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!