Since I posted that the temperature in Grantsburg, WI was -29 degrees on Thursday/Friday, (it was -25 last night and that is NOT the wind chill) I have found out that some of our Board members know someone or knew someone who lived in Grantsburg.

Grantsburg sports a population of 1000, give or take a few. It is mostly farm country with some beautiful pine and wood forests, lakes and rivers.

The land that we have our home on was purchased in 1911 by my husband’s grandfather, Andrew Wedin. Andrew and his wife, Alfrida also purchased an 80-acre farm across the river from our land. My husband’s mother was born in the kitchen of the farm in 1905 as were some of her other siblings. Andrew and Alfrida raised 9 children on these 80 acres of difficult farmland. Andrew had to clear most of it to farm it. Out of 9 children, only two were boys and only 1, Ernest, stayed and helped with the farm. Ernest’s daughter, Patricia, was also born in the farmhouse. Patti is in her 60s and lives in Washington State. She still owns the farm and 80 acres.

In 1977, I proceeded to do a genealogy for the Wedin family. At that time, most of the 9 children were still alive so it was great fun to glean information from each of them. The youngest daughter, Dagmar, is still alive and 95 years old. The Wedins, Andrew and Alfrida both were born in Sweden. It was interesting for me (I am of Italian descent) to find that ALL of the siblings from the families in Sweden changed their last names. What a hoot. It was a good thing the children were still alive or I would have been really stumped. There were at least 6 children from both sides of the family and they all changed their names. I am blessed to be a part of this family. They were and are truly wonderful people.

My husband and I raised our children in La Grange, Illinois but we were fortunate to inherit 5 acres of the 40 acres on this side of the Big Wood River. After my mother-in-law died, my husband’s aunt sold us another 5 acres in the back of the land and that is where we built our Wisconsin home. Our children still live in Illinois and so we live in both places. As I said, we are truly blessed.

It isn’t everyday that you hear of a family that is able to keep the “original” farm for over 100 years. We have a reunion every year.

I also did my mother’s Garramone genealogy and I found that some of her siblings also changed their names. However, it was because of the dislike many people had for the Italians in the early part of the 20th Century.

Thanks for letting me know about your relatives from this area. It is so intriguing and special to me. Yolanda Carlson

I love family history. My friend lives on the property that her great grandparents settled on. I was born in Oklahoma, raised in California, Moved back to Oklahoma when I was 30. Then we moved to Louisiana in 1996. I just found out that I live about 25 miles from where my Great Grandmother was born! What a hoot. Thanks for sharing your story,

Our family farm in ND became a century farm in 1975. It is stipulated that it can not be sold outside of the family for x amount of years. My nephew is currently buying it from my brother. It's still called "home" by the 9 siblings of mine who grew up there.

wow that is neat

Thank you for sharing this with us :D:D:D

Lovely story. I wish my history was as interesting.

I would like to thank everyone for sharing your family history with this board. I find it quite interesting when families remain in the same area that their ancestors lived. But, I cannot believe how cold it got up in WI.. You can keep the cold air up north :-)

That's quite a history!

After my MIL passed away, I looked into DH's family. All Russians who immigrated between 1900 and 1920. They also changed names but I found DH's paternal grandfather's original last name thanks to GF's rebel sister. When she married, she provided her original last name as well as the changed name. After finding that, I found everybody else. She was banned from the family because she married outside of her faith.

Found out that DH's maternal GF had left behind a wife and two children in Russia, then married again here. We don't know what happened to the first family - maybe she refused to come, maybe she died in the violence of Russia before she could come. However, about 8 months before marrying DH's grandmother, he stated on a document that he had a wife and two children. Apparently, this was not uncommon.

It's great to do the research provided that you can accept what you might find.