Organizational Road Blocks

I have been very lazy about doing my research.
I did a lot of work the other day.  I found some newspaper articles about my grandfather that I hadn't read before hiding in a box that I had saved out just for that purpose.  If I were an organized person I would have all of my ancestry info in one place that could be easily accessed and work on it at a certain time during the week.  Wouldn't that make so much more sense than the randomness of how I have been doing it?
Logically, I know that this would make research so much easier.  However, I have these organizational road blocks that don't allow me to keep everything in one location.  I have things in a storage box in the garage, I have one in the storage unit, I have a box with my scrapbook things, I have information at my grandmother's, and another box of information at my mom's!  Far too many places to have information.
I have read all over the internet how to organize my files, what to do and how to do it.  The problem, they don't work for me.  When you don't like to organize and you don't want to take the time to go through everything these plans just plain don't work.

My challenge for the week is to come up with some way for me to be more organized with all of my photos, newspaper articles and family sheets that isn't going to take up so much space and isn't going to feel so overwhelming.

school search

Old Schools

The picture of the school on the mural is the old school house in District No. 2 was organized in 1856. The Board and residents built the school which was the second one built in Anoka County. The original school was located across from where the WCCO Radio transmitter station now stands. In 1876 a new brick school, the one you see on the mural, was built at the present intersection of Crooked Lake Boulevard and Coon Rapids Boulevard. Two other schools were built in Anoka Township (now Coon Rapids) in the late 1800's. District No. 15 located at the intersections of Foley Boulevard and East River Boulevard and District No. 50 located on Northdale Boulevard across from where the present Sand Creek Park is now located. There were no paved roads in the early years, and transportation to and from school was by foot. Several miles were covered each way as pupils walked the dirt trails. The three districts in Anoka Township plus one from the Blaine area consolidated in 1920 to form consolidated School District No. 2, located where the former L.O. Jacob School now stands.

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I do enjoy having the internet to glean more information about the history of my family.  I can really get lost searching for information.  My family went to District 50 near their farm house.  Even moving the house across the field to be closer for the kids to walk.  They also attended L. O. Jacob School.  Most of my family went to the Anoka High School and graduated from there. 

SORTEBERG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CELEBRATION EVENT

Sorteberg Elementary School held its school closing celebration event on Saturday, May 1, 2010. Listed in this photo album are photos taken at the event. Click here to read more school memories in the A-H Newsroom.

History
In early 1959, the pupulation in the Anoka-Hennepin area continued to increase and with it came exploseive rises in school enrollment that showed no signs of slowing down.

In April of that year, a special election was held to vote on the authorization of nearly $2 million in bonds to build additions on to several schools and a 26-classroom elementary school in the Thompson Park area of Coon Rapids. The bond issue was approved by a vote of 2,012 to 881 and construction on Northdale Elementary School (the school's original name) began. The school was build on a 15-acre site donated by Orrin Thompson at a cost of $726,353. It opened in September 1960 with Pauline Chamberlain as principal.

In 1976, Northdale Junior High School (now Northdale Middle School) was built down the road and Northdale Elementary was renamed Sorteberg Elementary School, after Leland Sorteberg.

Sorteberg previously owned the land on which the school was built and served as a longtime Anoka-Hennepin School Board member. He also served on the survey committee, along with L.O. Jacob (whom L.O. Jacob Elementary was named after), which recommended the consolidation of small school districts into what is now the Anoka-Hennepin School District. The committee was elected in 1947 and presented its final report in 1951.
Moving Forward
Due to school closings, attendance boundaries in much of Coon Rapids will change beginning with the 2010-11 school year. Sorteberg students will attend Eisenhower and Sand Creek schools. It has not yet been determined how the building will be reused.

keeping track of the homestead

PCOM History

Presbyterian Church of the Master began when a few Presbyterian families without a church home in Coon Rapids area began collecting names of others until they had enough to send to Presbytery requesting a survey.  In July l960, a community survey was conducted under the direction of Rev. Willard Reeves, Director of New Church Development.  As a result, a comity allocation was granted by the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches and the Presbytery purchased a 6 acre site from Peter Sorteberg, November 1, 1960.  Rev. Jerome V. Lofgren was assigned as organizing minister.  Get-acquainted meetings were held, a steering committee formed, and the first worship service was held at Coon Rapids Junior High (now Middle School) attended by 29 adults, 55 children, and 30 infants.  Worship services continued there through March 1961.  (from the main web site)
Presbyterian Church of the Master
789 Northdale Blvd
Coon Rapids, MN

Bits and pieces that I have pieced together about the homestead from notes that my grandfather wrote.
The original homestead was on Sand Creek in Coon Rapids near Kumquat.  Leland Sorteberg was bon at this location.
Pete and Ida Sorteberg then purchased Warren Barney's house east of Hanson Blvd north of the Great Northern Railroad tracks.  3 of the chidren were born at this house.
In 1926 the Pete purchased the original homestead.  Oscar Swanson moved the house a half mile across the field so the family would be closer to the bus route.  3 children were born at this house.
1953 the farm was sold.  A new farm was purchased in Ramsey which one of the sons eventually took over.

