I have been working on many different branches of my family and Far Guy’s family. A few bits and pieces are coming together.
This is a photo from Cousin Verniel, she shared many old photos and obituaries from long ago. Eventually the obits will all be entered at Find A Grave.
Like Verniel says this is the only photo of Grandma Margaretta or Gretta (my Great Grandmother) with darker hair. Isak is her husband, full white beard and head of hair makes him highly recognizable. He is my Great Grandfather.
“Many of their sons” would be my Great Uncles…my Grandfather Samuel’s brothers who will probably remain a mystery…my Dad was just two when this photo was taken. I see some family resemblences …or do I imagine them?
I believe this photo was taken just outside the original building that Great Grandfather Isak built for his wife Gretta and their five children back in 1896.
With the info from Verniel we can now push back to the1750’s in Kittila Finland for my Great Grandfather Isak’s family.
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I got a packet in the mail from Far Guy’s Cousin David. The Abbott family is fully researched back to 1747 to Daniel Abbott born in England. (From the Northamptonshire area). I made copies for each of the Grandchildren.
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An email came from a cousin of Far Guys from his maternal grandmothers side of the family. He found me through a blog post that I wrote about the Lemon family several years ago. Another cousin (Joyce) did research on the Lemons and compiled a booklet back in 1983. I updated some information and have made a copy to send off to Tom in San Francisco. Whilst updating I also updated some info at Find A Grave…and discovered that one cemetery in this area is really short on information and photos…so that is a project for next summer.
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Thank goodness for cousins who share and are sharing their family info…I am encouraged.
I have asked Cousin Geraldine to begin a project to collect information from the newest generations that are not included in our Yliniemi family booklet. It is a big project…but if everyone pulls their information together with names, birthdates and place of birth… town, county and state and marriage dates and to whom… in no time at all we could have up to date information.
Very interesting old picture. I see your grandfather was definitely easy to identify, with that white beard. :-)
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the immigrants that came to this country (our relatives) chose to live in areas that were similar in climate and topography to where they came from. Your relatives from Finland going to Minnesota with cold winters and forests and my relatives from Ireland going to Northern Illinois where there were rolling green hills (and cold winters too! lol!)
ReplyDeleteWhat a legacy you are leaving to your family. I find that as relatives retire they have the time and the desire to do the research and also that with the internet there is more information and communication among all of us which makes it easier. Great job!
Lots of boys in that family. I'm sure they were glad to have them to help with the work.
ReplyDeleteThey were one of the families who emigrated from Finland, with great staying power and success! It's no wonder you have undertaken this work. You have reason to be proud of your family!
ReplyDeleteThere are some good Finnish names in that first photo.
ReplyDeleteThe Finnish names are interesting! It's great that the cousins are sharing. The old photo is a keeper. Thanks for leaving your hotdish recipe in a comment on my blog!
ReplyDeleteGenealogy is such a fascinating "hobby" if it can be called such. A lot of work too.
ReplyDeleteTom has had contacts for two distant cousins in the last two weeks, one related to me and one to him. Both live nearby, surprisingly. we are going to meet up with one in April. These contacts came through Ancestry.com. So much is being added to family records now, as "finding your roots" is becoming very popular.
ReplyDeleteI haven't worked on the family tree for quite some time. I do keep watching distant relatives on FB who are adding babies to the tree who are related in the most distant of ways.
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