Footsteps of our Forefathers, Part 2

On July 6, 1996, the descendants of Andreas and Inga Peterson met in a park in Sandy, Utah, for a first-ever family reunion and were presented with Volume 3 of three journals that had been written by Andreas. Andreas was my mother's (Dorothy Peterson Gabrielsen) grandfather.

 

Volume 3 was the first one to be translated, from Swedish to English, and deals with his life from 1912 until death. The translation of Volume 1, covering the period of his life from the record of his birth (June 23, 1849) until December, 1898, followed thereafter and was published in April, 1997. Volume 2 covers from January, 1899, until December of 1911, and the location of that journal is unknown.

Our family realizes what a truly amazing blessing it is to have these two lengthy and detailed (a total of 461 pages) journals, both for information and just pure enjoyment, learning of this Swedish man who overcame obstacle after obstacle. It is so inspiring for me to know I am a direct descendant, his great-granddaughter, of this incredibly strong and dedicated man of God. 

It is from Journal 1 that we took information of his two parental homes near Ed, Sweden, and his incarceration in a jail in Drammen, Norway, for "baptizing some people" in a church other than the Church of State, Lutheran, and "administering the Sacrament." He set up meetings, taught the Gospel and sold his tracts for one penny throughout the fjords of southern Norway. He was rejected and persecuted, but he also baptized many. Perhaps the most interesting fact that was learned in this journal for us is that he baptized Hans and Pauline Gabrielsen, Dad's grandparents, in Norway. This fact was unbeknownst to Mom and Dad until after they were married. So, we also located the farm property and the old barn of Hans and Pauline in a beautiful area, Dalenveien, near Klokkarstua, Viken, Norway.

One last note: Patty, Hal, John, Cindy, and their daughter, Ami, visited these places 26 years before our trip with the aid of Ami speaking Swedish - she had just completed a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some miracles led them to find these sites at that time, and miracles helped us find them again, all of these years later. 

We rented three cars at the airport of Copenhagen and drove through the beautiful southern countryside of Sweden, heading for Ed, the town nearest to the two properties where Andreas Peterson grew up. 

When it was time to stop for lunch, we pulled off an exit and pulled up to the building below, which I thought was a truck stop, and when we viewed the menu inside, it was everything salmon. Downstairs were itemized salmon items, prepared in most every way imaginable, and upstairs was a salmon buffet of even more variety of salmon prep - raw, cooked, moussed, in salads, etc. 

We had the lavish and delicious buffet and afterward, I said, "What a healthy country, to have this kind of food at truck stops!" It was then I found out that Cindy, in another car, had googled good places to eat in the area, and this popular place just happened to be right off of an exit! Not a truck stop! But I do hold to my idea of Sweden, and also, Norway, being healthy countries. Many hike and bike everywhere instead of driving and I noticed most of the Scandinavians we saw were slender and fit.

We arrived in Ed, population under 3,000, in late afternoon. Ed means," town between two lakes,"and it is a lovely place!

Pic of Ed, across one of the two lakes

We located the only hotel in town, an old, historic structure where we had made reservations, and no one was there. The reception office is only open part of the day. We called a phone #, and finally someone answered, telling us to drive down the hill on an inside road and there were the individual units where we would be staying.

Our units had just been remodeled and they were clean and had Ikea-type furniture and were pleasant for our two-night stay.

Roger enjoyed some wild raspberries that were growing near our unit. 

We ate dinner in, where else, the Ed Restaurant.

Just to illustrate how all of the world is becoming international, the owner of the restaurant was from Pakistan and other employees were from Iran and India. The chicken wrap, more like a gyro, we shared with a salad covered in green olives and cheese, were delicious!

Next morning we headed for Lilla Vahlberg, where Andreas lived with his parents and siblings in the winter. 

This is a pic of the old barn Patty took 26 years ago in Vahlberg, which is now just a collection of summer homes by a lake. 

The gravel road stopped here and Lilla Vahlberg was further ahead, reached by a trail. Across from the barn was this summer home, and a couple were standing out front.

