I spent yesterday reading through the Sodder Family forum, and was halfway through the first thread on the family when I started thinking I had heard the story before. Of course, I hadn't, but it was when the discussion about the photo that was sent to the mother of a young man she thought was her son Louis, it finally clicked for me.
When I saw the discussion about the photo, and what was written on the back, I automatically thought the "ilil Boys" followed by the numbers meant Illinois Boys (as in Boys home or Orphanage), and that the numbers were his file number there at the home. That's when my lightbulb moment came-
I have done a massive amount of genealogy research over the years, for various family and step family. My mother's current husband asked me several years ago if I would look into his mom's family. I said of course and asked for particulars- he said from what he could remember, she was the only surviving member of a house fire, and was raised in an orphanage in Boston, Mass. He didn't know the names of anyone in her family. I asked him to get in touch with her and see if that was accurate. I can no longer find my notes on it, and my stepfather is fishing offshore at the moment, but off the top of my head, I remember two different, stories, one was related to me before my stepdad talked to his mom, the other after-
The first story was that her parents had left her and her siblings alone in the home while they went out for the evening, and a fire was started while the parents weren't there. There were 8(?) children in all, and several were killed in the ensuing blaze- they surviving children were removed from the parents custody, separated and my stepfather's mother placed in the orphanage.
The other story I seem to remember is that there was a fire, and the parents WERE home, and they, along with six or seven of her siblings perished, leaving her the only surviving member of the family.
At any rate, she passed in 2004, and I can no longer question her about it. She believed she was pretty young when it happened, she said possibly between the age of 3 and 7. She didn't remember her parents names, or any of those of her siblings. I always thought that it was really sad that she was placed in the orphanage and no family ever came forward to take her in. She was never adopted or fostered out- she stayed there until she was grown. In a sad twist, my stepfather spent the better part of his life believing his mother was dead, killed in a domestic dispute with his father- he didn't learn until much later, when his mother found him, that she hadn't died.
Now I want to point out that I don't think that she is one of the Sodder children- it would be nice if she were, because then maybe my stepdad would have some answers, and so would the Sodders, but again, I don't think she is. I do, however, think the coincidences are interesting-
1. House fire involving several siblings
2. The middle name she was raised with was Louise
3. She was born May 19, 1937, Jennie Sodder was born Sept 19, 1937.
4. Judging by the photos on this case, my stepfather would certainly look related to the Sodders.
I never found anything more about my stepgrandmother's side of the family- beyond her date of birth and death. I contacted the Boston Fire department to see if anyone remembered a fire of a similar nature, or even remembered any stories like this- no one did. I tried searching for news stories of the fire, and never found anything in Massachusetts that matched. I posted the story on several message boards for the surname and area, trying different spelling variations of her surname, and no one had heard a story like this, nor did anyone remember her. I even tried message boards for Boston Orphanages, to see if anyone remembered her from there. The genealogy research into her family hit a dead end, and I've set it aside for several years now.
Anyways, I thought there were some interesting coincidences between the Sodders and my stepfather's mother's story.