I was going through some file drawers the other day, just kind of picking and cleaning and emptying and refiling – you know how it is. They get so full you have to weed things out to make room for all the new stuff you accumulate. One of the file cabinets in my computer room is a lateral 4-drawer file 48 inches wide, and one of the drawers is completely FULL of all the genealogy materials and records that I’ve collected over the last ten years. I have managed to make some sense of all this information, have “assembled” two books and made them available to all the descendants I have located.
Unfortunately I didn’t get interested in family history until my mother died in 1997. She was the last one in her family of her generation and could have filled in so many blanks for me had I been into documenting things at that time. But no, leave it to me – I always have to do things the hard way, and after her death it left me searching for lots of answers.
You certainly find out some interesting things about your ancestors when you go searching – some actual facts and plenty of “fairy tales.”
My mother was a full-blooded Swede, second generation. Her father arrived in the United States in 1880 and then sent money back to Sweden so his next youngest sister could come the following year. They both worked and saved enough to send for the remainder of the family, which consisted of their parents (Anders and Maja) and six younger brothers and sisters. A seventh child was born after they arrived in the United States. To this date I have managed to contact every living descendant of Anders and Maja. I would have to go back and count, but I believe they number somewhere up in the six hundreds. Some of them I’ve developed a relationship with and have actually traveled to meet. Some I wish I had never met (aacckkk), and some are wonderful people.
My Grandfather (Mom’s father) was a very tall, slender man and my Grandmother (Mom’s mother) was very tiny and petite. Another very interesting thing I discovered is how certain characteristics can skip many generations and then show up farther on down the line. I have a first cousin who is the spitting image of my grandfather. If all you saw was the face and didn’t have the clothing to judge by you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. He’s also very tall and slender, but the facial characteristics blew me away when I first compared the pictures. My grandmother was just slightly pigeon-toed in her right foot and had a rather strange gait when she walked because of it. She also had a rather unique posture when she was standing. My oldest niece has the exact same pigeon-toe in her right foot and the same posture when standing. She makes many of the same gestures with her hands when talking. None of these characteristics were noticeable in her mother (my sister). My niece would be three generations down from my grandmother!! I guess some little piece of DNA got sent on down the pipeline somewhere.
Now my maternal grandmother’s family history is somewhat sketchy as they came to the United States about twenty years earlier – 1862 to be exact, and records weren’t kept very well at that time. This was during the Civil War and also at the time of the Indian Wars in southern Minnesota. From what I’ve been able to ascertain my great grandparents, Johann and Kristine, arrived in St. Paul on a barge on the Mississippi River and transferred from there to another barge that was going up the Minnesota River. They didn’t go very far until they found land to homestead just to the southwest of what is now Minneapolis. During that summer the Indians went on a rampage massacring settlers that were scattered throughout the countryside. Entire families were killed. Some folks managed to escape and take refuge in Fort Snelling, but others had to fend for themselves. From what I’ve been able to research in some of the local county historical societies in that area there were several families that managed to escape by submerging themselves in a slough and breathing through reeds when the Indians came through. They spent many hours under water and didn’t surface until the Indians had killed all their livestock and burned their buildings. Johann and Kristine and their two oldest daughters were among these people. One of those daughters was my grandmother.
Johann and Kristine went on to have five more children, but unfortunately all five of them died during a two-year period in the late 1800s. From what I’ve been able to ascertain they died from some kind of flu that ran rampant during that time. What a tragedy.
I’ve also managed to complete some research in Sweden by hiring a genealogist that is affiliated with the Swedish National Archives. Apparently tracking back in the Scandinavian countries is a breeze because excellent records were kept. The Church and State were “one” at that time and every year a government official would come around and take a census to update records. If you wanted to move your family from one parish (comparable to our states) to another you had to get a letter signed by the priest acknowledging the fact that you were leaving. Your names would then be removed from his Big Book. When you arrived at your destination you had to check in with that parish priest so he could record you in his Big Book. I managed to collect data back to 1747 and then everything stopped.
After much correspondence with the genealogist I had hired and with the Swedish archives I made the interesting discovery that the female ancestor that I had managed to track down named Maja Jonsdottir, had the occupation of Prostitute!! The Swedish Archives had a much nicer name for it than prostitute, but I don’t remember offhand what it was. Anyway, being the Church and State were “one,” and they were trying to have an upstanding and pure government, they didn’t believe in prostitutes, so all records prior to her were destroyed. As far as they were concerned she didn’t exist!
So there you have it folks – not only am I a half-breed, the product of a Swedish mother and a Norwegian father, but I’m the descendant of a prostitute and I married a Finlander. I was told that wasn’t good either because they always carry knives, you know!!
Unfortunately I didn’t get interested in family history until my mother died in 1997. She was the last one in her family of her generation and could have filled in so many blanks for me had I been into documenting things at that time. But no, leave it to me – I always have to do things the hard way, and after her death it left me searching for lots of answers.
You certainly find out some interesting things about your ancestors when you go searching – some actual facts and plenty of “fairy tales.”
My mother was a full-blooded Swede, second generation. Her father arrived in the United States in 1880 and then sent money back to Sweden so his next youngest sister could come the following year. They both worked and saved enough to send for the remainder of the family, which consisted of their parents (Anders and Maja) and six younger brothers and sisters. A seventh child was born after they arrived in the United States. To this date I have managed to contact every living descendant of Anders and Maja. I would have to go back and count, but I believe they number somewhere up in the six hundreds. Some of them I’ve developed a relationship with and have actually traveled to meet. Some I wish I had never met (aacckkk), and some are wonderful people.
