Bio: Gustaf and Lena Medine

This is an excerpt of a compiled genealogy of Gustaf Medine and his descendants. The full compiled genealogy includes a longer biography of Gustaf Medine, and biographies of three generations of his descendants. See the full document on this page.

Gustaf and Lena Medine were my great-great grandparents. Gustaf emigrated from Sweden, met Lena in Germany, and then they immigrated together to the United States. They settled in DeKalb County, Illinois, where many of their descendants still live. This is a brief biography of their lives in the United States.

Gustaf Andreasson (known after 1882 as Gustaf Medine), was born 7 November 1853 at Mexarp, Mistelås parish, Kronoberg County, Sweden; died 30 June 1927 at Sycamore, DeKalb County, Illinois. He married about 1880 in Germany, Katharina (Lena) M. Schrader, daughter of Ralph Schrader. She was born 1 December 1862 in Schönberg, Holstein, Germany, and died 17 September 1940 in Sycamore. Continue reading “Bio: Gustaf and Lena Medine” →

Papa’s Centennial Birthday

Emma Medine holding Ed Drake — Emma Medine holding her son, Edwin Drake, in 1920.

This week my Papa would have turned 100 years old. My grandfather, Edwin William Drake, was born on May 2, 100 years ago in Genoa, Illinois. He was welcomed by his parents, Charles and Emma (Medine) Drake, and an older brother, Charles. He grew up on a farm near Genoa, and graduated high school during the Great Depression. He met and fell in love with my grandma, Millie Kaiser, just before she joined the WAVES during WWII. After she left the service, they were married in June 1946. They had two daughters and four grandchildren. He lived in the Genoa area for his whole life. He was a farmer, business owner, public servant, and foreman. He accomplished many things during his life, but his family was everything to him. Papa loved his family dearly, and loved to spend time with them whenever he could. Continue reading “Papa’s Centennial Birthday” →

Mapping DeKalb County in 1905

1905_DeKalbCoMap_example — A snapshot of the map I created with historic maps and GIS. Click here to see the whole interactive map!

About one year ago, I shared a map that I had put together using a 1929 plat map. This summer, I’ve done it again! (Click here to see the whole interactive map!) This is a map from DeKalb County, Illinois in 1905. Like the previous map, I overlaid scanned, historical maps from a 1905 plat atlas onto a modern map. It’s amazing what you can discover if you look closely at these maps! Continue reading “Mapping DeKalb County in 1905” →

Calling all Medine cousins!

Medine family photo at the Pleasant Hill farm — The only known photograph of the Gustaf Medine family, taken about 1911 at Gustaf’s Pleasant Hill farm in Mayfield, IL. *Photo Source: Drake family photos*

I’m looking to reconnect with any relatives of the Medine family from DeKalb County, Illinois!

This semester, I took an online Genealogy course at University of Illinois with genealogist Nicole W. Miller. I feel like I learned so much about developing trends in genealogy, and I developed better practices for researching and sourcing my own family history. One of my accomplishments was writing a formal compiled genealogy for the Medine family. I realized that there are still some close Medine cousins that I know very little about! Continue reading “Calling all Medine cousins!” →