Since studying genealogy of my Swedish immigrant family I have encountered more interest and chatter about US immigrant name change stories occurring at Ellis Island than most any other topic. My 2020 book, My Maja A Grandson’s Tribute explores my journey to track my relatives coming from Sweden through Ellis Island eventually landing in Chicago.Continue reading “Swedes and Immigrant Name Change Stories: Facts, Myths, Mysteries, and Fun”
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Swedish Immigrant Adversity: How Did Women Fare?
My grandmother certainly was not the only Swedish woman immigrant who suffered significant difficulties and adversity in making the commitment to come to America and have to make harsh adjustments. The stress and strain my dear Grandma Maja endured as a woman, widow, single mother breadwinner was in my opinion cruel and abusive. She boreContinue reading “Swedish Immigrant Adversity: How Did Women Fare?”
Genealogy: Art or Drudgery?
Thousands each day, across the globe, receive divine inspiration of one sort or another to pickup the challenges associated with exploring and assembling one’s genealogy. Just exactly how one chooses to celebrate the process of approaching the big and small challenges connecting to adopting a family history project might make all the difference. One approachContinue reading “Genealogy: Art or Drudgery?”
Swedish Love Letters: Genealogy Tears and Years
In 2004 I found in a dusty attic, my Grandma Maja’s Sweden to America steamer trunk filled with buried treasures. Dozens of photos, artifacts, and more. What a happy shock. Maja and I were reunited as I tenderly examined each special piece of her lifetime memories she left behind. It had been over 30 yearsContinue reading “Swedish Love Letters: Genealogy Tears and Years”
Swedish Immigrant Great Depression Kids- The Fallout
Grandma Maja was one of the finest teachers I have ever met. Her three children , Delores, Peter, and Linnea without a father learned the meaning of a lifestyle philosophy: “a stitch in time saves 9”. The incredibly hard times of America’s Great Depression tested the character of widow Maja and her three Swedish AmericanContinue reading “Swedish Immigrant Great Depression Kids- The Fallout”
Swedish Immigrant Regret: Looking Backwards
Meeting the challenges of leaving much loved Sweden and relatives and choosing to settle in America must have been a mixed bag of emotions. It takes a whole book: My Maja A Grandson’s Tribute to sort out for the reader my views of my grandmother’s decision to set down roots in America and incurring terribleContinue reading “Swedish Immigrant Regret: Looking Backwards”
Published Book Review from The Daily Scandinavian
My Swedish Grandmother September 11, 2020 Tor Kjølberg, Ph.D., Editor in Chief Don Grossnickle, the grandson of Maja Källgren Witterström, spent 14 years dusting off photos and archives he found in his grandmother’s steamers trunk on a journey to revive her memory and proclaim her dramatic and inspiring story. Read more about the fascinating storyContinue reading “Published Book Review from The Daily Scandinavian”
Living Monuments to Ancestors as Tributes
The feeling to leave a tribute behind to honor my Swedish Grandmother Maja carried me through the ordeals of publishing a book. But, Why? How? “WE are the “living monuments” to our ancestors. Shirley Abbott once said, “We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics ofContinue reading “Living Monuments to Ancestors as Tributes”
Tech Tools Boost Preserving Family History
Today’s smart phones in tandem with Microsoft Word processing apps can empower most everyone to collect and share family history. Electronic scrapbooking gives the average person the tools needed to weave together old photos, stories and genealogy family trees. My Maja A Grandson’s Tribute is an example of what an iPhone and Microsoft Word canContinue reading “Tech Tools Boost Preserving Family History”
Swedish Edge? Culture, Heritage, Tradition
I grew up believing that my very Swedish grandmother was invincible and slaying a dragon would be no big deal. Not that she spent one minute of our 21 years together trying in any way to convince me of her super powers. I somehow just knew she was like a knight, a powerful Viking SwedeContinue reading “Swedish Edge? Culture, Heritage, Tradition”
Maja's Blessings 