tirsdag 4. november 2008

Story time....

Let me tell you a story.... once upon a time (that's how all great stories start) there was a couple from Finland... they decided to take the big leap and sail across the Atlantic... and somehow they made it there.. and ended up on the east coast of America... and this is where my great-grandmother was born.. her name was Maria Alina Dahl .... she grew up an american citizen.. and at some point in her life ( I am not sure of any details) she met a boy called Jacob Benjamen, but had called himself Jack to make it a bit easier, son of Elias, so called himself Ellison . His full real name was Jacob Benjamen Myklebust, kind of tough to pronounce in english.. therefor he ended up called Jack Ellison....
Anyway.. these two met, fell in love and made their home in Portland, Oregon. In one of those beautiful tudor style-houses .. looking something like this:

I found this house off the internet, but I remember the photo of their house, and it looked very much like this one... beautiful if you ask me..

Well, anyway, they got married and had a baby boy called Eldor... a couple of years later they were expecting another baby, but that is when Jack got words from his family back home in Norway.. his father had died, and he had inherited the farm, and needed to come home..

so imagine this beautiful woman here

pregnant, and travelling from Portland, Oregon... across america in 1919... and then across the Atlantic, to her new home on a farm... a tiny Norwegian house, but huge farm... and alot of work ahead of them.

They made it to Norway safe and sound, and my grandmother was born on june 7th 1919. They must've really loved eachother to make such a huge change of lifestyle.... my great-grandmother didn't even know the language... but I remember her speaking a mix of norwegian, swedish(learned from her parents and swedish relatives) and english...

And this is how and why I came to be so interested in America in the first place... You can imagine all the stories I have heard over the years...

7 kommentarer:

Jessica sa...

Morning Monica~

What a wonderful story of love and courage. To live during that time must have been really amazing! Your great-grandmother was very beautiful. Have a great day!

Hugs~ J.

P.S. I'm going to add you to my blog list. :)

Miamor sa...

,,,så flott og personlig blogg du har!!! Er gift med en ørsting jeg..og jeg skjønner du er fra distriktet!! Vakker historie!! jeg har masse amerikabrev som betyr mye for meg..fra min oldemor...!! ønsker deg ei god helg!! Marit ;)

nikkicrumpet sa...

VERY cool Story...and she was a beautiful woman. And obviously a strong one who loved her husband. So cool to have an interesting family history!

Robin Beck sa...

Hi Monica...
Funny thing...I live very close to Portland Oregon. It is only a couple of hours from my home. In fact I think my husband will be working in Portland come next year. We will still live here but he will travel to Oregon.
I used to live in a small town outside of Portland. I could not imagine moving from Portland to Norway. I think it is great that you are honoring your Great Grandmother with this post. I really enjoyed reading it.
Robin~♥
Have you ever been to America?

Tonje sa...

What a beautiful story. It must've been such a hard choice to leave the life you knew and move to little Norway... that's courage!

Buffie sa...

Loved the story! You look like your grandmother! Y'all must have very strong genes in your family! :)

Buffie sa...

Most definitely in the eyes and the nose too, I think! Beauty runs in your blood! :)


Buffie