The HINDORFF Family of America
Origins & History
Across the Prairies...Headin' West!!!
My Mother's HINDORFF family was among the early pioneers who settled California in 1880s. PER GUSTAV & NANCY LEANORE VAUGHN-HINDORFF lived in Lewis, Cass county, Iowa where their first two children were born: one of these first two was my grandfather, ERIC CHARLES HINDORFF. Shortly after Eric was born, the family headed West for California. The jumping-off place was Council Bluffs. From there, they traveled West by means of the Transcontinental RR, crossing the plains and mountains that were still wild and unspoiled.
Both Gustav & Leanore kept a journal of the trip and recorded the scenes viewed from the train windows and the experiences of their trip; of places they visited when the train stopped at remote depots along the way, to refuel, do repairs, drop & collect the mail, or load and unload passengers. This was not the leisure train ride of today - there were many natural disasters and hazards on the RR in those days, and no rescue teams or medical help between towns for hundreds of miles. The compartments were cramp spaces and food was what you brought along in most cases. It must have been quite an ordeal with two small babies in tow.
Their diaries, vignettes of the trip, were quick notes, describing the scenery and places they saw and the events that took place as they traveled along. They are vestiges of my great-grandparents in that by-gone era of westward migration and their perspectives of the untamed America they knew in the 1880s.
They settled in the old Indian & Spanish village of Temecula, California, then mostly just a stage & railroad stop between the San Bernardino 35 miles north and San Diego, about 50 miles to the south. "Gus" secured work in a harness shop for a Mr. Hind and they became an important addition to the small community. Another child was born to the happy couple while they were in Temecula. An abandoned homestead of 120 acres in the beautiful little valley of Rainbow located 13 miles south became the Hindorff Ranch. Gus & Leanore applied for Homestead rights and began right away to "prove up" the land & secure their right of ownership. It must have seemed to them just then, to be a beautiful beginning to a bright future for the Hindorff family.
My Grannie Hindorff was often heard to say: "Per Gustav Hindorff, (may his tribe increase), awoke one night from a deep dream of peace...but alas! It was only a dream..."
NOTE: This web site is dedicated to my Hindorff ancestry and to my Mother and Grandmother. From the many stories I heard while growing up in a rural community of family, hearing the tales, anecdotes, and legends of my fore families, I yearned to know more about my Swedish-American Heritage.
Pedigree charts & family group records of HINDORFF & Related Families, as well as many other ancestors & relatives can be seen at Annie's Webs, my Searchable Surname Database posted with RootsWeb's WorldConnect. Files are also DOWNLOADABLE.
Sources for Hindorff / Vaughn / Bradshaw Families: (a Partial List)
Cemetery markers, records & Obituaries in Illinois, Iowa, California;
US Federal Census Records & Transcriptions from related states and Territories;
Marriage Records & Transcriptions;
U.S.A. & SVERIGE (Sweden) Military Records;
Social Security Death Records;
CALIFORNIA Historical Records;
BLM & Courthouse records in related states- as noted in stories;
HINDORFF/VAUGHN & LAMB/GIRD Family Records, includes Stories & Anecdotes;
"HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, IOWA" by Lafayette Young, Continental Hist. Co., Springfield, Illinois,1884);
Vital Records: IL, Edgar Co., Book of Wills, pp. 155-156, Charles Bradshaw;
old Family Photos
Correspondence with relatives
Tax Records in Sweden & U.S.A.
probate records - transcriptions from actual copies
Family Bibles, Personal Letters, Old Family Documents (including from SVERIGE);
Immigration records & Naturalization Papers;
Military Pension papers
Military Archives in U.S.A & SVERIGE;
Church Archives;
"INDIANTOWN: THE MORMON SETTLEMENT IN CASS COUNTY, IOWA" by Floyd E. Pearce;
Marriage Records in U.S.A. & SVERIGE - includes State Church records in Sweden;
LDS Family History Records, IGI;
Handwritten family memoirs & stories from interviews with living relatives, including my Great-Grandmother, Grandfather, Grandmother, Grand Aunts, my Mother and Aunts and Cousins. Special acknowledgements for individual contributions will be cited.
