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Scandinavians used to live out their cold dark winters in Long Houses, the animals at one end, the humans at the other. It seems to have worked rather well since we do continue in great friendship with our furred and feathered companions. This is a wrap of the South Dakota visit, a warmly reassuring trip to a familiar family place. A few photos…mostly animals…although a few humans crept in. Cousins all. And… Read More
I’m just back from a few days in South Dakota, adopted land of my mother’s family. The time with my first cousins was just as family time should be and the reunion with more distant cousins likewise. Then there’s my ongoing exploration of the family tree and the grandparents and cousins that go back…and back…and back. Now I am considering ‘extended family’ in a whole new way—in layers and branches and trees…. Read More
So here’s the thing about abnbs. When you’re in a ‘foreign’ country don’t you always wonder how the natives live? I mean on a daily basis, personally, in their most private of spaces and moments. Do they use duvets or sheets and blankets? What sort of knickknacks do they put on corner tables? What do they eat just before going to bed? Well, turns out that in the kind of abnb that’s… Read More
Albuquerque to Denver to Minneapolis 6:45am to 2:30pm. Minneapolis to Sioux Falls 4:00pm to 9pm. Here I am. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. You only hear me talk about Minnesota and Norway. But there’s a darker side to my family’s story. We are part Swedish and have a South Dakota heritage as well. I’m kidding about that ‘darker’ part—I just say it because dad always claimed the reason my mom was so stubborn… Read More
THE ‘BEGATS’ According to cousin, Arne Neset, of Stavanger, Norway, Neset history begins in the late 17th century when one of our ancestors, Knut J. Haugen, appears to have bought the farm Haugen from the bailiff Christian Mouritzen Torup in Grendi around 1695. Thanks to Arne’s fairly extensive research here’s what we know. First a ‘begat’ paragraph to bring the family up to the 1860s. For five generations, the family name was… Read More
Since Neset is my name and since I grew up on the Minnesota land homesteaded by Grandpa Torgus Neset, it was probably inevitable that Neset family history is where my ancestral search would first lead me. Here’s a true story about reaching a first branch of the family tree. The first DNA-focused post shared what few facts I have about Grandma Asborg Eilifsdotter Neset—followed by three short stories about her journey to… Read More
ON THE TRAIL OF MY DNA: Part 1 What better place to begin then the waterscapes of Byglandsfiord and a mountain lake nearby; this is a view from whichever cabin I’m in at Neset Camping or on a drive up the mountainside. These are photos from 2016, interspersed with today’s tale. The search begins here, with me, Marjorie Neset, and with dad and mom, Svein Neset and Ovidia Mathilda Floren…and quickly moves… Read More
“Ancestry” has been referenced in many of my posts. Here’s the quick and simple version of exactly what it is and how I’m using it to add both breadth and depth to my summer trip to Norway. Ancestry.com is a website that connects us with our extended—multiple generations extended —families. This is how it works for me. I first joined in order to access their family tree maker and start the process… Read More