Christmas with the Ancestors. A Slide Show of Them and Us.

John Mattson and wife Beverly with Luella Williamson, his older sister

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello!
The valley looks cold and gray from outside the Fortress window. It has rained off and on all day with no sightings of the sun. I can't see the mountains on the opposite side of Utah Lake. They've been swallowed in a wall of white cloud and fog. It is one of those days where a good book and warm fire make the world bright once more.

Did you hear unusual shouting Friday afternoon around 3:30 P.M.? If so, then you heard the vocalized joy springing from the lungs of teachers and students alike as the school bell rang in the start of the 2010 Christmas vacation. I stood in the Space Center's doorway and watched as our students nearly trampled the Foster Grandparent volunteers to the floor in their rush to exit the building. With amusement I watched the Principal, bull horn in hand, wade into the churning sea of children in search of marooned first graders shoved aside into the brick walls by the older and stronger students. There were a few bloody noses and bumped heads but I'm happy to report that everyone got out alive.

The school looked a mess with broken candy canes and crumbled sugar cookies decorating the hallway floors. Normally I wouldn't give it a second thought but our afternoon custodian called in sick (how convenient) leaving no one to clean up the building before our weekend overnight campers arrived at 7:00 P.M. Not to worry. I've got a great staff and we got things cleaned up.

The Space Center closed at 5:00 P.M. yesterday and so my vacation has formally begun.

This Tuesday evening the Mattson Family will be hosting their traditional Christmas Reunion. Mattsons from far and wide are invited to attend. It is one of the few times we all gather at one place at one time to get our fill of each for another year. To celebrate the upcoming highlight of our family social calendar, I'd like to post a few pictures from last year's gathering.

This slide show is a bit different (you should already be accustom to that). In addition to our pictures, this slide show also has pictures from our ancestor's times in Tudor England. If you remember from reading the blog's posts, we are directly and indirectly related to several of players in the drama we call the Court of Henry VII and VIII. So, the slideshow is a us now and those that came before us then.

The Christmas Carol accompanying the photographs was written by King Henry VIII and sung widely in Tudor England. Our ancestors would have known this song and sang it (especially if it was written by the King). So, enjoy watching them and us with the Christmas music of their time.

Simply,
Victor

Our American Dynasty Welcomes Its Newest Member. Kade Williamson Belnap

Annette and Kade

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello Family,
This is the happiest of announcements - the arrival of a new member of our American Dynasty.

My youngest sister , Annette, delivered a baby boy this week. His name is Kade. Mother and baby are doing well.

Annette, Thane and their children live in St. George, Utah. Luella has been helping Annette with the new baby and returns to Pleasant Grove on Sunday.

Welcome to our family and the world Kade! Your family ties are below (click to enlarge)

Simply,
Uncle Victor

Our GGG Uncle Edward Dennis. A Montana Pioneer

The Vistas from Choteau, Montana.

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello Family,
Today we learn about the life of a Great Great Great Uncle and Montana pioneer, Edward Dennis. He was the brother of our Great Great Grandfather John Dennis.
The Relationship Chart is below:

Relationship Chart

The following information about our great uncle was taken from the book, The Progressive Men of the State of Montana, located at the University of Montana Library, Missoula.

Edward Dennis, who has thoroughly demonstrated the possibilities of successful stock growing in Montana, is a well known and highly respected resident of Teton County, residing near Choteau. He is a Southerner by birth, the place of his nativity being Knoxville, Tenn, where he was born on August 1, 1845. His father, Levi Dennis, also a native of Tennessee, removed to Sullivan county, Mo, in 1844, where he died two years later having been a lifelong farmer. His wife, Sarah (Crippin) Dennis, was born in Tennessee and passed from Earth at Fall River, S.D. in 1883. In the public schools of Sullivan county, MO., Edward Dennis obtained his rather limited education. With him it was a work-a-day world at the time, and in 1863 at the age of eighteen he came to Montana, located first at Alder Gulch, then at Helena, where he secured employment as a freighter with Capt. Parkinson, making trips to Fort Benton and Milk River.

The winter of 1865 he passed in Squaw Gulch, and in the following Spring assisted in the building of the old toll road of Messars, King and Gillett, inPrickly Pear Canyon. During the month of October, 18667, he worked in a sawmill in Strawberry Gulch, and in March, 1869, he removed to Confederate Gulch, where he engaged in the construction of a mining ditch on Hunter’s Bar, while during the Fall of that year he assisted in hauling grain and stores to the Judith Basin for the Diamond R. Company.