My Grandfather (Mom’s father) was a very tall, slender man and my Grandmother (Mom’s mother) was very tiny and petite. Another very interesting thing I discovered is how certain characteristics can skip many generations and then show up farther on down the line. I have a first cousin who is the spitting image of my grandfather. If all you saw was the face and didn’t have the clothing to judge by you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. He’s also very tall and slender, but the facial characteristics blew me away when I first compared the pictures. My grandmother was just slightly pigeon-toed in her right foot and had a rather strange gait when she walked because of it. She also had a rather unique posture when she was standing. My oldest niece has the exact same pigeon-toe in her right foot and the same posture when standing. She makes many of the same gestures with her hands when talking. None of these characteristics were noticeable in her mother (my sister). My niece would be three generations down from my grandmother!! I guess some little piece of DNA got sent on down the pipeline somewhere.
Now my maternal grandmother’s family history is somewhat sketchy as they came to the United States about twenty years earlier – 1862 to be exact, and records weren’t kept very well at that time. This was during the Civil War and also at the time of the Indian Wars in southern Minnesota. From what I’ve been able to ascertain my great grandparents, Johann and Kristine, arrived in St. Paul on a barge on the Mississippi River and transferred from there to another barge that was going up the Minnesota River. They didn’t go very far until they found land to homestead just to the southwest of what is now Minneapolis. During that summer the Indians went on a rampage massacring settlers that were scattered throughout the countryside. Entire families were killed. Some folks managed to escape and take refuge in Fort Snelling, but others had to fend for themselves. From what I’ve been able to research in some of the local county historical societies in that area there were several families that managed to escape by submerging themselves in a slough and breathing through reeds when the Indians came through. They spent many hours under water and didn’t surface until the Indians had killed all their livestock and burned their buildings. Johann and Kristine and their two oldest daughters were among these people. One of those daughters was my grandmother.
Johann and Kristine went on to have five more children, but unfortunately all five of them died during a two-year period in the late 1800s. From what I’ve been able to ascertain they died from some kind of flu that ran rampant during that time. What a tragedy.
I’ve also managed to complete some research in Sweden by hiring a genealogist that is affiliated with the Swedish National Archives. Apparently tracking back in the Scandinavian countries is a breeze because excellent records were kept. The Church and State were “one” at that time and every year a government official would come around and take a census to update records. If you wanted to move your family from one parish (comparable to our states) to another you had to get a letter signed by the priest acknowledging the fact that you were leaving. Your names would then be removed from his Big Book. When you arrived at your destination you had to check in with that parish priest so he could record you in his Big Book. I managed to collect data back to 1747 and then everything stopped.
After much correspondence with the genealogist I had hired and with the Swedish archives I made the interesting discovery that the female ancestor that I had managed to track down named Maja Jonsdottir, had the occupation of Prostitute!! The Swedish Archives had a much nicer name for it than prostitute, but I don’t remember offhand what it was. Anyway, being the Church and State were “one,” and they were trying to have an upstanding and pure government, they didn’t believe in prostitutes, so all records prior to her were destroyed. As far as they were concerned she didn’t exist!
So there you have it folks – not only am I a half-breed, the product of a Swedish mother and a Norwegian father, but I’m the descendant of a prostitute and I married a Finlander. I was told that wasn’t good either because they always carry knives, you know!!
10 comments:
You are one busy woman, Lena! I enjoyed reading about your genealogical adventure. It sounds like you're having fun, to boot. Good for you. Keep it up! -- Larry Lehmer, http://whenwordsmatter.typepad.com
What does that make me. My Dad was half Norse, half Swede and he married a German-Russian of all things. hehe. I just recently found out a bunch of information on my granfather when he came over here that even my aunt didn't know. He was only 21 when he left home. Geneology is so cool. Too bad many of the records of my mom's family had to be destroyed when they smuggled out of Russian
i wish i could trace my ancestors back that far!!! thats incredable!!
I love all that stuff, whether it's about my family or someone else's.
Excellent post. I think we all should be doing this once in a while. Heaven knows, we're all immigrants. (l'empress)
I wish I could trace my ancestry back that far also, but I can barely get past my great grandmother....her father was from Ireland and his name was James O'Neill. Anyone have any idea how many James O'Neills came thru Ellis Island?!?! 52,592 1/2...that's how many! (joking of course, but there were tons!) My search stopped short!
I've done a fair amount of ancestor research and my eldest daughter is carrying on. I can't say my blood is as pure as yours. You might be a half-breed but still Norse. I have German, Irish, Scottish, English, Jewish and Swiss blood in my veins. My kids can add French and Danish courtesy of their dad and my grandkids (if I ever bloody get some) will also have Maori and Spanish in their mix.
We aren't just half-breeds. We are mongrels!
Or, maybe, that just makes us Australian.
I was a little suspicious myself. Heh.
Great entry! My dad loves delving into his family history. He's got documents as far back as the early 1700's.
My mom's side of the family is very much into genealogy. My great-grandpa was a German draft dodger who skipped the country to come to America to be with his sweetheart (whose family had moved there to get her away from him!) My uncle tried to research my dad's side, but it seems Finnish names are place names rather than family names, so he had no way to tell which ones were actually related to us.
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