FRAM Lodge No. 13 Eureka, California The Lodge mourns the passing of its Members.

Nils Martensen

Born:  ca. 7 May (based on reported age at death) 1891, ______, _____, Norway

Died:  24 Sep 1912, Ruth, Trinity Co., California       Age 21 tuberculosis

California Death Index:  "Nils Martinsen"; died 24 Sep 1912; age 21; State File Nr. 26044; p. 6862

Obituary:  The Eureka Herald, 26 Sep 1912, p. 8:

EUREKAN DIES IN TRINITY COUNTY

   Word was received here last evening of the death of Neils (sic) Martensen at Ruth, Trinity county, as the result of tuberculosis.  Deceased was twenty one years of age and a member of the Sons of Norway of this city.  The remains will be brought here for interment and the funeral held Sunday at 2 o'clock.

   Martensen had one brother in San Francisco, the only relative he has in this country.  He had been employed at the Little River Redwood Company's wharf above Samoa and two months ago went to the mountains in the hope the dry climate would improve his health.  The funeral will be under the auspices of the Sons of Norway.

Obituary:  Humboldt Times, 26 Sep 1912, Editorial Page, col. 5:

MARTENSEN DIES IN TRINITY CO.

Oliver-Sanders, undertakers, were last evening notified of the death of Nails (sic) Martensen, which took place yesterday at Ruth, Trinity county, from tuberculosis and at midnight a member of the firm left by automobile for that place to bring the remains to Eureka.

   Martensen was aged 21 years and was a member of the Sons of Norway lodge No. 13 of Eureka, which order will have charge of the funeral which will be held Sunday.

Legal Notices: The Eureka Herald, 28 Sep 1912, Sat. Eve., p. 5, col. 1:

DIED

MARTINSEN --- In Ruth, Calif., on Sept. 24, 1912, Nils Martinsen, beloved son of Anders Martinsen and the late Serine Martinsen of Norway and loved brother of Martin Martinsen of San Francisco, CA.; a native of Norway, aged 21 years.

   Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral on Sunday, Sept. 29, at 2 o'clock p.m. from the funeral parlors of the Oliver-Sanders Company, 621 Third street, Eureka, Calif, Rev. P. Borup officiating.  Interment at Myrtle Grove cemetery* under the auspices of Fram Lodge No. 13, Sons of Norway.

* Myrtle Grove Cemetery burial records found in the Humboldt Room, Humboldt Co. Library, Eureka, indicates that "Nils Martinsen" was buried there with a "BD" (burial date) of 28 Sept 1912, at age 21 years 4 months 17 days, "CRP #53" (Cemetery Record Page 53).  This indicates that Nils was first buried at Eureka's Myrtle Grove Cemetery on Myrtle Ave. and was most probably later exhumed and reburied in the Sons of Norway plot in Section K of Eureka's much larger Ocean View Cemetery.  It is speculated that the death of this young Norwegian lodge member might have been the impetus for the Fram 13 Lodge, which was only founded 2 years earlier, to consider buying their own cemetery plot.  We have been told that the smaller Myrtle Grove cemetery was even at that earlier time becoming crowded and the chances of purchasing a plot for many future burials would have been much better at Ocean View.  More Lodge research is needed to clarify this issue.  Specifically we need to find out just when the Lodge purchased the Ocean View plot and do we have records of when Nils was reburied there.  As his was the earliest death date of all buried in our plot, it had been assumed that he was just the first buried in the new plot.  The location of his grave is closest to the monument stone (bautastein), the northernmost of the earlier burials on the east side of the plot.

NILS MARTENSEN 1891 --- 1912

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