Returning to Sun River in the Spring of 1870, Mr. Dennis was employed on the farm of James Strong until Fall, the in company with O.S. M. Main he then purchased a ranch on Sun River, which they sold in 1875. They then bought a herd of cattle and drove them to the Teton Valley, locating on the Emerson place, seven miles from Choteau, where they remained until 1878.

Mr. Dennis was the second white man to locate in this vicinity, Mr. James Givson having been the first and Samuel Burd the third. From 1878 until 1884, Messard, Dennis and Main were engaged in filling contracts to furnish the Canadian Government with beef, Mr. Dennis purchasing the cattle in Montana and Mr. Main attending to their disposal in Canada. Mr. Main is now engaged in mining on the Blackfoot ceded strip.

Dring the fall of 1878, Mr. Dennis secured a homestead claim on 160 acres on Spring Creek, two and one half miles from Choteau, and his wife purchased an adjoining property of 160 acres in the Spring of 1900. These two claims comprise the ranch upon which the family of Mr. Dennis now resides and are profitable engaged in stock raising at the time of this writing.

On December 12, 1899 Mr. Dennis was married to Miss Lucy Callahan at Choteau. She was born at New Market, Canada on August 19, 1867. They have one child, Chester Callahan Dennis, born on March 22, 1895. Mr. Dennis quite an active worker in the circles of the Democrat Party.

Obituary of Ed Dennis May 2, 1918.

Ed Dennis, aged 83, one of the real old timers of Teton County, died at his home north of Choteau on Wednesday evening.

Deceased was born at Knoxville, Tenn., August 1, 1845, and while a young man the family moved to Missouri. In 1863 Mr. Dennis came to Montana, locating for a while at Alder Gulch, now called Virginia City, and for several years he lived at Helena. in 1875 he came to this country and located on the Teton, being the second white man to locate in this part of the country. Of late years Mr. Dennis had lived on his ranch north of Choteau. he is survived by his wife and daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Percy of Browning. Funeral services will occur tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 P.M. from the home. Interment will be made in Choteau Cemetery.

Our Great Uncle Edward was also mention in the following article concerning the construction of the Teton County, Courthouse in Choteau, Montana.

The impressive three-story Teton County Courthouse, standing in the middle of Main Avenue, is the historic center of Choteau and the hub of many governmental activities. Surrounded by nearly 100 year-old trees, this majestic stone edifice highlighted by its bell tower and grand staircases, was built in 1906 from locally-quarried sandstone taken from Rattlesnake Butte. It has been the backdrop for several movies, and embodies the timeless, inviting feeling one gets when in Choteau.

Full Description of the Historical Site or Museum

Teton County electors narrowly approved a $40,000 bond election in May 1905 to build and furnish a courthouse in the county seat of Choteau. Kalispell architects Joseph Gibson and George Shanley submitted the only plan. County Commissioners Ed Dennis of Choteau, William Cowgill of Dupuyer and Ed Bollerud of Farmington awarded the contract to Great Falls contractors, Lease and Richards, who built the courthouse on donated land between August 1905 and November 1906 at a cost of $27,795.

2010's Christmas Cards

Happy Holidays from Kirk, Val and kids (Mattson)

Relationship Chart

Happy Holidays from Jake, Emily and kids (Mattson)

Relationship Chart

Our Families at Christmas Time.

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Far from being inclusive, this slide presentation is composed of pictures I had readily at my disposal from Christmas times past.

Please understand that I'm not the photographer I once was. I've reached the age where running around the room snapping pictures is best left to the younger parents. If you don't mind then, I think I'll sidestep the crawling infants and dodge the charging toddlers and venture into the geriatric tea corner to reminisce with my siblings and peers. We have the world's problems to solve and everyone else's business to discuss. This is the place where every other spoken paragraph begins with "Back in my day" and "What's happening to this world?" (as if we weren't the ultimate cause. Shall we be honest?).

This is but one of many holiday greetings to come as This American Dynasty celebrates its first Christmas. Thank you for reading and thank you for your comments.

And a special Merry Christmas to our ancestors now gone. May they always be remembered.

Simply,
Victor

A Swedish Christmas. Family Culture

The holidays are a time for relaxation and reflection, to crawl into your winter lair, light candles and enjoy cooking all the food you have hoarded to survive the winter. For Swedes, December marks the beginning of endless invitations to Advent gatherings with friends and family. It all starts the first weekend in December with "Advent Sunday" and entails drinking lots of' glögg' and eating saffron cake or saffron buns. I simply love the Christmas feelings these get-togethers give me.

