The farm implement maker

D3b: Ahlforth i Illinois, In English
av Esben Alfort

Joseph Ahlforth & Nellie Hunter

  Joseph ”Joe” Carl ”Charles” Ahlforth (4/12 1882 – 1957)
  D3b branch [1.2.11.8.2.3.3]
  Son of Carl Ahlforth & Anna Johnson
  Moline, Illinois
  Coremaker foreman, Deere & Mansur farm implement factory

 1. Nellie May Hunter (24/10 1886 – 6/11 1923) (m. 20/12 1906 in Moline)
  Moline, Illinois
  1 child

 2. Mable ? (1901 – after 1930) (m. 1923)
  Kentucky
icon-stop  No known children

  Primary sources
  06-02-2021

Joseph Ahlforth’s grave at Riverside Cemetery, Moline. Source: Findagrave.com.

Joseph’s signature 1918.

Joseph’s signature 1942.

Joseph – or Carl as he sometimes calls himself – is already a coremaker at the Deere & Mansur farm implement factory in Moline at the turn of the century, and by 1920 he is a coremaker foreman. He has brown eyes and brown hair and lives in Walker Station.

His first language is English, and in 1906 he marries local girl Nellie May Hunter from Coaltown, who is the daughter of one of his co-workers. They move in with her parents at 1925 28th Avenue and raise a daughter there.

Nellie Hunter’s grave at Bowlesburg Cemetery, Silvis. Source: Findagrave.com.

In March 1922 they move briefly to Montana and then to Los Angeles. In September, Nellie is back in Moline to visit the family, but is taken ill and dies shortly afterwards. Her husband hurries thither from California, but by then it is too late. He never sees his Nellie again.

Soon after Joseph marries a young woman called Mabel, born in 1901 in Kentucky. In fact, she is only six years older than her step-daughter. We hear no more of her after 1930, however, and in 1940 he has moved in with his daughter and her family.

His son-in-law co-owns a billiard hall. This is no coincidence; he may even potentially have co-owned it with his father-in-law, as the brothers Joseph and Joe Ahlforth are on the board of ”The Modern club of Walker’s station” in Moline in 1902, which seems to have been very popular among the young people. Their hospitality is praised in the local newspapers.

Nellie Hunter’s obituary.

Forskningsdata

  •  signatures: Joseph Ahlforth (1918); Carl J. Ahlforth (1942)
  •  name (others’ spellings): Joseph C. (1900); Joseph Alforth (1910); Joseph Ahlforth (1918-1957); Joe Ahlforth (1940); Carl Joseph Ahlforth (1942)
  •  name (others’ spellings): Nellie M. Alforth (1910); Nellie Ahlforth (1918-1920); Nellie M. Ahlforth (1923)
  •  name (others’ spellings): Mable Ahlforth (1930)
  •  cens. 1900;1920-1940 Moline: 1900; 1920; 1930; 1940
  •  cens. 1920
  •  cens. 1930
  •  milit. 1918; 1942
  •  inh. 1918