"I offer to thanks to those who came before me"

More backstory

My ancestors probably come from a myriad of countries, but the 3 most prominent are Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

My mother’s family is half Swedish and half German. I don’t know a lot about the Swedes (at least until they came to America, and I’ll get to that story later), except that they were from Upsala, and the Germans…they were from the black forest region and were hard drinkers and liked to curse.

It’s my father’s family that has more stories in detail. Although, I suspect, the detail is somewhat suspect (sort of like a violin on Antiques Roadshow), but here’s what I’ve been told:

My father’s family comes from the Schleswig-Holstein region of what is now Germany. Before Germany formally pulled itself together, there were many duchies…this particular one was half-German & half-Dane, but mostly affiliated with Denmark. According to family legend, the family descended from royalty and were cousins of the house that gave Russia Catherine the Great.

What I do know is that the family held land. During the 19th Century, things got interesting in that part of the world. Many who lived in Schleswig-Holstein wanted desperately to withdraw from the influence of Denmark in favor of a growing German confederation. Words were spoken (read: civil war) and many of the Danish occupants of those lands felt strongly compelled to leave: my family among them.

Family legend has it that my ancestor, jumped a cattle boat to the new world to avoid the draft. But I imagine that he had fought in a civil war that his side had lost and found it prudent to find the next boat leaving the harbor…for wherever (in this case, Galveston, TX).

When he got to the US, it was either during a civil war or just after. After the obligatory confusion of names (my last name, properly, should be Eskesen…it’s not), I’ve been told that he ran cattle and guns between Texas and Mexico for several years. Before hearing about homesteading opportunities farther north.

PEP (my great-great-great grandfather, or something…I lose track) eventually found himself with some land outside of Deadwood, South Dakota where he is supposed to have known Wild Bill Hickock (a “son-of-a-bitch”) and Calamity Jane (“nothing but a whore”). Until, his family, who had settled in Iowa, found him and convinced him to return to the family fold with promise of good land and a wife.

On the German side of mother’s family…I only know that the immigration officer so eff-ed up whatever the German name was that I can track down any relatives with that name on the internet and be assured that they are relatives.

My Swedish Great-Greats (on my mother’s side) both came through Ellis Island and somehow, thank the gods, found each other in the wilds of Michigan. They didn’t settle there forever, but they had two children…the second of which, born in Houghton, Michigan, was my great-grandmother (of which there will be much to share later).