Hi, I think I just might be a relative of yours. Probably a kissin' cousin, the "eccentric" one who they tried to keep in the attic. I may even turn out to be my own grandmaw.
I watched the movie "The Other Boleyn" girl the other night and decided to try to find more information from my mother's side of the family. I had never searched for anything on my father's side of the family because I had no information farther back than my grandfather. On a whim I typed his name in and it brought me here. I knew his parents were from Sweden but did not have a name or the original spelling. I was told it had been changed to Quarfoot when they came to Ellis Island. My grandfather's name was William and I know he was born in Wisconsin, I think it was Grantsburg. (My father was also born in Grantsburg)I knew he came from a family of 10 children and I met his sister Julia (she was the nicest lady) and two of his brothers back in the late 1960s. I also remember him mentioning a sister, Ruth.
My grandmother (Esther, nee Franklin) and grandfather worked in the woods for a large part of their married life in Wisconsin and in Michigan's U.P. My grandfather had his own lumbercamps and began logging with teams of horses in Wisconsin. I know they were pretty isolated in some instances. My grandmother told me that my father's first pair of baby shoes were moccasins from a tribe that lived near their camp. My father and mother also worked in the camps with my grandparents after they first married in the 30's. My dad told me some wild and wooly tales of his early lumbercamp experiences including having to drive the loggers into town on payday when he was only 12 or 13 so the "boys" could go to the saloons and houses of ill repute and wait to drive them back the next morning. My grandparents had five sons, my father, Willard, Charles (Don), Earl, Bob and William Jr. (Jack). By the time I was born (1941) they lived in Trenary, Michigan where they still did a little woods work and farmed. My grandfather was quite a character and told about breaking a brother's nose by hitting him with a frozen horse "apple". I have always wanted to go to Sweden to see if I could find any relatives there and see where my Scandahoovian roots are. It was so exciting to find your posting and learn just a little more. I hope to hear more from you and maybe between the two of us we can piece a little more together. My e-mail address is
weezer_hon@yahoo.com (that's an underscore mark between the weezer and hon) Hope to hear from you soon. "Cousin" Judy (Quarfoot) Van Den Branden