Lilyquist Beginnings by John Lilyquist

left to right, Gertrude, Antonette, Ernest, Ted, Segrid, and Charles with (I think) Ruby in 1911

Theodore Lilyquist (8 October 1883 - 15 December 1911) was the only brother of Ernest Lilyquist.  They were born near Canby, Minnesota, and moved to Duluth with their parents in 1889.  Ted married Gertrude Sophia Swanson (30 September 1881 - 12 March 1986) on 15 September 1909 in Duluth.  They had one daughter, Ruby Florence Lilyquist (born 17 October 1910).

 
Ernest and Ted, about 1905

Ruby wrote about her parents
in a 1998 letter to John Lilyquist

Theodore worked at the Leithhead Drug Co - later called the Northern Drug Co.   He had been ill with pneumonia.  The doctor advised him to get some outside part time work to help restore his strength.  He got a job as a part-time timekeeper at the Hull Rust Mahoning mine.  He became ill with a cold the day I was born and never recovered from it.  Died from tuberculosis Dec 15, 1911.

  
To read these article, please click on article's above

BOTH articles appeared in different papers and at different times of the day.
"Death Claims Him on Drive"
came from the Duluth News Tribune
on 16 December 1911, the morning paper.
"Dies on Way to Duluth Hospital"
came from the Duluth Herald of 16 December 1911, the afternoon paper.

Shortly after my birth the family moved to Cotton, MN.   Gertrude concerned about her baby decided to go to her parents' home in Duluth.  She was penniless and had to find some way to support herself and care for her child  She had a lot of gumption - loaned some money from her brother and rented a house in the west end of Duluth.  Theodore remained at Cotton with his parents.  (I have some letters he wrote to my mother at that time.) She took in roomers and boarders and things seemed to be going well.   Lawrence B. Allan was a boarder.    He often helped her with the furnace and did chores for her. (I suppose I was toddling about and perhaps calling him daddy.) 

Things suddenly changed when two of the roomers decided to go back to Sweden.  Gertrude was once more desperate.  It was then that Larry asked Gertrude to marry him.  With the situation as it was it must have seemed like an answer to prayer.  They were married Sept 28, 1912 (I think - not sure about the date). … I was not adopted by Larry Allan.  He wanted me to be raised as his daughter.  I suppose he and my mother thought that, I being a baby, it didn’t matter about adoption.

Gertrude’s father died in 1939.  She and her son Wesley lived with her mother because she wasn’t able to live alone from 1939 to 1950 when her mother died. …  Gertrude moved to Virginia, MN in 1951.  Worked at a lunch and bakery shop known as the O&T Coffee Shop for 18 years.  Gertrude lost her sight and was a patient at the Virginia Arrowhead Health Care Center for almost thirteen years.  She died March 12, 1986 having attained the age of 105 yrs & 6 months."

Ruby married Arthur A. Eckholm (1903 - 28 March 1981) of Virginia, Minnesota on 17 June 1939 in Duluth.  They resided in Virginia, Minnesota and had no children.