I have always loved genealogy. In 1973 Dad gave me some family stories he and his Uncle Sigge had worked on, with names, dates, places and interesting tidbits about my direct line ancestors. I took them with me to Ricks College, enrolled in Genealogy 101, then was able to take a Swedish Genealogy class and join the college genealogy club and soon I was president of this small club. We took a couple trips to the Salt Lake Genealogy Library each year where I remember arriving as soon as it opened, eating "Suzi Q" cupcakes out of the vending machine in the basement for lunch, and them kicking us out at closing time. I learned to read the records and ever since have loved doing research for my Swedish ancestors.
Now my dream has come true--Jeff and Missy have developed a similar love for and an ability with genealogy. They are teaching me things now! One of the things I'm learning is to add photos and stories in FamilySearch.org. My Dad is also excited about this--he has written many stories about his grandparents and parents, now he is adding these to Family Search. He is the only person on the planet who can identify some of the people in pictures and who knows these stories.
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| Uncle Sigge |
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| HIlda Maria Hedman |
Earlier this week he was translating a letter Uncle Sigge had written decades earlier. As he translated, Jeff typed, and when he finished we had two marvelous stories--Sigge's memories of each of his parents. They will soon be on FamilySearch. As Dad was translating I was falling in love with his grandparents, Sven August Laas and Hilda Maria Hedman. They lived in such difficult times, worked 13 hour days and walked an hour to work each way, 6 days a week. But through it all they were such delightful people! Hilda had a wonderful sense of humor, Sigge recounted and I remember Dad telling the story of how once she used salt instead of sugar (by accident) in her cinnamon rolls. She went ahead and frosted them and offered them to everyone who stopped by that week. Dad said she'd tuck her hands under her apron bib, kind of rock back on her heels and just wait for the reaction, then she'd giggle and enjoy the joke! Even to the end of her life Sigge said she had a "shining disposition" a cheerful spirit, even she would cheer up the tired nurses on night shift at her rest home.
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| 1928 Mother's Day picture, Hilda is 4th from Left |
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Sven August Laas, husband of
Hilda Maria Hedman |
I have such a strong feeling of love for her. I'm sure we were best friends in the pre-existence, I'm sure when I cross that veil she will be one of the first to run to greet me. We'll be so happy to be reunited--and reunited as an eternal family.
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This is the picture of Edith Georgina that
so grabbed me |
I remember seeing this picture of Dad's farmor, Edith Georgina Svensson (Hilda is his mormor) the picture grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I knew a little of her story, placed in an orphanage as an infant, then bid out to the lowest bidder--who would the state be able to pay the least to for her care. A hard family took her, she never got to go to school because that would cut into the time she could be working for them. She was in several foster homes in her younger years. Her husband died as a young man, she was left with 5 young children to care for. She came to America when my dad was born, see below for a great 4 generation picture. Anyway, she's another person I know I have known and loved before.
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| This is 4 generations, my dad is the baby |
Genealogy is so much more than names and dates and even more than temple work. It is connecting families, fitting us into a bigger and bigger group of people we already have loved and known before. Every story and every picture needs to be told and shared!
