Ernst Nelson

One of the areas we will be visiting is the province of (Kalmar and the island of Oland) in the southeastern part of Sweden. Mom's grandmother, Louisa was born in Oland and was one of the first groups of Swedes to immigrate to Minnesota. Ernst Nelson, Mom's grandfather came to the United States in 1887 when he was fifteen years old. He traveled alone from Kalmar, Sweden, through New York to Taylors Falls, Minnesota. Ernst was part of the mass exodus from Sweden that took place from 1843 to 1930 where 25% of the population in Smaland emigrated. As a young man, he worked as a lumberjack in the forest. He met Louisa and began farming.

Ernst is the affable fellow in this picture with Kim and me. He's probably around 82 years old here. Ernst has the characteristic shock of thick white hair; if you know Mom and Kim, you'll know that they definitely inherited this gene. Also, if you could see his feet, I am sure that he was barefooted. He was always barefoot, in all seasons. By this I mean, summer, spring, fall AND winter! Don't you love the shadow of the person taking the picture reflected him. I'd say it's Mom.