A Long Time In the Making...

It started around 20 years ago when I found a video my dad had created with his parents, my grandparents. He sat them down on the living room couch and interviewed them about their life.  I had come across this video, sat down and watched as my grandparents described their life and how each grew up.  Listening to their happy and tragic events that helped form who they were today was fascinating.  I had heard stories here and there but never had sat down and really watched them tell it like on this video. I was smiling with the giggles of my grandmother when she remembered the good times in her life and drawn in by the serious emotion as both explained how different family members were tragically killed. To have gone through what they went through was unimaginable to me for here I was with happy and healthy parents and two sisters whom had never experienced such loss as my grandparents had.  It hit me hard. Oh my.. those deep thoughts do!  I would not be here today if they had been the ones who had died instead of those who did.  Let's just say.. I counted my blessings at that moment BIG TIME!

I wanted to know more...

A LOT MORE!

I decided to type out a questionnaire for my grandparents.  I felt lucky to still have them on this earth  and I decided that I wanted to find out any more info that I could, while I could.  My Grandpa would be turning 90 in a few years and thought it would be wonderful to write out his story for him.

When I sent them their questionnaires, they were thrilled to fill them out for me and thus my journey began.  I set forth to chase down my genealogical history and learn about the people who survived through the years and bless me with my life. In many instances, as hard as it may seem,  I was searching as fast as I could. Time was not on my side and memories of those who are aging do fade or are struck with confusion and frustration such as dementia as I would learn later on while watching my grandmother suffer from this near the end of her life 5 years ago.

Not only did my quest to chase history occur with my father's parents, I also wanted to know as much as I could about my mother's parents as well... It wasn't enough to only look up info on my family, I found I enjoy researching other people's family history as well! 
I truly love to research!  I love looking for answers to questions that others have struggled with.  I definitely think outside the box and lucky for me, this is one very helpful quality to have!
The look on my grandfather's face when I told him the name of his great-grandfather was priceless!  He had lost his own parents in a train/ Model T Ford accident when he was only 15 and he didn't know much about his ancestry.
This drives me!  To help others and myself learn about where they came from makes me so happy!

My Grandfather Ole was born and raised in Minnesota. He grew up in a tiny farming town called Flom in the Northwest section of the state.  I found out that the house he grew up in was ordered from the Sears catalog in the early 1900's and was shipped out to to a town near theirs by railroad.  All the wood and hardware to build their home was then picked up by wagon and taken to their property and then built. Amazing to think a home could be ordered from the Sears catalog!!! Wow! It is still standing too. It was empty but thankfully still in the family.

Oh my..to visit the house would be amazing I thought!
That was almost 20 years ago.... Every summer I would dream of going and something would come up that would put my dream of visiting off for another year... family responsibilities, children, moving... life happens and visiting the old house had to wait.

 I will wait no more... I have finally and excitedly planned out a trip that will take me on a journey to see the house. Now grey and worn from the harsh Minnesota winters and left to die, my time is now if I want to see it before it crumbles to the ground.  I am very sad that I can not save it.  That has been a dream of mine but I do not own it nor live near it.  I feel fortunate to have it still standing though and I look forward to gazing upon it with my own eyes after so many years of dreaming about it. It is hard to believe that  I actually am going to be visiting this home where my grandfather grew up and I am so very excited!

My two oldest sons (ages 15 and 12) and I will be making this journey together.  They want to go on an adventure with their mom and learn about their history too. We will be visiting relatives, historical museums, centers and cemeteries along the way.  Hopefully this will be a trip that they will have wonderful memories from and tell about to their own children someday.

As I prepare for the trip, I hope my grandparents are smiling down on us.  My grandpa would have been 108 this year and we will be seeing the place of his birth and where he grew up.  We will also be lucky to be also able to see a town where my mother's grandparents lived and built a church as well.

Hopefully this is only the first of many travels to chase history... I would love to go as far back as possible and visit as many towns and countries as I can. I pray we stay safe during all the adventures and just plain enjoy the journey of learning about our family.

 Off we go to chase history....