Great Grandpa's Birthday!

This is a photo of my great grandfather, Joseph John Fleming. He was 82 years old at the time of this photo in 1957.

b. November 4, 1875    d. December 17, 1966

He was 91 years old.

I remember Grandpa "Joe," which is what we called him. I was 11 years old the last time I saw him. He was very hard of hearing at that time and we were told to look at him and yell! I felt so bad yelling at him, generally adults wanted children to be quiet. It was as if l was mad at him when I yelled.

Grandpa Joe was born in Blaine, Pottawatomie, Kansas on November 4, 1875. His mother, Elizabeth Downey was from Ontario, Canada, while his father, Thomas Patrick, immigrated from Kilkenny, Ireland. Thomas and Elizabeth married in Perth, Ontario, Canada in 1857. 

Grandpa Joe married my great grandmother, Laura Isabel Hohimer, from Fall River, Greenwood, Kansas, in 1900. Joe and Laura's oldest daughter was born in 1902 in Yale, Oklahoma, where the family settled. The next born was my grandpa "Hal," in 1904, also in Yale, Oklahoma. Lastly, in 1908 another daughter was born, in Saskatchewan, Canada!

My great grandfather's extended family lived in Saskatchewan, Canada. When jobs became tough, Joe went there to work as a laborer when he was 33 years old. Joe's address in the census stated he lived in Watson, Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Laura and the two first born children where more than likely visiting Grandpa Joe for awhile when the third child was born.

In 1930 I found him working as a fireman in an oil refinery back in Yale, Oklahoma. Twenty years later his wife passed away and he moved in with his youngest daughter in San Luis Obispo, California. On occasion, Grandpa Joe came to spend time with his son and his family in northern California, which is when I would see him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA JOE!

You will never be forgotten.

Born 140 years ago!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

 Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Talking To Mom On Her Special Day!

On this day I celebrate you, my mother,

I have never had another.
You were taken from us 14 years ago,
Much younger than most parents go.
I hope you are at peace, as I am,
 and are dancing with angels in heaven.

The lessons you gave me in my life,

Unfortunately led to times of strife.

But as an adult, I see differently,
I understand you apparently, 
Were trying to do the best you could,
As any normal parent would.

I miss our talks on the phone,
I was always so glad when you were home.
I'll update you now, though not by phone, 
The family has a few more bones!
A boy and a girl, your great-grandchildren, 
born to my daughter, your granddaughter, Jenn.

Your granddaughter, Jenn, married a few short years 
After you left us, we all had good tears.
Dad married them which was their request,
He did a great job, it truly was the best!
A party it was as the daughter wished,
Her husband, dancing, did not get squished!

Through genealogy I finally figured out
How my "crafty" genes came about!
As time goes on I learn more and more
Even some things that are a bore.
But most of all, I have learned enough
To understand why you were so tough.

One of your dreams was to dance, dance, dance!
I am wishing now you would have had the chance,
To see your great granddaughter, the princess to me,
Share with you something you would love to see.
Most of her young life she is following your dream
She is a competition dancer, taking after you it would seem.

The great-grandson, my prince, is on the quiet side,
If he had his way, he would probably hide.
He plays his sports, not sure which he likes best,
Baseball and soccer and eventually the rest.
 The electronics are favorites of his too
Might be better to take him to the zoo.

The second daughter still lives out of state
And has yet to find the perfect mate.
She has a special child in her life it is true,
Such a blessing for them both as this child grew.
While she hasn't any birth children nor a spouse
The second daughter has bought a house!

Hubby stays busy, with the sports he chooses, 
It is difficult when he feels he looses.
His Harley is different, but we have the memories
Of you asking for a ride and coming home pleased.
Retirement has been good considering his back,
Traveling when we can, without visiting a quack.

And then there is me, how am I doing?
Busier than ever, worse than when I was working!
Loving every minute with the prince and princess,
Not all grandparents are as fortunate as this Mrs.
With genealogy, crafting and electronics these days
I feel I need a schedule to play!

Life has been good, I hope there is much more
Things have me wondering how long I will be here for...
Getting close to the age you were when you passed
Plus dad leaving this world, this August past.
My outlook about life has changed it is true
Narrowing down what is important to do.

