1140 Lincoln Ave History - Laserfiche WebLink

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this parcel on the 1909 Drumm's Wall Map of Louisville, so a house was standing by 1909. For these reasons, the estimated year of construction is "circa 1900-1909." John Hilton sold this property in 1909 to Magnus and Jane Rasmuson. Rasmuson/Hawkins/Martella Ownership, 1909-2014 In England in the early 1900s, Magnus and Jane Rasmuson made the decision to remove their two grandsons, Henry Hawkins and John Hawkins, and come to Louisville. The boys' father had fought in the Boer War in South Africa, and while there, drank bad water and died. The story has been passed down in the family that the grandparents did not feel that their daughter, Ann Cecelia Rasmuson Hawkins, was able to take adequate care of her two sons. Magnus Rasmuson had already made a journey to England from where he was born in about 1845 in Sweden. He married Jane (last name unknown) in England. She had been born in about 1850 in Cowpen Square, Blyth, Northumberland. Magnus worked as a coal miner in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, where many worked in the coal mining industry. Another of Magnus and Jane's children, Ellen, married John Sidle and immigrated in September 1908 to Louisville, where John Sidle worked as a coal miner. In May 1909, Magnus and Jane Rasmuson and their grandsons, Henry and John Hawkins, made the voyage from Liverpool to the U.S. Henry, having been born in 1898 or 1899, was about 11 years old, while John was about 8 years old. In a recent phone interview with Henry's daughter, Gloria, she told the story that the family was proud to not have to travel in steerage. They were able to travel by second class. Records show that they made the voyage on the RMS Lusitania. (Six years later, in 1915, Germany torpedoed the Lusitania, resulting in the deaths of nearly 1,200 passengers, including American citizens. This is today considered to be one of the factors that caused the U.S. to enter World War I.) The passenger records show that John Sidle was named as the relative whom they were going to join in Louisville. Magnus and Jane Rasmuson appear to have purchased 1140 Lincoln almost immediately upon their arrival in Louisville, the deed having been recorded in early July 1909. Directories show that they and their grandsons lived in the house. Magnus Rasmuson worked as a coal miner in Louisville. The 1916 directory shows that John was still a student, but Henry (after having finished his third year of high school) had gone to work as a clerk at the United Mine Workers store on Main Street where his uncle, John Sidle, was manager. (Also in 1909, John Sidle purchased the property just two houses to the south from 1140 Lincoln. This made it possible for Magnus and Jane Rasmuson to live near their daughter, Ellen Sidle, who may have even helped with the upbringing of her two nephews.) 2