Family Legends

The 52 Weeks series continues this week with an examination of family legends. Is there a tale that’s been passed down in your family? Have you proven (or maybe disproven) it? Perhaps you have an ancestor who was legendary (or should have been).

Hoo boy. Lots of ground to plow on THIS one.Let’s look at a list, shall we?

• I recently disproved the claim that our ancestor was Johan Hultman, taffeltackäre for King Charles XII of Sweden. Nope, he was not our ancestor. Our Hultman line descends from someone else entirely.
• My Aunt Florence always told me that her grandmother, Augusta Matilda (Gustafsdotter) Rudeen, had something high-class in her background and that her husband, Anders Gustaf Rudeen, “married down”. I learned that Augusta’s mother worked at Nobynäs, home of the King’s chamberlain. So yeah, that seemed kind of impressive, case closed? Oh no, it’s so much more than that! Augusta’s mother’s family was descended from nobility – and from a line of the family that was somewhat disgraced because a daughter married against her family’s wishes. There is so much to learn on this one, stay tuned everyone! It’s on my list for 2021!
• There are many stories handed down about my 3x-great-grandfather Andrew Frasier having served in the British Army and that he was present for gunfire salutes for the birth of Queen Victoria’s first two children. Nope. He was not in the military. However, his grandchildren report playing with a sword that he supposedly carried in service to the queen. I bet there really was a sword..but who’s sword WAS it? Was it really a British sword? Does someone still have it? Here’s what Mary Anne (Hrubesky) Saathoff had to say:

On his journey from Scotland to America, Andrew apparently brought his sword with him.  One assumes this was his ceremonial sword from his days in the Queen’s Guards in London.  It would endure for many years.  After his death, it would be in the keeping of his son Edward.  The family of Edward’s oldest son, Chester, remember the sword as “being in the barn.”  Quite a journey for this sword, from Queen Victoria’s palaces in London to a Nebraska barn.

I would love to salvage this legend by finding the sword…

• I have heard from more than one relative on Dale’s paternal grandmother’s side (the Kreifels) talk about how the Kreifels’ used to hang out with outlaw Jesse James, who often visited Nebraska City. It is true that Jesse and Frank James often visited Nebraska City. But as to whether or not they partied with the Kreifels’, well I’m not sure it’s possible to prove this one way or the other. It’s a great story, though.

In other news, I announced to my colleagues this week that I will be retiring from Northern Water in June of this year. Looking forward to lots more genealogy in 2021!