Genealogy, as most genealogists know
Is a hobby that is a full time, GO!
Research is important, but organizing is too
So much I have done, yet so much still to do.
I have interviewed, made books, and planned,
I have blogged and shared, wrote my story and scanned.
No matter how much genealogy I do,
My question now is, who do I give it all to?
After all, a genealogist's job is never complete
So who in my family will take a peek?

Time to finish those WIP'S involving my crafts, 
Momentos to remember me by, not just drafts.
I can not have the daughter's think I am a hoarder!
Each family member needs a blanket with a border.
Time to clean up the crafts, there are boxes galore...
Fun products to be made before I close the door.

This isn't the same as talking to you on the phone
But I have now updated you and hopefully shown
We are very lucky, this family of ours
It could be much worse, we could be hanging out in bars!

Though I can no longer see you

You are in my heart and memories too!

Happy Birthday Dear Mom!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

UPDATE ~ Lightbulb Lit For A Million Hours!

Can you believe it? One million hours, wow!

On March 2, 2009, when blogging was still fairly new to me, I wrote a post entitled,  A Light That Still Shines. If you click the title, a link will take you to that post. The post happened to make Randy Seaver's list that week of best posts. 

Photo by Cheryl Palmer, February 27, 2009, Livermore, California.

On May 22. 2013 I wrote another post about the Livermore, Ca. lightbulb and that post is linked also in the title: The Centennial Light Bulb.

Last Saturday, June 26, 2015, The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department hosted an event to celebrate the "first million hours of service of the Livermore Centennial Light Bulb." 

I was hoping to attend the celebration that was "family friendly," but unfortunately I wasn't available to attend, and bummed that I couldn't see the event or update my photos. 

The celebration included:

"vintage and antique fire apparatus, history mobile, fire safety house, displays, music, books and T-Shirts, and a BBQ hosted by the LPFD Firefighter Foundation."

The light bulb has been burning since 1901 and has been recognized by Guiness Book Of World Records and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. You can actually watch the bulb on webcam at

Livermore, California's Centennial Light.

I hope you enjoyed the first two articles about this lightbulb as they explain more about the history. It is still hard to believe a lightbulb being lit for a million hours... and I have seen it! 

Don't you think this bulb is amazing? Maybe we should all take a guess on how long we think the light will stay lit? Feel free, pick a date you think the light will go out, and post it in the comments below. I will post my guess in about a week, how about you, what date do you pick?

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

 Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

"Eric Söderlund" ~ 1910 & 1920 Federal Censuses

I do not have a copy of Erik in the 1910 census, yet. 

I have a copy of a 1920 census which lists an Eric A. Soderlund living in Rushseba, Minnesota. He was born in Sweden and was working as a hired hand. I must have thought back in the day that this was my Eric as I have kept a copy of the information. It is not, however, my Erik. Two things I see on the census. One states "Eric" was born abt. 1900. My Erik was born in 1869. Also, this 1920 census states the year of immigration as 1916. My Erik emigrated to the U.S. in 1891. Spelling of the name could have been an error in this census, which wouldn't be a surprise, but this "Eric" is not mine.

Looks like I need to do some more searching in the 1910 and 1920 censuses. Have you ever found you saved the wrong information for an ancestor?

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Copenhagen, Denmark ~ Post 41

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Förbereda (Preparing)

Links to posts 1-10 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)

Links to posts 11-20 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)

Links to posts 21-30 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)
Links to posts 31-40 can be held here.

--------------------------------------

It has taken awhile for me to post all about our trip to Sweden back in 2013. So to update, we checked out London for a few days with friends who live there. It was great seeing Dave and Cathy again. 

 A taxi took us from Westminster to Harwich to hook up with our cruise ship, which was almost a hour ride. Some folks left earlier than we did on different buses, and well, let's just say it took them a whole lot longer to get to the ship. An accident held up a lot of people on the main road to Harwich. Our taxi driver was aware of the mess, he drove the outskirts of the main road, so we didn't have to sit in the traffic. He got us to the ship before many others.

Soon we were cruising the Baltic, anxious to see some new countries! Our first stop was Copenhagen.

As we moved in closer to, I was taking photos through the windows of the ship. This was our initial vision upon entering Copenhagen.

