Immigrant Exhibits
Recently, I discovered that the Minnesota Digital Library launched several online exhibits about Minnesota immigrants. In the one on immigrant experiences, something jumped out at me: Lars Fjeseth. You might recall that this is not our Lars, but the two have similar names and lived at the same time near each other: https://jillholman.com/genealogy/fjerestad-versus-fjeseth/ The new…
Rootstech 2021
Have you heard of Rootstech? It is a huge genealogy conference. Don’t worry if you missed it in February, the recordings are still available for a year. With hundreds of sessions, there are topics for everyone. Here are some of my favorite sessions relating to DNA: The SCREEN Method: A DNA Match Note System That…
LaBlanc Cousins in 1941
Here is a neat old photograph from October 1941, probably in Comstock or Turtle Lake, Wisconsin. These were my grandmother’s cousins, but she is not in the picture. Her son was just a few months old at the time, so she likely was home caring for him. We can identify a few people for sure.…
5 Highlights from A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
Well, this book isn’t really brief and it isn’t really about everyone, but it is interesting. It starts off great, but does go off on some tangents here and there. A few of my favorite highlights from the book: 1 – We all descend from royalty. Charlemagne is the ancestor of all Europeans alive today.…
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The 1918 Flu Pandemic
In this time of COVID-19, I have the 1918 Flu Pandemic on my mind. How did it affect my ancestors? First, I looked at death dates for my direct ancestors and found two candidates. John Middendorp died January 1918 in WI. While I don’t have a death certificate for him yet, WI didn’t report any…
West of the Moon and Norwegian Emigration
I found myself listening to West of the Moon by Margi Preus on a recent road trip and I really liked it. It is a good story and it won a Minnesota Book Award in 2015. She draws on Norwegian folk tales, so I felt I was getting in touch with my Norwegian heritage. While…
Ethnicity Percentages
Have you been attracted to those glossy ads to find out who you are by doing a genealogy DNA test? Roberta Estes wrote this interesting article where she figured out her estimated ethnicity percentages from her traditional genealogy research and then compared them to results from several genetic genealogy vendors: Concepts – Calculating Ethnicity Percentages.…
William & Katri Laitala – A Finnish Family in Northern Minnesota
Hooray! The second edition of A Finnish Family in Northern Minnesota is available with lots of new information. Read about William and Katri here! Please note: a PDF is available for printing on the book home page, but the links don’t come through that way. Use this version to link to the resources that are…
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Kettle River, MN
Recently and unexpectedly, I found myself in Kettle River, MN. Wait, my mom lived here when she was little! Oh look, there is an historical marker in memory of the Finnish pioneers! And a Finnish church from 1915! So I had to do more digging. Did you know Kettle River was originally called Finland? There…
Marie Marguerie and mtDNA
This discovery is a great example of how genetic genealogy can help with our research. I had done traditional paper research on my maternal line back to Marie Louise Desmarais, born in 1716, using birth certificates, parish registers and the Loiselle and Drouin marriage indexes. The maternal line is your mother’s mother’s mother’s line and…
Native American DNA
This is an interesting book. As the marketing blurb says, “Who is a Native American? And who gets to decide?” Have you seen ads for genealogy dna tests so that you can prove your Indian ancestry? It is a lot more complicated than they lead us to believe. The author places our current interest in…
Mayflower Ancestors
Funny story . . . I discovered I have a Mayflower ancestor last Thanksgiving. Yes, on the holiday where we think about the Pilgrims and the Indians, I discovered I have a Pilgrim ancestor. I sure wish I had known when I visited the Plymouth area years ago! I have to admit I am kind…
Family History Month is Coming in October
October is Family History Month. If you haven’t started to research yet, grab a blank chart and start writing things down! And then ask your oldest living relatives what they know ASAP. For those of us who have been researching awhile, here are 5 of the most interesting projects that are off the beaten path of…
Ancestors of Renie Middendorp
Here is my current knowledge of this part of the family . . . I can’t say that everything is perfectly verified from primary sources yet, but this is a good start and a good basis for further research. John and Dena and all their children are a bit confusing. John was married before Dena,…
Review: The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy
There is a lot I like about this book. And I have a few concerns. First, the positives . . . This book does a nice job of explaining complicated topics. It is pretty – it has an attractive layout and lots of illustrations. I love the famous examples such as with the Romanov family…
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William Laitala’s Ancestors
As you may have seen from our earlier Laitala post, we had a mystery about William Laitala. Who were his parents? We had a few bits of information, but nothing that tied everything together: Alina, who we thought might be William’s sister, named her parents in a Social Security record: Johan Laitala and Anna M Wiitanen.…
McNalls
