The day after we joined sister Barbara and Thom in Illinois, we drove through Wisconsin to Northfield, Minnesota. There we met sister Chris and daughter Barbara who had flown in. We were together for a wedding in Colorado just a few weeks before.
After lunch, we walked around the town while waiting to check in the motel. I loved the address on a pink door – 105 ½.
We were in town to celebrate the wedding of the son of cousin Eric and Caroline. They starred as parents of the bride in the Colorado wedding, and this time they were the parents of the groom.
Kirsten, John’s first cousin, and Jay invited us for a light meal. We chatted on the porch, catching up on family news.
Anna and Eddie (bride and groom from the Colorado wedding) joined us for the meal. If you are good at facial recognition, you won’t need a list of those in the photo. For those keeping score of family relationships, Kirsten and Jay are aunt and uncle to the Colorado bride and the groom being celebrated now.
During the meal we began to talk about the common grandparents of all these first cousins (John, Barbara, Chris, Kirsten, and Eric). Johan Ellertsen moved from Norway to teach in Minnesota. He later became a Lutheran pastor, founded a church in Brooklyn, married a daughter of the congregation, and moved to Minnesota where he served four small churches. That’s where the mothers of the five cousins listed above were born. On Sunday we plan to go to the one surviving congregation in a nearby town. Our gathering is both a look backwards at our roots and a confirmation of the future of the family with the most recent marriages.
The population of Hayward in 1915, according to John’s mother, was 52 if you counted all the dogs and chickens. Jay said the current census was 250. Niece Barbara said when we go to church, there will be 256 people in the town. That cracked us up. Everything that was said for the next half hour brought another round of laughter.
When we were leaving, we wanted to know about the artwork on the walls. We knew Kirsten was an artist and Jay a retired architect and now a photographer. Kirsten told about the painting in the dining room. She based it on a plat map of the area where they lived, even pointing out where their house was.
Kirsten told Barbara about a painting in the living room. I wish I could have taken pictures of everything, because I thought all of the paintings and photographs were marvelous.
I asked Jay about his photos, and he pointed to a wall where there were two. My photo does not do them justice at all, but we had to leave to go to the informal gathering at a cidery. I’d love to spend a whole day looking at their work.
I took one photo at the party before darkness fell. Jay and Kirsten are flanking their granddaughter Allegra with the cidery in the background.
Mehrling Muse 
I love to read about your and John’s travels, Anne. I have even been through Northfield, MN on the way to a wedding several years ago!
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Wow! Our paths have crossed outside Iowa now! This is my first time in MN.
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The art work is nice. And you have had another fun time with family…that is double nice.
Now…what about the storm? Will it effect you? Prayers for all in the ‘cone”
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I don’t think the storm will affect us. We’ll join you in praying for those in the cone.
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There must be some TRAIN news somewhere coming out of this trip. What, is there a leash on John?
https://www.irm.org/
Enjoy the family, be safe!
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That’s the place. John had to leave because we were meeting sister Barbara. He said he could easily spend another whole day there.
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You are so lucky to come from a large, close family. It is similar to mine and we always have a laugh when we get together. This sounds like another wonderful trip.
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These relatives are super. We’ve seen more of them this year than we usually do. I’m glad you have a large, close family, too.
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Looks like the weather is cooler there. That’s good so you don’t get overheated with all the laughter! Have a great time!
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It has been delightfully cool here. Hope you have a nice cookout tomorrow and that the weather will be good.
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Your family is monumental Anne.My head spins trying for the relationships. I’m glad you all get on so well.
Massive Hugs
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I know the family relationships must be hard to follow. I sometimes have to pull out the family tree to check on them and how they all fit together.
xxx Relational Hugs xxx
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So sorry to miss this one! We had a niece get married and her reception was this weekend, about two hours from where we live. (And where my mother lives, so we got to have an extra visit with her as well.)
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I’m glad you had happy things to do this weekend.
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Another lovely family bonding Anne. I admire your closeness with relatives and family members.
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This is really a re-emergence of family. For years all of us were too busy to get together. Now that we and some of the others are retired, we are enjoying being together again. Many years ago we stayed with the father of the groom in New Jersey when he was 10 years old, and his parents needed to be with his older sister in Minnesota. Now he is a college professor.
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Lovely family get togethers- so similar to the ones we have, though perhaps we do not laugh as much. Yours is a family that has been through life together, meeting often and knowing one another closely that the meetings bring more laughs than smiles.
I understand now- you are travelling again.
Susie
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We are having breakfast with family members tomorrow before heading home.
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Love that population 52 included chickens! Faye will love that!
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You are right. I hadn’t thought about Faye while writing that post.
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❤️
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Your trip sounds wonderful. It’s so special to spend time with family.
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We are blessed to have the time and the means to visit with family.
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How nice to see all your relatives gathered at such a special event as a wedding – and wow, being parents of the bride and groom all in one Summer!
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how lovely-such sweet memories and I especially loved the reunion at the Church.
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We all enjoyed the church service and meeting some of the members there. I liked seeing the parsonage and wish I had seen it years ago when I heard stories that took place in that spot.
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