Separated by Tragedy, Lost to Time: The Search for a Missing Orphan

A Child Left Behind

George was just five years old when he lost everything.

His father, John Robert Peterson, had been struggling with pneumonia when he passed away in Nevada, Missouri, in 1897. His mother, Mary Thompson Peterson, died the very next day. She left behind a newborn son, Roy, and one other younger brother,  Robert, just three years old.

What happened next would shape the rest of George’s life. The three brothers, suddenly orphaned, had no one to take them in together. George was sent to the St. Louis Children’s Home Society, an orphanage where children were often placed out for adoption or sent westward to new homes. Robert and Roy were taken by different families.

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For a child who had just lost his parents, and his brothers being put in an orphanage must have been terrifying. He had been with his family one moment, then a few weeks later, he was alone in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers. He had no way of knowing what would happen next, whether he would ever see his brothers again—or even if anyone would come for him at all.

The trauma of those early days is something we can only imagine. But George’s story didn’t end in the orphanage. He wouldn’t stay lost forever.

 A New Name, A New Life

In mid-1898, when George was six years old, a couple from Missouri took him in. Their names were John H. and Stella Monaghan, a childless couple who had the means to provide for a young boy. They gave him a home, a new life—and a new name.

The Monaghans moved west, first settling in Montana before relocating to Spokane, Washington. By 1910, George was listed in the census as their son, fully integrated into their household. This census was the last time "Peterson" appeared in his records, and with it, any easy connection to the family he had once known.  George Peterson became George Monaghan, a name that would follow him for the rest of his life. 

For Robert and Roy, who had remained Petersons, finding their lost brother would have been nearly impossible. If they had searched, they wouldn’t have even known what name to look for.

Becoming a Man of the West

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By the time George reached adulthood, he had fully embraced life in the Northwest. He worked outdoors, in the forests and mountains, taking jobs that kept him moving between Montana, Idaho, and Washington.

In 1917, he registered for the World War I draft in Jocko, Montana, listing his occupation as a packer for the U.S. Forest Service. It’s easy to imagine him in that role—navigating rough terrain, carrying supplies into the wilderness, working with others who carved out a living in the vast landscapes of the West.

He was a veteran of World War I and after the war, George continued to make a life for himself. In 1929, he married Alda Marie Jernberg Buerline, a woman with a daughter from a previous marriage. The family settled in Washington, and Alda’s daughter, Inez, even took George’s surname, becoming part of the new life he was building.

In 1931, George and Alda had a son, George D. Monaghan Jr.

But despite starting a family, George’s life remained one of movement. By 1940, he was living in Lemhi County, Idaho, working as a miner. His marriage to Alda ended sometime before 1945, and from that point forward, George remained in Idaho.

A Quiet Ending in Idaho

In 1945, George married Grace Nagel Manfull, a longtime resident of Salmon, Idaho. The two lived together in a small log cabin on Bar Hill, a place Grace kept spotless despite its simplicity. Their life together was quiet, far removed from the past that had shaped George’s early years.

On April 18, 1952, George Monaghan Peterson passed away in Salmon, Idaho. His obituary confirms his death and notes that he had been ill for some time. A year later, in 1953, Grace passed away as well.

For decades, George’s life story remained separate from his birth family’s history. His brothers, Robert and Roy, never found him. But through research, through records scattered across time and place, his story has finally been brought home.

The brother they never found has been found at last.

Sources:

• Robert Peterson’s Biography (Unpublished family account, 20th century)
• Nevada Daily Mail (Nevada, MO), February–June 1897
• U.S. Census: 1910 (Missoula, MT), 1920 (Spokane, WA), 1930 (Spokane, WA), 1940 (Lemhi County, ID)
• World War I Draft Registration Card (1917, Sanders County, MT)
• Marriage Record: George Monaghan & Alda Marie Jernberg Buerline (1929, Washington)
• Marriage Record: George Monaghan & Grace Nagel Manfull (1945, Idaho)
• Salmon Recorder Herald (Salmon, ID), April 24, 1952 (Obituary)