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Elaine Mansfield's avatar

Thank you for sharing your continuing research journey. I knew nothing of this history and love that your dad knew about the old cemetery and pointed it out to you--and connects to this story and your research in that personal way. I'm also glad you didn't get killed driving with your dad and I assume you got those keys from him right away.

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Well the story about how my sister and I managed to convince Dad to let his license lapse is for another day. He liked to drive from Afton to Marine-on-St. Croix for an ice cream cone in the summer. Marine-on-St. Croix is where my maternal great-grandparents (Charlie and Ellen Kling) first lived when they arrived from Sweden. I have fond memories of sitting in a lawn chair next to the bank of the St. Croix River slurping our pralines-n-cream sugarcones. Dad read a lot of history books and I can now appreciate how he instilled that in me from an early age.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

The redistributed lands of the Assiniboia District became the basis for the Red River settlement, which in turn was eventually to grow into the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (where I live).

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Good morning to you in Manitoba! Yes, these were the lands of the Red River and Winnipeg River which were included in Selkirk's land acquisition from the HBC. Leaves turning to red and yellow already?

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George Shurr's avatar

Impressive research down that “rabbit hole”!

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Jill Swenson's avatar

And more to come!

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George Shurr's avatar

Looking forward to it!

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Margaret Holt's avatar

I won't miss it. As long as you keep writing, I will keep reading. By the way, I am about a third of the way into the novel There There by Tommy Orange- also brilliant writing.

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Jill Swenson's avatar

It's a great novel. Tommy Orange has a sequel (that's really a prequel) to the novel, WANDERING STARS. If you like THERE, THERE, you'll love it. Thanks for being here!

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Kaycianne Russell's avatar

Fascinating tidbits of your ancestry. I love knowing where I come from and what countries my ancestors are from. Have you done the DNA tests?

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Jill Swenson's avatar

I'm glad you found this fascinating. I haven't taken any DNA tests because my Mom and now my sister have done such a thorough job researching our family geneaology I haven't felt any need to. Have you?

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Heidi Lynn Adelsman's avatar

Isn’t Bonga a famous name?

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Wait until next Sunday. It's certainly a family name you won't forget.

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Jen G's avatar

wow! (I was just in Afton, for the first time, a few weeks ago). So interesting!

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Jill Swenson's avatar

There is a lot of history in Afton, including the Afton Historical Society. Dad used to take us to the Historic Afton Inn for meals at their Current Restaurant. Great walking there along the boat docks, too. Hope you enjoyed your visit. Fourth of July parade in Afton is worth the trip. They close down Hwy 95 and the parade goes down one side of the road and comes back the other side.

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Heidi Lynn Adelsman's avatar

Lurks burgers in Afton do you know?

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Jill Swenson's avatar

I don't! Something to look for next time I visit Afton.

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Heidi Lynn Adelsman's avatar

I think it closed in 1983🤷🏻‍♀️

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Margaret Holt's avatar

Deeply intriguing. For me the most important sentence in the entire pieces was this one: "He had gone eight days without food when an Ojibwe woman found him and took him in." Wouldn't it have been glorious for him to have told the story of his life!

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Jill Swenson's avatar

He obviously told enough people about his life to have found so many second- and third-hand sources who learned this much about him. The story continues...and gets even more interesting. Stay tuned for next week's installment.

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Naomi Yaeger's avatar

Very interesting.

I am a little familiar with Alexander Griggs, who is mentioned in your footnotes. And I have friends from Canada who are of Scottish descent. So some of your writing the (parts of the Scottish landowners) might appeal to them. (Whoops, It was Griggs, but Beggs who you mentioned.)

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Alexander Begg, you mean. Yes, this is the origin of the Scottish-Metis culture with the Selkirk settlement. I learned a lot about Scottish history I didn't include here, but it makes me appreciate how we are all related.

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Naomi Yaeger's avatar

Whoops, I misread that. I didn't misspell it. I guess I wasn't familiar. But all the other infor is interesting.

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Linda Joy Myers's avatar

This is so fascinating! I admire your deep dive into relentless research – but it’s like finding nuggets of gold, isn’t it? you keep wanting more, and you keep digging and you get some rewards at least! Thank you for this history. It is truly illuminating.

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Thanks for your nugget of gold comment, Linda Joy. It means a lot. There is so much more to un-forget.

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Mary Roblyn's avatar

Jill, another great article. Your research is topnotch, and your passion for your subjects is inspiring. The first Swede in Minnesota! Followed by so many more. Thank you again.

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Thanks for your kind comments. The research is rewarding with such amazing stories that have been buried or forgotten and today reveal a more complicated version of the past.

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Naomi Yaeger's avatar

Griggs was a steamboat captain and the first mayor of Grand Forks.

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Well, that gives me a new lead to look for information about the Red River Valley on the North Dakota. Thanks!

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Karen Rand Anderson's avatar

This is such a fascinating story!

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Jill Swenson's avatar

I agree. You can't make this stuff up. Better than fiction or film. Not the story I expected and in that I take joy.

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Ruth Chlebowski's avatar

That must have been a very uncomfortable meal and ride, but he at least took you through the back roads on the way home where you were less likely to have a high-speed collision! Glad it took you by the first Swede's grave, too. By the way, I have one of those orange painted horses, too, which my grandmother brought me after visiting her brother in the 1960s in Sweden. Seeing the Nazi writing on the wall, he high-tailed it out of Vienna to Stockholm in 1935.

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Great memory of a souvenir from your grandmother's trip to Sweden. Holds family history, too, and reminds me how all our family stories cross borders but the circumstances are always personal rather than universal.

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