My posting has slowed down lately, but I'm still here. I've taken a little break from my genealogy projects so that I could spend some time finishing up some other things around the house, but I'm gearing up now for the Advent Calendar of Memories!
I also owe a big thank you to the three kind souls who gave me Kreativ Blogger awards recently! Thanks, ladies! It's much appreciated, and I'll be passing it along soon.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Visit with Grandma
I saw my grandma tonight. I am fortunate, both in general and as an amateur genealogist, to have two of my four biological grandparents still living; by the time most people become interested in their family history, their grandparents are long gone.
But my grandmother is, at 89, not altogether here, either. She lives in the same town as I do now, but I haven't seen her for several months--not because I wouldn't like to, but because I don't think she'd know me if I stopped by her place alone. She doesn't always know my dad these days. Usually she thinks he's her brother.
My parents had stopped by this evening. They were dropping off their dog, because he'll be staying with us while they're out of town for Thanksgiving. Dad said that he was going to see Grandma, so I decided to tag along. She seemed to know Dad today, at least intermittently, and she recognized that I am family.
Though she's well cared for in an assisted living facility now, Grandma's conversation always returns to how she hates the place (and then back again to how much she loves it) and how unhappy she is. To distract her from the negative thinking, my dad started asking her about her uncles and aunts. We found then that she actually enjoyed talking about people she hadn't thought of in years. She even said it was "fun."
Bits & pieces I want to remember:
Dad asked her the names of all her uncles, and she remembered her father's brothers, Carl and Otto (and, with some prompting, older brother Hans), and her mother's brothers, Harry, Chris, and Charley. He asked her who her favorite uncle was, and she quickly said it was Carl, because he loved children. Otto, she said, was very intelligent and liked kids well enough, but he probably didn't know all the children's names. Carl loved to play with all the kids when they would visit, especially Grandma and her sister Dolly.
Of her aunts, she said that the ones who never married were the most fun, because the others "didn't get so attached." Her father's sisters Maggie and Daisy and her mother's sister Annie were all sure to spoil the children. They saw the aunts when they would make trips to Turner County once each summer, but Maggie and Daisy would sometimes visit their farm, too. Aunt Mary, who lived nearer to her, was "no fun," and Emma, though "nice," got after the kids a lot to behave.
She remembered her maternal grandfather, Thomas Thomsen, as very quiet and nice, and she thought he was probably quite good looking when he was young. He was, as she said, "a dark man" (and photographs would suggest that he was dark-skinned, for a Dane). He liked to drink, though it was something of a ritual to him and he didn't overdo it. He made his own liquor in the basement, and everyone in the family would sample it. He would refer to it as "a bit of schnapps."
Clearly she was very fond of her mother, Martha. She spoke of how her mother cooked so much--big meals of meat and potatoes, all her own bread, and caramel rolls. Then it would be time to go out to the barn (which was "half a block long") and milk the cows. Grandma and her siblings would argue about who would milk which cows, because they knew that some gave much more milk than others and were therefore much more work, and by the time they'd finished arguing about it, her mother would have milked them all. They'd skim off the cream to sell (sometimes they had to bring it to town, but sometimes it was picked up by the dairy man) and feed the milk to the pigs. They had a lot of grocery money, she said, and never wanted for food.
Grandma loved cats when she was a girl. They always had a lot of cats on the farm. They had a dog named Buddy who herded the cattle.
Her stories are a little hard to follow, because she forgets who she's talking about and drifts into stories of another family member, but when she tells them, I can see the memories are as clear to her as though they were yesterday.
At one point, I filled in name that she couldn't recall, and Dad reminded Grandma that I "know all about the ancestors." Grandma looked right at me and asked "How do you know all that crap?" (Ha!)
I should go to see Grandma more often... Next time, I want to bring some old photos to see if they unlock more stories.
Grandma & Dad
But my grandmother is, at 89, not altogether here, either. She lives in the same town as I do now, but I haven't seen her for several months--not because I wouldn't like to, but because I don't think she'd know me if I stopped by her place alone. She doesn't always know my dad these days. Usually she thinks he's her brother.
