In 1989 my father's brother died and while at the funeral, I mentioned to some cousins that the family should get together for another reason this. With some family staying at the post-funeral function for only 20 minutes or less, there wasn't enough time to say hello or visit with all of them.
So, with this in mind, I worked with a first cousin and his wife to arrange a July 1990 family reunion based on the members of my father's mother and her siblings. We had a great time for several hours, had over 100 members in attendance ranging in age from 3 months to 92 years-old, and ate Scandanavian food (including lutefisk prepared by my 89-year-old great aunt).
As part of the reunion, I stated I would put together a family history. As time got closer to the event, it was evident that I wasn't going to have anything of substance ready. I put together a two-page short history with plenty of questions for the family to answer.
Now, seven years later, the family history has grown to over 100 pages (with lots more to go). I have come in possession of lots of historical photos (some identified and some not), and records (some originals) from two states of family marriages, births, deaths, newspaper articles, as well as naturalization and land grants. Some of these have only opened up more questions about missing family information and even a few "missing" persons.
As the information came in, it became more of an interesting "detective" story, with interesting characters and stories. I plan to interview some elderly relatives later this summer and get lots of those photos identified and dated.
One of my Dad's cousins gave me an original newspaper article from a Bergen, Norway, newspaper (in Norwegian of course) from 1937 in which some of my great-grand uncle and aunt related their lives in America. They had left from there in 1884 and moved to a farming community in western Minnesota. Once I got the article translated, it gave a first-hand account of their early life on the prairie. It was almost as good as an interview, especially since the relatives died in the early 1950s. I even used e-mail to send the keyed-in article to a relative in Denmark to help translate it!
With a family that came to the United States only in the 1880s and the 1910s, and with family names that are definitely Scandanavian (Eimar, Erling, Thorvald, Rasmus, etc.), it became a passion to find out more about them. As I found more records and artifacts, more photos, and more information, it became more passionate.
I plan to have a version of my family history ready later this year for distribution to family members, unfortunately with some blanks. I will ask family members to help me fill in some of these holes. Regardless, I plan to continue the research and will probably plan another family reunion for 1998.
My daughter is planning to go to Denmark in the next few weeks and be an exchange student. She will live with my Dad's first cousin there. In 1987 we had her son here for the school year. As I look into my own name and my life, I have found that it is made up of all of my ancestors. With all of this in mind, I have found that this is what drives me to look further.
Return to Front Page