Richard Fred Naslund

Richard Fred Naslund is my Grandpa on my mom's side of the family. He was born April 11, 1893 to Charles Albert Naslund and Anna Hockenson in Mora, Minnesota.

First story regarding Richard:

He lived with his grandparents, Edward and Gustava Wilhelmina Ramgren Naslund, from the time he was one to age fifteen. He was very close to his grandma and loved her very much. She treated him like he was her son. He was ten when she died due to tuberculosis. When she passed away he felt as though the world ended.

Edward, Richard's grandfather, bought Richard a horse when he was 10. The horse was thin and decrepit. They fed it well and it then flourished, so much so that the horse became very strong and wild... they had to sell it for fear that it would kill Richard.

Richard went through the 8th grade in Brunswick school, but he didn't graduate. He went to work for Axel Ramgren who had a saw mill. He worked very long hours and the work was tiring. He had to carry slabs full of pitch which covered his clothes. Slabs were the outer part of the tree left after they were squared off. The saw mill was run by a steam engine. They hired a man to scale lumber, one to carry slabs, one to haul away sawdust, and one to roll logs up to the mill to put on the carriage. It was not too hard of a job, but it was mean, dirty work.

That was essentially his childhood. I have to wonder what happened that he lived with his grandparents. If anyone has an answer to this I'd love the information! More on Richard later!

This photo is of Richard and Ellen (my grandma).

It is the only photo I have of the two of them together. 

Welcome to our family history blog!

The other day someone, somewhere in my life mentioned following your passion. I've never been a collector of anything, I've never really had a job, because my job has always had to do with our family. Pat and I were talking about the idea of following your passion, and I mentioned to him that my passion has always been our family. ...to which he replied that it'd be wonderful if more people had that passion.

In considering that I thought I should pursue this blog; it has been something I've been considering for awhile. With that thought, I thought of all of you. I thought of untold stories that if we all shared could add up to a whole lot of family information. So, my hope in starting this blog is that we can each share with one another family stories and experiences of parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, etc. Stories that shaped them. or us. Stories that show the kind of people we have in our family lines. They can be long stories or short stories. They can be stories that were handed down to us from our parents. They can be funny, or sad...whatever you feel like sharing.

My mom wrote up stories from her ancestors that she knew about. I, and each of our children, have a notebook with those stories. I will happily share them on here. I hope that if you have more info to add to those stories that you will feel free to do so. :)

Rather than create several blogs for our families I thought I'd create one that tie into our family trees. Since Pat and I are married we will focus mainly on the Breed/Dell/Naslund/Godfrey lines... but I really want to have stories from your parents that aren't in that direct line as well!

This is strictly so that our children and grandchildren can come to know and appreciate their extended family! AND, by 'our children and grandchildren' I mean yours as well!

So, if you will kindly email me any stories that you have pertaining to family members that are funny, serious, consequential, important to you, that you are willing to share, please do so!! My email address is: sandydell@gmail.com.

I love you all. I hope that you will travel on this adventure with me. I have a firm belief that as family we are all connected by a love that transcends time, differences, various faiths, and anything else. We are blessed to know each other and to love each other. We are family.