It is not only that I am crazy about saffron buns, but I love the coziness of the lit candles everywhere and the fire place sparkling which contrasts perfectly to the dark winter cold. There is a wonderful, almost childish, anticipation in the air, that there is more to come. The culmination for us Swedes is of course on Christmas Eve, which is the day Santa actually comes to visit.

Swedish Saffron Buns

• 2 1/8 cups milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 (0.6 ounce) cakes compressed fresh yeast
• 8 ounces quark or sour cream
• 2 (.5 gram) packets powdered saffron
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 1 eggs, beaten

Directions

1. Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan until the butter has melted and the temperature has reached 100 degrees F (38 degrees C). Crumble the yeast into a bowl, then pour in the warm milk. Stir well until the yeast dissolves.
2. Stir in the quark, saffron, sugar, salt, and 7 cups of the flour. Mix the dough in the bowl until it becomes shiny and silky, adding more flour as needed until it begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Cover, and let rise for 40 minutes.
3. Prepare 2 or 3 baking sheets by covering each with a sheet of parchment paper. Lightly flour a work surface, punch down the dough, then divide into 35 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope, 5 to 6 inches long. With the rope lying flat on the work surface, roll each end towards the center, in opposite directions, creating a curled S-shape. Place the buns on the prepared baking sheets, and garnish with raisins if desired. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes while you preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
4. Gently brush each bun with beaten egg, then bake in the oven until puffed and golden, 5 to 10 minutes.

Sweden is a great choir country, so there are Christmas concerts in every other church from the beginning of December until mid January. Beautiful Christmas carols are most important for me in conveying the true Christmas feeling. They express so much of the yearning for peacefulness - a time to pause and reflect on a spiritual level, far away from daily worries.

On December 13 we celebrate the Saint Lucia. Even though Sweden is a Protestant - and secular r- country, celebrating Saint Lucia is a dear tradition to us. In every work place and in every school and day care center there are Lucia processions, consisting of children and sometimes grown-ups, singing Christmas carols dressed up as Lucias, attendants, elfs and gingerbread men. Usually there is only one Lucia, with candle lit crown adorning her head, although in processions with very young children you often see several Lucias, as they all wish to play the Lucia part! After the procession there is Lucia coffee served with saffron cake and ginger biscuits.

The weeks following Lucia everything slows down. It is all a long waiting period for the holidays and filled with anticipation, especially among children. My oldest son Hannes was born on Christmas Eve, so the waiting is almost unbearable to him, with all presents during the year gathered to one occasion! We have decided to celebrate his birthday the day before Christmas Eve so that he gets his own very special day. That is also the day when we carry the Christmas tree into the house, and decorate it with ornaments such as glitter, straw figures, and Swedish flags.

Christmas Eve is the big day in Scandinavia, equivalent to Christmas Day in the US. This is the day when all children get their presents, the holidays start and most important of all - you can start to dig into the traditional Scandinavian Christmas food! At lunch time you eat a big Christmas buffet, filled with sausages, meat balls, potatoes, all sorts of herring, pies, and more exotic food like 'Jansson's temptation' and herring sallad.

It is almost magic with all the dishes to choose from - no wonder the expression smorgasbord originates from the Swedish Christmas buffet. While it is hard to believe on Christmas Eve, you do get tired of it in the long run, since the Christmas food leftovers lasts for at least two weeks!

In the afternoon we sing Christmas carols and we dance. Then the highlight of the day follows when Santa arrives with presents to all. Shortly thereafter rice pudding is served. An almond is put in the pudding and the person who gets the almond is the one who is getting married (or remarried!) the following year. I do not know how to interpret the fact that I always get the almond, since I have been married to the same man for almost seven years!

Christmas Day marks the beginning of a long resting period. This does not mean that the celebrations are over. Most people have another week or two off from work, since they only have to take a few days of vacation between Christmas and New Years and the Christmas tree is not to be thrown out until the weekend three weeks after Christmas. Then "you dance Christmas out" at a so called"Christmas tree plundering," where you strip the tree of all the decorations, throw it out of your home, and have your last Christmas meal.

And then you just wait another three months for the light to return...

By Emilie Eliasson Hovmöller

Holiday Greetings from the Martin Family

Holiday greetings from the Martin Williamson family (Denice Norman, Serenity Clerk, Sara Clerk, Jim Norman, Linda Ames and Bob Ames). We are having rain here in Oroville CA but we need it.

Serenity will catch up with all the news when she gets her studies done at Harvard. My daughter Linda and I flew to Boston and got to visit Serenity and her husband Will. Serenity is very busy but will write all about her time at Harvard later she said.

