Ancestor Soup

In Part 2, Lisa's train was just coming into Minnesota at nightfall:  Now it is dark and I cannot see anything. It is raining and I am ...

  Continued...  Lisa's boat entered Manhattan and they prepare to disembark: July 5. It was a lot of work to depart from the Stava...

This journal, written by Lisa in Norwegian, starts aboard the  Stavangerfjord , 25 June 1952:  Leaving from pier 1, exactly at 12:00 noon af...

It started with a piece of paper I'd found in the bottom of a box.  It looked like a bill of sale for something that my grandmother, Lis...

Many of our ancestors faced situations that required every bit of strength and courage they could muster.  But few of those situations could...

This blog post was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow 's " 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks " challenge.  Learn more at her blog. *******...

I recently discovered this old photo of my grandfather, Adolph Hammer, from one of his trips back to Norway.  I did not recognize anyone el...

On the northern coast of the Land of the Midnight Sun, in the village of Kjøllefjord, a school system was built up from nothing to a thrivin...

This … umm… “item” belonged to my grandmother, Lisa Hammer , who came to the United States from Norway in the 1950s.  I suspect it had so...

I don’t usually blog about my food.  But anytime lefse is made, eaten, or even passes through my mind, I think of my ancestors – I...

If she was ever afraid, I never knew it. She tackled the experiences of her life with a measure of purpose and pure guts, and a faith in G...