Wednesday, November 29, 2023

 


I think II added the proper cookies information. If I havent I will certainly fix it. 

This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalize ads and to analyze traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. TO LEARN MORE GO HERE https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/cookies/

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Northfield, Minnesota in a book


Hi,
 Glad to be here blogging.



I did a post on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 with the title
History of Madelia and Northfield, Minnesota with Jesse James Gang in old Newspaper 
Maybe you read it. Maybe not.

 Maybe the town in lower Minnesota is not unknown to you  readers. Actually I am not familiar within the town either only the  location which is lower than the twin cities and a bit west of the great Mississippi river. . And a bit of stuff here and there one learns about a town in one's home region. I thought I would take a few minutes more to mention the book  MORE THAN A DREAM  written by Lauraine Snelling that features the town of Northfield. She has a series of books  about the Norwegian immigrants who adapt to North Dakota by the Red River Valley.

 I have been Kindle reading through Amazon as many as I can.  I only had fours left for some of my selections and decided that if I could only read one;  I would read the novel  with Northfield location in the early 1900's.  The plot seems to  take place in the early days when there seemed to promises of telephones and electricity, and automobiles. A time when  one would think they had little time to read.  Ahhh, but that was not the case. They not only read but they studied and memorized.  And some were students as the case of our Elisabeth.

The women of these novels are fantastic. They have become Doctors and Teachers and proprietors of wonderful stores. At the same time as a career they have  wonderful husbands ans engage in so many social activities.  It's a wonderful perspective of these Norwegian settlers and their children in this Red River region. [It's not the same as Jane  Seymore  on tv,  who shared  her medical career with us]
IN this case its the doctor Elisabeth whose romantic life unfolds  as she pursues her medical career in the novel More Than A Dream.And at the same time were reminded of all the other members of her family that we have had the chance to know all about their lives in the other books of the series.

I'll See you later when I am not reading.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Special Wedding Photo Genealogy treat for Mothers Day

Isn't this a special treat. What we have here is a never before seen Wedding Photo of Herman and Annie. It seems to include the witnesses and Flower girls. This Photo is not enhanced. Perhaps on another day, I will. It locked up on me a moment ago.



Now who is everyone. I think that Herman's brother, Fred was a witness. I don't believe Fred was married then yet. And I think the other witness was one of his sisters. I hate to say with out checking first. If I recall correctly, I think both of his witnesses died shortly after.



Anyone recognize the faces in the photograph. Looking into the photo notice on the bottom right side a young blond. I bet she is Gertrude. I am not sure who it is on the left. I had not even imagined that she had flower girls in the wedding. How did she pick among her little sisters for that job. Perhaps just the youngest two.



I shall have to get out some dates of birth for her sisters and the exact date of this wedding to make this an accurate post.

I have also forgotten where I got this special Wedding photo?

For now enjoy this as it is.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh Young Dwight with his Chick.

I altered the picture. Somehow the alteration was too shiny for the picture. I tried to cover the bent part. I had the picture protected, but not enough. somehow it got bent in the envelope. Which I will regret to my dying day.

So unfortunately you see here with all it's noise and the scratch on the photo. Also, there is not enough contrast between Dwight's clothing and his chick. perhaps an easier way to fix scratches is to go to straight black and white. I do wish I had a good photo restoration program like I had before. [sigh]


You see here Dwight is slightly older than the last time you saw him with his chicks. He is still a successful farmer, just not as fanciful dressed.
And Now Dwight has selected a slightly Older chick.

I still love this photo the most though. I love the grass and his bare feet and that hat. Annie was definately going for a certain type of Photo result. I think she achieved it. It is adorable. Or they are adorable.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Air View - Photo of Sunnyslope Farm



Long gone now in this photo is the old victorian house, which held Herman and Annie's wing, and the August Seil's wing. Long gone too is the name as Sunnyslope Farm.


What we see here is the modern view of the current house, which was built about 1945-6 on the same spot that held the old house on the Sunnyslope Farm.


The View: Looking from East to the West at Sunnyslope was taken about 1979 or so. The chicken house seen in so many earlier photographs had by this time burned down to the cement. From our left to right we find the Hog building, which might be gone by now. We can see the newer buildings, the Cement Barn,and a Corn Crib.

On the front left next to the gravel road you see freshly plowed large dirt patches. The first one closest to the road was the family vegetable garden with a large strawberry Patch. The one above that was a fenced in area that was for calves and sheep in 1960's. Later it became another vegetable garden area. I was told that in the victorian years it had been a garden area for William and Annie Seil. But it seemed sandier and was less fertile than the other rich earth of the most eastern garden plot.

On the right side near the road, the plowed area had been cultivated and planted by Dwight, maybe the ten years or so before this photograph. For years in the 1950's and 1960's it was sheep pasture. They ran in and out of the woods until sheep farming was finished. In later years Dwight had decided to farm as much land as he could. Here too was the view that the neighbors the Mosels/Reeds saw from their windows.

Everything behind the large grove of trees was farming land. Except for the grassy pasture area on the left, beside the barn. This was grazing land for the dairy cows who waded and drank from a narrow shallow creek which ran below the sunnyslope of north and west slanted hills.

This farm acreage was one fourth of the square mile. Directly west behind the Meyer farm was The Slew. It was owned by the Game farm. They raised and released their pheasants in that area. On the right [north] side of the slew was the cultivated and planted farm land of Ben and Emma Johnson. And a bit north was the farm land of his son Fred Johnson with his wife Mabel.

On the east side of The Meyer farm was land at one time owned by Mary and Albert Kaizer. His farm was taken over later by Jerry Sill. His family lived on the east side of the gravel road. Eventually the gravel road reached the end of the square mile. If one reached this end, one could then turn onto Highway 60 [located north of the Sunnyslope Farm] .

If you came west on highway from Madelia, the family farm was about 6 - 7 traveling miles. If you went to St. James on this highway it was maybe about ten miles. Then coming from the south from Lewisville village on highway 15 or the blacktop road and then to gravel roads, it probably was about three or four miles.

I think I shall have to produce a small map soon of the local neighborhood.
Perhaps too, a small discussion on the neighbors, is in order.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Casual Christmas day picture of some of the Meyers family.


Left to right. Herman William, JoAn, Steve, [Grandpa] - Herman Henry. Here the Meyers are in the happy after glow of the Christmas celebration.

Looking at the picture, I wonder what Grandpa Herman was thinking while looking at something.

Before or after little Herman's acquisition of that basketball, a hoop for it was put up by the corn crib.

I suppose you thought little JoAnn would be wearing a holiday party frock. You got to love those coveralls of hers, which I can say, made her as colorful and festive as the Christmas tree.

I have always loved little Steve with his Daniel Boone coon skin hat in this picture. His grin is priceless.

Lyle, Amanda and Mary had visited the San Antonio, the city of the Alamo and brought back the Coon hat for Steve. I wonder if that is howcome the family had a Daniel Boone lamp. I'll have to show it to you sometime.

The children didn't always get much, and they rarely asked for a lot. So when they did get what they had wanted, or felt the love, it did bring pride to their faces. I guess, they didn't always know what other children were getting!

Someday, I will figure out what year this photo was taken. I'll have to ask the cousin to see, if she knows when they went to Texas. It must have been around 1958 or 1959.

just me jo

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Tuesday Time to Tell about Lyle



And his friends. Who ever they may be? Maybe time will tell us.



Note: I should check Madelia papers to see if He or his football team were in any write ups.

just me jo