I guess I could call myself an Orphan, as I have no descendants, but I think I have left a few marks to remember me. Monday November 30th I will for the fifth time be recorded in court records as a prospective juror (I have been on four juries already, I think I have impartial juror tatooed on my forehead), but I really want to tell about my great uncle Laurits Hansen.
In 1990 we had a Hansen reunion and we had descendants of 3 of the 5 Hansen brothers that came to the USA to Austin, Minnesota. They were descendants of Anton (my grandfather), John and Lawrence Hansen. See the article I did on that reunion here. Lorraine Erickson a daughter of Lawrence was a volunteer at a Family History Center and sent us group sheets on the five brothers and some addresses so we had a good reunion and found out a lot on the Hansen's we did not know before, but we wanted to learn more. In 1993 I signed up for the Christmas Tour of the Family History Library with Leland Meitzler and Donna Phillips and several other professional genealogists from Salt Lake City. I wanted to find Danish records and one of the professionals (Wade Hone) was a Scandinavian expert. He helped me find about 6 generations of records for my family in Denmark and one of the people I found was Laurits Hansen a twin brother of John Hansen. John and Laurits were twins and four days after birth they were christened in their home, which Wade said was rather odd. I later found out there was a flood in Denmark and they took the mother Karen Jorgensen and the two babies John and Laurits out the second story window in a row boat just after birth and neither John nor Laurits were expected to live, so that is why the priest came to thier home to christen them. John of course did live, but his twin Laurits died at 5 days old. Now I was wondering what happened? Remember we had descendants of Lawrence Hansen (Laurits in Denmark) at our reunion and Lawrence had 11 children so there are a lot of descendants, and the Danish records says he died at 5 days? John's family was wondering who was the twin in his ancestors as they had a bunch of twins in the grand kids of John. So this confirmed John was a twin. Wade suggested for me to keep looking in the records and sure enough after Martin Hansen was born that microfilm ended, so I went and got the next one and found two more boys born to Hans Mikkelsen and Karen Jorgensen, the first was Laurits Theodore and the second was Claudius. Although Laurits was a common name in the Danish records, I never found another Theodore anywhere. This was the Lawrence that came to the USA and had 11 kids! Claudius kind of intrigued me also as my dad was Claude Hansen, maybe named for his uncle?
To submit your own entry into the Carnival of Genealogy #85 on Orphans.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wordless Wednesday Emerald Pool
Two more pictures from my great Aunt Latisha Vanderpool's trip through Yellowstone Park July 21-28, 1915
"Mr. Todd" our guide over geyser formation "Emerald Pool"
Sponge Geyser
"Mr. Todd" our guide over geyser formation "Emerald Pool"
Sponge Geyser
Sunday, November 22, 2009
November 22, 1963 Memories
I was reminded by the article on my home page about the death of President John Kennedy. I did not think I would ever forget that day, I was a sophomore at Rogers High School, and the president was shot when I was in PE class. My next class was World History and I was surprised when I arrived that the teacher had the TV on and was setting solemnly at his desk. He filled us in on what had happened, and we sat glued to the TV for the rest of the class without a word being spoken. I don't remember what happened at classes the rest of the day, but when I got home they were still covering the death of the President on all three channels. Later I watched as the casket was paraded in Washington DC and the funeral of our President. The new president Lyndon Johnson was a lot different from John Kennedy, but he did try to finish some of the things John Kennedy had started.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wordless Wednesday Grotto
Two more pictures from my grand Aunt Latisha Vanderpool's trip through Yellowstone Park July 21-28, 1915
"Grotto"
Excelsior Geyser
"Grotto"
Excelsior Geyser
Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- A Nice Thing
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- A Nice Thing
Well I am a little late as I was away from my computer for 4 days, but back now for a while.
Here is your genealogy writing mission, if you decide to accept it (cue the Mission: Impossible music...):
1. What is the Nicest Thing another genealogist did for you, or to you, in the last week or so? (If you have no examples for this past week, go back in time - surely someone has done a nice thing for you in recent years!).
