Goodbye to the city... Hello to the town of Wadena, our wonderful, welcoming, extended Haraldson family and some sharing of family history!

When I was in the planning stage of this journey, I was reminded that I have relatives who live  somewhat near the farm and farmhouse that was the focal point of this trip.  I am someone who truly does not like to impose.  I don't want to be a burden to people and I honestly have a hard time asking for favors with anyone except the closest of family. I know how busy people's lives can be and they don't need me and my boys getting in the way while we are on vacation.  Well... apparently this concern was not in my dad's cousin and his wife's vocabulary! When I wrote them regarding my upcoming trip, we were invited to stay with them without hesitation and not once making me feel as if we were imposing! Growing up in the small farming town of Flom, they could see each other's farmhouses when looking across the fields as kids. Families knew each other through generations and my relatives Lyle and Deb most definitely have that welcoming, small town, family takes care of family and friends without blinking an eye mentality. They will fix you amazing meals and introduce you to deliciously fun Midwestern food like Uff-da Tacos and will bless the food with a beautiful  family table grace in Norwegian.

These are the kind of people who will tell you stories from when they grew up in the old farmhouse after your own Grandpa moved away and show you photos from back in the day... They will happily travel 80 miles to show you your ancestral dream destination of a lonely, deserted shell of a farm-home that once was beautiful and housed my grandfather during the most traumatic years of his and his family's life. Yes, they are the kind of people who will take you there despite the fact that it happens to be though rows and rows of corn in a field on a hot, muggy  Minnesota day.....Yes... that is  Lyle and Deb... family with a  "We'll TOTALLY take care of you" generous heart!. The boys and I are ever so grateful to them for making our trip incredibly special!!!

Jacob, Ryan and I left St. Paul after researching a bit more at the historical Library and found our way up to Wadena with the help of our trusty and thankfully not arguing this time, GPS ladies.  They however did not inform us of a wild turkey that would be crossing the road  in front of our car about 10 miles from town. Thankfully I was an alert driver and was able to slow down, swerve a bit and happily give  the turkey another day to live.   This was my first wild turkey sighting ever!  At first I wasn't sure what kind of big bird it was!  It sure didn't look like those fat farm raised turkeys that find there way to the grocery freezer in time for Thanksgiving.  Nope, this bird was a big, lean, and beautifully brown colored wild bird.   After I missed it, I realized what it was!  The boys and I were excited to have seen one and even more excited to see that it had been with two other turkeys that also safely crossed the road behind us! WHEW!  I wish we had gotten a photo but it happened too fast!

We made our way to our relatives home and were welcomed with open arms and a quick photo session with their daughter Serena who is my second cousin and whom I hadn't seen in years since we were a lot younger.

Serena has been living with her husband in Casablanca, Morocco and previously lived in  Egypt.  Serena and I were only able to visit a short while yet found out we had a lot 

in common!   Lyle filled me in with photos from their own  visit to her home after she left.  She runs her own business and sells beautiful vintage Middle Eastern textiles  in her Etsy shop called

 "Two Girls and a Pug"    etsy.com/shop/twogirlsandapug

Please check it out if you are looking for something beautiful and unique for your home or as a gift.. Each quality piece is handpicked by Serena too! 

After the boys settled down for a movie, Lyle shared with me some of the history of when he lived at the farmhouse I had been wanting to visit for so long in Flom.    His father was my Grandfather's older brother named Henry but people called him Hank.  Hank and his wife Thea raised Lyle on the farm and boy did Lyle have some of his own stories to tell!  I got to listen to stories of baseball games and his friends cutting through the fields to his house making his dad mad at the crushed grain. He told stories of losing his beloved baseball cards when he went away into the Navy. Those cards were the real good ones and I felt bad hearing how they were stolen. He told me stories about getting these candy treats called fizzies  from my other Great Uncle John's store there in Flom and putting them in the stream nearby and they would make the water  taste all flavored and yummy... although sometimes a few chucks of algae would be there too!

