Sweden

My great grandparents came to America from Sweden, but not together.  The area of Sweden that my great grandfather's family was from is here in Rot, Alvdalen, Dalarna County, Sweden:

I haven't done any Swedish research on my own.  My beloved first cousin once removed Janet willed me all of her research that she spent years on.

Sadness Sunday: Bruce Burbidge

This morning the family had the sad news of the passing of our cousin.  My dad's first cousin, Bruce William Burbidge, passed away. 

I didn't know Bruce well- I remember meeting him at my aunt's home several years ago.  I'm sure I'd met him before then, too, but likely when there were  a lot of people (i.e. kids) around and I didn't care about the adults.  Anyway, Bruce was in the US Army and I know lived in Germany for a long while.  I'm not even sure where he lived at his death- South Dakota possibly?  I will learn this, though.

I know it's the cycle of life, but Bruce was just this baby to me last August when I scanned pictures at Grampa's.

Bruce, Bob, and Peggy (Felt)

Bruce and Peggy (Felt)

And now he is gone.


Bruce William Burbidge
b. 30 Aug 1944, Hot Springs, Fall River County, South Dakota

d. 18 Mar 2012

Blacksheep Sunday: Pete, Pinochle, and (Possibly Peppermint) Schnapps

I asked Grampa about his father-in-law, Peter Felt.  Grampa called him, “Pete,” and described him as a “real nice” guy who loved laughing and jokes.  He worked at the Homestake Mine in Moskee, Wyoming with his brother Lars and possibly another that Grampa called a “shirttail” relation.

The Homestake Gold Mine started in Lead, South Dakota.  Well, actually, the Homestake Gold Mine itself started the town of Lead, in the Black Hills of South Dakota on April 9, 1876.  Two brothers, Moses and Fred Manuel and their partner, Hank Harney, founded their Homestake claim.  Moses found a vein of ore, called a “lead” (pronounced LEED) and staked their claim.  Homestake Mining Company was bought by George Hearst, father of William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper man.

In about 1921, the Homestake Mining Company developed Moskee, Wyoming, about 30 miles from Lead, to provide wood to the mine.  In 1925 they opened a post office and in 1928, a school.  In the 1930s, the population was about 200.  It closed in the 1940s.

Pete’s wife Inga dominated the family.  She didn’t like Pete or their sons to drink so when Grampa would come around, Pete would tell Inga that he had to take Pierre into Deadwood or Lead.  They’d visit the shady bar and Peter Felt would drink perhaps a bit more than his share of his favorite drink: Schnapps.

Peter and Inga (Auslund/Aslund) Felt

One time, Grampa and Art Felt, Gramma’s brother, drove out to Moskee to visit and they got snowbound for three or four weeks.  They played the card game Pinochle non-stop.  Pete would go to work and they’d pace all day waiting for him to get home so they could resume the game.  I liked this story, because I have many memories, even recent ones, with marathon family Pinochle games. 

Pinochle is a game brought to America by immigrants.  The name is from the mispronounced word, “ Binocle,” meaning eyeglasses.  Pinochle was a favorite of American Jewish community and Irish immigrants, as well as German.

Wedding Wednesday: Under the Sea Dance II

I also asked Grampa how he and Gramma met. Grampa’s best friend Harry (who he was friends with for over 70 years) was dating Grampa’s sister Harriet. Harriet was working in a hospital in the Black Hills and my grandmother Signa worked with her. She’d come down to visit and bring Gramma with her. Or Harry and Grampa would go up and visit.

Before Harry went off to the war, he and Harriet were married. That didn’t last beyond the war (Grampa told me several such stories- should be a lesson in there for the future).  But Gramma and Grampa lasted a lifetime.