Some of us approached them, explaining why we were there - 3 carloads of 10 people in this relatively remote area was a bit of a surprise to them. They both spoke English - she better than he. They were very gracious to us and were interested to hear about why we were there and our story of our heredity, coming so far from the United States together. The woman had been to San Francisco as a nanny years ago, but the man had never traveled to the U. S. We chatted with them for almost an hour and they even insisted that we see the inside of their charming home - the man's father having built it years ago. They said the trail to Lilla Vahlberg was too muddy to walk on and they were familiar with the property where the Pehr Janson (Andreas's father's name) home stood.

It was a lovely experience!

The Ed railway station, where Andreas traveled by train many times

We enjoyed visiting Ed's Church (a Lutheran church where Andreas and his family probably visited before Andreas's conversion and the cemetery possibly held some of their ancestors. It was a lovely church, sitting on top of a hill with a beautiful view of both of the lakes.

One day, during that 26 years ago trip of my siblings, they were looking at the gravestones for ancestors in this other church in Habol near Ed, when they struck up a conversation with a random stranger, Holger, who was there, also. The conversation led to Holger knowing where Andreas's childhood summer home (Bovallerud) was located because he had done carpentry work on its restoration. Remember, they had Ami with them, then, because this man only spoke Swedish. Such a miracle to run into him. And he volunteered to take them there, which was several miles away, down a paved road in the car for awhile, then you turn off onto a dirt road for a while, then you have to walk for quite awhile.

Anyway, John and Cindy had contact info from so long ago and they called the phone # they had, and Holger answered! Another miracle! He agreed to meet us on this afternoon at 1 and he brought his nephew's fiancee, who attended college, to interpret.

John and Holger

It was drizzling off and on, but that didn't stop us and off we went, following behind Holger and our interpreter. After about a 15-20 minute drive, we came to an area where we all parked and got out, then started walking, as the gravel road was blocked. 

I really wanted to be able to make the hike (I have bad knees and my lower back aches when I walk very far), and I set off with the others.

 The rain on the plants sparkled like diamonds.

After we had walked for about 10 minutes, the trail started going downhill, and after going a long ways down and around 2 or 3 bends, Roger and Cindy ran ahead to see if it was in sight because what goes down has to come up and they were concerned for Kay and I, who also has mobility issues. They called up to us to not come any farther, and, as it turns out, it was quite a ways further and got very much steeper. I have a walking stick that turns into a little 3-legged seat (which has saved my life many times in our recent travels and had already done so on this trip), so I sat on it and Kay started back up the hill to return to the cars. I got a little teary, feeling sorry for myself that I couldn't see this restored home that I had heard so much about  for all of these years. 

After a minute or so, I got up and walked back up to where we had passed a beautiful little lake, then sat down again and just took in the beautiful setting, so peaceful with no human sound, just the birds singing. As I slowly gazed at each area of the lake, appreciating that I was there to enjoy such a lovely moment, I noticed a brilliant white object at the far end of the lake. 

I stood up and walked up to the center of the lake, then looked at it again and it was moving, shimmering, though the sky was not very sunny. "Oh," I thought, "Someone must be there, on the shore!" and I hurriedly climbed up the road further, peering ahead to the end of the lake as I walked, and when I got there, no one, nothing was there. I then had the most beautiful sensation - could it be Andreas's angel, visiting and probably so pleased that we had come all of this way, interested in him and tracing his footsteps? I am not one to engage in angelic speculation - this is a first for me, but I can't deny how happy it made me feel inside, whatever it was.

Roger took some good pics so I could see what I was unable to walk to, and I know it is a good thing I didn't try, as it was a lot of steep terrain. 

Isn't this a charming home and property? The home owner wasn't there - it would have been fun for my siblings to share with them our story of the origins of the home.

We all returned with our guide and translator to the church where we had met up with them and Holger had a key (he attended this church) so we could see inside. Andreas probably preached here, as he was sometimes invited to speak in churches and this was probably the closest one to his home. 

The shelter or parking places for the horses out back of the church has been restored; you don't see these preserved much anymore.

Interesting facts about this church . . .

Our family pic, after a wonderful day

It was so kind of these two Swedish people to spend all afternoon with us. They were both charming!

I caught a little nap before dinner.

