death notice in the Chicago Tribune named his wife, his son Charles D., a grandson and his sister, “Christine Schultz”. It listed his Masonic offices: past master of South Park Lodge No. 662, A.F. & A.M., and member of the Scottish Rite, the Shrine, the Council, Normal Park Chapter and Woodlawn Commandery No. 76, Knights Templar. The services were held on Saturday afternoon at a chapel on East 75th Street, and he was buried on 17 April 1943 at Oak Woods Cemetery, where his parents also lie. Alice survived him by eleven years and was still at the Maryland Avenue house when she died in 1954.

Notes

The 1900 census gave his birth as July 1875, and the 1880 census gave his age as six, a year too high. His draft card, his death record and a 1994 family history all give 23 July 1874, and his age at marriage, 29 in August 1903, fits that year. The family history’s statement that he was postmaster at the stockyards station has not been matched to a post office record. His 1918 card gives a supervisor’s post at a West 51st Street office. The family has not been found in the 1910 census.