BAD Blogger

I've been a bad blogger lately.

I cannot keep up with reading blogs the past few weeks, much less posting myself.

Anna Katerina Mansdotter Svensson

Donald and I spent this Sunday at my step-mothers house. Ten years after my father's death I was finally able to find two boxes filled with family documents, keepsakes and about 100 loose photos. They are sitting in sealed boxes filled with rice at the moment to try and remove some of the dampness from decades of sitting in envelopes in their basement. Next we'll move on to getting rid of the musty smell and then scanning and storage.

If I don't come across in this blog post as appropriately excited, believe me, I AM!!  I found things and photos that I didn't even know existed. I was able to bring things home (china, silver, furniture) that I had not seen in years. I am emotionally and physically spent by the excitement of my discoveries, by spending hours in the car Saturday and Sunday and the hauling of all these things up to our 2nd-floor apartment on Sunday night.

The photo above is just one of my finds. It is a picture of my 2nd great-grandmother Anna Katerina Mansdotter Svensson, wife of Anders Svensson, mother of my paternal grandmother's father, Carl Johan Anderson. I never imagined that I would see a photo of her. My great-grandfather must have brought the photo to America with him when he immigrated in the 1880s.

This will be another busy week but I hope to find the time to plan a few posts and get back in the swing by the end of the week.

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Anders Svensson m. Anna Katerina Mansdotter

their son

Carl Johan Anderson m. Mathilda Alfina Johnson

their daughter

Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson m. Howard Bierly Matthews

their son

Stephen David Matthews was my father.