Well lets pick Vicky Dalton the Spokane County Auditor. She is not really a genealogist, but her office holds a lot of records important to genealogists, the most important is marriage records, but she also has some early birth and death records and all the land records for Spokane County. A little over five years ago the county had a budget problem and each county office was supposed to cut their budget about 30% due to a new city being formed in the county. While a lot of county offices lost about 30% of the work they had previously done that was not real hard, but the Auditors office did not lose any work. Soon after the new city was formed I received a note in my in box at the library asking for a genealogist to help other genealogists get copies of records from the Auditors office. Vicky was a little reluctant to let me do those look ups, but she did. So now the nice things she has done for me. A couple of years ago at a candidate forum at our local community center, her opponent did not show up so she gave her opening speech and near the end she pointed out a very special person in the audience (it was me) that had helped the Auditors office when they were very short of money. While I know a lot of people at the Community Center, I never told any of them I was volunteering at the Auditors office, so they were somewhat surprised. A few weeks ago the Washington State Digital Archives celebrated its fifth birthday and the Auditors of Washington were one of the driving forces in getting it built, so Vicky was one of the speakers and once again I was pointed out to the crowd as a help in the Auditors office and also to the Digital Archives.
Well I am a little late as I was away from my computer for 4 days, but back now for a while.
Here is your genealogy writing mission, if you decide to accept it (cue the Mission: Impossible music...):
1. What is the Nicest Thing another genealogist did for you, or to you, in the last week or so? (If you have no examples for this past week, go back in time - surely someone has done a nice thing for you in recent years!).
Well lets pick Vicky Dalton the Spokane County Auditor. She is not really a genealogist, but her office holds a lot of records important to genealogists, the most important is marriage records, but she also has some early birth and death records and all the land records for Spokane County. A little over five years ago the county had a budget problem and each county office was supposed to cut their budget about 30% due to a new city being formed in the county. While a lot of county offices lost about 30% of the work they had previously done that was not real hard, but the Auditors office did not lose any work. Soon after the new city was formed I received a note in my in box at the library asking for a genealogist to help other genealogists get copies of records from the Auditors office. Vicky was a little reluctant to let me do those look ups, but she did. So now the nice things she has done for me. A couple of years ago at a candidate forum at our local community center, her opponent did not show up so she gave her opening speech and near the end she pointed out a very special person in the audience (it was me) that had helped the Auditors office when they were very short of money. While I know a lot of people at the Community Center, I never told any of them I was volunteering at the Auditors office, so they were somewhat surprised. A few weeks ago the Washington State Digital Archives celebrated its fifth birthday and the Auditors of Washington were one of the driving forces in getting it built, so Vicky was one of the speakers and once again I was pointed out to the crowd as a help in the Auditors office and also to the Digital Archives.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
What The Carnival of Genealogy Means to Me
The 84th Carnival of Genealogy subject is the title above, and Jasia has some questions for us to answer:
Q: What was your favorite topic to write about?
A: How I spend My Summer Vacation
Q: Have you guest hosted the COG?
A: Nope...
Q: Is there an article you've read in the COG that stands out in your mind?
A: None that I can think of now, I started reading the COG in 2009 so I have a lot to read yet.
Q: What have you learned from reading or writing for the COG?
A: I started online on Prodigy in 1991 and read articles each day from very experienced genealogists, and the COG is very similar. I still am not a good writer, guess I should have paid more attention in English classes in school.
Q: Have you ever recommended the COG to anyone?
A: Yes I wrote an article on the COG for the monthly Branching Out Newsletter I have been writing.
Q: If you haven't participated in the COG thus far, why not?
A: Well this will be the 10th COG article I have submitted since I started my blog.
Q: How has the COG helped your family history research?
A: Gives me a chance to practice writing.
Q: Has it impacted your life in any way?
A: I have received some interesting comments, but so far not much impact.
Q: What was your favorite topic to write about?
A: How I spend My Summer Vacation
Q: Have you guest hosted the COG?
A: Nope...
Q: Is there an article you've read in the COG that stands out in your mind?
A: None that I can think of now, I started reading the COG in 2009 so I have a lot to read yet.
Q: What have you learned from reading or writing for the COG?
A: I started online on Prodigy in 1991 and read articles each day from very experienced genealogists, and the COG is very similar. I still am not a good writer, guess I should have paid more attention in English classes in school.
Q: Have you ever recommended the COG to anyone?
A: Yes I wrote an article on the COG for the monthly Branching Out Newsletter I have been writing.
Q: If you haven't participated in the COG thus far, why not?
A: Well this will be the 10th COG article I have submitted since I started my blog.
Q: How has the COG helped your family history research?
A: Gives me a chance to practice writing.
Q: Has it impacted your life in any way?