My parents had stopped by this evening. They were dropping off their dog, because he'll be staying with us while they're out of town for Thanksgiving. Dad said that he was going to see Grandma, so I decided to tag along. She seemed to know Dad today, at least intermittently, and she recognized that I am family.
Though she's well cared for in an assisted living facility now, Grandma's conversation always returns to how she hates the place (and then back again to how much she loves it) and how unhappy she is. To distract her from the negative thinking, my dad started asking her about her uncles and aunts. We found then that she actually enjoyed talking about people she hadn't thought of in years. She even said it was "fun."
Bits & pieces I want to remember:
Dad asked her the names of all her uncles, and she remembered her father's brothers, Carl and Otto (and, with some prompting, older brother Hans), and her mother's brothers, Harry, Chris, and Charley. He asked her who her favorite uncle was, and she quickly said it was Carl, because he loved children. Otto, she said, was very intelligent and liked kids well enough, but he probably didn't know all the children's names. Carl loved to play with all the kids when they would visit, especially Grandma and her sister Dolly.
Of her aunts, she said that the ones who never married were the most fun, because the others "didn't get so attached." Her father's sisters Maggie and Daisy and her mother's sister Annie were all sure to spoil the children. They saw the aunts when they would make trips to Turner County once each summer, but Maggie and Daisy would sometimes visit their farm, too. Aunt Mary, who lived nearer to her, was "no fun," and Emma, though "nice," got after the kids a lot to behave.
She remembered her maternal grandfather, Thomas Thomsen, as very quiet and nice, and she thought he was probably quite good looking when he was young. He was, as she said, "a dark man" (and photographs would suggest that he was dark-skinned, for a Dane). He liked to drink, though it was something of a ritual to him and he didn't overdo it. He made his own liquor in the basement, and everyone in the family would sample it. He would refer to it as "a bit of schnapps."
Clearly she was very fond of her mother, Martha. She spoke of how her mother cooked so much--big meals of meat and potatoes, all her own bread, and caramel rolls. Then it would be time to go out to the barn (which was "half a block long") and milk the cows. Grandma and her siblings would argue about who would milk which cows, because they knew that some gave much more milk than others and were therefore much more work, and by the time they'd finished arguing about it, her mother would have milked them all. They'd skim off the cream to sell (sometimes they had to bring it to town, but sometimes it was picked up by the dairy man) and feed the milk to the pigs. They had a lot of grocery money, she said, and never wanted for food.
Grandma loved cats when she was a girl. They always had a lot of cats on the farm. They had a dog named Buddy who herded the cattle.
Her stories are a little hard to follow, because she forgets who she's talking about and drifts into stories of another family member, but when she tells them, I can see the memories are as clear to her as though they were yesterday.
At one point, I filled in name that she couldn't recall, and Dad reminded Grandma that I "know all about the ancestors." Grandma looked right at me and asked "How do you know all that crap?" (Ha!)
I should go to see Grandma more often... Next time, I want to bring some old photos to see if they unlock more stories.
Grandma & DadTuesday, November 17, 2009
Tombstone Tuesday: Gurine Nordtvedt Nordseth
grave of
Gurine Randine (Nordtvedt) Nordseth (1867 - 1945)
Canton Lutheran Cemetery
rural Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota
photo: May 2007
Gurine was my great-great-grandmother and the wife of Jens Peter Nordseth. She was also the great-granddaughter of my "black sheep" ancestor, Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt, though the family seems to have been well established as successful carpenters and ship builders by the time she was born in 1867.
Gurine was born in Trondheim, Norway, as the third child of Søren Gerhard and Elen Marie (Solberg) Nordtvedt. When my mother and I traveled to Norway in 2003, I even got to see the house where Gurine was probably born. Her childhood has always seemed sad to me--her mother died when she was around 5 months old, and all family stories indicate that her stepmother was not very fond of her stepchildren. When the family immigrated to the US, 13-year-old Gurine began working as a servant on a farm. She eventually became the teenage bride of a handsome older man and raised a family of 8 children.
She is one of the long-gone ancestors I can most easily imagine as a "real" person, perhaps because my grandfather remembers her. He lived with her for a while, so he could go to high school in town. Years ago I also met a distant cousin, who told me more of the Nordtvedts' story, along with bits and pieces, like the fact that Gurine had red hair.