Lyle explaining the house layout to me... photo thanks to Deb Haraldson

 I got to hear about how the farmhouse looked on the inside... the room layout and the fact that it was built without a bathroom.  When he lived there, there was an outhouse.  Not until the home was sold to another man, did it get an indoor bathroom. The the new owner named Walter turned a front porch room into one.  Finding this stuff out made it easier for me to visualize the home I was soon to see from the outside.   I had found the advertisement for the home in a Sears catalog.  Way back, Sears actually sold home kits through their catalog!  My Great Grandparents ordered their home from the Sears Catalog and it was shipped out to them by train and then hauled to their property and built.  Each piece was numbered by Sears. My Great Grandparents had the basement dug and the foundation was laid. The home was then built piece by piece like a giant puzzle!  Finding a historic Sears home is not easy. Knowing that this home was a Sears home was very exciting to me!

My Great Grandparents Bernt (Ben) and Ann Marie (Mary)  Haraldson
Their Wedding portrait 1899

The farmhouse in 1915

Tragedy struck my Grandfather's family not many years after this photo was taken. 1922 was a very horrific year for the family.  In August of that year, My grandfather's younger brother Marvin, who was 8, was kicked in the head by a horse and killed.  One month later my Grandfather lost both of his parents and two more siblings, sister Gladys (11) and brother Kermit (6) in a most tragic car/train accident.  His older sister Alma survived the accident but would die three years later in 1925 from TB.  My Grandfather Ole was only 15 when the accident happened.  The same age as my son Jacob when we went on this trip.  I can't imagine the strength it took to get through such a time in these brother's lives. My Grandfather and his brothers had a very strong faith in God, love for each other and the support of the friends and neighbors which surely helped them get through and move forward. You might think that a person would end up hating the world and questioning their faith after all this happening to them and their family.  I luckily knew my grandfather to be a happy and loving man though and he loved to tell jokes. I was lucky to know my Great Uncle George as well and he was the same.  I know from what I was told that my grandfather's other brothers Henry (Hank) and John were also wonderful men to know. 

Alma and Kermit a few years before the accident. 

Twins George and John and their Father Bernt (Ben)

My grandfather Ole Haroldson (highlighted) in 9th grade and around 15 yrs old  at the Flom School. Around the time of the accidents.

I am amazed at how graphic in details the newspaper articles were back then. 

One of the saddest photos I have seen from my Grandpa's albums

Needless to say... There was a lot of terribly sad history surrounding this home that I had felt so connected to through stories and research.  I however had also heard many happy stories as well.  I couldn't wait to go visit it myself.  It is something that I had wanted to do for almost 20 years since I had started my genealogical quest.   I wanted to take time at my ancestor's graves and give my respect.  I was very excited to be able to be going to Flom the next day!

From New Ulm to Minneapolis / St. Paul for some fun and a ton of research!

We left the beautiful  German gingerbread town of  New Ulm and headed towards the big cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The green lush farms and and giant windmills that scattered the countryside gave way to multi-lane highways, on and off ramps and tons of traffic!  YUP!  We were lucky to arrive just in time to hit RUSH HOUR!  This was not a whole lot of fun but we made the best of it and tried to navigate our way to our hotel.

 Humor does enter the picture right about now as we tried to follow the directions of our phone apps.  Jacob had his GPS app set to give directions by a lady with a very basic Northern American accent.  Me, I like to shake things up a bit and  set my GPS lady's voice to a lovely British accent.  Personally, if I had the choice to have her sound like the Cockney Eliza Doolittle from My Fair lady, I would have chosen that just for fun.  I always thought it would be great to have over-the -top options for the voice... Maybe a super thick Jersey accent, or an angry New York Cab driver... how about a Mob boss or Pirate giving you directions Aye Matey?  I would love to hear the voice of a sweet Southern gentleman telling me that honestly, there is no rush, sure I made a wrong turn but hey, there is a lovely park nearby where we can picnic by a stream and have ourselves a Mint Julep should we choose to not "RECALCULATE" and continue on our journey.

