Petronella's Picture Album Petronella, unknown year. I've always been impressed with my great grandmother, Petronella (Magnusson) Peterson. If you want to talk about being "Big Girl", Petronella was that and then some. Before we look at her photo album, I'll give you a little background information. In May of 1887, my grandmother Hilma's father, Johannes …
Letters From Geo, Part 2 Background Information: George and Hilma got married on May 16, 1927, after the somewhat precarious courtship you read about in "Oceans of Love". They were married in Chicago and spent (in Hilma's words) a fabulous honeymoon at Lake Geneva and seeing the sights in the big city. Hilma is pictured …
Letters from Geo, Part 1 George Anderson, US Navy, WWI I haven't written as much about the Anderson side of my family as I have about the Johnsons. This is because I have more information about the Johnsons, which is partly because I actually knew my grandpa Emil but unfortunately never had the chance to …
A look back to the shaving practices of WW1 You may remember these photos from previous posts. On the left is my paternal grandfather Emil Johnson, and on the right in the center is my maternal grandfather George Anderson. Today what I would like to point out to you is how cleanshaven they were. Little …
The year was 1947 and my father, David, had turned 15 just two months before. It was time to start earning his own money, and what better way for a teenage boy to do that than to get a newspaper route? It appears that David and his dad, Emil, went down to the Valley News …
"If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small." Proverbs 24:10 Above: Michigan death certificates for stillborn babies usually had a vertical line drawn down the middle. Below: This three-year-old Ludington girl died of typhoid fever in 1910. The family lived less than a mile from the Johnson home on East Melendy …
First, I’m starting to think there never was a Frank. Second, I’m getting irritated at the census taker who either: A) Wrote the name “Frank” on the 1920 census when he never existed, or B) Wrote the name of a kid named Frank who did exist but wasn’t John Alfred and Madge’s son. In the …
"My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother." Proverbs 6:20 March 21, 1954 I'm sure everyone remembers phrases their parents "always said". Later in life, we can "hear" them in our minds, and often we hear our own voices saying the exact same things, to our children or grandchildren, …
Wait, is that even possible? I guess it's all a matter of what you consider "too long". But I have discovered that spending too much time on Ancestry in one sitting can get just a bit frustrating. I may be able to speak for most people of Scandinavian descent when I say this: "Everybody in …
Continue reading You’ve Been on “Ancestry” Too Long When . . .
There was a time when the students at Augustana College, in Rock Island, Illinois, were living the typical 1917 college life. As a seminary student, my grandfather, Emil Johnson, was highly involved in the college experience. In this photo of the Augustana football team, Emil is in the front row, second from right. Sports and …
Nana's Whimsical World 