At the Lake

Summer at the Lake, it's beautiful!

circa 1979

I just love this picture of my parents

they look happy and relaxed -

which is what a vacation is all about!!

Grand Forks ND

Courtesy of the Library of Congress, 

these are two of my fav images from Grand Forks, ND. 

There's just something about the way the cars are parked 

that makes it look like no one was in a big hurry 

when they went into town to do their shopping!

The second photo intrigues me as well. 

I believe both are 1940s era photos, 

note the banner in the background says 

"Welcome Roosevelt Our President".

New ACME Hotel EGF

 In "The City of EGF Illustrated", 

it tells The New Acme Hotel was built in 1882, 

and was located on the SW corner of Sibley St and Washington Ave. 

In the June 1887 devastating storm, the barn was destroyed. 

Damages estimated at $100.

Using a bit of logic, the hotel was built in 1882.  This building looks a little well used, so maybe this photo was in the late 1890s or the early 1900s.  It makes me wonder if any of my relatives are in this photo?   The women on the balcony ... "residents" of the hotel?  

EAST GRAND FORKS is located where the Red River of the North and the Red Lake River gently meet.  Most cities and towns on the frontier experienced rapid early growth followed by a period of stagnation before they either died or entered relatively long periods of growth. East Grand Forks was different. It grew very slowly for the first few years.  In 1889, North Dakota became a state, on July 1, 1890, Grand Forks went dry.

The city of East Grand Forks was just 9 years old, but it had a powerful allure of lawlessness. During the city's early days in the late 1800s and through the first few decades of the past century, the dusty frontier town across the Red River was booming with bootleg booze, loose women and illegal gambling.  Here were places you could go and get served alcohol; and, of course, when you have alcohol, you probably get prostitution, too. A city doesn't really want to have a house of ill repute, but some of it just happened back then because of liquor.  The city had up to 48 saloons at one time, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not in the 1930s reported a three-block area of downtown had the highest concentration of neon lights in the world.

Frank Duffy of the East Grand Forks Courier once wrote "The police are kept unusually busy looking after the peace and quiet of the city, and a number of arrests have been made as follows: Wm. Casey, drunk; Henry Lewis, very drunk; B. Holland, hilariously drunk; Albert Ross, vociferously drunk, and Samuel Brown, dead drunk. The prisoners in each case got the usual dose."

By 1933, the Minnesota Legislature approved the sale of 3.2 percent beer.  April 28, 1933 was referred to as "New Beer's Eve." In one day, 100,000 bottles of beer were sold in East Grand Forks.

That's one interesting little city!

Anniversary

  

Mom and Dad celebrating an Anniversary .. 

and Mom slips into her Wedding Dress for a photo!

Yummm, the summer garden is planted and looking great! 

We'll have plenty of delicious tomatoes soon! 

Growing up I wasn't a fan of tomatoes, but now .... 

there's nothing better than a slice of tomato 

with just about everything! Especially if it's home grown!

Spring!

Perhaps Easter or Mother's Day ... 

Dad, Mom, Grandma Myrtle and husband Bill Greer. 

ca 1976/1977

Buffy lolling in the grass (we STILL have flamingos in 1976/77??)

 Lori dressed up, that was such a cute dress style! 

And Lori with Diana and Rene Nault in the front yard. 

(and a flamingo in the background here too!!!)

Anna Liden

Very little is known about relatives so many generations back.  But I'm trying to imagine, to piece together a timeline on some of them, just because. 

Anna Liden was born in 1877.  She came to America with her mother, and 3 brothers at around age 10. 
I like to think that they came to Pennington County, Minnesota, because they knew someone who could assist them.  Anna is my great grandfather Charles' sister. 

I believe she was baptized as
Anna Cecelia on July 9, 1877,
in Nikolai församling, Sweden
with no Father's name, and her Mother's name as Kajsa Andersdotter.

In 1893 she married Ole Lundberg.  She had her first child, Albin, in 1895.  Clara was born in 1896.  Signe was born in 1898.  Mable Olive in 1900.  Rudolph was born in 1902.  Silwer was born in 1903, and then died.  (Oddly enough, the listing in the Minnesota Deaths shows her name as Anna Danielson).

In 1904, Ole dies, and Rudolph and Albin are sent to live with Charles' family.  I don't know if Clara or Mable went with them; Clara died in 1908.  Mable is found on the 1920 Census as a "boarder" with Anna and her second husband.

In 1906, Anna marries Carl Bergan.  He was married previously, and had seven children with his first wife, Karoline.  His two youngest children, Mabel and Marie, would have been only a few years old when he marries Anna, and yet, the next Census in 1910 doesn't list any of his first wife's children living with him.  Which leaves me to assume divorce, rather than being widowed.

Carl and Anna go on to have more children:  Arthur in 1907, Gladys in 1910, Ruth in 1911, Arnold in 1913, Ettle (or Ettie?) in 1915, Myrtle in 1917, and Frances in 1920.  By this time, Anna is 43 and has given birth to more than twelve children.  Anna dies in 1924, Carl dies in 1927.

In 1940, Rudolph is a resident at Fergus Falls Hospital.  He is buried in the Liden family plot at Greenwood Cemetery in Thief River Falls, MN.  He was 77 years old.  I don't have a clue why he was at Fergus Falls, or where he lived after 1940. 

Piecing together this little bit of history hasn't been easy!

I can't imagine what life was like for Anna when her husband dies.  She can't provide for her children, so they are sent to live with other family members.  She remarries and continues having more children. 

At this point, I haven't located where she is buried, or where her children all ended up. On one of the message boards that I frequent, Dianna Hanson was looking for information, her grandmother is Mable Olive Lindberg.   Maybe some day, we'll be in touch!