So... long story short... in the midst of rush hour, Jacob's American lady and my British lady are neck in neck with their directions.  It truly sounded like they were arguing  because they were  telling us different ways to go.  I was getting confused and Jacob realized he plugged in the right hotel, but the wrong address.  Thankfully, I had the right one but with both ladies telling us where to go it was getting crazy confusing!  We had a good laugh despite the chaos.  Jacob's lady kept saying "STREET PAUL" instead of "SAINT PAUL" for the "ST"abbreviation"  My British lady had it right and so I teased Jacob that my lady was more intelligent.  (I have an iphone, he has a Windows phone).  This bugged him because he is ALWAYS telling me how much better HIS phone is than mine.

AHHHH the joys of car rides, being stuck in traffic, having phones that argue and teasing your son!

What could be better?

How about the MALL OF AMERICA?!  YUP!

 We checked into our hotel and after quite a bit of panic and me trying to help rescue a child who had gotten his hand sucked into the elevator door as it was opening (BEWARE PARENTS!!!  KEEP KID'S HANDS AWAY FROM THE ELEVATOR DOORS AT ALL TIMES!)  It was very scary and thankfully the child ended up being ok! Whew!
 I took a few moments to calm down after my adrenaline rush from trying to help and then we hopped back into the car to find this giant shopping mall we had heard so much about. It was time for some fun!
We didn't get too much shopping in before it closed that night but we did enjoy some yummy crepes, walking around and looking at  the giant Lego displays and amusement park rides inside! We decided to come back the next day and play and we sure had fun doing so!!!

Jacob's favorite cartoon when he was little. I made them pose... yeah, they still love me! :-)

  Didn't go on this one, nope. My feet literally had a mind of their own and took off in the opposite direction and wouldn't let me go near it.. strangest thing ever!. 

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? 

The face I would have made had I gone on most of the rides here.
 Let's just say, I chose wisely, didn't have to make this face and my body thanked me for it!

Nope.. did not attempt this slide... 

 The other big adventure we had while in the big cities was to head to St. Paul and to the wonderful Minnesota Historical Society Gale Family Library.  OH MY!!!  What a treasure to be able to research my family history here!  I got to look through the original old books that weighed a ton. I scrolled through microfilm reels and printed out death certificates. I found old articles I had never seen before. There were answers to questions I had regarding how people passed away on their death certificates.  These documents told me details that I had never been aware of. Stories that had been told through the years were actually proved wrong when I saw the certificates.  I don't believe people shared too many details of a person's death back then.  I especially doubt they bothered telling children the tragic details of how someone died.  Unless the child was right there when it happened,  I can imagine the details being skipped over and the information being delivered in a less tragic manor. Newspapers however, were incredibly graphic when they described accidents and deaths as compared to the way they write about them today. Maybe family members were too embarrassed or felt shameful as to how their relative died and wanted to keep it out of the papers.  Afraid of gossip and alienation by neighbors if the real reasons got out into the public. I could see that as a reason why some stories and information would be kept private.  All I had to go on regarding my own family were stories passed down and a few scattered articles I had found online and on a microfilm at a history center years ago.  Finding information at this library was a total gift and I was able to finally fit a few more puzzle pieces into the big ol' ancestry puzzle I had been working on for years!

