My Trails into the Past

I have no one story that means a lot to me. I have many. Each story adds on to another story. My children’s ancestors were not famous. They did not do super remarkable things that made the history books. We have no Mayflower ancestors. Likely no Jamestown either. Our families came later to the United States, some in the late 1600 and 1700s, many in the 1800s, and a few in the 1900s. Some came from Britain, some from German States, and a few from Ireland and Sweden. They settled in the South, Midwest, and the West. We do not know their reasons, except those who came to the US from Sweden, as they came later and left a few stories. But most likely came for the same reasons other families came: opportunity, for something that might be better than where they were, whether for better jobs or for land they could own. Most of our ancestors were farmers. Later comers had factory jobs and trade skills such as blacksmith, machinist, electrician, or tailor. Some were entrepreneurs, owning a poo...

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. What does the future hold for us? Some day I will be gone, but I hope that before I die, I have finished several family history books to pass down to family. I certainly do not want all of my research work go to waste. I have no one at the moment who is interested in taking it on. I can hope my daughters find someone special in their lives and maybe have children. Maybe one of the grandchildren might become interested in preserving our family history. My husband’s aunt has begun the process of donating all of the Nilsen family material to the California State Archives and I have integrated my research within what she had. I already wrote a three-generation story about the forefathers who came t...