A Happy Family - Paul and Dagmar Sevald

I read somewhere that only those from happy families want to look into their family history/genealogy. I don't know if that is true or not but in the twenty years I have been involved in investigating my own family history I am proud of what I have found. 

 

A family member in Norway recently made this photo available to me. My grandparents Paul and Dagmar Sevald. They are the first generation of my family in the U.S.  My family history journey began with them. Hard working, salt of the earth, joy filled people who loved God and their family.  As my research branched out I found more and more of the same. Many people go into family history convinced of and to prove that they are descended from or related to someone famous or infamous, exciting, daring, brilliant, accomplished etc. etc. etc. I found no such surprises.  I have traced my family in all lines back many generations and have found no one considered extraordinary. No one  "rich"; my ancestors were generally poor tenant farmers, sailors and tradesmen. No one smart; only some in my own generation ever finished college, my ancestors mainly were literate but had a very basic education. No one famous or infamous; I have not yet found any criminals. Am I disappointed? Heck, no. I discovered my family lived through poverty, illness, war, tragedy and still they went on. Ever loyal to their faith and family. Yes, I come from a happy family. And THAT IS extraordinary.

Next Monday is Christmas Day and I will be busy making new happy family memories. 

until next year!

Nils Gundersen Øvald

Nils Gundersen Øvald 1875-1961 was my great grandfather. The father of my grandmother Dagmar, he was my only great grandfather still living when I was born. I was nine years old when he died, old enough to have remembered him but unfortunately I never knew him because he lived in Norway and I in Chicago. I recently was invited to a facebook group, "Gundersen Family Genealogy Group" which was started by a second cousin in Norway. Many of the grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren of Nils post photos and tell stories about Nils on Facebook. Many of those photos I had never seen and I have to admit a twinge of jealousy that I did not know him as they did. Just the fact that so many of his progeny still desire to get together and swap stories and photos of him, says something good about the man.

Nils was born in Eidanger, Telemark, Norway which was a small farming village which has long since been absorbed into the larger community of Porsgrund, Norway. His father was a poor crofter on the small Øvald* farm that had been run by his family since the mid 1600's. He was one of ten children. His mother died when he was just 11 after the birth of his youngest brother Karl Oscar.

Nils began his adult life, as many young men in Norway did at the time, as a sailor. Working up the ranks while raising his young family of 3 boys and 4 girls he eventually became a captain of a Union company boat on the Telemarken Canal. His three sons followed in his footsteps as sailors. He built a home for his family in Skien. A home now owned and lived in by one of his grandsons.

In photos he always appears well dressed and distinguished, back straight, looking you right in the eye, hand on hip. A few of the cousins referred to him as "the boss" but in an affectionate way.  Of course, I realize that if his daughter, my grandmother, had not emigrated to America I would not have even been born. Still, I wish that I too had known the man. Documents, photos and family stories must suffice to tell me who was Nils Gundersen Øvald, my great grandfather.

my great grandfather

Nils Gundersen Øvald

b. 13 Sep 1875 Eidanger, Telemark, Norway

d. 02 Feb 1961 Skien, Telemark, Norway

double click on photos to enlarge for easier viewing

*the story of the family farm Övald can be found HERE

Christmas with the Andersons

 Christmas is now a few weeks off and today 

I wish to share a memory that I wrote about before. 

On my Swedish family blog I wrote this last year. 

A Christmas memory that returns to me with joy each year about this time.

Christmas with the Andersons - Love and Lutefisk in 1961

It's funny how some things or experiences you have as a child really stay with you.  A treasured memory of mine was our yearly lutefisk Christmas with the Andersons. Al, Mr. Anderson, was a good lifelong friend of my Dad's. He had known him from childhood. I think their parents even had been friends. He and his wife Ruth were wonderful people. Each year, sometime during the Christmas season, our family would go to their home for a lutefisk dinner. I never did like the lutefisk but Mrs. Anderson's meatballs were so so good. Mr. Anderson and my Dad would laugh over people they knew in their childhood, like "Snusbox Benson" and tell stories to each other in Swedish laughing all the while.

Their Chicago home was small and simple but oh so welcoming and comforting that I really treasured those visits. They had a dog named Patsy. After my kids were born I insisted on a Springer Spaniel just hoping it would be like that great pup that laid under the Andersons end table. My Dad was a bit older than my Mom and the Andersons had married young so their children were already teens when we were very young so I don't remember much interaction with them. Except, their son Len had a foosball table! How rich was that I thought! and they set it up right in the living room just for us! And even better, a Lionel train that really smoked and a station master that came out with each circle of the Christmas tree! You know that I HAD to buy that same station master for my Lionel. My husband and I built a beautiful Christmas train layout but that station master is the favorite of my grandkids as it was for me. For some unknown reason they call him "Bob".

The Christmas of 1961, now over a half century ago, is one that stands out above the rest. The Andersons, after prayers, lutefisk, Swedish jokes and reminiscing gave us the best presents ever. That year I remember in particular because my sister and I got Storybook Shirley Temple Dolls. She got Shirley Temple dressed as Little Bo Peep and I got Red Riding Hood. I couldn't believe it!   Christmas with the Andersons, a yearly treat even if we did have to "just try" the Lutefisk.

 playing foosball while Mrs. Anderson reads to my little brother
 a Christmas with the Anderson's in the early 60's