It was hotter today than I
anticipated – all the way to 90. A lovely breeze gave way to pure heat by mid-afternoon. I failed to close the house and it got hot in here, too. Oh well.
Tomorrow is another day – the first day of summer – and it might be the first
day of air conditioning as well.
Daughter Hallie sent
questions about her great-grandfather Charlie Portfors (my mother's father), so I decided to delve
into scanning the documents that came my way a couple of years ago. It’s on my
list of “things I might not accomplish” while staycationing, so why not
accomplish it? It was my morning’s work.
My grandfather was born in
Finland in 1875 and came to the United States in 1891 with his father and
several siblings. Mother knew the story by heart, but did we write it down? No!
– and I don’t remember all the details. And now eldest sister Harriet, who did remember
family history, is also gone. It’s not that memory is so important, though it
certainly helps. In pursuing genealogy, you must have documentation, and the
quest for that doesn’t interest me. 
In Grandpa’s time, official documents relating to birth, death, marriage, etc., weren't issued, but he had some
foresight (or someone gave him some good advice). In the ‘30s, he obtained an
official marriage license and certificate (based on church records, I think) and in 1957, he apparently went to
considerable effort to obtain immigration documents from Finland and a
certificate of citizenship from the United States. These were among my uncle’s effects, and I
congratulate myself that I sifted through those before tossing. So, today was
the day. I scanned Grandpa’s documents and sent them to my brother and my daughter.
In the afternoon, I moved my
Brother embroidery machine to the living room. The little sewing room was glad
to have some relief from the congestion, and maybe I’ll actually read the
manual and embroider something. I’ve lost momentum and it’s hard to re-start. I
also cut out doll clothes.
But when it was time to walk the dogs, it was just too hot, so our outing was close to home. Mike called this evening, and I confirmed the amount of food each dog is allotted. I had written it down correctly but shorted them because I failed to check my notes. KW
3 comments:
The Nordic Heritage museum in Ballard (newly opened) had a nice display of personal items and stories of immigration. Many immigrated during the Homestead Act. News by letter of available work brought family members and friends. I believe the statistics said that 20% of the Nordic population came to the US over a 40 year span (that's probably wrong, but know that it's something very impressive and shocking).
I loved finding my Norwegian grandfather's records on line. I even found the ship's passenger list with his name on it. I do now have his citizenship papers that were in Mom and Dad's safety deposit box. How brave (or possible desperate) they were to leave all behind and come to America. Two of Grandpa's older brothers came first, then he came, then two sisters, so at least they had family since all settled in the Seattle area.
That's the way it was with my grandfather's family, too. They seemed to come in batches. I'm guessing that life was tough in the old country, so they were willing to take the chance, whatever that meant. My great-grandfather took a homestead in Michigan and received his patent, but he went back to Finland.
My grandfather (Charlie) didn't want to talk about the old country. What a shame! He wanted to assimilate in the U.S. as quickly as possible. But he was young enough when he came -- 16 -- that he might not have remembered a lot, especially since he didn't try to remember.
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