My Swedish Grandmother Maja and family have left behind treasures which each tug at heartstrings linked with cherished memories. What are your family heirlooms?, and why do you hold them to be treasures? In 2004, exploring the attic of grandma Maja’s daughter, Linnea, I found a treasure chest almost tossed out with the trash. LinneaContinue reading “Swedish Family Heirlooms: Genealogy Show and Tell Treasures”
Tag Archives: Sollefteå
Genealogy and Museums Spark Grandma’s Imaginations Come Alive
There is something special, very hard to describe about Swedish Grandmother’s softly expressed intent on sharing customs and traditions with grandchildren. I was fortunate to experience this Swedish nurturing firsthand, and to watch it as my mother was magically transformed into a mentor, teacher, tour guide into the mythical love of ethnic traditions and lore.Continue reading “Genealogy and Museums Spark Grandma’s Imaginations Come Alive”
Swedish Strong and Tough With a Courageous Heart
My Swedish Grandma Maja was one of the strongest and toughest people I have ever met. It takes me a whole book to explain how very strong she was in proving herself as an immigrant. I built my own life celebrating the example of gritty resilience Maja demonstrated. At the very same time, this strongContinue reading “Swedish Strong and Tough With a Courageous Heart”
Chicago Swedes Genealogy & Recollections 1871-1933
The Great Chicago Fire and the demand for builders and construction workers attracted many Swedes from 1871 until 1924 when US curtailed the welcome. Chicago became the home of our Swedish family roots in America. Swedish life for our family began in early 1900 when Albert Källgren emigrated to Chicago from Sollefteå Sweden seeking prosperityContinue reading “Chicago Swedes Genealogy & Recollections 1871-1933”
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 and Nordic-Scandia Wannabes
There are lots of good reasons to be a Swede these days. Many books come out lately celebrating the ways Nordic-Scandinavian people look at life and choose certain attractive and favorable lifestyle habits. Personally, although I did not directly choose to have Swedish genes and chromosomes, I am very pleased and proud to be aContinue reading “Swedish and Nordic-Scandia Wannabes”
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”
Maja's Blessings 