Esther (Jeffers, Soderberg) Ricker (Jeffers-473) was my paternal grandmother. She was raised and lived her life in Massachusetts (mostly in Lynn and Swampscott). She was born in 1897 and died in 1948. And she seemed to have secrets about her origins that she didn’t want others to know.
I’m now relatively certain that she was born “out of wedlock” Her 1897 Massachusetts birth record lists her as Esther Soderberg. It indicates that her mother was Clara M. Soderberg, but it lists no father. Clara was born in Sweden (around 1873, I think) and immigrated to the United States apparently in the late 1880s (although I’m still checking on this).
According to the 1920 US census for the Charles Jeffers’ (Jeffers-475) family—the family that supposedly adopted her just before 1900 or so—her biological father was Canadian and his native language was French, which suggests Quebec. The census also states that her mother was from Sweden, which obviously is a reference to Clara Soderberg, not Charles Jeffers wife, Clara (Colcord) Jeffers (Colcord-49). Again, they supposedly were her adoptive parents.
The fact that any information at all about her biological parents was entered in the 1920 census suggests to me that Charles and Clara Jeffers never adopted my grandmother. Unless the laws have changed since then, when a child is adopted in the United States today, a new birth certificate is issued with the adoptive parents listed. My father tried to get a copy of the original birth certificate back in the 1990s, but it was still “sealed.” Today, it’s been well over 100 years, so perhaps I can get it now.
Another reason why I don’t think Charles and Clara Jeffers adopted Esther is that the 1918 marriage certificate issued for her and my grandfather, Norman Ricker (Ricker-362), states that her mother was Clara M. Soderberg and her father was Harry L. Soderberg. I think she made up the latter name: other than a genealogy book on the Ricker family, I have found nothing to support the claim that a person named Harry Soderberg was Esther’s biological father. The most important thing, however, is that Charles and Clara Jeffers aren’t listed on the certificate as her parents.
If it’s actually true that Charles Jeffers didn’t adopt her, then I don’t know why he took care of her (he even sent her to Swarthmore College). He may have known the biological father or, perhaps, he actually is the biological father. I just don’t know.
What I do know is that Esther was a pariah to all in the Jeffers family except for Charles (who apparently doted on her). For example, according to family lore, at his funeral procession in 1944, Esther and my father were told to stay in the rear of the line, while the rest of the immediate family was in front.
But any help anyone can give on this would be much appreciated.