(Unfortunately, the ship's windows have that wonderful tint)

It was very interesting to see the windmills out there in the water, did you see them? I went outside to the open deck and took a few more photos, the photo below is much clearer.

Once the ship was docked we hopped a bus that took us for a little ride through the city, on our way to a touristy stop.

Do you see the bicycles in the background? There were masses of people riding bicycles. I couldn't believe my eyes. At every stop light or sign, there would be tons of cyclists waiting to get through. I tried for a couple photos, but they didn't come out well because of being in the bus.

Once we were off the bus and on the ground walking, I was able to get a better photo of a group of bikes, they were everywhere!

I love the colorful architecture.

There we are, color and water, beautiful. Below, we are on Canal Street. The skies look a bit dark, but trust me, we did not get any rain in Copenhagen!

Watch for more photos in my next post from Copenhagen!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

 Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Talaasen Serendipity

Sometimes things in the genealogy world happen so fast that I really need to stop, take a deep breathe and analyze what is happening. We are all excited to make connections with new cousins. I was thrilled do have a comment left for me on my blog May 6, 2015 from what I found out later was a new cousin. She saw her grandmother's name in my blog and wanted to know if I had any information about her. This cousin unfortunately never had an opportunity to meet her grandmother.

We had a couple of conversations and before I knew it I was emailing with her father, my third cousin once removed. He is working on his memoirs and offered to share with me after he did a corrections check through out. In the meantime my cousin in Washington and another in Montana and I are sharing information with our new cousins in Colorado! It is so exciting!

On May 17, after communicating with my cousin in Washington about our new found cousins and photos shared, (I absolutely love photos, but who doesn't?) there was a mention made that he had received contact from someone who was looking for a woman in Colorado. She bore the same name and was in the same line as our newly found cousins. Without hesitation I whipped up a note to my cousin in Colorado and asked if she knew who the female was that this person was looking for. It turns out this female was our cousin in Colorado's mother! Wow, what timing! If there wasn't so much excitement already going on I may have taken the moment to look in my family tree, or re-read the emails we had shared to know the woman was her mother.

The person asking about her mother lives in Norway. Just a small thing I didn't mention. Norway!! Yes, this has been my next steps in my genealogy, finding living family in Norway! I sent my newest cousin a message with the information she was looking for and we all became a circle of cousins, sharing...sharing information and photos. 

This morning, May 19, my newly found cousin in Norway shared with me that her mother asked to connect with me, she was so excited about having family in the United States. Needless to say, I have made that connection also. 

This all happened so fast! There has been four new connections, all in the same line. The connections happened so quickly, it was serendipity, kismet, meant to be! So, I am once again sidetracked from working in my genealogy program, scanning, filing, etc. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. After all, this has always been my goal, to meet LIVING family members first! Learn their stories, get their insight and knowledge, be their cousin and friend while I still can. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Next On The Agenda ~ Post 40

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Förbereda (Preparing)

Links to posts 1-10 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)

Links to posts 11-20 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)

Links to posts 21-30 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan~Tower of London, Architecture~Post 31

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan~Tower of London, Inside~Post 32

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Exploring The Tower of London ~ Post 33

 "My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Weapons and More at Tower of London ~ Post 34

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Torture Chamber ~ Post 35

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Tower Bridge ~ Post 36
"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Tower Bridge & Surroundings ~ Post 37
"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Leaving London~ Post 38 
"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Checking Out ~ Post 39

                     
                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spending a few days in London with friends we met on our Mediterranean Cruise was great fun. We were excited they would come and stay with us and act like tourists too! We enjoyed seeing them again, it was great!

Now however, we agreed that a cruise was in order, I needed to keep my husband happy for most of this trip. He was too excited about going to Sweden but he was doing it for me. He Loves cruising, and actually I do also.

So what cruise did we do? A Baltic Cruise! It left from Harwich, London and returned to London, although we jumped ship at the last stop before London. 

We were booked on this ship ~

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas!

This cruise was a 12 day cruise. And what a cruise it was! We have never been on a bad cruise, but this one was extra special to me because it was a part of, "My" Swedish Adventure. We were gone on my adventure for 28 days. The longest vacation we have seen yet. I am so very grateful to have made this trip. Never in a million years did I dream I would have a month like this one.

