Also in this issue (July 2011):

   *SPAM and Norwegians

   *Austin Stevne Registration Form and Schedule of Events

   *Stevne Presenters and Entertainer Bios

   *Presidents’ and Membership Director’s Messages

   *Editor’s Corner: Life Experiences

   *Obituaries: Helen Genevieve Berg and Gudrun Olive Strand-Anderson-Johnson

From President Doug Johnson . . . .

As the stevne draws near I find that thoughts of my ancestors occupy my mind more and more often. This is also the time of year the upper Midwest often experiences rapid, wide swings in temperature. A couple of weeks ago Madison had a high of 91 degrees. The next day the high was 65.

The combined thoughts of stevne and weather got me thinking about the last time Kathy and I were in Åsnes. It was two days after the first day of summer. We were staying with Kathy’s cousin on the old farm near Lake Vermund and were apologetic about diverting him from his work for the two days we would be there. He assured us we shouldn’t worry since it was too hot to work. His thermometer read 28 degrees. That’s Celsius, of course. Thermometers in southern Minnesota would have read 82 degrees under those same conditions.

In Åsnes, that is considered too hot to work. I haven’t been able to find temperature records for that area, but for Oslo the average maximum high temperature is 22 degrees C (about 72˚ F) and the average minimum low is –7˚ C (about 19 degrees above zero Fahrenheit). Oslo, being on the fjord, would be expected to be somewhat milder than inland, but I suspect Åsnes has average temperatures not much different.

Now consider our immigrant ancestors who might have homesteaded in southern Minnesota. Or Iowa. Or Texas. Or even North Dakota. Imagine them breaking the prairie with a one-bottom plow pulled by horses or oxen. What is the likelihood that they only worked when the temperature was cooler than the mid 80s? I doubt I can imagine the shock of having to labor in stifling temperatures higher than they had probably ever experienced and might not have been able to imagine back in The Old Country.

And what do you suppose they wore while working in the fields? Not CoolMax® I’ll bet. It’s hard for me not to take a clue from my dad’s Uncle John. Although born in North Dakota in 1887 he lived all of his adult life in southern Saskatchewan. He visited us in southern North Dakota a couple of summers when I was a lad, usually in August, always wearing a dark brown, woolen suit complete with a vest. Beneath his white, long-sleeved shirt you could see the cuffs of a long-sleeved undershirt peeking out at the wrist. When he sat with crossed legs, long-legged underwear peeked out above his socks.

It’s hard to imagine why he didn’t melt. Yet, dressed exactly as described, on the hottest of days, he would strike out to walk along the railroad tracks and through the countryside he had known as a youth. With a hat, a sandwich and a quart jar of water his only concessions to the heat, he would be gone from mid-morning to early evening. My parents would be nearly beside themselves worrying that he had suffered from heat stroke.

I’m not suggesting that modern Norwegians have grown soft, but I do find I have a deep appreciation for the hardiness of my ancestors. I try to keep these things in mind as I search the records for dates and family connections. I can’t argue that discovering stories that tell of extraordinary events – adventures, heroics, misdeeds – in their lives certainly adds interest, but to me, trying to understand what their lives were like on a day-to-day basis is what brings them to life.

I’m looking forward to seeing you at the stevne in a couple of months. Let’s share a story or two.

From the July 2011 issue of the Glåma Ekko

Solørlag's logo depicts the Glåma, Norway's longest river, which provides a common bond for parishes from north to south in Hedmark. For many years large quantities of timber were floated to market on the Glåma. To reflect this bond, the lag newsletter is called "Glåma Ekko".

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A note from your webmaster:

I have recently been exploring Solørlag’s history since its reactivation in 1983 (27 years!) by reading all of the previously published newsletters, as well as scanning them in to create a digital archive.  It is my hope that we can provide our member’s access to these newsletters either in digital or book format (or both) in the near future.  I also hope to make available the original lag newsletter that was published in Norwegian from 1918-1921 both in original and translated form.  Let me know your thoughts or opinions.  In fact I’d love to hear from members about anything!

Caroline