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Showing posts from 2015

Great Grandpa's Birthday!

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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

Talking To Mom On Her Special Day!

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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

UPDATE ~ Lightbulb Lit For A Million Hours!

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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

"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

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"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 outs

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 do

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

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"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" S

"Erick Söderlund" ~ 1900 census

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I know Erik S ö derlund 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 S ö derlund" (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 S ö derlund?"  Here are the facts:    1899 - Arrival in US - Abt. 32 yrs.    1900 - L

Erik Söderlund and "Wards"

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Other posts in my efforts to learn who is Erik S ö derlund?  Who is Erik August S ö derlund? Erik August S ö derlund - Emergency Passport On May 10, 1917 the Kristianaford arrived at the port of New York. Erik S ö derlund, 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 S ö derlund 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

Erik August Söderlund ~ Emergency Passport

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The first post in this series, if you haven't read it, is at, "Who is Erik August S ö derlund." 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, J ä matland, 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 S ö derlund’s Emergency Passport Application states

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

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"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                  

Who Is Erik August Söderlund?

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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