I wish she had kept a diary. I would have liked to know Gurine.
Gurine was born in Trondheim, Norway, as the third child of Søren Gerhard and Elen Marie (Solberg) Nordtvedt. When my mother and I traveled to Norway in 2003, I even got to see the house where Gurine was probably born. Her childhood has always seemed sad to me--her mother died when she was around 5 months old, and all family stories indicate that her stepmother was not very fond of her stepchildren. When the family immigrated to the US, 13-year-old Gurine began working as a servant on a farm. She eventually became the teenage bride of a handsome older man and raised a family of 8 children.
She is one of the long-gone ancestors I can most easily imagine as a "real" person, perhaps because my grandfather remembers her. He lived with her for a while, so he could go to high school in town. Years ago I also met a distant cousin, who told me more of the Nordtvedts' story, along with bits and pieces, like the fact that Gurine had red hair.
I wish she had kept a diary. I would have liked to know Gurine.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tombstone Tuesday: Jens Peter Nordseth
grave of
Jens Peter Nordseth (1849 - 1922)
Canton Lutheran Cemetery
rural Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota
photo: May 2007
Jens Peter Nordseth (1849 - 1922)
Canton Lutheran Cemetery
rural Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota
photo: May 2007
Jens was my great-great-grandfather. He was born in Klæbu parish, near Trondheim, Sør-Trondelag, Norway, and emigrated to Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota. There he married a girl from Trondheim and raised a family of eight children. One was Eline Marie, featured in a previous Tombstone Tuesday.
Jens was one of my first genealogical focuses and will probably always be near and dear to me.
Jens was one of my first genealogical focuses and will probably always be near and dear to me.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Witches in the Tree?
Was your ancestor a witch?
Rebecca Nurse is possibly a director ancestor of my husband. His 5x great-grandmother Mary "Polly" Spencer, wife if Jesse Spencer of Connectictut (born about 1786) is thought by some to be the daughter of Lemuel Southwick. If she is, that makes Rebecca my husband's 10x great-grandmother. I hope I'll find out someday if it's true.
Coincidentally, I'm fairly certain that she is the 10x great-grandmother of my first cousins, on their father's side of the family.
Like Sherry, I've always found Rebecca's story quite tragic.
Rebecca Nurse is possibly a director ancestor of my husband. His 5x great-grandmother Mary "Polly" Spencer, wife if Jesse Spencer of Connectictut (born about 1786) is thought by some to be the daughter of Lemuel Southwick. If she is, that makes Rebecca my husband's 10x great-grandmother. I hope I'll find out someday if it's true.
Coincidentally, I'm fairly certain that she is the 10x great-grandmother of my first cousins, on their father's side of the family.
Like Sherry, I've always found Rebecca's story quite tragic.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
TV for Genealogists: The Locator
Every once in a while I come across a TV show or book that speaks to the genealogist in me, and then I wonder "Why haven't I heard of this before?" Usually it's not the most highly rated program or a bestselling book, so I thought I'd pass along my recommendations now and then. As a true couch potato, I'll start with one of my new favorite television shows.I have a new TV obsession: "The Locator." It's on WE on Saturday evenings, but a recent Locator marathon left my DVR full of re-runs. I didn't know about it until its star, Troy Dunn, was featured on a recent episode of Oprah, and now I'm hooked.
The premise is pretty simple, and it's a perfect formula to hook an amateur genealogist. Troy is a private investigator who helps people find other people... sometimes old friends, sometimes an organ donor, but usually a family member. Often it's a father or sibling. One week each month, he and his team take on what they call an "Angel Case," like pro bono work. They're the cases that move them the most.
It's not just the reunions that hook me, but the research. When Troy and his team discuss the clues they have, I find myself thinking about how *I* would go about finding the person. I think that we genealogists have a lot of crossover skills here.
What's your favorite TV for Genealogists?
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Tombstone Tuesday: Kvam Kirke
old tombstones, resting against the graveyard's stone fenceKvam Kirke
Kvam, Nord-Fron, Norway
photo: 2003
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