Please look at new UPDATE on 27 Sep 2020 further down this Blog.

As you can imagine I have many many photos still to research, but thought I would take the next single one in my list…….I never imagined it would take me on a journey to the Netherlands, Sweden, Milan, Italy, Sunderland, Durham. Also connections to Christopher Columbus and even the Queen of Holland.

What an absolutely stunning photograph! Overjoyed when I saw the writing on the back too! Names and a date!

My starting point with this family was the little girl here above in the photo, her name was either Ivis or Marguerite and I estimated she was about 4 years old. So as the photo was dated I looked at the GRO free indexes for a female Pyhlson born 1898 or 1 year each way, as it was not such a common surname it came up with just one ‘PYHLSON, IVIS, WAUCKE (Mothers maiden name)Order GRO Reference: 1898 J Quarter in SUNDERLAND Volume 10A Page 666’ So I started a tree on Ancestry with her. I looked for the birth record now and found that actually she was named Ivis Marguerite Pyhlson, an error on the GRO has omitted Marguerite & put just IVIS. Always good to check for a middle name as often I have found people use their middle names in preference. Also the mother’s surname should be Wancke not Waucke so another error has occured somewhere too.

So now I have confirmation that the writing is correct I started looking for a marriage on Find My Past, between a Pyhlson and a Wancke in the ten years previous to the little girls birth. I find it easier & quicker on there, I always start on Civil Marriages & put in the two surnames, no variations and I was lucky just one came up! A marriage between KARL ISAK PYHLSON married Marie Louise Wancke in 1896 in Sunderland, Durham. So maybe Mum was known as Ivis and the daughter was known as Marguerite. Confirmed in this newspaper report below of when she was at University. So this means looking for variations of those names when researching.

Was lucky enough also to find a photo (Below) of Karl Isak Pyhlson on an article in the Newspaper Archives on Find My Past. (more on him later)

Back to the daughter Ivis Marguerite Pyhlson, one of the first records I came across was a marriage for her in 1926 in Sunderland to a Mario Chisalberti, which opened up more records, but for a Mario Ghisalberti, it soon became clear that on the original record the surname should be spelt with a G. As in this fantastic account of their Wedding on the newspaper records on Find My Past……See Below….A gold mine of information about the family, also pointing me to the Wancke family Twins, who most likely were Mum Marie Louise’s brother’s children. So I added another brother to the tree, first brother I had added from the photo writing was Hjalmar Wancke, this next one with as yet unknown first name and then added the Twins. Of course the twins may have belonged to Hjalman but I needed to check that first. I quickly found their full names of Jessie Christine Wancke and Phyllis Hildergarde Wancke, they were also born in Sunderland, Durham on 14 November 1908. So I was finding lots of records now, Census & Births, Marriages and Deaths for all the family.

All these records once added to the tree enabled me to build a fuller picture of the family in general. Not having researched Sweden’s records before either it was interesting as to what I found. Some spell the surname with a SS and some with just one S. This is just one example from Family Search website…eg..       Sweden, Household Examination
Name: Carl Isak Pyhlson
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1889 – 1893
Event Place: Uppsala, Uppsala, Sverige
Event Place (Original): Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
Birth Date: 20 Apr 1860
Birthplace: Östersund. Karl was actually crossed out on the later one, obviously having left to live in Britain by then, but there were other family members living in the household which was very helpful to my research. These records SEE BELOW also gave me his birth date which was super!

My very amateur attempt at translating this record above & others leads me to believe that probably Ida Margreta Pyhlsson was Karl’s Mother born 9 Jan 1832, then Hulda Emilia Pyhlsson born 29 Aug 1861 was her Sons (No Name) wife, then the son died and she was made a widow June 1903 the year before she moved in with Mother In Law on 14 Oct 1904? Is Per Severin Pyhlsson born 1885 her son? Have added on the tree as her son, time will tell if I can find out more information or translate this better. It’s all only a best guess! Trying to translate Swedish Household Census from Swedish to English from Family Search has been quite a challenge!

So coming back to Hulda Emilia I have found on an earlier Swedish Household index she is there with her son Per Severin, so I got that right! But also her husband Axel Fredr Hjalmar Pyhlsson who was born 3 May 1837 so he couldn’t obviously be the son of Ida Margreta Pyhlsson (born 1832) but maybe her brother in law? I think this family without being able to read the language correctly is best left for the time being, I could spend hours on it and still not unravel the puzzle………..

After seeing the record above I was not surprised to find lots of references to him in the Newspaper Archives especially after his death. ” Mr Karl Pyhlson on Newspaper report from Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette 07 August 1933”

One of his passions was Phillately, Stamp collecting and this was a mention after his death in the Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette on 22 September 1933…Below..

