Back to Genealogy

It was time to sort through the boxes I received from Grandma,  you know the ones, those filled with photos supposedly burnt in the fire.  Were they Hallbergs, Bjorklunds, Swansons or somebody totally unrelated.

There were a few that I could recognize as having seen from my parent's collection. Whew! Those were identified. Then came others that I had NO IDEA who they were. Some were written on the back in Swedish, and the front had a Swedish Photography Studio stamped on the cardboard frame. Still, which side of the family as both my grandmother and grandfather were Swedish.

By this time Peter (the one who started all this) and I had exchanged many letters.  Email was still not prevalant so I did the best technology of the time. I scanned some of the photos and mailed them to Peter asking if he could identify any.  A few weeks later I got the long awaited answer. He was able to identify all but one. Yippee!!!! This was my grandfather's family.

I asked my father for some help in further identifying some of the unknowns. True, it had been a few years, but he was able to identify some of the others. Yet, there will be a bunch that will forever remain unknown.... Sigh....

There were other treasures in the boxes as well. Grandma had started writing some of her genealogy down. There were newspaper clippings with the puzzle left to me to figure how they all fit in.

It was going to be a journey through time to sift through this and get it recorded. Grandma left me quite a legacy. I only wished she would have been open to talking about her family more while she was alive.

She did mention a couple of stories from her childhood.

She loved to surprise her mother by cleaning the house while her parents were in town. They lived  a few miles from the center of the community, so I imagine the shopping trips were few and far between and took most of the day when they happened.

Bjorklund Road in Ogema is named after John Bjorklund (my great great grandfather)
Hallberg Road in Ogema is named after Andrew Hallberg (my great great grandfather)

The more I found out about my ancestors, the more I wanted to know. I was smitten.