This is my second year working on this year-long
prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week
in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing
about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.
My husband’s mother was a Nilsen before her
marriage. When I first met my husband, I found out about the yearly Nilsen
Family Reunion. Because there were many families living in Southern California,
the reunion in the 1960s through 90s were held in alternately in Southern
California and Northern California.
The Nilsen family first lived in Hilmar, Merced
County, California, when the Rev. Nils Malkom Nilsen came in 1906 to be the first
pastor at the Hilmar Mission Church.[1]
Later in November 1920, he moved his family to Los Angeles to be the pastor at the
First Covenant Church in San Pedro.[2]
Three of his children continued to live in Southern California after he moved
back north.
The first reunion was in 1935, when Nil's son, Joe and his family came back from their first tour in the Congo of Africa.
When my mother-in-law's sister, Bernice, moved to Southern California in 1961, the reunions were held there so families could take trips to Disneyland. Bernice said, they once had 37 people stay at their home, with children in sleeping bags on the floor or in tents outside.
The first reunion was in 1935, when Nil's son, Joe and his family came back from their first tour in the Congo of Africa.
When my mother-in-law's sister, Bernice, moved to Southern California in 1961, the reunions were held there so families could take trips to Disneyland. Bernice said, they once had 37 people stay at their home, with children in sleeping bags on the floor or in tents outside.
Today, the reunions are held in Northern
California and occasionally at Lake Tahoe. Twice they were out of state in
Colorado and Idaho. Our family drove to Colorado in a three-car caravan,
stopping at National Parks in Utah along the way.
Everyone brings food for the potluck. We play
softball or some other game. Volleyball was played once at the beach. A piñata
or two are available for the children. By dusk, we’re cleaning up and meeting
either at the local motel where everyone is staying or at a local family member’s
house to continue the visiting.
Some years, T-shirts were made for each of the
family lines in different colors. We celebrate life’s anniversaries of births,
marriages, deaths, graduations, and job successes.
And we celebrate family.
[1] “Seventieth
Birthday of Pastor Observed,” clipping probably from the Turlock Daily Journal, June 1935, Nilsen Family Archive; privately held by Lisa
S. Gorrell, [Address for private use],
Martinez, California.
[2] "U.S.,
Evangelical Covenant Church, Swedish American Church Records, 1868-1970,"
digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com), First Covenant
Church, Record of Members, p. 178, no. 495. Rev Nils Malkom Nilsen, image 160
of 232.
Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.
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