I find it hard to navigate the logistics of where my family stayed.  My goal is to get the original maps for these homesteads.  It is very difficult to just plug it into the computer and get the information needed.  I can get a current picture but that doesn't help because it is now built up with houses.

(original homestead)

Christmas traditions

Christmas 1976

I enjoy traditions.  They are something that I can look forward to.  Christmas is probably the one holiday that we had quite a few traditions. They all revolved around family.  When it was time to put up the tree we dragged an old ragged box out that my parents got when they were first married and we fluffed and sorted the branches of the tree that I grew to dislike as I grew older!  I never understood why we had to have a fake tree.  As an adult I completely understand why we had a fake tree growing up.  Way easier, you can put it up when you want, you don't have to trek through the snow to find one.  You don't have to fight with your sibling over which tree is the very best one.  There are so many reasons that I just couldn't understand when I was little.

We all had to be in attendance when the tree went up.  We turned up the music and all shared in the moments that it took to get the darn thing looking perfect.  I never remember feeling like it was a chore that we had to do, even as we got older.  It was just a tradition that I never grew tired of.

Christmas eve was spent with my dad's side of the family without fail.  We didn't share gifts just a meal and great fellowship with family that we don't get to spend enough time with.  We have tried to keep that tradition as we have grown older but that gets harder and harder with each passing year.  One of the traditions that I mIss very much.  

Our church had an 11pm candlelight service that we always went to.  It was so nice to have our church family be the first that we shared the birth of Christ with.  I am pretty sure our parents did this so that we wouldn't wake up at the crack of dawn to see what santa brought for us.

Christmas day for more years than I can count has been spent at my grandmother's house.  She doesn't travel well any more so it is easier for us to go to her.  We have a very small family so it is easy to just relax, eat and enjoy the company of family.  The kids pull out the 1000 year old wooden toboggan, okay it is more like 50 years old but it feels like 1000!  Our goal as kids was trying to get it to the ice.

My most favorite tradition has been Santa presents.  These are gifts that were on your list.  However, they do not look like what you ordered from Santa!  If you want a car, you get a shiny match box car.  If you want mechanical pencils, you get a yellow pencil that has nuts and bolts attached to it.  If you want a vacation to some place exotic, you are blessed to get a hand drawn brochure of said exotic place.  I lived in Texas for many years and Santa and the elves brought me a package with a snowman inside a jar.  He unfortunately melted by the time he arrived, but it made being far away from my family and my home a little bit easier to handle.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

MAY YOUR TRADITIONS BE CONTINUED AND BLESSED WITH LOVE AND HAPPINESS

Military records can be very interesting to explore.  I do have the history on my Great Grandfather and I know that he only had to fill out the draft card and never went into the military.  He was a husband, father, and farmer in Coon Rapids, MN

In the United States, there were three rounds of draft registration in 1917 and 1918. The first two rounds included men from 21 to 31 years of age; the third round expanded the registration to men from 18 to 45 years of age. Draft registration was mandatory for men living in the United States, regardless of citizenship status.

A total of 24.3 million American men registered for the draft (about a quarter of the population), of which about 2.8 million were drafted. Another 2 million men volunteered or otherwise enlisted (those who had already volunteered did not have to fill out draft registration cards). In all, about 4.3 million men were actually mobilized, and about 350,000 were casualties, of which about 126,000 were killed. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Was_there_a_military_draft_in_World_War_1

 The best way to find out if you have a veteran in your family is of course to talk to your family.  That isn't always available to most of us.  Search engines are great at finding the missing pieces.

times slips away

Life has been crazy!  I know we can all say that at various times in our lives.  The holidays seem to make things even crazier.  We travel for Thanksgiving every year and spend a week away.  I get nothing done for that time period.  Here is what I should do:
1.  Keep journals of our family time together
2.  Sort through the tower of photos that I have
3.  Name the people in the tower of photos that I have
4.  Write down as much family history from the people I am with as I possibly can
5.  Read my genealogy magazines
6.  Generate to do lists from those magazines
7.  Make to do lists for my search of family history
8.  Make up a list of questions that need to clarified regarding the family history
9.  Take photos of everyone
10.  Enjoy being with family and being thankful for the many blessings that I have!
How many of those things did I do on vacation?  I'd say 2 of them.  Someday I will have it all together and be able to actually formulate the ideas into some sort of order!
I have the desire.  Just not the motivation!

Language barriers!

Norwegian relatives?

I came across this card with pictures in it the other day at my grandmother's house.  I do not speak Norwegian so I have no idea what it says.  One of my projects for the week will be to try and decipher the words on the back of this photo.  The time frame is around the time my grandparents made the trip to Norway to visit with relatives.  I so wish that I had had the opportunity to go with them on that trip!  I had a love for travel even then and I would have loved to meet the cousins that I have in Norway.  My grandfather has passed as has the cousin that he corresponded with for so many years.  You would think that it would be easy to find relatives in this day and age of the Internet but it really isn't.  My goal is to someday make the same trip that my grandparents made to the homestead and to meet the cousins that I long to know.  I have been told that even though we have different language, different cultures and live on different sides of the world, our family has similar mannerisms, personalities and look similar!