Mystery at the graveyard

I enjoy going to graves.  I don't even need to know the people buried there.  My favorite one was in Italy when I was 16.  I explored that cemetery every morning after my run/hike.  That was the first place that I ever saw photos on the headstone.  I wasn't sure how I felt about that.  Part of me thought-wow that is a great idea.  The other part of me thought-I am not sure I want to know who is buried here.  Either way I was quite fascinated by the whole concept.  I even believed that it was a Italian thing because I had never heard of such a thing here in the US.  I have since found them in the US so it isn't such a novelty any more.
Do you want to be in a cemetery?  Do you want to be cremated and still have a burial plot?  For most of my life I have been terrified of being cremated.  Burning to death is my greatest fear so clearly being cremated wasn't going to work for me.  It really doesn't matter that I would not be living at the time!
Do you visit the graves of your beloved family that have passed on?
Is it important to you to have a place to go to remember your loved ones?
Since I love them, I really want to be buried in a lovely quiet spot.  Realistically, I don't have anyone that is going to be gung ho about coming to visit my grave.  One of my children won't even go with me now.  Too creepy she says and the other just doesn't share my fascination.  So, really who is going to come and see me.
I know that my 96 year old grandmother would go and visit her husband's grave often but now she is unable to drive and hasn't been for years.
Today I wanted to go and get pictures of grandpa's headstone but I couldn't find it.  I knew where it should have been.  Even thought I knew what it would look like.  Sorteberg is a pretty long and uncommon name.  Can't exactly miss it when you are looking for it.  Alas, I was not able to find it.  So I started looking for the other family names that I knew were supposed to be there.  Couldn't find them either.
Switched gears and thought maybe there would be some plot map somewhere.  No luck.  The Anoka County Historical Society is just down the road so I went there to see if there was any such thing.  No luck.
Internet search turned up no one responsible for the cemetery.  How do I go about finding a plot map?  Do I have to go from grave to grave and make one myself.  Forest Hill Cemetery isn't small.  It seems to me that there should be someone who has this knowledge!  I left pretty frustrated.  I know I have burial plots of some of my ancestors but now I have to figure all that out by going into Ancestry.com and looking at each individual person that has died and making a list of who is buried where.  I guess I will be busy for a while.

Photo by Richard Rhode

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful in many ways for the internet.  Yesterday I fought with my computer tooth and nail.  I had a non virus on my computer that didn't want to go away.  Then I had to fight with getting onto my other blog.  I got crabbier as the day progressed and I didn't get anything accomplished.
So, today is a better day.  Not brighter here in Minnesota but it is better.
I love that my grandfather did all of his leg work researching the family history by picking up the phone and calling to get information.  If that didn't work he sat down at his desk and wrote letters to the family that he needed information from.  Me, I sit at my computer and Google the people that I want to know about.  Then I do a Facebook search to see if I can find a picture of a long lost cousin.
Although I love Grandpa's method, I don't have the phone skills that his generation had.  This day and age with cell phones you aren't going to be able to find half the people that you are looking for.  What is a researcher to do to connect with family that we don't know?  His generation had such a better connection to family than mine does.  I crave that connection.  I have always been convinced that I was born in the wrong generation.
I mentioned last time that I was contacted by a cousin that I have never met.  I am so excited to tell my mom about her tonight when I see her.  I never thought to look into this side of the family.  My great grandmother had many siblings and I just never went there with her family.  Now I actually have a human connection that has information and is willing to share it!  Isn't the internet great?

He never had the internet but he was set for data entry for pages and pages of family history!

