Isak Leon Sorensen

Notes:

Daniel Peter and Karla Marie are twins. After our first three children were born, Rich & I considered whether we should have any more children. When I was growing up as the youngest one in my own childhood family, I often wished for another sibling to share good times with, lamenting that I always was the one left behind. So, I thought it would be great to end with twins, so no one would have to be the "last one." So I confided in God, telling him that I thought my idea was a good one, and that if he gave us twins, I would know he was telling us that we should not have any more children after that -- we would end with twins. Well, afterwards I occasionally wondered if he had really heard that prayer. Some time later, when we discovered we were going to have another child, I half expected the doctor to tell us it was twins. Months went by and I had decided it was probably not to be, until one day during a routine exam, guess what -- twins! So, within a year of that prayer, we had another beautiful girl and boy.

Daniel married Jennifer Larson 6 Jun 2009, Bristol, RI. Jennifer (daughter of Randy Larson and Lydia Vee Wilson) was born 10 Dec 1980, Plantation, FL. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

I have a copy of his birth certificate.

Richard married Lois Edna REMINGTON 16 Jun 1973, North Kingstown, RI. Lois (daughter of Norman Chester REMINGTON and Edna Virginia BERRY) was born 1 May 1951, Providence, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

I was born on a Tuesday.

My son Paul was born on my birthday in 1979. He was my best birthday present ever!

Randy married Lydia Vee Wilson 13 Aug 1977, Palm Bible Chapel, North Palm Beach, FL. Lydia was born 6 Aug 1956, Louisville, KY; died 11 Apr 2016, FL. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Paul was born at Norsgade 30, Aarhus, Denmark. His baptism took place at home on 18 April, and his confirmation in Aarhus Domkirke on 1 Jan 1915.

Paul married Katherine Ann Nikolaisen 15 Jan 1950, Ormslev Kirke, Denmark. Katherine (daughter of Niels Peder Nikolaisen and Ann Katrine Bothilde Sorensen) was born 17 Jan 1914, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., MN; died 3 Mar 2008, Warwick, Kent Co., RI; was buried 6 Mar 2008, Quidnessett Memorial Cemetery, North Kingstown, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

The surname in Denmark and on her marriage license is spelled Nicolaisen. However, the family name in America was spelled Nikolaisen. An alternative spelling in Denmark is Nicolajsen.

Notes:

I have two copies of their marriage certificate, one from Aarhus and one from Aabyhoj.

Notes:

I have two different copies of his birth certificate, one a card issued at Coventry, RI, and the other a paper from the RI Dept. of Health. I am told he was born on a Tuesday.

My dad Norman was born on the family farm off Knotty Oak Rd. in Coventry, RI. We have some pictures of the farm (see Remington section of the photo gallery, "Remington brothers together," at our web site). Tragically, the two-family farmhouse burned down when my dad was six years old. After this, his family moved into a shanty and stayed there for a while. Quoted below are some reminiscences from my dad Norman about his grandmother Angeretta (Whitford) Remington, about the big farmhouse, and about the fire there. They always believed the fire was set. The adjoining farm belonged to my dad's uncle, John Francis (we called him Uncle Fran), who kept cows there even when I was a child in the 1950s. We used to go blueberrying there, and I was afraid of being confronted face-to-face by a cow, which did actually happen once! In very recent years that property has passed out of our family, and part of it is now a new plat. One of the streets is Remington Farm Drive. On an old map, I've seen that another Remington may have owned that land adjacent to my great uncle.

About the farmhouse: "There were two front doors. The first one as one approached from the road led into a long hall way extending the width of the main section of the house. At the end was the door opening into the ell kitchen. Doors on the left were to my Grandmother's bedroom (used whenever she was with us) and to a downstairs bedroom. At a right angle to that was the door to the cellar stairs. The stairway to the upstairs rooms began near the door to the kitchen. From the right side of the hall were doors to the parlor (as it was called in those days) and the dining room.

"Grandma's bedroom windows were between the front doors. The second one was Aunt Velna's front door, which opened into a small entry, from which a door to the left led into her parlor.

"My grandmother [Angeretta] was a practical nurse, attending women about to give birth and for some time afterwards. Confinements lasted several days at that time. Between work opportunities she would be on the farm, sleeping in her room in our house, where the furnishings were hers. So my earliest memories are that she was with us from time to time. When she was there she was a great help to my mother. Later on she also worked as a housekeeper/cook. When I was in the second grade she kept house for a Mrs. Maynard (or Menard), who was legally blind. This was on Boston Street, Anthony, which is off the main street directly opposite the big mill.

"The fire destroyed the house December 27, 1924. It was discovered some time before daybreak, when my mother thought my father was trying to waken her. Later, she always said she thought it was an angel. Anyway, she smelled smoke, and woke my father. Our collie dog, Major, usually was in the kitchen overnight (no doubt, during cold weather), and he pushed open the door to the hall, again no doubt because of flames and heat. All of us were out of the house, and in my father's truck, in the big meadow across the driveway from the house, while it was still dark."

Dad enlisted at Providence, RI, on 29 Aug 1942, as a Private in the US Army. He was a resident of Providence, married, an insurance clerk with 2 years of college; height 74 inches and weight 158 lbs.

Norman married Edna Virginia BERRY 6 Sep 1941, Providence, RI. Edna (daughter of John Holland BERRY and Ellen COLEMAN) was born 25 Mar 1918, Providence, RI; died 20 Nov 2010, Warwick, Kent Co., RI; was buried 24 Nov 2010, Woodland Cemetery, Washington & Knotty Oak Sts., Coventry, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

My Mom says:
Until I was about ten years old, the only heat we had as I remember was the kitchen stove. On Saturday nights we took our baths in a big tin tub such as we have in our back yard here. We had our hair washed and fine combed to see if we had acquired any critters during the week at school. My parents slept in a room off the kitchen, but the rest of us were upstairs in two bedrooms where there was no heat. I think we closed off the parlor most of the time. It was a very small house.

Mom noted in her birthday book that she was born on a Monday.

Notes:

I have a copy of their marriage certificate. They were married three months before the attack on Pearl Harbor which brought America into World War II.

Dad & Mom were engaged on 27 Jan 1941.