Marie Louise Pyhlson (Wancke) died ten years later on 27 Jan 1943, Sunderland, Durham, she left over £11,710 in her will…More on her family Later…..

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I was astonished to find so many references to Mario Ghisalberti, he was born in Milan, Italy and a very well known Journalist, Author and Librettist (Music arranger). Also he was an Italian playwright. Below are just some of the references in the Newspaper archives of his work. “Ghisalberti, Mario (1902-1980)
L’oro e la croce. Il romanzo di Cristoforo Colombo (1944)
For the gold and the cross. Novel about the life and time of Christoffel Columbus
Heinemann, the Hague [1950] Translated / edited by: Fick-Lugten,W.A.
With illustrations van Aart van Ewijk. 702 (2 parts) ”

“Presents the opera La vedova scaltra (The Schalk Widow), written in 1930 by the German-Italian composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) ).
This is a comical opera in three companies after an original piece by the eminent Italian stage player Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793), on a libretto by Mario Ghisalberti (1902-1980). The first performance was realized on March 15, 1931 in Rome.

“A book by Mario Ghisalberti (Pub Heinmann 9/6d) The Flying Fish, advertised in the newspaper 18 Feb 1950”.

There were more references to him in the newspapers, it seemed he was also well travelled and wife Ivis Marguerite travelled with him on his trips mainly to the United States of America. I have found no children born to the couple. There seem to be several reports of his death on 22 August 1980, but no source for this as yet. Ivis Marguerite died in Milan, Italy apparently on 21 April 1987, another probate source is linked to Marguerite Pyhlson, filed under Pyhlson. Both dated on this entry for the will 1989, 2 years later than death. Is this an error? Should death be 1987 or 89? I’m not sure.

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UPDATE 27 September 2020.

Just this week I have had this very interesting email from David Chandler: “I’ve just stumbled on your very interesting family history website! My interest is in Mario Ghisalberti, and I have a few bits of information about him not mentioned on your website, if you are interested. My interest stems from the fact that he collaborated with the composer Italo Montemezzi, on the opera La Notte di Zoraima (1931). My ultimate (but still unachieved) goal is to find out how the two men came to know each other! Montemezzi lived in Milan, while Ghisalberti, I believe, lived in Rome after his marriage. If you know anything more about Ghisalberti’s doings in the years immediately after his marriage, I’d love to hear what you’ve found out“.  David has also very kindly agreed to share this recent photo find of his with me to share on my Blog:

David has this information to go with the photo above that was taken in 1925: “Mario is the handsome chap on the left in the photo! He obtained his baccalaureate from the Liceo Foscarini, Venice, in 1920, and enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Padua in 1922, though he never graduated. He began publishing poetry and journalism, and his first play, Due Piccole Mani, was premiered in Bologna on 19 December 1924, and subsequently performed in Milan, Venice, and Florence“. David asks that I say that he is researching Ghisalberti, as he’s hopeful that through this Blog it might lead to others who are interested to get in touch with him. You can do this by sending me an email lynnswaffles@gmail.com and I will forward all correspondence straight over to David. Do you have more information about Mario Ghisalberti? Can anyone out there  help David?
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After I had built up the family tree to give me a wider view I came across a Public Tree on Ancestry that had shared lots of super portraits of the Wancke side of the family. Marie Louise Wancke was one of seven children born to Johan Fredrik Wanke & his wife Maria Ulrika Karoline Widing. Here’s a quick round up below of what I have researched of the family. I have also included the photos that were shared on Ancestry.

Lovely portrait photo below of Maria Ulrika Karoline Wancke (Widing)

As you can see above on the family records for Wancke one of Marie’s brother’s Jonas Robert died very young at 22 in Stockton, so I had to try and find out why if I could, luckily the newspaper archives came up trumps again.

As always if you are a descendant of this family I would love the photo to go back where it belongs, so do get in touch at ‘Contact Me’ at the top of my Blog.

Karl Isak Pyhlson was awarded The Order Of Oranje Nassau when he retired by The Queen of Holland.

“The Order is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the Queen regent Emma, acting on behalf of her under-age daughter Queen Wilhelmina.
The order is a chivalric order open to “everyone who has earned special merits for society”. These are people who deserve appreciation and recognition from society for the special way in which they have carried out their activities” Info from Wikipedia…..

This is the link to the Public Tree on Ancestry that I have compiled. Pyhlson Family Lynns Waffles

If the Wancke family are your Ancestors I’m sure you will find lots to help you out on this family Website, please note I do not know if the information found on there is accurate, but it does also go with a Public Tree (with photos) on Ancestry, so you can always make contact with them…Link Below……

Wanke Family Tree online website, lots of great info and super photos

Till next time then…………….