Motivation

So one of my many hang-ups with genealogy is that I have a lot of time being a stay at home mom but, I just don't seem to find the motivation to do it.  I enjoy it, I like researching and I like putting the puzzle pieces together.  So why do I find it so hard to get anything accomplished?  Part of it is organization.  That is a large downfall for me, I have things scattered all over the place.  I don't have a home office.  I am currently writing from my laptop sitting on my bed!  I have shared this before but it seems that I need to repeat myself just so that I can re-read it and maybe jump start myself into action.
With that said I have to say that one of the many things that I like about Ancestry.com is that I have people contact me from time to time that I am related to in various ways.
Tonight I received an email from a cousin asking if I had any photos or stories about her grandmother's family.  I love this.  Her grandmother is my great grandmother's youngest sister.  The best part, she is local and lives in the town next to my parents!  There are so few people in my family that have an interest in the family history that when I do find someone that does enjoy it I get way over the top excited!  I have been combing through photographs, my ancestry pages and my grandfather's family history book to find any information that I can for her!  She is probably going to run screaming.  It will be worth it because I have a glimmer of motivation and I can actually feel like I accomplished something.

Memorial Day puzzles

I realize that I am a day late on this post but I was trying desperately to do research yesterday with an internet that is slower than syrup!  I just couldn't get anything done.
My ultimate goal would have been to drive to the National Memorial Cemetery in Minnesota.  It isn't close by and I have not convinced my kids that visiting grave sites is a fun and exciting adventure!  My oldest is convinced that it is scary and creepy.  So I have to keep those adventures to myself for now.
I am on Ancestry.com most every week.  Yesterday I wanted to see what kind of military service I had in my past.  I was fortunate that my brother, father and grandfather's never served in the military.  I will not post the names of the living military members for privacy reasons but I will try to piece together those that have gone.
I do not have anyone that has died in the line of service which I am grateful for.  I cannot imagine the pain of waiting for your soldier to come home only to get word that they will not be.
Here is my puzzle for the day.  I have found an Alfred Sorteberg buried in the National Cemetery in Minnesota.  So many things add up but I cannot find the correct one and I cannot find the link that I have to this man who fought and served our country.  I have a never ending trail that I just can't piece together.  Once again I will have to look and look until I can find the right answers!

Matrilineal Monday-SVARTEBERG

One of the things that fascinates me about history is that way back when they didn't follow the rules that we have now about family names.  Although that seems to be changing these days too.
I am not even sure how to pronounce the last name that my mom should have had:  TVEITO
On 29 December 1853 Arne Jakobson Tveito and Aagot Larsdtr Svarteberg were married.  The family name of Svarteberg was used because they lived on the Middle Farm (Myljogarden) that was owned by the Svarteberg's.
I am still looking into whether this property below is the homestead.  There is a resort that is called the Svarteberg Fjellgard that is in Al, Norway where the farm is located.  I know that the farm was sold many years ago but I do not have accurate information yet about what happened in the sale.  I have a contact into the owners of this resort to see if they know of the history behind the property.  If this is the property, I would love to go there and stay!


In Norway the name Svarteberg and Sorteberg are interchangeable.  However, the surname Svarteberg is used almost all of the time in Norway.  The Norweian translation of the name (Svarteberg) (Sorteberg) is "Black Mountain".  The Hallingdal Valley is a short distance north of Oslo, Norway.  the home where Aagot Svarteberg was born still stands on the side of the mountain.
Seven of the eight children of Arne Jakobson and Aagot Svarteberg arrived in the USA before their parents imigrated in 1893.  Only the second oldest, Birgit, stayed in Norway.  It is believed that the port of entry into the USA was New York, however some may have entered from Canada.
Aagot Sorteberg Hantho and Jorand Sorteberg Jallo, imigrated in 1880, and settled near Minot, North Dakota.  Later Aagot moved to Louisburg, Minnesota and Jorand moved to Jadis Township, Rouseau, Minnesota.  Jacob Sorteberg, first lived in Nelson County, Lakota, North Dakota, later moving his family to Anoka Township, Anoka, Minnesota.  From Sketchy information it appears that Lars Sorteberg, Birgit Sorteberg Kleppe, and Tosten Sorteberg all settled in Lac Qui Parle County, near Louisburg, Minnesota.

