Edwin Stephenson's life could be considered quite typical for a person who lived from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. During the 57 years that Stephenson lived, from 1887 to 1945, he experienced some of most important events in the history of the United States. Some of these events include World War I, World War II, and the Great Depression. So the typical life of someone who lived in this time period would be very eventful and different than that of someone who lived in another time period in history. Edwin Stephenson was born on October 8, 1887, and according to death records I found on familysearch.org, he was born in Stromsburg, Nebraska to two Swedish immigrants Caroline and Charles Stephenson (church). This immediately begged the question: How old was Stephenson when he moved to Galva, Illinois? The town where his family ended up settling and, ultimately, where Stephenson would be buried. I continued to search familysearch.org for more information about my subject's childhood. The next source on the website that I was able to find was a census record from 1900. At the time of this census, Stephenson would have been 13 years old. According to the census, the Stephenson family at that time resided in Galva, Illinois, and his family members included his mother Caroline, 3 boys, Edwin, along with his two older brothers Frank and Joseph, and 2 girls, Edwin's sisters. Mamie and Elsie. There was also another person named Frank Sandell listed as "retired." I would find out later, in the 1930 census, that he was Edwin's uncle. Apparently Edwin's father, Charles, had died at some point between his birth in 1887 up until this 1900 census, because the census states that... middle of the sheet... recording paper that he was unemployed. At the time he registered for the World War II draft he was 54 years old (church). He's a few years too young to retire, and he had a stable, decent job as a tax collector before he was sent to fight in the war. Maybe he had some traumatic experience during the war and that's why he never got back on his feet. Throughout Edwin Stephenson's life, it seemed to me that he never truly had stability. As I examined census records, draft registrations, and his death certificate, I noticed that Edwin moved around a lot, had never had a stable job for a long period of time, and had never been in a relationship or had children. In his defense, Edwin has lived through many difficult times, such as the time he fought in the war and also the Great Depression. Both create many logical explanations