CANUTE and SARAH...

 Thanks to all of you who told me what stories you'd like to hear. I'll be telling a little about all of them. First I need to let you know how I write. I read other blogs and I'm in awe of how well the words are put together. Some people just know how to do it so well.

Me...I write like I talk. Like we're sitting on the front porch, or at the kitchen table, or going for a walk and I start telling you about something I know. So I guess I'm not much of a writer, with all the words in the right place, and so many wonderful ways to say things. I'm just a storyteller....

The credit for all this information goes to my Great Aunt Edith, one of their grand daughters, and my grama's sister. She wrote 2 books about them. I have Grama's. Aunt Edith died back in the 70's, but I remember all the fun times I spent with  her. She was the storyteller!


So grab a cup a something and sit a spell....
I'd like you to meet my Great Great Grandparents,
Canute and Sarah Ann Peterson......

 

  

The pictures are obviously when they were older. I've never seen any of them younger, although some may exist in a Utah History book somewhere. Canute helped settle some of the towns in the State. And it's said Sarah had the longest hair in the County..3 feet long! And look how they wore it then...all tied up tight against their head.

But first, I want to tell a little about names here. Canute was born in Norway...Scandinavian descent. And that's where it gets a little funny, to me anyway. Then I guess it was just the way things were...

My 3x great grandpa, Canutes father, his name was Peter Johnson..(Peder Jonson) and his fathers name was Jon Pederson, his father being Peder Larson.....Do you see what's going on here? Canute was Peter's son, who was Jon's son, who was Peder's son, who was Lars' son....

Who needed last names anyway, as long as someone knew who's SON you were! And the women..well, they were  Mary Jonsdotter or  Anna Nielsdotter...you get the picture.

And to giggle even more, you should know Canute's mother's name...Herborg Knutsen. So, other than the different spelling, he had his moms maiden name for a first name and he was Peder's son. So everyone knew who's child he was, right?

Ok, just had to straighten all that out for you...

Oh, Sarah's family came from Norway also and it's the same there with the sons, only with them, the females took on the fathers last name. She was Sarah Ann Nelson, her father being Cornelius Nilsen, his father being Nils Corneliuson and on and on.. Sounds like a chapter in the Bible, huh...

Well, I spent more time on this than I thought I would. You'll learn that about me too...I talk a lot. So some of these posts will be long. And it's getting late but I want to tell a bit more...

Canute came to America at the age of 12 with his parents. They settled in a little Scandinavian community in Illinois. His father died 8 months later.  The story goes that at his fathers grave site, after everyone else had walked away, Canute made the promise that he'd take care of his mother and work to pay back the debt they owed to get to America. And while he stood there with tears rolling down his cheeks, he felt a little hand creep into his. He turned to see a girl who he recognized as living in the settlement, 9 year old Sarah Ann. Her father had died a couple of years before. Feeling comforted, he took her hand and they walked back home.

to be continued.....

~I'll be back again Yesterday~