While at the library I found out many of my family members passed away from Tuberculosis.  A few dealt with depression and I can obviously assume that the medicine and care was not the best back then.  The knowledge about disease and mental illness was definitely not where it is today!  I took some time to look at other hospital records besides my own family that were written in a big book starting from around 1875.  It wasn't difficult to diagnose these patients myself after reading some of their symptoms.  One man's arm and hand shook uncontrollably and so he was put into the insane hospital for being demented.  What they thought was demented, I see as Parkinson's disease.  It is the same sad disease that affected my beloved Grandfather on my mom's side.  He was definitely NOT demented as this other poor man had been labeled back then.  My Grandfather was lucky enough to live in a time where he wasn't put into a mental hospital but instead helped as best as could be with therapy and medication.  Women suffered from postpartum depression. One poor lady suffered obviously from PMS and was sadly placed in the mental hospital for years and years. A man was depressed because he had black skin and was in love with the daughter of a farmer who had white skin and the farmer threatened to kill the man. This made the lovelorn man upset and although he tried, he couldn't get the lady out of his mind and so guess what?  You got it.. declared insane and demented and there he went into the insane hospital with the explanation regarding his cause of insanity..."disappointed affection"

Here are a few more reasons for insanity that I saw...

WOW...

I just have to say I am thankful for how far we have come in the medical world. I assume that someday our medical practices will be considered absurd after they come up for cures for things that we currently and very desperately fight to survive from.  At least I hope so!  I pray to GOD we find cures for things like cancer and mental illness! I pray that our children's children can look back at our medical records and say... "OH MY GOSH!!!  I can't BELIEVE they thought Chemotherapy was the best option for getting rid of cancer back then!  All they have to do now is get vaccinated with a tiny little shot as a child!"

The Gale Library  was filled with so much amazing historical information... I truly need more than just a few days  to research!  I could spend months there just pouring over all the incredible books!  I will be back... oh yes, I WILL!!!

Doing my best Vanna White pose at the Museum

The beautiful Cathedral of St. Paul.  This is the view I had of it from the Minnesota Historical Society Museum and Library

View of the city in another direction from the museum and library.

New Ulm... A German town with a lot of history!

After arriving in New Ulm and getting a bit of much needed sleep, we were up and ready to explore a few places before hitting the road again.  Our first stop was the historic "Defender's Monument" that was erected by the state of Minnesota in 1891.  The monument honors the  men who defended New Ulm during the Dakota war.  If you don't know much about the Dakota war, you should read up on it. It is a very tragic time for both the white settlers and the Dakota Indians. There were plenty of good people on both sides that were caught up in this horrible war of revenge against the government for their treatment of the Indians.  Not all Dakota Indians were involved in the war or considered bad. Before the war, quite a few settlers welcomed the Indians into their homes and gave them food when they were visited.  During the war, there were kind Indians who helped to lead the settlers to safety and away from those that were doing all the murdering .  The information I had through my Grandfather was that my Great-Great-Grandfather had come back from the Civil War to help defend the women and children during the uprising.  While in New Ulm, I was going to try to see if I could find any information that could confirm that story but I was unable to during the short time I had at the museum.

A great website I found regarding the Dakota wars is
 http://exploringoffthebeatenpath.com/Battlefields/DakotaWar/index.html


                                                              Defender's Monument

One does not need words to understand the story being told visually through the artwork on this monument.  I can imagine the Bohemian-American artist Anton Gag closing his eyes and listening to the vivid memories of those who survived this war while picking up chunks of clay and pushing it, carving it, and smearing it into a graphic depiction of what was being told to him.  In 1873, Anton arrived in America after the New Ulm battle, but one can not deny that the memory was still fresh in the townspeople's minds. How horrifically easy it would be to remember not only the scenes that they witnessed, but also the smell of the hot, dry, choking smoke as it engulfed the town and rose up into the sky. A fire more intense than the biggest bonfire  and smoke so thick that this artist's eyes would water at just hearing the story...Smearing more clay and carving out a riffle, he could hear the sounds of the guns' loud explosions after men yell to alert each other as to where they should fire next.  I imagine the artist could hear the fire's crackling blaze mixed with the sounds of Dakota Indians' war cries and desperate townspeople's voices calling out for help after being trapped or injured.  It would not be difficult to visualize people desperate to find safety and trying hard to stay calm as they cover their children in attempts to quiet, hide and protect them from being killed. It is obvious that there was a great amount of emotion in creating this graphic monument. I think it does a great job of showing the horror and utter chaos of this war, not only from the townspeople's point of view, but I also can see the anger and determination of the Dakota Indians as they try desperately to drive the white people away from the land they once lived freely and with pride on. 