This restaurant in Ed actually got high marks in Yelp - it has a real, trained chef.

Funny name!

Our food was very gourmet and delicious!

Next day we checked out of our hotel and traveled to Drammen in Norway, where Andreas spent 3 days in jail, served only bread and water, in the below town hall. When they brought it to him, he said, "Give my bread to the poor in the streets," and he washed himself with some of the water. At night, the guard took away his boots and his pants and he slept in a hammock, which he hung on the wall himself. I marvel at the strength of his testimony. He said in his journal, before he was converted, after "visiting different churches, including the Latter-day Saints,"while he was in Oslo, learning his cobbler trade - "I prayed to let me know if Mormonism is true. While I prayed, I received a testimony. When I stood up from the prayer, I was fully convinced of the truth." From that point on, he committed his life to the church. He immigrated to Utah, served two more missions, one as Mission President over Sweden and one as Mission President over Scandinavia, which included Finland and Russia.    

Bragernes Church near Drammen Town Hall

One of Hal's nicknames is "Bear," thus, the pose with the statue.

Across the street from  Town Hall is a nice walk plaz. As we passed this fountain, there was a bird resting on the statue's head.

This fresh fruit looked so delicious - vine-ripened is such a treat these days when most produce is picked when it is green!

We ate the yummiest lunch in Bragernes Cafe. The French onion soup and the open-faced meatball sandwich which Roger and I shared were so delicious!

Norwegian pastries

One last adventure and little miracle - John vaguely remembered the general area where Hans and Pauline Gabrielsen's farm was and we followed him as we drove through that area, and he said, just before we came upon this little dirt road, he got the feeling that this was it, then he spotted the little sign just before he drove past it, traveling about 50 mph. He U-turned as soon as he could, as did our 2 cars behind him, and sure enough that was the road they had visited 26 years ago.

The road comes to a dead end at a home, and this old barn, probably there when Hans and Pauline lived there, is still standing.

The Gabrielsen kids - Hans and Pauline's great-grandchildren - are so happy to find their old property!

Looking down upon the Gabrielsen property

A little further down the road is the lovely fjord resort, Holmsbu.

We drove up a road and on our right were vacation homes built up along the hillside on the beautiful fjord lake.

We parked and got out to take in the beautiful day in the trees and I said, "I have always said, especially when I'm too hot, my body is saying, take me to Norway!" This was a moment when I 100% wanted to live there! It was so pleasant.

We each bought some of this award-winning black currant jam. It is so good!

Okay, so on our way to Sarpsborg, Norway, where we were going to spend the night, we got stuck in this tunnel for 2 hours! Luckily, we were at the entrance most of the time!

When we finally got through and desperately stopped at a gas station bathroom, we saw this truck being towed in. It had broken down in the tunnel in our lane going our direction and we had to wait for it to be towed out and our direction traffic never got a turn and the lane going the other way flowed constantly - not the way we would have handled it in the USA. My percentage of love for Norway, after this experience, went down a bit!

We stayed in this hotel overnight, then left the next morning to return to Copenhagen.

We stopped for lunch in Halland, Sweden, and ate in a good restaurant in the town square.

The special was a schnitzel and it was delicious!

This is the famous bridge, Oresund Bridge, connecting Malmo, Sweden to Copenhagen. It travels part way on top of the water, then disappears into a tunnel under the water. Amazing!

One more night in the Moxy Hotel, before catching our flight the next early afternoon for Amsterdam, then home!

Roger walked to a nearby pastry shop for some delicious Danish - such a treat, and we even made it home with some! The yogurt drinks in Scandinavia are so yummy!

Roger aboard KLM - it was so wonderful to lie flat while we slept!

Their travel pack had comfy things and the service was great!

They gave us these cute replicas of historic houses in Holland made by Delft. They are collectible and there's some kind of Dutch booze inside? .

Roger took this pic out the window as we took off from Amsterdam.

This was a trip of a lifetime for us, all of our senses filled with sights, tastes and sounds, and especially were our hearts filled with even more love for our ancestors and each other! A huge thank you and so much gratitude and love to John and Cindy for arranging this dream come true trip!