"To sail across dark seas to a strange land..."

"Little is more extraordinary than the decision to migrate, little more extraordinary than the accumulation of emotions and thoughts which finally leads a family to say farewell to a community where it has lived for centuries, to abandon old ties and familiar landmarks, and to sail across dark seas to a strange land... centuries ago, migration was a leap into the unknown. It was an enormous intellectual and emotional commitment. The forces that moved our forbears to their great decision - the decision to leave their homes and begin an adventure filled with incalculable uncertainty, risk and hardship - must have been of overpowering proportions."

John F. Kennedy

A Nation of Immigrants

Reading this tonight, made me think again of all my ancestors who have made that enormous commitment and extraordinary decision to immigrate to America. Without that decision on the part of each and every one of them, I wouldn't be here today! If they had stayed in their homelands, they never would've come here, met each other, married each other, and created the line of descendants which led to me... and my children:

In studying the family tree again recently, I realized a stark difference between my mother's side and my father's side. On my dad's side, the immigrations are very recent - all within the last 100 years or so. Though he was born in America, it is easy to see that dad was 100% pure-blooded Scandinavian. On my mom's side, the line just keeps going and going, several of the branches reaching through the history of our country, back to 1700s Colonial America! It is much harder to trace the immigrant ancestors on her side, since the records become scarcer the farther you go back.

But here are the names of all the immigrants on my dad's side:

Great Grandparents

Carl Waldamer Petersen born 1883, Copenhagen, Denmark

(became an American citzen in 1917)

Ellen Susanna Svensson born 1885, Sweden

     

Great Great Grandparents 

Charles Cornell born 1853, Sweden

Annie Skarlund born 1864, Sweden

And these people, whom I only know by their names, but have never seen their faces
3 Greats Grandparents
Anders Erikson Holm born 1829, Sweden
Inga Stina Jean Persdotter born 1821, Sweden

and
Great Great Grandpa John Noyed born 1866 Sweden


Thank you, grandparents for making that extraordinary decision!

Hilda and Fred

One of my hobbies since I was a teenager has been working on my genealogy. I'm in and out of it alot. But, over the years,  I've accumulated some good things - information, documentation, and photos. My mom has been sending me some old photos whenever she finds them. Especially if they were from my dad's side of the family, since they are of more significance to me than her. Luckily, the Petersen family was filled with pack rats. They saved everything.

In a box of treasures that mom recently gave me, there were some really great photos...
these are just a couple of them from the turn of the century - about 1910.

The bride is my great-grandma - Hilda Cornell.

The groom is my great grandpa - Fred Noyed.

Fred is attended by his brother. Hilda is attended by her sisters.

They both came from farming families in Watertown, Minnesota .

Hilda's parents immigrated from Sweden. Fred's grandparents as well.

What a gift a photograph can be. I never met my great-grandparents. They were gone way before me. But here I can see their faces. The gleam in their eyes. Imagine what their lives must have been like. Were they hopeful of the future? Were they burdened by obligation? What were their dreams, or ambitions?

They look so young.

They have no idea what's ahead. What's in store for them. The strange thing is that here I am, their great grand-daughter, looking at them now. And I know what's ahead. I do know a little bit about what's in store for them.

That in 1915, they will have twin daughters, Ellen and Eleanor. That less than a year later, Eleanor will die, leaving Ellen an only child. That shortly afterwards, they will separate - Hilda will take the baby and move back in with her parents, and Fred back with his - although they will still be in neighboring farms. That little Ellen would grow up, marry and have three boys, one of which was my father. That me, my siblings, and our two cousins are their only posterity of our generation.

That 100 years later, their granddaughter will be looking at their wedding photo, wondering about their lives and thinking about their story...

The most profound thing I have learned as I've investigated the family history is how fragile our lives can be. The people themselves can be very strong. But the details of their lives seem almost paper thin. What brought Fred and Hilda's ancestors to America? What if they had decided it would be easier not to come? What if Ellen had gotten sick instead of Eleanor? What if, later on, when Ellen was a young woman, she had never met grandpa? What if, after their first date, she thought - "well, he's nice, but I think I'll keep looking?" What if after waiting so long for babies, they decided not to try, then they would've never had my dad. What if my dad, being enlisted in the Air Force, had never been stationed in San Rafeal (where he met my mom). What if he had never gone into the cafeteria for burgers that fateful night - would they have ever met? These are just some of the larger turning points. There are an infinite number of possibilities, paths our lives can follow. So I start to realize - how perfectly everything had to come together for ME to exist. Can you imagine - if anything had been one iota different, how our lives would have changed. Or maybe we wouldn't be here at all...

And yet here I stand. With Hilda and Fred Noyed's blood coursing through my veins.

Have you looked into your family history? I think you'll find it worthwhile. You may fin priceless stories. Maybe some photos. Most likely a heritage to be proud of. If you've never done it before, talking to family members is a good way to start a family tree, gathering names and birthdates, maybe photos. When you are ready to delve deeper, or can't find any info from relatives, try ancestry.com. I use it quite a bit when I'm in one of my researching stints. Or you can do research at libraries and request info (birth and death certificates) from the local government where the event occurred. If you've already studied your genealogy, what are some interesting things you discovered?