The Stories I have discovered
Beginning
with our Earliest Known Ancestor
"The Buntmakare" - The
Story of Johan Fredric HINDORFF
The Family of Catharina KUMLIN (LARSDOTTER)
(Wife of Johan F. Hindorff)SVERIGE Heritage pages - more to come
 |
Långgälla Farm Tax Record - (1554-1868)
In the King's Guard
: Carl
Fredric Hindorff - "The Hussar"
Marriage Record of Johan Fredric Hindorff - Carl's father~with images of Old Stockholm..."Gamla Stan"- updated May 16th, 2001
SWEDISH MILITARY RECORDS
ROYAL WAR ARCHIVES ~ to be added
Carl HINDORFF - The Cavalry Soldier
Includes
The Allotment System
The Swedish Hussar
The Rote
A Cavalry Soldier's Life
"Stockholm Hindorffs"
- Pher Eric Hindorff & First
Family
NEW Information!
Read about
Grenadier Pher Eric
Hindorff-Regn (Documented)
NEW! Anna LARSDOTTER
1st wife of Pher Eric Hindorff
New Family Group information regarding children...and where they REALLY
lived. (Documented)
Coming to America
~ 1868 ~ The Immigrant
Includes,
NEW Family Group ! Information about his 2nd wife
and family.
(Documented)
NEW! Agnes
FALEY
2nd
Wife of Grenadier Pher Eric Hindorff-Regn
Includes complete Family Group record & origins.
(Documented)
American Citizen & Iowa Saloon
Keeper:
P.E.
Hindorff & The Second Family
(Partly Documented)
The 1883 Emigrant Train
- from
the diaries of P.G & Leanore Hindorff
PLUS! Information from
"The History of Cass County, Iowa" ~ 1875-1883
Temecula, California ~ 1883-1889 - NOW with
Graphics !
~ Includes the sounds of the old Ocean Pacific Train
©
- Newly updated
The Harness Maker -
Per
Gustav HINDORFF & N. Leanore VAUGHN
Their Early Years in Temecula &
Rainbow Valley
Cass County, Iowa ~ 1875-1883
Temecula, California ~ 1883-1889
NEW!!! Links to Vaughn family Page added
The Hindorff-Vaughn Families - 1880 Pioneers in California
NEW! Macedonia Machado- added Feb. 2003
Old Temecula - a sleepy little Indian village - Newly updated
© <-click on image to enlarge old Panorama of Temecula
Before the "Turristas" came and spoiled it.The Legend of the Nahachish stone
Read about the Hindorffs in Rainbow Valley, Ca.
©The Homestead in Rainbow ~ 1883-1900 ~
This beautiful homestead & panoramic view is gone now.
Replaced by a major Freeway of concrete and pavement. I just can't bear to think of it!
CLICK HERE to see more about RAINBOW
Eric
Charles HINDORFF
Ist Generation born Swedish American
Eric C. Hindorff was a bee keeper, hunter, fisherman, wolf trapper, rock collector, bee inspector, cement & stone mason & well digger, snake catcher. He was a collector of Indian artifacts & lots of "good junk"...
But most of all....a beloved father and grampa,
NEW!
Early Memories of the Fallbrook Area
- 1st
family of E.C. Hindorff - Memoirs of Velma Sierras-Hindorff
The Keeper of the Bees -
Eric Charles Hindorff
The Coon Hunt
- A Story about my Grampa Hindorff meeting the World's Greatest All- Around Athlete ...Jim Thorpe
The E.C Hindorff family goes on a "HUNT" to remember with Stuart Hamblin, a Famous Cowboy Singer and Movie Star of the 1940s - as told by Annie Frances Hindorff-Driggs
Live Oak Park:
The Name we use when we talk
of "Home"
Read
about
our Wyoming
HINDORFF Cousins
descendants
of Pher Eric & Agnes (Faley) Hindorff.
Seems our family was really "into trains" !
Swedish HINDORFF Cousins in Canada
Descendants of Carl Gustaf HINDORFF...older brother of Pher Eric HINDORFF
More to come...As soon as more Information becomes available!
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This Web Site was created & prepared by Teddie Anne Driggs © 1999
All Hindorff Family Graphic Designs & icons by Teddie © 1999
Copyrighted 1999/2000 /2001 all rights reserved