On Christmas Eve the Bulletin found the uncle. Carl Benson, a painter, had died in Providence on June 18, 1919, months before the children set out. His son, Ernest, wanted to help but was already supporting his mother, sister and two brothers. Another uncle, Aaron Calin, lived in Providence too, but his wife wanted nothing to do with the children.
Transcription
The text is copied as printed. Words in [square brackets] are my corrections of printer’s errors.
BENSON CHILDREN’S UNCLE DEAD SINCE JUNE, IT IS FOUND
Cousin Here, However, is Anxious to Help Little Stowaways Who Are Now Detained in Ellis Island, if Way to Assist Them Can be Found.“Carl Benson of Providence,” the uncle upon whom Bertha and John Benson, two child stowaways now detained by the immigration authorities at Ellis Island, are relying to get them back into the America they love, died last June.
He left a widow, who is an invalid, and four children, only one of whom is old enough to work. This one, Ernest A., who is 19, would like to help his cousins, and provide a home for them. “But what can I do?” he asked last night. “The load is heavy enough, as it is.”
The stowaways have other relatives in Providence, however. An uncle, Aaron Calin, lives at 241 Ohio avenue. He did not want to discuss the future of his nephew and niece last night. Mrs. Calin did, however.
“Nothing doing,” she said, when asked if she was going to take the children into her home. “I can’t be bothered with them.”
Mrs. Calin explained that she wasn’t responsible for their plight, and said that her husband was only a half-uncle to the children, anyway, having been a half-brother of their father.
Ernest, however, is determined that his cousins shall be cared for here, if any possible means can be found. He will not be able to help them himself, he says, as he is the sole support of his sister, two brothers and invalid mother, but he will urge Mr. Calin to take the children into his home. “I shall talk the matter over to-morrow with my uncle, and if he isn’t willing to help them, I’ll try to find somebody who is.”
Carl Benson had been a painter here many years, and was a member of the Swedish Workingmen’s Association. He died June 18. Ernest, who supports the family at 86 Corinth street, is clerk in a broker’s office here.
The two children now being held by the immigration authorities at Ellis Island arrived in New York last Friday on the France and Canada Line freight steamer Shortsville, from Gothenburg, Sweden. They declared they wanted to return to their old home in Worcester, and insisted that their uncle, Carl Benson of Providence, would help them. They did not know that he had died, as they left this country with their mother early last spring.
The Evening Bulletin, Wednesday, December 24, 1919, page 4
Notes
“Carl Benson” was Carl Ernst Wilhelm, born in Västra Karup on May 4, 1863, an older brother of Bertha’s father. In Rhode Island he went by Charles Ernest Benson, and his death is recorded in the state death register on June 18, 1919. His son Ernest carried his middle name. See Bertha Benson and Hjalmar Janson Are Cousins.
Ernest A. Benson did not give up. Within a week he had gone to Ellis Island himself and arranged for both children to come to Rhode Island.
Was Aaron Calin a half-uncle?
No. Mrs. Calin told the reporter that her husband was only a half-brother of the children’s father, but he was a full brother. In the Swedish household examination record he is Aron Bengtson Calin, born May 26, 1869, a son of Ingrid Johansdotter, living with his brothers Jöns Peter (Bertha’s father) and Carl Ernst Wilhelm. Later in life he used Calin, his middle name, as his surname. The half-brother in the family was Ingrid’s eldest son, Janne, born in 1856 before her marriage, the father of Hjalmar Janson.