En osannolik historia
An unbelievable tale
I går, tisdagen den 1 juni 2004, fick jag ett brev av min småkusin Bruce Muller i USA och därmed blev jag lycklig ägare till några av Woldemar Backmans släktutredningar: Smeds i Soklot, Forsbacka och dess ägare, Lassila i Kovjoki by samt Tornskär och släkten Boman. Mina förfäder på fädernet finns med i dem alla. Eftersom bakgrunden till att jag nu har böckerna var så osannolik, bad jag Bruce att skriva ner historien.The books were originally purchased by Morbror Carl Finnström on one of his trips to Finland, or they were sent by Oscar Fors, who Carl met on his trip in 1927. The books were given to my kusin Diana Riggle on Carl's death. Diana contracted cancer in early 1998, and died in March 1998. I had been in contact with her in 1997. I had discovered that there was no gravestone on my Grandparents grave, and decided that it was up to the Grandchildren to do the job that our parents had not done. When I spoke with Diana, in addition to a generous donation, she told me that she had instructed her friends to send me her papers at her death.
In September 1998, I retired from Raytheon Co. and moved from Boston, Massachusetts to Western Michigan. I had not received Diana's papers, and had no knowledge of the person that was in possession.
In the summer of 2003 while recovering from a broken ankle, I discovered the website sunsetpark.com [som inte finns längre]. The website serves the Brooklyn New York neighborhood where my Grandparents lived, and I also lived in the 1940's and 1950's. Morfar had carved his name in the bronze mailbox with a chisel, and I wondered if the new owners had replaced the mailbox, or if the name ”Finstrom” was still there. I entered a query on the website hoping that someone in the neighborhood would read it.
In late 2003, Mrs. Pat Sprague, of Silver Spring, Nevada, had seen Diana's papers in a garage sale. The owners agreed to let her try to locate someone from the Finstrom family. Since there were some papers that related to New York City, Mrs. Sprague contacted a friend and genealogist in New York City, who then checked the local websites for the name ”Finstrom”.
My query for my Grandfather's mailbox came up; she passed my name to Mrs. Sprague, who then contacted me. In April, a box arrived with the papers of Diana Finstrom Riggle. Included in the box were the books published in 1932–34 giving the history of the Boman and Liljeström families as well as other families in Nykarleby.
I still don't know if the name ”Finstrom” is still on the mailbox. I think that I will have to visit Brooklyn, New York to answer this question.
Få se om cirkeln sluts och
böckerna en dag återbördas till Nykarleby.
(Inf. 2004-06-02.)
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Äventyret fortsätter
I oktober 2013 frågade jag Bruce om det framkommit något nytt under de nästan tio år som gått sedan böckerna senast var på tal:
Mycket tak for din brev. — — — I am glad that you sent me the link to the letter as I left some unfinished business at the end regarding the mailbox at the Finström house in Brooklyn. When Moster Margaret E. Leddy (Susan's Mor) died 11 August 2009, Susan had a burial service at the military cemetery on Long Island, NY where her father is buried. Margaret was my son Bruce's godmother. He was able to meet me in New York and we both attended the service. After the service, we drove past the Brooklyn house only to find that the house and the house west of it had been renovated into apartments with a new brick facade.
Everything in Brooklyn is concrete – USCH!
He was hired by min Far's brother in law, Max Eitelbach to work in his mortgage banking business. Max and Carl had mutual interests. Max had spent several years in the US Navy during the Spanish American war rising to Yeoman first class, and Carl had 10 years experience as a ships officer at sea. Helen had some mental problems and was placed in an institution in Connecticut where she died in 1936(?). Max also became sick with a brain tumor around 1932. Faster Ethel knew there was a problem as he was taking photographs crooked. Without Max, the mortgage business started to fail, and around 1934, Carl decided to return to sea with the Moore-MacCormack Steamship Co. Using this timeline, I assume that he acquired the books by mail through friends in Nykarleby. His Seaman's log shows one trip to Hamburg and the trip to Sweden. Nothing into the Gulf of Bothnia. I will try to put together a list of addresses showing the path of the book assuming that he lived in Stamford, CT when he acquired the books. |