Harry Ravenscroft

Harriet Conner

Pierre Conner and Signa (Felt) Conner

Pierre Conner and Signa (Felt) Conner

Surname Saturday - Felt

My Felt family came from Sweden, so Felt wasn't carried back very far.  In fact, my great, great grandfather was the first Felt.  He took the name from his wife's side and changed it from Falt to Felt before coming to America.  Here is the line up THROUGH Felt, though, starting with me:

Debbie Conner Mascot
Harry James Conner
Signa Viola Felt
Petter Eriksson (Peter Felt)
Erik Erson
Erik Larson
Lars Person
Par Parson
Par Jonsson
Jon

They lived in Rot, Sweden:

Family Recipe Friday - Skeet's Brownies

Alvina Ann Felt (aka Skeet) was my dad's cousin.  I met her when I was a baby, but I don't remember.  What I do remember was knowing her via email as an adult.  About 10 or so years ago, she decided that she wanted to learn of her family history.  Her other cousin, Janet, put her in touch with me and we began a wonderful friendship over email  Skeet gave me all her grandmother's recipes (my great grandmother's) and even put together an entire huge binder full of HER recipes for me.  With notes and histories of each.  I treasure that book, as I treasured being able to know her.  Skeet passed away in 2007 and I'm sad that we never got to really meet again.

But that said, her brownies are amazing!  I try to put her name on each of her recipes, renaming them so that Skeet is remembered.  So while her recipe calls them "Brownies for a Crowd" and says they were her mother-in-law's brownies, my recipe calls them. Skeet's  Brownies.

Skeet's Brownies

1 ¼ cups flour                                  ½ cup butter

1 cup sugar                                      ¼ cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar                           4 eggs

1 tsp. salt                                          8 TBSP cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla                                     ½ cup nuts (opt)

½ tsp. baking powder

Mix ingredients and pour in jelly roll pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.  Do not overbake.  Frost with Chocolate Frosting (below).

 

Skeet's Chocolate Frosting

3 TBSP butter

3TBSP milk

3 TBSP cocoa

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

Melt butter and mix with milk and cocoa.  Stir in powdered sugar and bat until smooth. 

Birthday Letter from Gramma

July 22, 1971

My Dear Debbie

Today you are four years old.  What a happy day it must be for you.  I will miss being with you for this birthday, the first one I have missed by it is probably the beginning of many I will miss.  But I will think of you on your day.

Honey, I will always remember when I lived with you and how you "took care of me" for Grandpa.  Remember you always got me my stool- sat in my chair with me and watched our programs. How we always took a nap together and when I called Grnadpa you always said- "Grandma just tell him the good things".  Honey, all I knew were good things to tell him about you.

Now you are a big girl - 4 years old.  You are growing up so fast pretty soon maybe you can get on an airplane alone and come and take care of me some more.

I love you very much and hope y our birthday is happy.  I miss you too.

Be a good girl.

Love
Grandma

Sympathy Saturday: Gramma

NOTE:  This was supposed to auto-post on Saturday...  I guess it did not...

I started writing down the memories to tell you about my other grandmother (the non- douche bag one) and I came up with a very short list of specific memories that saddened me.  How could she have been so important, yet I can only think of 10 specific memories?  My grandmother meant the world to me- I even named my first born after her- yet I can’t think of more than 10 items? 

But then I realized that there are more to memories than events. 

I can’t tell you a story about how much my grandma loved me and how I felt her love every single day of my life.  I can tell you about her leaving ice cream money for me on the side table and watching me prance out to the ice cream truck with pretend grown-up glee while I picked out and paid for my own ice cream.  I would turn back and look toward the house and she would be peaking out the window.

I can’t tell you a story about sitting in my grandma’s lap and just being held.  I can tell you about her rounding up all the Avon lipstick samples she had and helping me set up a Lipstick Stand™ in front of her house for the neighborhood’s little girls.

I can’t tell you a story about sitting at the table with my grandma and just being with her.  I can tell you about playing Go Fish with her at that table while she drank her Carly Simon coffee (with clouds… I thought that song was about her…).  She would let me win and then pretend-cry that her own granddaughter was beating her.  “Help me, help me!” she would fake cry and I would laugh and laugh at the immense humor of Gramma.

