Thursday, February 27, 2020

Jason & Spencer Jack Take Me Back In Time To 1876

Email yesterday from my favorite Jason nephew, subject line...

"Relatively Speaking: Howdy FUD".

If I remember correctly I have previously explained the letters "FUD" are the initials of Favorite Uncle D.

The relative Jason was speaking of was his Great Great Grandpa Sundean, the father of my mother's mother, Jason's Great Grandma Vera.

Jason and Spencer Jack have been doing some relative infosearching via something called Ancestry.com, on which they found the info Jason emailed me about my Great Grandpa Sundean.

I am a lot more knowledgeable about the Dutch side of my ancestry. My dad was 100% Dutch. I am 50% Dutch. I knew I was 25% English and 25% Swedish, from my mother's contribution to my ancestry.

But, I did not know it was via Grandma Vera and my Great Grandpa that I got my 25% Swedish-ness, until this Ancestry info arrived via Jason and Spencer Jack.

Til reading what Jason emailed me I also did not know that Great Grandpa Sundean's wife was named Hattie Swanson, and that she died a year after I was born, hence me having no memory of a Great Grandma on my mom's side.

I do remember Great Grandma Tillie on my dad's Dutch side. Great Grandma Tillie taught us Dutch words and knitted all sorts of things for me and my siblings.

After I asked Jason where he found the info about Great Grandpa Sundean he gave me the Ancestry. com log-in info.

So, I logged in and found the photo you see above. I was instantly struck by the fact that the guy on the left looks just like Grandma Vera's youngest brother, who I knew as Uncle Pete, but whose actual name was Woodrow, which I did not know.

But, that is not Uncle Pete on the left above. That is Uncle Pete and Grandma Vera's brother Fred, with Grandpa Sundean in the middle, and brother Harold on the right. I have no recollection of ever meeting Uncles Fred and Harold.

Til reading this info from Jason I did not know that Grandpa Sundean, whose full name I also did not know, Andrew E. Sundean, was born November 20, 1876, the same year Custer had his last stand.

Grandpa Sundean left his mom and dad behind in Sweden when he was 18, eventually ending up, like all my ancestors, at the far northwest part of America. I do not know if he ever returned to visit Sweden and his mom and dad.

Til Jason reminded me, I had forgotten how interesting I find this family history type info. I went through a bout of learning all about my Dutch side, way back in 2001. That led to a huge family reunion happening at the Lynden fairgrounds on July 27, 2002.

After that reunion I sort of lost my interest in family history...

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