On 04 July 1910, a group of twenty people—plus one dog—came together for a photograph somewhere in Yankton County, South Dakota. Presumably, they had gathered to celebrate Independence Day, and several chairs were brought outside for their assemblage before a backdrop of trees. All present appear to be well if not formally dressed for the day. The men wear no jackets and several go without vests or ties, suggesting that the weather was quite warm, and several of the women and girls, most of whom wear light-colored, summer dresses, have their sleeves pushed to their elbows. At least one woman wears an apron. A man’s straw boater hat is cast to the side, and a dog rests, alert, at a girls’ feet. However, despite the fact that this was a warm summer day and that even the men have shed some layers, the children all seem to have been required to wear stockings and shoes as there are no comfortably bare feet in sight.

Thanks to a loose handwritten note that accompanied this photograph, as well as comparisons made with a 1902 group photograph that included many of the same individuals, most people have been identified with reasonable certainty. Present were at least five if not six of the eight adult children of the late Niels and Juliane (Hennicke) Olsen, Danish immigrants who had settled in Yankton County, Dakota Territory, in the early 1870s: John, Cecilia, Christina (Stena), Dorothea, and Helena Nielsen (also spelled Nielson or Nelson), along with their spouses. Their brother Jens Christian and his wife may have been there as well. Also present were several friends, who, according to the handwritten note, were members of the Henry Schaller and Henry Bruhn families.

The woman in the apron near the center of the photograph, who, given her attire, may have been the hostess of the event, is Christina “Stena” (Nielsen) Callesen (1860-1951). In 1910, Stena and her husband Christian “Chris” Callesen were living in Utica, Yankton County, South Dakota with their nine-year-old foster daughter Herta. Chris, whose name appears twice in the handwritten list of identifications, is likely seated at far left, while the child at left is Herta. Herta Scheel Callesen had been living with the Callesens since she was four years old and lost her father. Her mother, left with seven young children to feed, had made what must have been a difficult decision to allow her youngest daughter to be separated from the family—including from her twin brother—and raised by the Callesens. Stena was known to have had only one child of her own, a daughter who died in infancy. Herta, however, was one of as many as six children that the Callesens fostered or adopted over the years, some for only a short while and some, like Herta, to adulthood.

Seated to the right of Herta Scheel Callesen is her cousin Cleora Nielsen, the youngest daughter of John and Mary (Jacobsen) Nielsen. Cleora, eight years old, had been born in South Dakota but now lived in Santa Clara County, California. She and her parents had most likely returned to South Dakota for a summer visit with relatives; it is possible that her older siblings, the youngest already sixteen, remained in California, as they are not pictured here.

Next to Herta and Cleora are two young girls, between, perhaps, the ages of two and four. Only one was identified in the handwritten note, although it is not immediately clear which one: two-year-old Violet Larsen, the only child of Marius and Helena (Nielsen) Larsen. Tragically, Violet would live only to the age of four, and I have no other photographs of her. Although it was not indicated which girl is Violet, because the child on the right appears to me to be closer to the age of two—she fidgets with her skirt and her feet don’t quite reach the ground from the bench on which she appears to be sitting—that is my guess. There also seems to be a space left between the names of Cleora and Violet in the handwritten note.

Could the bigger of the two littlest girls be, perhaps, Grace Nielsen, four-year-old daughter of Jens Christian and Jennie (Burton) Nielsen? Jens, known familiarly as J. C. or Chris, was not named in the handwritten note accompanying the photograph, nor was his wife, but he bears some resemblance to the man at back left and his wife to the unidentified woman seated in the front row to the right of the children. The Nielsens, like the Callesens, lived in the small farming community of Utica, so it is reasonable to consider that they might have been present to spend the holiday with kin.

The fact that this photograph was taken during a census year is particularly helpful in confirming the identities of the children, as it is possible to see exactly who resided in which household just a few months prior. It can be determined that the Bruhn and Schaller families, for example, did not have any young daughters who might have been seated beside little Violet Larsen. Unexpectedly, the census provided another important clue about this photograph: the identity of the photographer. It had seemed curious that family friend Henry Bruhn was not pictured alongside his wife, Elizabeth, and fourteen-year-old daughter, Henrietta, but according to the 1910 United States census, Henry Bruhn was, in fact, a photographer, and therefore may very well have been the person behind the camera.

Census records are of course less helpful when attempting to determine the identities of adults who are close in age, particularly considering the similarities in appearance among those with both shared heritages and lifestyles. Perhaps this is why whoever created the handwritten note accompanying the photograph named Chris Callesen twice! Cross-referencing with other more confidently identified photographs is key, and fortunately, in Chris’s case, there are two other known photographs that can be used as points of comparison and provide some degree of confidence.

Large group photographs like this are particular treasures in a family archive as they provide insight not only into the bonds of family and friendship, but also the occasions that brought people together. As they are less formal than studio portraits, they can also offer greater glimpses into personality and personal style, as well as the surroundings in which people lived. For a number of the Olsen descendants and their friends, 04 July 1910 looked to be a pleasant day spent in the fresh air, perhaps with a bountiful noon meal to share.

Copyright © 2025 Melanie Frick. All Rights Reserved.

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