Amanda Anderson was born in Sweden in 1870 or 1871. At a later date Amanda's ancestors in Sweden reaching back to the 1600s will be transferred from a family manuscript written in Swedish by Amanda's first cousin. That narrative begins with the sentence (in Swedish), "Five generations of our family were bell ringers in the Parish of Grevie."
In 1889 teenagers Amanda Anderson and her cousin Matilda Olsen emigrated from Sweden to the United States. They traveled to Seattle, Washington, where other cousins lived. Matilda married a dairy farmer who lived near Carnation, Washington. Her descendants continue to live in the Seattle region.
On 25 February 1893 Amanda Anderson married Robert Dunbar McBride, a carpenter and third generation Irish-American from Pennsylvania. Their wedding was in Colorado City, Colorado. On 20 December 1893 their first daughter, Virginia Margaret McBride, was born in Colorado. Then the McBride family moved to Hemet, California in Riverside County. On 5 December 1895 their second daughter Olivia Marie McBride was born. Family oral history maintains that Olivia was delivered by a midwife on a Native American Reservation near Hemet, in Riverside County. Family oral history also notes that neither daughter has a registered birth certificate. In one family tale Olivia needed a formal document about her birth, so she and Virgie drove to the Native American Reservation where Olivia was born and sought to obtain an affidavit about her birth in lieu of a birth certificate.
In the 1900 US Census the McBride family lives in San Luis Obispo, California. Virginia is 6 years old, and Olivia is 4.
In the 1910 US Census the McBride family lives on Fries Street in Wilmington, California. Virginia is 16 years old, and Olivia is 14.
In 1913 Virginia, then 19 years old, married 24 year old George Richard Swindle from San Pedro, California. On 12 February 1916 Virginia gave birth to a son, who was namedRichard R Swindle. The marriage did not last, and soon Virginia and her infant son moved back home to live with her sister and parents.
In the 1920 US Census the McBride family is living at 1316 Mohawk Street in Los Angeles, two blocks from the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Alvarado St. At the time of the census Richard R Swindle is 3 years 11 months old, and his 26 year old mother is a stenographer working for a physician.
In 1921 Virginia McBride married William L Hodge, and moved to his home with her young son. At an unknown point during the 1920s the name of Virginia's son was changed to Robert McBride Hodge, a name he was known by the rest of his 80 year life.
In 1927 Olivia married Roy R Wilson in Los Angeles. William and Virginia Hodge are the witnesses listed on Roy and Olivia's Marriage Certificate. In 1928 Roy and Olivia's first daughter Patricia M Wilson was born, and in 1930 a second daughter, Virginia R Wilson, was born.
In the 1930 US Census Robert and Amanda McBride are empty nesters living in a home they own at 2870 Randolph Street, Huntington Park, California. In the same census, Virginia and William Hodge and Robert McBride Hodge live at 125 East L Street in Wilmington, California, while Roy and Olivia Wilson and their two daughters live at 3854 Ingraham Street in Los Angeles, California.
On 12 December 1934 Robert D McBride died at home. He was 81 years old. Amanda is the informant on Robert's death certificate.
In the 1940 US Census Amanda is a single widow living in the same home in Huntington Park. Amanda died in 1946 at the end of an 11 day hospitalization in Long Beach, California. Her daughter Virginia is the informant on Amanda's death certificate. Amanda died at the age of 75 or 76, and is survived by two daughters, three grandchildren, and one great-grandson. By 1963 Amanda's three grandchildren produced six more great-grandchildren, and by the end of the 20th century the seven great-grandchildren produced 14 great-great-grandchildren of Amanda Anderson and Robert Dunbar McBride.