I can’t tell you a story about how Gramma knew everything that was happening and was always calm.  I can tell you about the time I put a marble in my nose and it got stuck.  I was panicking on the inside but didn’t say anything at all to anyone.  Somehow, though, Gramma knew something was wrong and she pulled it out of me.  Literally.  I also remember wondering aloud to her how, in my head, I knew what the next words were going to be on the radio, but I couldn’t say them.  She explained to me that it was my hearing and that my brain knew the words before I could get it to my mouth.  That has, for some bizarre reason, stuck with me my whole life. 

I can’t tell you a story about how just being with Gramma was fun.  I can tell you that she would watch All My Children and explain the plots to me so that I would get just as sucked into the plotlines as she did.  I still remember a bunch of kids getting kidnapped.  I’m sure one was Erica Kane, but I didn’t care about that; I just cared that now I had a new game to play with my cousins besides Cops and Robbers- Kids and Kidnappers. 

I can’t tell you a story about how it broke my heart when I saw my grandfather cry at her funeral.  I didn’t understand death enough to feel the loss of Gramma, but I saw my grandfather cry and that was devastating.  I spent the rest of my childhood doing what I could to make Grampa happy and never ever cry again.  I can tell you about how I got a letter from her two days after she died that told me she was thinking of me because she had tacos for dinner.  At our next library trip, I set off to the card catalog to find information on taco poisoning (side note:  telling your kids that grandma died in her sleep without further explanation is not a good idea).

So I don’t have too many STORIES about Gramma, but I have a lifetime of memories that mean the world to me.  I’m proud every time I look at my Signa to think of the Signa Viola Felt that came before. 

Family Recipe Friday - Swedish Pancakes

This recipe was given to me by Alvina Felt Baer (we called her Skeet).  Skeet was first cousin to my dad and she started doing genealogy a number of years ago.  She contacted me, knowing I'd done a lot already, and we began a nice friendship/family-ship over email.  She was a recipe collector like me and sent me a whole book she compiled of recipes. A number of them were old family recipes.  I treasure the recipes, but not as much as I did Skeet.  Skeet passed away in 2007.

Here is a recipe she gave me from my great grandmother- her grandmother.  Inga Christina Larsdotter Aslund.  Inga was born in Langsele, Sweden in 1887.

Swedish Pancakes
Note: best with a cast iron pan.

2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 cups milk

Combine eggs, milk and butter.  Beat well.  Add flour, salt, and sugar gradually, beating constantly while adding.  Pour soup ladle full in hot frying pan and cook until top is bubbly and edges look cooked.  Flip over and cook other side.  These will be the size of the pan.

Family Recipe Friday- Swiss Steak

I have a cousin (Dad's first cousin) who I met through the internet. She passed away- long before her time should have been- and she was like me and collected recipes. She made them into a book and sent it to me. She was a treasure in my life, as she had the same passions as me and I'm only sad she lived so far away and we never were able to meet (as adults- I understand we knew one another when I was 2). So here is a recipe Skeet passed down to me from my grandmother's mother. They were Swedish, but this is a recipe I remember my grandma making, so it must have been a favorite.

Inga Larsdotter Felt's Swiss Steak
Note: Always eaten with mashed potatoes and corn.

Ingredients:
3-4 lbs. round steak
Onion to taste, cut in rings
Salt and pepper to taste
Kitchen Bouquet
1/4 cup green pepper, cut in rings
Shortening

Cut round steak in serving sized pieces. Prepare a bowl of flour (about 1½ cups I think) and add salt and pepper - stir up (I use a fork to mix the salt and pepper in the flour). Coat each piece of steak in flour and brown in melted shortening in large frying pan.

Brown both sides and remove from pan and place in roaster. You may have to add more shortening to get all pieces browned. Then add enough shortening to make a thin layer of melted shortening in bottom of frying pan; sprinkle flour to cover the shortening and add salt (takes quite a bit of salt to flavor it). Brown this and slowly add cold water stirring continuously while doing so.

This will take about 3 to 4 cups of water and will be very thin. Add 3 or 4 drops of Kitchen Bouquet to gravy and stir in. Pour over steaks. Add onions and peppers if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 1½ to 2 hours.