After we boarded we walked around the ship and went outside to watch when the ship pulled away from the harbor. This is when we saw this ~

One lone man, standing on a mat serenading us all with bagpipes. I am not sure who this was suppose to be for, but we all enjoyed the music. Here he is a bit closer.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

 Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

"Erick Söderlund" ~ 1900 census

I know Erik Söderlund was born in Indalsliden, Sweden. He came to the United States in 1899, when he was about 32 years old. Erik lived in the United States applying for an emergency passport in April 1917. At that time he was 48 years old and was spending a month in Sweden. 

I know he lived in Verndale, Minnesota. Verndale is not far from Wadena, where other family members are from. Verndale and Wadena are almost smack dab in the middle of the state. Now, I wonder when he actually settled in Verndale and what did he do for a living? Time to look at some censuses.

I found "Erick Söderlund" (notice the spelling) in Boston City, Suffolk, Massachusetts in the 1900 census. At the time, Erik was a lodger, 31 years old. He worked as a day laborer who could read, write and speak English. Of course, his parents and he were from Sweden. But is this really my "Erik Söderlund?" 

Here are the facts:

   1899 - Arrival in US - Abt. 32 yrs.

   1900 - Lodger, 31 yrs.

      1917 - Application for Emergency Visa - 48 yrs. 

I believe it is, but let's look in another census soon!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Erik Söderlund and "Wards"

Other posts in my efforts to learn who is Erik Söderlund? 

Who is Erik August Söderlund?

Erik August Söderlund - Emergency Passport

On May 10, 1917 the Kristianaford arrived at the port of New York. Erik Söderlund, Signe and Erik Lindberg (Lundberg) were aboard. The list of United States Citizens on the "Kristianafjord" included roughly 20 people. These three were on the list, numbers nine, ten and eleven. Numbers one through eleven were typed on the sheet, after number 11, the names are hand written in.

The list however also shows these three, the only ones, with a line through their names.  Erik Söderlund was listed as having been naturalized at the district court in Vadena, Minn. were he lived and where he was headed. The other two had "d:o" in those columns with also "step father's papers" typed in.

Because Signe and Erik were not United States Citizens they were all moved to the "List Or Manifest Of Alien Passengers For The United States." They were hand written in as the last people who were aliens, numbers 19, 20 and 21. Erik A. Söderlund was a "special inquiry" under "Head -Tax Exemptions." He again is listed as a single male 48 years old. He was a farmer and could read and write. His last permanent residence states the USA. For the name and address of nearest relative in the country from where he came? "Friend ? (looks something like Abest?) Lundberg Vicksjo." The country where he was last citizen shows USA, but scribbled out. There are notes written across and over information of five columns which is difficult to read. I can pick out a couple of words, but not enough to make sense.

Signe J. and Erik Hj. Lundberg are below Erik Söderlund. There, it has been written "wards." The ages 12, and 8 plus all the other columns are marked as expected. They were children from Vicksjo, Sweden. The name and address of nearest relative for them copies what was written for Erik Söderlund.

It is hard to read really, but Signe and Erik Lundberg were stamped and admitted in this country with Erik Söderlund. Of the list of 21, four were stamped "admitted." the other two children were admitted with a parent who claimed being USA born, coming from Canada.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

 Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Erik August Söderlund ~ Emergency Passport

The first post in this series, if you haven't read it, is at, "Who is Erik August Söderlund."

I am gathering the information I have regarding Erik August Söderlund and putting it in a basic timeline order. Then I will know what I want to look for next. Better yet, I will see how my last "magical find" fits in!

This is what I know~

(A) Swedish Church records state Erik August Söderlund was born January 4, 1869 in Forss, Jämatland, Sweden.

(B) In July 1891 Erik emigrated to the US sailing aboard the White Star Liner. He sailed from Liverpool.

 (C) On April 21, 1917, Erik applied for an Emergency Passport. (This is recent "new" news to me, I was unaware there was an "Emergency" Passport Application)  The application was for himself and one for “adopted daughter” Signe Lindberg (Lundberg), sister to my grandfather Erik Hjalmer Lundberg.

