With Gratitude...I honor them all: A Victorian Christmas

Saturday, December 17, 2011

A Victorian Christmas

I have no photos of my parents as children at Christmas, in fact I have no baby photos of my Mom at all….my grandparents were too poor to have any real photos of any of their children as babies. It makes me sad as the maternal grandparents were very well off….but such is life.

My Dad’s Dad was a Barber…enough said about their income….but I do own a few of him as a baby, just not at the holidays.

This is a photo of Severin “Socky” Westlund at Christmas in 1915. This was taken at my great grandparents hose. They were Zachrias and Mary Severson. Socky is just 7 years old…. I wish I could see more of these!

I just love the walls and that photo on the wall….wonder where that ended up? His toys are behind him and he looks way too serious for a boy of 7.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to still have these great vintage toys?

I remember Socky very well and with a lot of love, he was a wonderful, kind, soft spoken man with a great sense of humor! I just wish I had been interested in the family before he passed….again, if you have family members that you can talk to…do it!!!!! You only get that chance for those wonderful stories and tidbits while they are with us…

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight…as Santa would say…:)

Sandy

1 comment:

Barbara PooleDecember 18, 2011 at 5:05 AM
Sandy, what a wonderful photo...I rather miss silver tinsel on the trees.
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My genealogy journey started about 5 years ago now. I had lost my parents in my mid twenties and it had a very traumatic effect on my life. I was just too young to be without them.

I was born in a small town in Wisconsin and I went back to see the rest of my family about 14 years after my Mom and Dad died and that one trip changed me forever. I have one Aunt left, she was my Dad's sister, Rosemary. We spent many hours talking of my Dad and Mom, my grandparents and their parents. I reconnected with two of my first cousins on my maternal side that same time. I felt like I had a family again, I have a brother and his wife who have been wonderful, but I needed more than just them. I needed to find out where my personality traits came from, why I like certain things and don't like others, and I did on that trip. When I got home I wanted to do a scrapbook page, and decided I needed more information. I went online and found a place called Ancestry.com. I looked for Jessie O. Burgess and saw there were records and so I took the plunge and joined the site.

My life has not been the same since!!!!! I can't explain the feeling when I saw with my own eyes a 1870 Census with my great grandfather and his family in it!!!!

I can't even begin to explain the camaraderie I have found in genealogy people....the kindness, the willing to go the extra mile, whent hey weren't even part of my family!

I have done one book on my paternal line and am working on the books for my maternal line. In that little town in Wisconsin where I was born, there are records on both sides of my family starting back in the 1860's, so I have been blessed in the fact that for a lot of my tree I didn't have too far to go.

I love the hunt, as any genealogist will tell you! And I am happy to help people in any way I can, I feel like that is how you pay it forward....

I am so proud of the people I come from, English who became some of the first Americans, Norwegians , Germans, Scotch and Irish. My father loved history, especially his own....I have felt him and my Mom by my side more than once in this wonderful adventure!

So this is where I am going to share the stories of my family, and hope that someone reading it will have that "aha" moment when you decide "I wonder where I came from?"

Thank you for visiting my blog!