CITIZENS KILLED AUGUST 19TH 1862 RETURNING FROM A RECONNOISSANCE

ALMOND D. LOOMIS DEWITT LEMON

URI LOOMIS OLE OLSON

WILLIAM TUTTLE NELS. OLSON

WILLIAM CARROLL TORY OLSON

GEORGE LAMB JAN. TOMSON

THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE STATE OF MINNESOTA TO COMMEMORATE THE BATTLES AND INCIDENTS OF THE SIOUX INDIAN WAR OF 1862, WHICH PARTICULARLY RELATE TO THE TOWN OF NEW ULM. 1890.

HONORED BY THE MEMORY OF THE CITIZENS OF BLUE EARTH, NICOLLET, LE SUEUR AND ADJACENT COUNTIES WHO SO GALLANTLY CAME TO THE RESCUE OF THEIR NEIGHBORS OF BROWN COUNTY AND BY THEIR PROMPT ACTION AND BRAVERY AIDED THE INHABITANTS IN DEFEATING THE ENEMY IN THE TWO BATTLES OF NEW ULM, WHEREBY THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE SAVAGES WERE CONFINED TO THE BORDER, WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE HAVE EXTENDED INTO THE HEART OF THE STATE.

THE SIOUX INDIANS LOCATED AT THIS RED WOOD AND YELLOW MEDICINE AGENCIES ON THE UPPER WATERS OF THE MINNESOTA RIVER BROKE INTO OPEN REBELLION ON THE 18TH DAY OF AUGUST 1862. THEY MASSACRED NEARLY ALL THE WHITES IN AND ABOUT THE AGENCIES UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CHIEF LITTLE CROW. THEY PROCEEDED DOWN THE RIVER TOWARD NEW ULM AND ON THE 19TH OF AUGUST ENTERED THE SETTLEMENT OF MILFORD, ABOUT SEVEN MILES WEST OF NEW ULM AND KILLED MANY OF THE INHABITANTS . ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 19TH OF AUGUST A FORCE OF ABOUT ONE HUNDRED WARRIORS ATTACKED THE TOWN OF NEW ULM, KILLING SEVERAL OF THE CITIZENS AND BURNING A NUMBER OF BUILDINGS BUT DID NOT CARRY THE BARRICADES WHICH HAD BEEN HASTILY THROWN UP;

 WHILE THE BATTLE WAS IN PROGRESS, THE ADVANCE OF CAPTAIN CHARLES E. FLANDRAUS COMPANY FROM NICOLLET COUNTY, ABOUT FIFTEEN STRONG, UNDER THE COMMAND OF L.M. BOARDMAN, ENTERED THE TOWN AND THE SAVAGES WITHDREW.  THE DEFENSE UP TO THIS TIME WAS IN CHARGE OF CAPTAIN JACOB NIX AT 9 P.M. OF THE 19TH OF AUGUST, A LARGE FORCE, CONSISTING OF CAPTAIN FLANDRAUS COMPANY FROM NICOLLET COUNTY. TOGETHER WITH A COMPANY FROM LE SUEUR COUNTY ARRIVED AND TOOK POSSESSION OF THE TOWN. REINFORCEMENTS TO THE NUMBER OF SEVERAL HUNDRED SUBSEQUENTLY ARRIVED, ON THE 20TH CAPTAIN FLANDRAU WAS CHOSEN COMMANDER IN CHIEF AND THE DEFENSES WERE STRENGTHENED.

