There is a lot of information on Great-Great-Great Grandpa Charles Charleston but relatively little on his wife, Catherine.

Charles arrived in the United States before 1850 and in every census thereafter, he says he was born in Sweden. However, it has been discovered that Charleston is not (originally) a Swedish name, so unless his name was changed or he was lying, his history is unknown. There is a way to find his country of origin by checking his "intent" papers, which was the way a new immigrant became a U.S. citizen. These papers have not yet been found. This is not an easy task, so bear with me. I have his death certificate and he also lived to be quite an old gentleman. I've also requested someone to look into the 1830 census to see if he lived in Cook County then, but I haven't yet gotten a reply. Chicago didn't become an official "city" until 1837 - population was 3,000.

Charles was a fireman and in our possession is an original certificate indicating that he could be released from jury duty because of his occupation. The certificate, signed by then-mayor "Long" John Wentworth is dated 1857. Charles and Catherine had many children and many of them have been located either through census records or through "rumor". These children include Charles W. (our great grandfather), Caspar, John, Edward, Oscar, Godfrey, Emma and Carrie. I have information on each of them, but not a lot. John died relatively young. Emma and Carrie both married and I have their married names -- just haven't looked for more information on them. I now have Emma's marriage information and she married a Bush.

A few notes on Caspar, even though he isn't in our "direct line" of descendants: He and his son Frank were both firemen. He owned a large lot at Rosehill (it's still in his name) with many people who are related to us. Caspar's other sons, Wilbur, Roy, and Harry all lived in the city of Chicago, but very little has been found about them except where they lived and their occupation up until 1927. Allison Charleston, our long lost cousin is a descendant of Caspar.

All that can be found about Great-Great Grandma Charleston is that she is originally from France (according to census records). There are at least two Catherine Charlestons in our family tree and both are buried at Rosehill. However, because records are scarce and obituaries could not be found, it is unclear what other information can be found on either one of them.

Both Charles and Catherine lived well into their 70s.