Siblings Harry and Bessie Ronne
- Photos Without Families
- 12. Apr.
- 3 Min. Lesezeit
Two children, carefully posed, looking straight into the camera that feels almost timeless. Their photograph had surfaced in Germany, which made me wonder - did Harry and Bessie Ronne have German roots?
As I began tracing their story, a different path emerged. Their father, John Koffoed Ronne, was not German but Danish, born in 1849 on the island of Bornholm. At 19, he left Europe for Canada, joining the many young men seeking opportunity across the Atlantic. He eventually settled in Jamestown, New York, where he established himself as a clothing merchant.
There, he met Jennie Estelle Broas, a young woman from a well-regarded Titusville family. Together they made their home in Warren, Pennsylvania, where John’s business prospered. Yet the discovery of oil in the region opened new possibilities, and John was drawn into this booming industry. Over time, he shifted his focus entirely to oil, moving his family repeatedly - from Pennsylvania to West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Tulsa, and finally to Los Angeles - becoming well known in Southwestern oil circles.
Their first child, Harry Koffoed Ronne, was born on August 23, 1883. Just over a year later, on December 9, 1884, his sister Elizabeth - called Bessie - joined him. The family continued to grow with the births of Jennie, Ella, Edith, and Walter. Still, it is Harry and Bessie who remain fixed in that early photograph, untouched by what lay ahead.
As an adult, Harry is described on his World War I draft card as tall and stout, with dark brown hair and blue eyes.
Like his father, he stepped into the world of business and industry. He worked as a salesman for the Oil Well Supply Company, an important enterprise in the expanding oil economy, providing the equipment and infrastructure that made large-scale drilling possible. It was a profession that connected him directly to the energy and uncertainty of a rapidly developing field.
By 1920, Harry had established his own family life. He was living in Cisco, Texas, with his wife Jessie and their three young children: Helen, John, and Louis (also called Lewis). It seemed like a time of growth and stability.
Then everything changed. On February 9, 1920, Harry died at the age of 36. The cause was influenza with pneumonia, part of the global pandemic that touched so many lives. He was laid to rest in Cisco, his father present at the funeral. His mother could not attend; she remained in Tulsa, caring for Bessie, who had also fallen ill with influenza at the same time.
And yet, life continued. Harry’s widow, Jennie, eventually remarried. By 1930, she and her second husband, John Nelson, had two children. Harry’s own children led fulfilling lives that Harry most certainly would have been proud of.
His daughter Helen married Melvon DeGraw of Fresno and became the mother of two sons, Thomas and William.
His son John married Marjorie, love of his life, and became involved in bringing television transmission to Fresno during the early years of the medium - an achievement that speaks to how quickly the world was transforming within a single generation. When he passed away in 2006, his obituary included his photograph.
Louis (or also Lewis), the youngest, served in the Navy between 1937 and 1941. By 1950, he was working as a deputy sheriff in Fresno, California. A 1935 yearbook photograph shows him as a young man at the threshold of adulthood. In historical documents he seems to have gone by both his father's surname, Ronne, as well as his step-father's surname, Nelson.
And Harry's sister, Bessie?
She chose a different path. She never married, dedicating herself instead to teaching. In 1920, she was working in Tulsa; by 1930, in Los Angeles. That same year, she and her widowed father were living with her younger brother Walter, who earned his living as a newspaper salesman. By 1940, she had relocated to Modesto, and by 1950 she was teaching at the Page Military Academy in Los Angeles—an institution that combined traditional schooling with military structure, where discipline and education went hand in hand, and where teachers like Bessie shaped not only academic learning but also character. Her life may not have followed the conventional expectations of marriage and family, but it reflects a steady commitment to purpose and service.
Both of Harry’s parents lived longer than their eldest son. Jennie died in 1929 after suffering a heart attack during a car journey. John lived until 1933, reaching the age of 83. They were buried together at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. John's obituary in Warren Times Mirror gives us a glimpse into the Ronne family's history:
And still, the photograph remains. Two siblings, captured in a quiet moment - before the moves across states, before the rise of the oil industry, before illness, loss, and reinvention. Before the many directions their lives would take.
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