Characters

A few days ago I wrote about Hylda Schmeling whose charming photos I’d discovered in a Goodwill store. I relayed details of her life that I’d found in a quick online search.

The Crimson - 1916

Hylda so intrigued me that yesterday I spent an hour or so researching her husband. It occurred to me that he’d probably graduated from her high school. Sure enough that’s where I found him, in the pages of The Crimson, their 1916 high school yearbook.

Next to Paul Jenson’s picture, the caption read “A moral, sensible and well-bred man.” It went on to say that he’d entered as a Junior from Park Region Prep School in Minnesota. In the two years he attended the high school, he was active. Along with the class play and other activities, he played basketball and was assistant business manager of The Crimson.

The class prophecy jests that he would be President of the Hole-Proof Sock Factory. Another humorous entry jokes about his love of silk socks. His nickname, like his future wife’s would be, was “Jens”. His virtue was his good looks, and his favorite expression was “dammit”. (A more innocent time. :smile:) He was voted the “greatest doll” and, in a section called “Wouldn’t you like to see”…it reads “Paul Jenson not all dolled up.” Vivid images.

Paul H. Jenson

Jody Allen, a WisRWA friend, suggested I search for Paul’s military records. The only listing I found at Ancestry.com was a copy of his draft registration for World War I. It was signed June 5, 1917, nine days before his marriage to Hylda Schmeling. So it was a military wedding of sorts. He was leaving for war; they wanted to marry before he left. Can you imagine their emotions?

I took another look at census records and found him in the 1900 and 1910 records. His father was from Norway; he’s listed as a Bank Cashier. In 1920, I found Paul and Hylda Jenson living in Edgerton, Wisconsin. So he did make it home from the war! As his father was, he too was a banker.

After that I can find nothing more of Paul and Hylda. I’m not sure I want to.

From these raw tidbits of information, I feel I’ve come to know enough about the couple to create outlines. From there my story will morph into the fun stuff of fiction. She’s the musically gifted daughter of a well-off German immigrant. He’s the son of a Norwegian banker who’s just returned from the horrors of fighting in WWI. As I ponder these two personalities and their backgrounds, a conflict takes root. A new story begins. ∞

I found her in a thrift store, framed in a shiny metal frame and covered with a sheet of thick glass. She was young. Pretty, too. Garbed in a delicate white dress, she wore a broad bonnet, the type worn early in the twentieth century. Edwardian, I believe. Maybe 1905 or 1906.

Hylda Schmeling

The frame seemed in good condition but a strip of clear tape skimmed the top. When I turned it over, I found another photo hinged to the back. This one was in muted colors and portrayed a young woman. Her short wavy hairdo captured the essence of the 1920’s. The girls sported similar smiles, similar eyes, and each had a partially hidden dimple in her chin, a subtle angel’s touch. Given the time span of the two pictures, and the similarities, I knew they must be of the same girl.

Who was she? How did her lovely images come to be on sale at Goodwill?

I lifted the colored photo taped to the frame’s back and was pleased to find writing. Someone had scrawled the name “Aunt Hylda Schmeling” across the cardboard. All doubts about buying the photos vanished. Little chance Hylda’s lost relatives would venture into the GW and see her there. For $2.99 I was eager to give her a home.

Later I made some online searches for more info about this charming girl. The unusual spelling of her first name, and the city where I found the photos helped. I learned more than I could have hoped.

Hylda Jenson

Born in October 1899, Hylda appears in both the 1900 and 1910 census. Like her mother, Anna, she was born in Wisconsin. Her father, Henry, was born in Germany. One census lists Henry’s occupation as “own income.” So, she wasn’t poor.

In 1916, Hylda Schmeling sang soprano in a chorale at her high school. In 1917, she married Paul Jenson in Winnebago County, Illinois, just across the state border. In 1918 a write-up about the Junior-Senior banquet at her Wisconsin high school reads, “Music was furnished by…Hylda Jenson…and several other skilled pianists.”

The questions raced. Why did she marry in Illinois instead of Wisconsin, where her family lived? Did her German father object to her marriage to a Swedish Paul Jenson? Was she happy in her marriage? Hard to believe otherwise, given her glowing face and sparkling eyes.

Then, in a scanned copy of her 1918 yearbook, I stumbled across yet another entry for Hylda Jenson, nicknamed “Jens”. Her Senior class picture reveals the same sweet smile, the same dimpled chin. Next to it reads:

“This little lassie is a wife
And sees no more of courting life;
Her hubby’s in France,
Awaiting the chance
To put an end to all this strife.”

So Paul went off to war. Is that why they married so young? Did he ever come home to her? Or did she live out her years as a young war widow? Sadly, Hylda herself died in 1934 at age 35. Were there children? If not, is that why her charming photographs ended up on the dusty shelf of the thrift store? None left to mourn her now.

Whatever happened in her life, we know that someone once loved her. She has a story to tell; I hope to tell it. Maybe my words won’t reveal her true story, but given when she lived, I hope she would find it amusing.

I often find my inspiration in old photos such as Hylda’s. Where do you find yours? ∞