Ah, the McNalls. I thought I didn’t know much about them and then sources just kept crawling out of the woodwork! OMG, it felt like I would never finish with this part of the family. Here is where we are with William McNall and his ancestors (his wife Sibbell Seaward and her ancestors are over…
Fjerestad versus Fjeseth
My clever and persistent mother recently decided to tackle the death of Lars Fjerstad. There was a family story about how he was working at a neighbor’s house and they hadn’t seen smoke over there in a couple days and so they went over and he was dead. We think maybe he died in Minnesota,…
Wild Aunt Rose
My grandmother wrote this: Rosie LaClair was my mothers aunt. She was an old maid and she lived for many years in an old shack in Turtle Lake, WI with pigs & chickens. They had the run of the house, except her living room. We used to go see her on Sunday after church. It…
Van Bunschoten, Van Benschoten, Benschoter
The big excitement here is that Aaron Van Benschoten supposedly took care of George Washington’s horses & was in his body guard. Both Aaron & his dad, Isaac, were Revolutionary War soldiers & you can find them in the official DAR & SAR records.Although I think it is pretty amazing to trace back to Teunis…
Mesabi Pioneers
This is a book about the first men who started the Mountain Iron Mine. (Which was a big deal! It was the beginning of mining the Mesabi Range, which turned out to be the largest iron ore deposit in the world. It is now an historic landmark & as it says in the National Register of…
The Family Tree of the Characters from Once Upon a Time
Spoiler alert – don’t read this if you haven’t already watched the show! I am highly amused by the the jumble of different characters from different realms on the TV show, Once Upon a Time. And especially the relationships. And being the genealogy geek that I am, I had to draw their family tree. It…
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Finnish Ancestors On My Mind
My clever and persistent mother is working on the Laitala part of the family. It sounds like she is finding some cool stuff that we will be able to share soon. And I have just read Finns in Minnesota by Arnold R. Alanen. It is a quick read at 112 pages & it has lots…
Military Service
Military research is hard! I don’t claim that this is complete, but here are the bits that I have gathered so far. If anyone knows more, please tell me! (These are in reverse chronological order by death date.) Boyd Holman Jan. 31, 1938 – Jul. 23, 1994 SP4 US ARMY In Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Grave…
Mercer Raceabout Type 35
More about this picture I published last time – this is a special car! Thanks to cousin Gordon, self-professed car nut, I have learned that this is a Mercer Raceabout Type 35 and it was made from 1911 to 1915 with a total production of under 1,000. They say it was “one of the most…
Histories, Mysteries and Little Old Ladies
Guest post from my mother! . . . Some people go to the beach, I like to spend my summers investigating a family history “mystery.” This summer it was Efner Atchison [see the last post for more on him] and Mary Ellen Williams, from the Fjerstad/Atchison branch of our tree. We had very little information on…
The Efner Atchison Breakthrough
As you may remember from my earlier post, we had a mystery on our hands. The family story was that Efner worked for the railroad & died in a hotel fire, perhaps in Wadena or Staples MN. The death date for him in the family Bible was 28 Oct 1909, but I hadn’t found a…
Ingalls & Seaward – Sibbel Seaward’s Ancestors
Found another gem of a book!: A Genealogical History of the French and Allied Families by Mary Elizabeth Queal Beyer. It is from 1912 and yippee! You can read it online. I learned a lot about Sibbel Seaward’s ancestors. There is even a picture of her, which is now the oldest portrait of an ancestor…
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Longevity!
Recently, I got to thinking . . . it seems like my ancestors lived to be awfully old. Lots of them lived to be in their 80s & 90s. And didn’t people used to have a shorter life expectancy? And lots of women used to die in childbirth. I think I only have found one…
Early Atchinsons in America
Wow. I never thought I would be able to trace my ancestors to colonial Massachusetts!I have just been reading The Atchinson Book compiled & written by Court Atchinson. If you are an Atchinson descendant, you should really check it out. There is a lot of detail! So much he did it in three volumes! And…
Ripples in the Pond – A Non-Traditional Chart
Isn’t this an interesting chart!? All credit is due to my clever & persistent mother. Let’s ask her a few questions about it . . . Why did you do it? My idea of family history has two parts. Going backwards to find where we came from, the “roots.” And going forward to see where…
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Three Generations of Atchisons
May & Efner Atchison in Staples MN (maybe their 1897 wedding?) This has been a long time coming! These Atchisons were rather messy and some of the information was from way back at the beginning when I didn’t know what I was doing & didn’t keep track very well. Here is what I have pieced…
The Fjerstad Breakthrough
Just what you dream of! A cousin in a far-away country contacts you and shares information you didn’t have! Hooray! And I learned a lot: Check out these two charts for a bunch of ancestors for Lars & Anna: Lars had three siblings: Ole, Britha and Kristi (twins!) and all of them emigrated to America.…
Vipond and Taylor: A Timeline
Harrison and Ann Vipond in 1841 Penrith, Cumberland, England These guys are pretty confusing! They like to use the same names over and over again – lots of Isaacs and lots of Harrisons. Here are the facts and sources I have sorted out so far: 23 Aug 1833 – Isaac born to Harrison & Ann…
The Mystery of Peter LeClair – The Birth Breakthrough!