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays for 2010.

Ruth Martin

Merry Christmas. Brandon and Monica Delgrosso

Happy Holidays to all from the Brandon and Monica Delgrosso family.

The Young Williamson Cousins. Late 1930's. Lead and Deadwood, South Dakota

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
A few pictures tonight taken in the late 1930's to pass around in our virtual family gathering. It's cold outside with a sky taken hostage by temperate winter temperatures forcing it to remain undecided on a light drizzle or a very wet snow.

Pull up a chair and sit close to the fire here in the Fortress' great hall as I pass these photographs around. If we're convincing, we might get Charlie to take a minute from his supper to talk about his memories of those early days in Lead, South Dakota with his cousins, Gail and Woody Williamson.


We start with a simple relationship chart. This shows the children of William Jonathan Williamson and Effie Helen Victor. In today's post we will see Charlie, the firstborn son of Charles and Elda, and Gail and Woody, the first two children born to Walt and Francis Williamson.


This is Charles Ray Williamson (Charlie). His middle name Ray comes from his Uncle Raymond Vercellino (his Godfather). Charlie was baptised and raised Catholic. His father Charles Williamson wasn't religious. His mother Elda was a devout Catholic. She said the Rosary every night.

Charlie is standing on his front porch in Lead. The street in front of the house was Highway 85. He's not sure about the dog. Could have been their dog but he doesn't remember. Charles remembers all the Italians in Lead called him 'Sonny'. Their home was in Lead's Little Italy.

This is Gail and Woody Williamson taken in front of the home of Charles and Elda. Gail and Woody were the first two children of Charlie's Uncle Walt and Aunt Francis Williamson. The picture was taken in 1939. Gail is one month younger than Charlie. Walt and Francis lived in Deadwood at the time. In 1939 Walt drove a deliver truck for Paxton Galigher. Deadwood was the main hub for trains bringing merchandise and groceries to the Black Hills. The merchandise was unloaded into large warehouses in Deadwood and Lead and delivered to stores throughout the Hills. It wasn't until the early 1950's that Walt and Francis bought the grocery store in Deadwood.

Without television and all the other distractions of today's modern lifestyle, families did a lot together back then. Walt, Charles and their brother Morris were avid fishermen and got together once or twice a week to fish Spearfish Creek in the Spearfish Canyon. Robieux Lake was another of their fishing haunts. Charles Sr. and his brother Walt were close and the families picnicked together often, sometimes at the spur of the moment.

Gail Williamson, Walt and Francis' first born, about 1938. The picture was taken in Deadwood.

Gail Williamson with Charlie taken in 1939 in Lead. Charlies' cat "Fuzz" is in the picture.

Another picture taken that same day of Gail and her younger brother Woody. Charlie is present as well in his very short shorts :) He was quite the scrawny kid back then and now, over 70 years later, is still just as scrawny.


Charles with thumb in mouth standing next to Gail. This picture was taken at Charlie's home in Lead, South Dakota. The big home in the background belonged to the Hoffman's. Charlie is wearing a pair of white cowboy boots.

"Everyone dressed like a cowboy in those days," Charles says in his defense.

Well, it is past 9:00 P.M. and the eyes are drooping. It's been a long day and I think I take in a bit of television before turning in for the night.

Simply,
Victor

The Christmas Card Reunion of 2010. Happy Holidays from the Tolleys

The Tolley Family
L to R: Claire held by Brady, Kai, Nicole, and Alivia

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Thanks Nicole for being the first to join An American Dynasty's Christmas Card Reunion for 2010! And her gift, a CD copy of the family history, mailed to her home. Your copy is waiting, free of charge. Just join the reunion.

How is Nicole and her family related to you?
Look Below...... (Click to Enlarge)

Join the 2010 Christmas Card Reunion and Share the Holidays with Family.

If you are related to anyone you see on the top line of the Reunion Relation Chart above, then get your free copy of this family history by sending your Christmas family photo and optional greeting (as in a short letter telling us what your family has been up to this last year) by email (ussvoyager@aol.com) or through the mail;

The Fortress of Solitude
1207 N. 730 E.
Pleasant Grove, UT
84062

Happy Holidays Williamsons, Mattsons, Vercellinos, Pierces, Dennises, Phlegars, Trouts, Fiddlers, Willises, Goodykoontzs, McCrillises, Tornbergs, Carlsdotters, Johansdotters, Georges, Crippens, etc. etc.............

Simply,
Victor