ON THE 23RD, THE INDIANS, SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY STRONG, AGAIN ATTACKED NEW ULM AT HALF PAST NINE IN THE MORNING AND BESIEGED IT UNTIL NOON OF THE 24TH. THE ASSAULT WAS VIGOROUSLY EXECUTED AND DESPERATELY RESISTED. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY BUILDINGS WERE DESTROYED IN THE CONTEST LEAVING OF THE TOWN SUCH PART ONLY AS LAY WITHIN THE BARRICADES. OF THE DEFENDERS THIRTY-FOUR WERE KILLED AND ABOUT SIXTY WOUNDED, REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVED AT NOON OF THE 24TH UNDER CAPTAIN COX OF ST. PETER. ON THE 25TH THE TOWN WAS EVACUATED AND THE INHABITANTS ALL SAFELY CONVEYED TO MANKATO.

ROSTER OF THOSE KILLED IN THE BATTLES OF NEW ULM CAPT. JOHN BELMS CO. OF NEW ULM 11TH REGT STATE MILITIA. G.W. OTTO BARTH, WILLIAM ENGLAND, MATTHIAS MEYER, LEOPOLD SENZKE, JACOB CASTOR, JULIUS KIRSCHSTEIN, AUGUST ROEPKE. LE SUEUR TIGERS NO. 1, CAPT. WILLIAM DELLAUGHTER 1ST LIEUT. A.M. EDWARDS, WILLIAM LUSKY LE SUEUR TIGERS NO. 2, CAPT. E.C. SAUNDERS. 5TH SERGT. WILLIAM MALONEY, MATHEW AHERIN, WASHINGTON KULP. CAPT. WILLIAM BIERBAUERS MANKATO CO. NEWEL E. HOUGHTON, WILLIAM NICHOLSON. CAPT. CHARLES E. FLANDRAUS CO. ST. PETER FRONTIER GUARDS 1ST LIEUT. WM. B. DODD, MAX HAACK, JERRY QUANE, JOHN SUMMERS, RUFUS HUGGINS, LUKE SMITH.

CAPT. LOUIS BUGGERT’S  Co.

CAPT. LOUIS BUGGERT.

NEW ULM Co.

FERDINAND KRAUSE,

AUGUST RIEMANN.

MILFORD CO

JACOB HAEBERLE After visiting the monument, we headed to the gorgeous gingerbread looking Historical Museum! This building used to be a post office in the early 1900's. Now it is filled with wonderful displays of history for Brown County and the city of New Ulm.  This painting is supposed to be New Ulm in 1960 by artist Carl Pfaender -1962 More paintings of the Dakota war Buffalo...  Jacob and Ryan loved the canon and old gun displays  Jacob pointed out that this canon was quite a bit smaller than the ones he saw when he visited Gettysburg. Here are some Dakota Indian Children's clothes and toys             Ryan is constantly drawn to old electronics..He is fascinated by how far technology has come in such a short amount of time! He especially loves computers!!! His eyes lit up when he saw this old Radio Shack one!  I told the kids about  the first time I saw a person  walking down a sidewalk while talking on one of the first cell phones and how I thought it was crazy. It just looked weird for the guy to  be walking around out in public talking on the phone!  My oh my... how times truly have changed!

In 1874, Minnesota had a huge grasshopper plague. The boys and I were very glad that this was not a summer like that!  We did not want to run into tons of grasshoppers!  We loved the cartoon that was on display at the museum. A bit of humor over something that was horrible for the farmers!

 I have lived through summers where there were tons of grasshoppers all over the streets and yards when I lived in Montana as a child. I thought it was so gross riding my bike around the block and accidentally crushing them with my tires! I remember this one time while riding my bike with my older sister,  I saw one hop up and land on her lips as she rode beside me!  She couldn't scream because she was afraid it would hop into her mouth.  She hummed in a panic as loud as she could and I almost crashed my bike due to laughing so hard! Oh my! The memories!!

I thought that the amount we had back then was gross... having a huge plague of them like what swarmed down on the Midwest in 1874 would have been incredibly awful!!!!

After our wonderful museum visit, we were off again and hitting the road... headed for St. Paul and Minneapolis!

We were ready for more adventures!