Showing posts with label Anna Carlson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anna Carlson. Show all posts

Saturday, August 9, 2014

My West End Story conclusion...

Ruth Carlson Heffernan, circa 1920's
Last month I wrote a part one segment of what I called a "West End Story" in my monthly post on Zenith City Online. This month I wrote the conclusion to the story, titled, "A West End Story, Part 2: Daughters of a star-crossed couple persevere after being orphaned."

Anna & Charles Carlson with my mother
and three of her five sisters circa 1910
I received so many calls, private notes and online comments asking me to write the rest of the story that I decided to write the conclusion of this remarkable saga of young girls orphaned by the untimely deaths of both parents in in the early twentieth century. The oldest of these six daughters of Charles and Anna Carlson was my mother, Ruth Carlson Heffernan, and this story is a very personal tale of her early life.

If you'd like to read the conclusion to this story that took place in the late 19th century and early twentieth century, you can link HERE to my post in Zenith City Online. (There's a link embedded in that story to part 1, if you haven't read the first part of the story.) I think you'll find the tale of my Swedish immigrant grandparents and the struggles of my mother and her sisters reflecting the era and likely paralleling so many stories of that period of time.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

My Swedish immigrant roots: A Duluth West End Story

Anna & Charles Carlson with four of their six daughters.
Ruth Carlson Heffernan is on the left behind her mother.
Photo taken around 1910~Jim Heffernan photo

Saga beginning in Sweden ends tragically for one family...

Some of you readers of my blog also follow me on Zenith City Online (an online site filled with engaging highlights of Duluth and area history–including my monthly posts about growing up in Duluth's western environs).

Just in case you haven't yet discovered this most interesting web site, I'm linking my latest post on ZCO about my Swedish immigrant grandparents (on my mother's side). It's titled, "A West End Story" and represents just one segment of the intriguing saga of my mother's family while settling in this area. You'll find my post HERE and discover more about our area history on Zenith City Online.
Charles Carlson circa 1910
Jim Heffernan photo