Peter’s birth was a bit troublesome. Over the first several years of my genealogical journey, I had collected several sources reporting Peter was born in 1815: 1815 – Jun 15 – Peter LeClair born in St David (Chetek obituary)1815 – Jun 22 – Peter LeClair born (cousin’s info)1815 – Jun 27 – Peter LeClair born…
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The Middendorp Kids
Miss Larson’s class 1929-1930 Moon Lake school of Clayton WI Here is a fun old photograph. My grandmother wrote to me, “Isn’t this a charming bunch of kids? How would you like to be their teacher?” This was Miss Larson’s class 1929-1930 at the Moon Lake school of Clayton, WI. “Bud” was Harry, “Sis” was…
John & Margaret Williams
My first introduction to this part of the family was way back when I was just getting started with genealogy. My grandmother showed me the family bible and seeing all those names and dates written in there was so confusing. First, they have common names – do you know how many John Williams there were!?…
John & Dena Middendorp
John & Dina Middendorp November 1914 This is one of the oldest pictures I have, so I couldn’t resist sharing it, even though I still have more work to do on this part of the family. This photo comes from the pictures that my grandmother gathered for me and the note says it is from…
The Laitala Farm through Time – A Photo Essay
In 70 years, a lot has happened and then again, not so much has changed. Many of the buildings have stood the test of time. I’m especially proud of the pole barn, standing so straight and true, because my grandpa built it! But alas, the house burned down and some of the buildings are succumbing…
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Appreciation for an Old Photograph
Okay a little description . . . this photograph has been through the wringer! It is bent and torn in several places. There are numerous spills, discolorations and even some thumbprints. There are two thumbtack holes. There are stains and specks and smudges. One corner is very mangled and three corners are missing and it…
A Brief Timeline for the Fjerstads
Here is the draft of what I have so far – I haven’t been able to find out a great deal about this part of the family yet, but I still hope it is useful to someone! Here are facts and their sources: Oct 1864 – Lasse born Norway (1900 census)13 Sep 1866 – Anna…
Holman Timeline for Four Generations
I have said it before and I will say it again: I don’t know how anyone decides they are done with family history! I have so much respect for all those people who published books. Anyway, I figure I have collected enough that this could be useful to someone, but please consider this a draft.…
Surprise! From Disney to Ostfriesland
After 20 years of genealogy, I can still be surprised! How delightful. Here is the story . . .Recently my mother was reading a biography about Walt Disney and a name leapt off the page: Ubbe Iwwerks. You see, we have an Ubbe Iwwerks in our family tree and that doesn’t seem to be a…
1938 Photo Essay – Gertrude Middendorp & Sulo Laitala
Don’t they look young and happy? Click here for the audio story of How Gertrude & Sulo MetClick here for the 1938 Photo Essay Big thanks to my grandma for giving me the stories and photos she had collected to get me started on my genealogical journey. P.S. I made these with Keynote, Pixelmator and…
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French Tips for Genealogists (who don’t speak French)
A lot of the entries in parish registers follow pretty standard patterns and you can pick up what you need without having studied French for years. Also, quite a few of the words are very similar: septembre, marriage, baptise, etc. For me, the hardest thing is reading the faint handwriting, so I often will take…
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The Mystery of Peter LeClair – The Cannon City Breakthrough
Tracking down Peter Leclair has been a big challenge (and the whole reason I started on this 20-year-long genealogical journey, by the way.) My grandma told me that her great-grandfather, Peter LeClair, was a fur trapper born in Canada and that he had married an Indian maiden. I wanted to find out if it was…
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Great Old Photograph of George Holman & Nellie Benschoter
l-r: Earl, Nellie, Charles, Zela, Sarah, George, Fay circa 1902 IA or MN Don’t you love this old photograph!? This is one of my favorites. They look so well-scrubbed and dressed up! And it was over a hundred years ago! I am guessing this photo was taken in turn of the century Minnesota – maybe…
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Heritage Pages – Or What to Do with all that Research
I was getting bored with computer charts and I wanted to create something fun to share, sort of an electronic scrapbook that doesn’t damage any original records or photos. I went searching for early Iowa images online and put these together using Pages on a Mac. A Few Tips Search for early maps for your…
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