       Erik Söderlund’s Emergency Passport Application states he was 48 years old (b. 11 January 1869) and stood 5 foot 7 inches. Details on the form say he had a high forehead, blue eyes, and a straight nose. His medium mouth adorned a mustache. A pointed chin, dark hair and dark complexion, as well as an oval face completed the description of Erik. It is so much fun to “see” how our ancestors and other family members looked. I am grateful for the description on the application.

        Adopted daughter Signe Lindberg’s (Lundberg) application states she was 12 years old, 4 foot 7 inches tall. She had a round face, blue eyes, and a high forehead. Her complexion was fair and she had brown hair. The nose on Signe was regular (I wonder what would be an irregular nose, maybe a broken one?)  her mouth small, and chin round.

        Erik Lindberg (Lundberg) would have been 8 years old at this time. I have not yet found an Emergency Passport Application for him although he made the trip also.

The Emergency Passport’s for Erik Söderlund and Signe Lindberg (Lundberg) were issued June 3, 1902. They were only good for 2 months.

More of this timeline to come soon.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

 Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Checking Out ~ Post 39

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Förbereda (Preparing)

Links to posts 1-10 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)

Links to posts 11-20 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)

Links to posts 21-30 can be found here.

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan (The Trip)

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan~Tower of London, Architecture~Post 31

"My" Swedish Adventure~Resan~Tower of London, Inside~Post 32

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Exploring The Tower of London ~ Post 33

 "My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Weapons and More at Tower of London ~ Post 34

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Torture Chamber ~ Post 35

"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Tower Bridge ~ Post 36
"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Tower Bridge & Surroundings ~ Post 37
"My" Swedish Adventure ~ Resan ~ Leaving London~ Post 38 

                     
                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                     

It has been a long while since I have added photos and information about "My" Swedish Adventure. In London we stayed at the DoubleTree By Hilton London-Westminster. It was a nice place to stay. Who would have known there would be so many DoubletTree's in London? Since being here we found out there were five or six of these Hotels. No wonder our friends we came to see ended up at a different Hilton location. It was fine though, we were able to meet up at different places and visited each other's DoubleTree Hotel as well. Our friends, the Douglas's, had the DoubleTree with the best view, but ours was closer to the sites we wanted to see. The first night our friends luckily hunted us down and found where our lodging arrangements were. Thankfully they found us because we didn't have a clue where they might be saying!

 Three days passed so rapidly! It was time to check out. We enjoyed  site seeing and hanging out with our friends again. We met them when we took the Mediterranean Cruise in 2011.

Here are a couple photos of the views we had from our hotel. This one was taken from the window in our room. Massive construction going on there. We were able to see the skyline and tops of a couple famous landmarks from here also.

From the hallway waiting for the elevator, we caught this view, it was nice. I appreciated seeing the tops of the cranes on the docks as this reminded me of where my dad made his living, on the waterfront (but not in London). 

Even though we see some dark clouds, we never saw rain. Three days in London and no rain! 

We finally got our taxi and off we were, one last time through London. I especially liked seeing the London Eye from this view. We were staying on the other side of the buildings and could only see the top. 

There is so much to do in London. We were fortunate to see and do as much as we did, and we loved every minute of it!

So where is our next stop? Well, London was something we both wanted to see, as well as see our friends. Sweden is something I wanted to do, so I needed to plan something my husband would enjoy also. I wanted him to come back and feel he had a great vacation and good memories, even if Sweden wasn't his cup of tea.

Well, the taxi took us for a bit of a ride, and in the next post I will share where we ended up!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

 Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Who Is Erik August Söderlund?

I am always working to make my family tree as perfect as I can which hasn't allowed much time for research, actually no time at all the last few years. (This restriction I put on myself so I would get my tree in order.) Now, I am following Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do Over. (I believe I am on Week 4. The second round of this series started again this week if you are interested. I highly recommend at least taking a look...) I needed to take a break from the "Do Over" however to prepare for visitors and then host them. I was fortunate to have eight visitors from Sweden stay at my home for a couple of weeks very recently, my cousin and his family. After they left, I went about cleaning, doing laundry and reminiscing. As I was reminiscing about my visitors, I decided I really wanted to know who the man was that my grandfather lived with while growing up here in the United States.

