tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718756643650361118.post4298660981769119717..comments2019-02-26T08:55:23.364-06:00Comments on Eavesdropping In The Areopagus: ONE WEEK IN NORWAY AND I'M A PHILOSOPHERRichard Jorgensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10855434140247141016noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718756643650361118.post-81987059317891594062010-06-04T22:05:31.037-05:002010-06-04T22:05:31.037-05:00I really enjoyed your pictures and comments. John ...I really enjoyed your pictures and comments. John and I both have ancestors who came from Norway and we have visited some of our relatives there.<br /><br />One of my greatgrandfathers emigrated to America on his 18th birthday. I often think about how his mother might have felt seeing her son leave and knowing that she would probebly never see him again. (I remind myself of this when I start feeling sad that our grandchildren live so far away.) It sounds like Carol's relative left a mother behind too.<br /><br />I met him as a small child when he was an old man. We had a family reunion in Minnesota and I was told to tell grandpa Ole that it was time to come inside.He said that he planned to sleep in his car because, as he explained, the pine trees reminded him of Norway".Diane Hagennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718756643650361118.post-58520650450656446702010-06-03T22:03:28.258-05:002010-06-03T22:03:28.258-05:00Very nice pictures and interesting "story&quo...Very nice pictures and interesting "story" that goes with it. Thank you for sharing your travels with all of us.Teresa Ennisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718756643650361118.post-81198572015287332612010-05-27T07:47:53.904-05:002010-05-27T07:47:53.904-05:00Bill: Thanks for the comment. Your family story is...Bill: Thanks for the comment. Your family story is full of drama. And your questions are my questions. My incomplete understanding is that the main thing driving emigration was the law limiting inheritance to the older son, and the opening of comparatively large farm tracts in America, but I'm sure those issues you mention must have played a part. Two things I have not yet so far learned (regarding my wife's or my famly) are: Did any return? and did anyone die enroute?<br /><br />I hope you can make the trip.<br /><br />Dick JorgensenRichard Jorgensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10855434140247141016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718756643650361118.post-13194742652339692082010-05-26T21:16:01.270-05:002010-05-26T21:16:01.270-05:00Thanks for the vicarious visit to the homeland, Ri...Thanks for the vicarious visit to the homeland, Richard. Though mine are from Sweden it would be pretty much the same story should I go back. I do have the urge and curiosity. So, maybe.<br /><br />My Great Great Grandfather Sven Anderson came over in 1850, along with his brother and nephew. Both of those went back soon--- conditions. He married a girl, Kristina Larson, who came over on the same boat and who he found later in Minnesota. Her entire family had died on the voyage. But she kept on.<br /><br />I imagine the farm over there was similar, though your pic looks REALLY rough. I wonder, fairly often actually, what it was that made them venture into the unknown. I know a famine went all the way up there and the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe may have been part of it. But what were the local conditions? What was the talk around the table? What was the reaction when the decision was made or did they disappear in the dead of night? I'd give anything for the answers. Yeah, why are we interested?<br /><br />Bill GableAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com