I would love an opportunity to visit Norway because it’s one of the main places in my family heritage. I have some coffee-table books of that country and it has some awesome views. I would love to see some of the great fjords and ocean and lake scenery. It looks even more untouched and not ruined by human interference in the beautiful natural scenery.
I remember sitting at the feet of my grandfather, Alfred Moller(Miller), as he recalled the day his father, stepmother, sister, and he traveled on a boat called the United States for days and finally landed in a New York Harbor. When he looked up and saw the Statue of Liberty the family was overwhelmed with the victory of reaching their new land to find a better life. My grandfather was born in 1895 and was only ten years old when the family ventured to the new land called the United States. Every time my grandpa would tell me this story, I could see the tears well up in his eyes and the joy.
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My great-grandfather, Petter Johannes Moller Hakegaard, boarded the ship from “Christiana” (I believe it’s called Oslo now) with $23 in his pocket. Petter was born in Roros, Norway, and I have a birth certificate sent from the parish he attended.
After landing in New York, the family made their way to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Petter (as I’ve been told) was a logger. Petter and his family stayed with relatives and they struggled to find consistent work.
My grandfather’s younger sister, Jenny, died in Minnesota from scarlet fever. Her grave is in a small church cemetery in Minnesota. Thankfully we now have antibiotics to fight that illness.
My grandfather moved to Minnesota where he met my grandmother who was teaching for her very first year, in a small school in Minnesota. My grandmother, Dorothy, married my grandfather, Alfred, and the couple later moved to Wibaux, Montana. The couple had five children, four were born in Wibaux.
Later my grandparents homesteaded on a property in Sandpoint, Idaho. Some of my family have lived here since that time. My father graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1952. My sister and I also graduated from SHS as did my two sons.
Whenever I remember listening to the story of my grandfather and his family, I am grateful for the courage they had to travel to a new land and build a legacy for themselves. Though I am grateful for the opportunity to live in Sandpoint and northern Idaho for nearly all of my life, I would love to travel and spend a summer in Norway seeing the place where my family came from. I would love to see the rural community of Roros, even though it’s a small place, and visit the parish that sent me Petter’s birth record. I know the culture and food in Norway is greatly different from what we have here in Sandpoint, and I’m not a big fan of fish. Yet, I believe a trip to visit Norway would be a great opportunity, though I don’t know that I could do it because of health issues.
We are truly blessed to live in this United States! As citizens of this great nation we need to stand up and protect it from all who hate it and want to destroy our nation, people, and values. I want to encourage all citizens from the United States to be grateful for the blessings God has bestowed on us. For those who hate our country, why don’t you just leave? Why don’t you go someplace else that you can love and call home? U. S. citizens, I encourage you to vote Republican and help keep our great nation from destruction!
For those who seek to rob, kill, and destroy us because of envy and evil belief systems, God knows who you are, where you are, and what you are doing! He will see that you get judged for all of your evil! Nobody gets away with anything because in the end you will have to stand before God and give an account to Him for what you’ve done! You can read about the Great White Throne Judgement in the final chapters of the biblical book of Revelation!
