It's All Relative

The entry mural at the UTVANDRARNAS HUS (Emigration Museum) in Vaxjo, Sweden


Over the weekend, Wes and I headed out on a "roots" sort of trip. All of my great grandparents
emigrated from Sweden and Wes had a grandfather and great grandparents emigrate as well.
We made many stops over the course of our three-day weekend and these stops are highlighted here.

Stop #1:  Boda

Boda is so small that you can miss this sign for it if you blink an eye! Thanks to Mark, Wes was able to get the GPS coordinates for this destination to find the home of his paternal Great Grandparents, Gust(av) and Emma.  Gust and Emma were neighboring sweethearts who emigrated once they married. Mission accomplished!
And, no, we didn't meet the current owners at Gust's former home.
                                


But we did see a lot of rocky reasons why they left this to come to America.

We also wondered if this Missionhus sign could have been from an old site of the family church?
Sadly, the road revealed no such church as we followed the sign to it.

Stop #2: Vaxjo
The Emigrant Museum is a must-see if you want to learn more about the mass emigration in the 19th century.  Here we saw so much, including the Chicago and North Park connections.



 

 
 



 
    Then on to Stop #3: Karlshamn in Blekinge



Here we are by the Utvandrarmonumentet/Emigrants Monument.
Here's the Lindahl family at that same location in 1963/64.  NOTE:  Renee not born yet!


Wes has relatives here!  The first cousin of his mother, her husband and two grown children - Birgitta, Ake, Anne and Per.  We were treated to one delightful fika, a salmon dinner and a lovely Swedish breakfast after our sleepover.  Out came the family pictures and memories!












After our breakfast, we were off to 
Stop #4:  Gammalstorp
 Gammalstorp is where my great grandfather, Oliver Nelson emigrated from.

 We found the large parish church here.  It's very possible my great grandfather was well-acquainted with this place as it was there when he lived in the area.



My mother's family also came from the Blekinge area as well as the nearby province of Skane.
We certainly are in relative country!

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