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George Nazro Esler Our family has a treasured token: a white silk handkerchief carried by an ancestor during his service in the Civil War. It’s been passed tenderly from generation to generation of women in our family. In medieval times, a lady’s favor was usually something small that could be tucked away in the knight's… Continue reading Civil War Handkerchief
Laura Burton, Missionary Nurse When I was a child, our Great-Aunt Laura was a missionary in Africa. She came home to Minnesota every few years for a visit and brought us exotic trinkets from the French Cameroon, where she was stationed. Her stories and photos of orphaned black children seemed to me to be something… Continue reading Laura Burton, Missionary Nurse
The Mayflower Grandma Mae Marybelle Burton was an American aristocrat in our family. Her paternal grandparents' lineage qualified the women in our family for membership with the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Now, it seems this heritage also includes ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower ship that landed at Plymouth Rock over four-hundred years… Continue reading Our Mayflower Ancestor
My paternal grandmother graduated in 1926 from St. Louis Park Senior High School, St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Mae Marybelle Devore was one of nine female students in a graduating class of 26 students. High school graduation was quite an accomplishment, as during this time, eighth grade educations were the norm and anything beyond that was… Continue reading Grandma Mae’s 1926 High School Yearbook
Grandpa Leslie Johnson, a creative man of many talents, bought a triangular shaped lot in St. Louis Park in the late 1950's. By that time, he'd spent a few decades building postwar housing in the Minneapolis suburb and claimed to have built 170 homes in the prior 17 years. But his triangular lot was a… Continue reading The Crooked Little House
In 1935, my maternal great-grandfather Robert Johnson, at the age of 60, opened a new Dance Pavilion & Beer Hall at 4639 Excelsior Boulevard, St. Louis Park, MN. Prohibition had ended, and although it was the height of the Great Depression, perhaps happy days were here again. Or perhaps great-grandpa Robert liked music and dancing… Continue reading Grandpa Robert Johnson’s Dance Pavilion
Grandpa Gus Burton immigrated from Sweden in 1890, when he was 22 years old. He was the eldest of seven children born to Jonas Peter Svensson and Carolina Johannesdotter. At that time, the family was living in a small village in Sweden called Hvetlanda. According to the patronymic naming convention used in Sweden at that… Continue reading Grandpa Gus Burton
(This article was a winner in the Minnesota Genealogical Society 2020 Family History Writing Competition and was published in their Winter 2020 Quarterly Journal. A link to the PDF copy of the article is here: Christine Johnson-MGS2020.) Christine Johnson, nee Kingström, was born 23 December 1881, in Nordåker, Gagnef, Dalarna, Sweden. Her parents may have… Continue reading What’s in a Name? Christine Kingstrom Johnson
RUNS IN THE FAMILY 