I intended for this blog to be a repository for my genealogy tips, thoughts and reflections that were too lengthy to for wall posts. The past few months have been so busy I have yet to get back to it. But now I resolve to post a little something each week.
This June I traveled with my siblings to Sweden where we visited my mother's ancestral home. In Lycksele and Vägsele we saw my grandparents' birthplaces. We visited churches and historic sites in Göteborg, Stockholm, the High Coast, Umeå, Lycksele, Tärnaby and Östersund, hiking many miles each day sightseeing both cities and mountain wilderness. I met my genealogist cousin with whom I had corresponded for several years, and his parents who had originally helped my parents research my mother's ancestry. We shared some wonderful times with this family and stored up memories to last a lifetime. After I returned I discovered through a Facebook post that a local friend shares my ancestry. She connected me with another Swedish cousin who sent me this photo of my ancestors John Philipson Hilduinen and his wife Hildur who walked from northern Finland ca 1670 and built the first settlement in Lycksele parish, Örträsk.
Following the meeting we toured, in person, the Tabor-Wing House in Dover Plains (above). Some reunion goers then hiked to the Dover Stone Church (above) where Pequot Sachem Sassacus is thought to have sought refuge when pursued by the English soldiers in 1637. Though the afternoon was exceptionally hot even for July, those who took the hike wrote to say they were very pleased to have made the effort and intended to return with other family members. Still others drove to Pawling to visit the Oblong Meeting House and Mehitable Wing Monument on Quaker Hill, and were pleasantly surprised to find the Meeting House open for visitors.
But...by far for me the most exciting family history event in August was the arrival of my first grandson, in New York City...he made his appearance in the midst of hectic times, but safely, just before Hurricane Irene.