Rumors fly, but I never took the incentive to really focus in on the man who raised my grandfather. His name was Erik August Söderlund. Let's just say, I was suppose to research him last night, because the information I found I shouldn't have had access to, at least as far as I know. But I did have access and I am NOT complaining!

The "Söderlund's" were suppose to connect to the "Lundberg" family, somehow, as rumors have it. (Lundberg was my birth name in case you didn't know.) I often wondered if this man, Erik Söderlund, whoever he was, was the person who paid for my great grandmother's headstone in Sweden... my grandfather's sister is also buried here.

Photo taken by Cheryl Palmer in Viksjö, Sweden in September 2013. Headstone photo of Märta Brita Lundberg and Signe Lundberg. [Address for private use]California.

When I went to Sweden and saw the headstone, I was amazed by how tall it was. It was the tallest in the cemetery. Many of the other headstones from that era were probably gone because no one paid to keep the headstones there. Most of the cemetery is full of "flat"(on the ground) headstones today. With the assistance of my cousin in Sweden, Jan(my recent visitor), we paid for her headstone to stay in place for another 10 years. I think I am the only one here in the U.S. who is truly happy about this, but that is all that matters, right? My cousin, Jan, however knows how much it means to me, because he went and cleaned the stone for me after I came back home. I sure hope I remembered to thank him.

Someone had money to pay for my great grandmother's gravestone, and it is beyond me who it was. My great grandmother, Märta Brita Lundberg, certainly didn't have any money and she never married. Because Erik Söderlund came to the U.S. and raised my grandfather here, I have always wondered if he paid for the headstone. But I really know nothing much about him, and I do not know much about any others in Sweden either. It is easy to "assume" he paid for the headstone. I also assumed other things too, but I learned a while back never to assume anything! One day, I hope this mystery will be solved.

Erik had a son, Carl Söderlund, who was 12 years or so younger than my grandfather, Erik. According to one of the New York passenger lists, in Oct 1926, Erik Söderlund (age 57), Carl Söderlund (age 5) and Erik Lundberg (listed as nephew to Erik Söderlund age 17) arrived at a port in the U.S. having left from Gothenburg (Göteburg), Sweden. My Lundberg family states that my grandfather always said Carl was his half brother. He also stated he had another half brother too...with a different last name! But that research will be for another time.

So, what did I find last night? Well, I am working up to it, maybe in the next post?

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

 Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Genealogy Do Over ~ Week 4

I was very excited to read week 4 of Thomas's Genealogy Do Over. I was more than ready to move forward and quit working on "me." A lot of time was spent finding and adding sources to my research log, and working on that first person in my newest tree, "me." Now I am quite tired of "me." 

What I got excited about was starting another Excel worksheet! Yes, I know there are several of you who really don't care for Excel, but I love it! I have enjoyed entering information into the research log, and already feel and see the benefit of having it. So, yes to a new log!

Thomas MacEntee, of Geneabloggers fame, shares his "project management skills" with us in week four, and as I was reading his post I was already seeing the use of this log for much more than genealogy. I need one for my whole retired life! (I am not kidding!) I set up a template this evening. The bottom tabs in my workbook are rather small and hard to read. I spent quite a bit of time searching for a way to enlarge the tabs and words and finally found that I can't do it within Excel, so I have moved on and will let this be, for now. 

I filled in all the sheets with Thomas's samples, and saved it as a template, copyrighted of course, by him. Then I started my own worksheet. My list  is full for tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing the total amount of time I spend on each category for a week, and a month.

Over the years I feel I have slowed down and don't work quite as fast as I used to. As we age, I believe some of you may have noticed this also, our days seem to go so much quicker. At the end of every day I am shocked at how little I feel I have accomplished. I set my goals high, so lately I am disappointed because I don't seem to accomplish all that I feel I should. I am forever trying to figure out how to add more hours to my day. This log is sure to be an eye opener and a big help to me. 

I understand there is a tab in the Research Log template called "Search Attempts." I apparently didn't copy any tabs from that template, so I will go find it and adjust mine. Even though Thomas says we will think he is nuts doing this, I know the logic behind it and I am not laughing. I do not want to keep doing the same tasks over and over. This is my next step, preparing the Search Attempt's file.

Until next time...

Thanks for stopping by! 

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! 

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