A: I have received some interesting comments, but so far not much impact.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A Tribute to a Veteran
My dad Claude Hansen was 35 and single when WWII started, (they were drafting men to age 36), he had been to a CMTC camp and he said about all they did was march, so when Pearl Harbor was attacked he went to Geiger Air Force Base and enlisted in the Army Air Corps hoping he could fly and not have to march a lot. He never once flew anywhere during the war. He was part of the 354th Service Squadron, they serviced and fueled the B-17s and B-24s. The Squadron went to England, and spent most of the war in Africa and towards the end they were in Italy. My dad had been a truck driver and a mechanic before the war started so he ran the motor pool, to keep the jeeps, trucks, wrecker and tankers running. He was overseas for 39 months, and got rotated home early because of his age, so he was back in Spokane on VJ day. The Squadron had packed up after VE day and was heading for Japan. They were in the Panama Canal when the A-Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and they sent them to San Francisco to await orders, but Japan had surrendered before they got there, so most everyone was mustered out of the Army.
I don't ever remember seeing this photo when he was alive, but found it in his old photos.
I don't ever remember seeing this photo when he was alive, but found it in his old photos.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Transportation Carnival of Genealogy
Here are a couple of pictures of my dad Claude Hansen's transportation. The first picture was taken near Columbus Montana with his bicycle (I still have that bike, but he replaced the tires and wheels years ago as the old sized tires he had were no longer available). He rode this bike to Salt Lake City for a CMTC camp and later to Kansas City to Sweeney's Auto school.
The truck was his early Ford truck he bought to haul logs from the stump farm in Blanchard Idaho. They would roll the logs up smaller logs to the bunk on the truck, chain the logs down and then hall to the lumber mill or to the railroad. He hauled logs first with a Model T truck, then later a Model A truck, and finally a Ford V8 truck
The truck was his early Ford truck he bought to haul logs from the stump farm in Blanchard Idaho. They would roll the logs up smaller logs to the bunk on the truck, chain the logs down and then hall to the lumber mill or to the railroad. He hauled logs first with a Model T truck, then later a Model A truck, and finally a Ford V8 truck
Wordless Wednesday Old Faithful
Two more pictures from my great Aunt Latisha Vanderpool's trip through Yellowstone Park July 21-28, 1915
Old Faithful in distance
Bee Hive Geyser
Old Faithful in distance
Bee Hive Geyser
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Name Profiler for Saturday Nigh Fun
Well I went to the World Names Profiler and typed in my surname Hansen, and it was no big surprise Denmark led the world in Hansen's, followed by Norway, Sweden, and then a couple of surprises for me, New Zealand and Australia and next the USA, Germany, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands.
I clicked on North America and most of the map was in light green, so just below average for most of North America including Canada. The northern tier states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho and Washington are in light blue so just a little more Hansen's there. Also the Northern Territories of Canada in the light blue.
Now that I have done that I will say I am NOT related to about 98 or 99% of those Hansen's, so those types of maps mean very little to me. Why? My grandfather and his 7 brothers and two sisters were the first Hansen's in our families. They were all children of Hans Mikkelsen, and he was the son of Mikkel Madsen and so on back each generation. So now my name distribution. Five Hansen brothers came to Minnesota from Denmark and four never left the state except for vacations, number 5 my grandfather moved to Montana and eventually to Idaho. I think one sister moved to Iowa, and the two surviving children in Denmark stayed there. Two died young and no issue. So today most of the children of the five brothers still live in Minnesota or close by states of Wisconsin and North and South Dakota or Nebraska. Out west several in Washington, some in Montana and Colorado, and quite a few in California and Florida.
I clicked on North America and most of the map was in light green, so just below average for most of North America including Canada. The northern tier states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho and Washington are in light blue so just a little more Hansen's there. Also the Northern Territories of Canada in the light blue.
Now that I have done that I will say I am NOT related to about 98 or 99% of those Hansen's, so those types of maps mean very little to me. Why? My grandfather and his 7 brothers and two sisters were the first Hansen's in our families. They were all children of Hans Mikkelsen, and he was the son of Mikkel Madsen and so on back each generation. So now my name distribution. Five Hansen brothers came to Minnesota from Denmark and four never left the state except for vacations, number 5 my grandfather moved to Montana and eventually to Idaho. I think one sister moved to Iowa, and the two surviving children in Denmark stayed there. Two died young and no issue. So today most of the children of the five brothers still live in Minnesota or close by states of Wisconsin and North and South Dakota or Nebraska. Out west several in Washington, some in Montana and Colorado, and quite a few in California and Florida.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Wordless Wednesday Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Two more pictures from my great Aunt Latisha Vanderpool's trip through Yellowstone Park July 21-28, 1915
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River
Mammouth Hot Springs
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River
Mammouth Hot Springs
