Great grandfather and grand-mother Green were the first trace of relatives on my biological mother's side of our background.

John and Anna Green were of German decent and both were born in the 1800's.

There were four children in the family. Their names were - Emilena, Dewitt, Elizabeth, and Fredrick R. Green.

When Fred R. Green was about 16 yrs old he married Charlotte Chapins. They had three children - John C., Anna, and Fredrick D. who was born in 1862, when Fred R. was 21.

When that baby was about one month old Fred enlisted in the New York Volunteers and was called to fight with the Union Forces from Louisiana along the Mississippi north to Vicksburg. He was wounded in April of 1863, but served two more years and discharged with a disability in Jan. 1864.

During this period they moved to Wis. and Charlotte became disgusted and left Fred D. behind and took Anna and was never heard from again. Nothing is known about what happened to the first-born, John. Fred believed her to have possibly died in a train accident. This was about 1864.

Again, believing her dead, he remarried in 1868, when he was 27. There were four children from this union. They were - Eveline (1873), Grace (1875), Bert M (1877), Mable (1879).

The lady he married was Harriet Harrington, a widow with children of her own.

The marriage lasted for 15 years then she passed away; leaving him with children 10, 9, 7, and 4 years old. Her first children apparently aren't listed.

Fred R. Green is now 42 years old and has one child, Fred D. from his first marriage, four from the second, plus, to support.

Three months later he married Ellen Herrick whose family came from Maine. There were married in April 1883. This was the lady that was my biological Grand-Mother.

They moved north to Mountain, Wis. shortly after the marriage, where they started their family. It was told by a neighbor that there were 10 children, one still-born and three girls. They were - Gertrude, Florence, and Cora. None of the others survived. Cora was my biological mother.

Fred died at age 64 in 1905 and is buried in Mountain. Ellen remarried in 1910, but, only 5 years later she was alone again. She died in 1921 and is said to be buried at Mountain.

Earlier daughter Florence had died after eating berries from a tin container, according to my cousin Clara, who was Gertrude Green's daughter.

Gertrude and Clara were present at Ellen's death, along with their half brother Bert. Apparently Cora couldn't be located.

My biological mother Cora Fonder was the daughter of Civil war veteran Fred R. Green and Ellen Herrick Green of Mountain, Wis. where Cora was born in Feb. of 1895.

There were two older sisters, Gertrude and Florence and a half brother Bert living there with them. Two other half sisters and families lived near by. These were children of Fred's second marriage.

Fred Green died in Jan. 1905, when Cora was 10 years old. Ellen was about 43 years old. Ten years later, Ellen relocated in the Wisconsin Rapids area, and more than likely took Cora with her. Her second marriage here to James Jewell lasted only 5 years, as he died in 1915 in the town of Saratoga, Wis.

The next known record of Cora is a certificate of marriage to Charles Close, applied for on March 14 1914 (a year before her stepfather's death) in the town of New Rome, Wis. There were several discrepancies on the license, to pinpoint the chain of events. The town of Cora's residence was apparently written in as Saratoga where her mother and father were, and overwritten as Rome. Her husband Charles was lists as Mountain, Wis., where they resided after the marriage. Cora was 19 at this time.

However, in 1919 Charles left Cora and took up residence in West Allis Wis.. He applied for divorce from Cora in Jan. 1920, and in May 1920 the divorce was finalized. Cora is now 24 years old.

In 1921, at the age of 26, she married August Fonder. He was about 50 years old at the time. They moved to Tipler Wis., where three years later I was born and given the name of Hellen Exzine Fonder. (The Exzine was apparently in honor of August's mother)

Shortly after this their sojourn to Iron River, Mich. began. Several places of residence have been told to me by others. I do not know if iron River proper was one place we lived, but there were two in Bates Township. One told to me by a former baby sitter was on Helgemo Rd., and another was closer to the Chicagoan mine location on what is now called Nelson Rd.. The next, and probably the last before adoption, was near the Fortune Lake area in Crystal Falls Township. All during this time she found different types of work to support herself and child; Fonder refusing to help, or not bothering to check. This was all in the period, from 1925 through 1929.

On May 2 1928 Cora had me Baptized at the Catholic church in Crystal Falls. Probably stating that she had a former marriage to Charles Close because his name is written in parenthesis after hers. An interesting point to me is that my name changed from Hellen Exzine to Helen Mary Fonder. I vaguely remember being placed in costodial care in a home in Crystal Falls for awhile, possibly just prior to adoption. The adoption papers state that during the trial custodial with my adopting parents to be my health and general appearance improved; and on Aug. 29, 1929 I was legaly adopted by Albert and Rose Nault. I was 5 years old at the time.

On Dec. 11 1931 Cora applied for divorce from August; however the case was dismissed in May 1933 because of lack of progress.

Cora's life ends here as there is no other information as to the rest of her life. Her biological grand son Albert Holm is still in persuit of any clues that may bring the balance of her life to light.

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