As we went through Mom’s personal effects after she passed away, we realized how much cooking was part of who she was. From working...

Bernice Arlene Haakinson, the youngest child of Abel and Synneva Haakinson, was born on a farm near Radcliffe on May 10, 1918. Agnes...

Selma Alida Haakinson Thoreson, second daughter and third child of Abel and Synneva Haakinson, was born on a farm near Radcliffe, Iowa,...

Agnes Hazel Haakinson Kendall, the second child of Abel and Synneva Haakinson, was born on a farm near Radcliffe, Iowa, on August 29,...

Henry (Hank) Benhart Haakinson, the oldest child and only son of Abel and Synneva Haakinson, was born on a farm near Randall, Iowa, on...

As a genealogist, or as I refer myself to, a "family historian," I am always looking to the past to find my ancestors' stories; however,...

This month my dad would have been 110 years old. That seems amazing. I just cannot picture my very youthful dad being that old. He was...

This month Nordic communities worldwide will celebrate Leif Erikson Day on October 9th. In America, Congress declared that day in 1964....

The theater and the motion picture industry have allowed people to excel in American society. With 4.6 million Americans of Norwegian...

Tis the season to renew relationships and make new ones. I have discovered so many relatives and made new friends through this blog. I...

Recently my cousin, Jakob Thormodsater, surprised me by sending a picture of my Grandfather Abel Haakinson's house where he grew up on...

When it comes to Viking mythology, I have to profess total ignorance. I embarrassed myself when watching Jeopardy that I could not answer...

I grew up in Whittier, California, near two wonderful Norwegian-American families - the Sevolds and the Gundersens/Thorseims. I always...

This month my Aunt Agnes would have been 102 years old, and soon she will have been gone from us for nearly twenty years. Yet her impact...

Road trips were once a way of life in America. The automobile created independence, and road trips retained our connections with family....

The lore of the Old West creates visions of cowboys and Indians, gunfights, and mining camps with fortunes won and lost at gambling...

Abel Haakinson (Thormodsæter) was born on October 1, 1874, on Bømlo Island, near the town of Finnas, Norway. He was the third child of...