On June 8, 1983, six of the descendants of Arne Sorteberg, arrived in Aal, Hallingdal, Norway.  The visitors found the descendants to Brigit Svarteberg to be very hospitable and friendly people.  It did not take very long for them to feel a definite kinship to the families in Norway.  During the visit they were thrilled to see the farm on which their grandfather, Arne Sorteberg was born in 1868, as well as being the birthplace of their great grandmother, Aagot Svarteberg in 1829.
Svarteberg was made up of three farms.  On farm now belongs to Torlien Svarteberg.  The middle Farm, on which the grand parents were born belongs to Sevat Svarteberg; both of these people are grandsons of Birgit Svarteberg.  All of the buildings stand as they did in the 1800's, with the exception of a house added some years later.  The present ownership of the third farm was unknown to the visitors.

Svarteberg Fjellgard http://svarteberg.com/gallery.php

Information prepared in December 1983 by Leland Sorteberg, Muriel Hagen, Earl Hansen, Asbjorn Baklien

Generational Mother's day

me and mom

Of course everyone is going to talk about their mom's on Mother's day.  I am on a similar wagon train.
 I was a rotten teenager and I am sure that I caused my mom many sleepless nights.  She was always there for me when I made the effort to reach out to her for help.   Now as an adult she is my go to when my days are great and the ones that are filled with mothering anxiety!
The gift of being a mother is such a wonderful thing.  I had no idea what to think when I became a mom myself.  We don't have a big family so little kids were not the norm in my life.  I held my little one and tried to do all the "mom" things and I felt like I was failing before I even stated!
Is there a natural instinct to be a mom?  Do we learn from our past generations on what to do and what not to do?  My ancestors came from across the ocean on a boat.  Some of them came alone, some of them came with husbands, some of them came with children.  How do you parent little ones on a boat across the ocean to a land that you know nothing about?  How do you calm your baby when you can't even see land or know when you will see it again.  There was disease, there were food shortages, so many things that I thankfully know nothing about as a mom.
When they arrived they had to find land.  In those times the women had to raise the children, tend to the husbands, keep the house and help out in the fields.  It was truly a group effort to being a family and making it work.
Wars happened and Mother's had to fend for themselves wondering if their husbands and sons would be coming home all while taking care of the farm, the businesses and the other children in the home. 
Progress started to happen and a whole new world of mothering came about.  Our mom's went outside the home to help support the family.  Good or bad, right or wrong that is the reality of the world at that time.
My generation seems to be split on the mom role.  Do you have a career?  Do you stay at home?  Do you do both?  I am fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom and work part time.  I never thought that would be the case for me.  Staying home was a daunting idea for me.  I don't like cooking, I really don't like cleaning but I do love my kids and I have found that we love to find adventures with each other. It is a rewarding career path for me.  As I sat up worrying about the fever that my little one had last night I have to reflect and remind myself that this is were I need and want to be. 
Through all the things I have learned from generation to generation I hope to pass along some great skills to my girls so that someday if they are lucky enough to have kids of their own they may not feel so overwhelmed!
On this mother's day I am so thankful for the knowledge and the loving care that I have gotten from all of the many women in my life.  Whether they are friends, or relatives I am fortunate enough to gain little tidbits from them on how to be a better mom.

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.  She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue, she watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her; "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all"
Psalm 31:26-29

publications bring questions-Kleppe vs. Kleppo

Today I have been searching for information in google books.  Just typing in last names and seeing what comes up.  I didn't find a great deal in my initial search but did come up with a question.
The husband of one of my ancestors was listed in a book called Norwegians, Swedes and More book 3 by Loren H. Amundson 2005
It had his family lineage.  My problem is that I have the Ancestors with the last name of Kleppe and in this publication they have it as Kleppo with a family farm in Norway which is the information that I have as well.
How do I figure out when and where the family name was changed. 
I am going to try to find out information from the author but wanted to find a quicker way to determine this information.  I know a lot of names were changed to be more Americanized.  I am not sure if it is just a Norwegian translation issue or if they just changed it when they came over. 
I have the year that they came over from Norway but not the port of origin:  1881 and eventually got themselves to Appleton, Minnesota.
Is there an easy way to find ship transfer information?