Favorite Uncle - Part II

My Mom had 2 brothers - Christopher and Orion.
Christopher was her older brother,
Orion was her younger brother.

Being the first-born son, Christopher
received his name to keep a long-held family tradition:
My great-great-great-grandpa was Christopher.
My great-great grandpa was John.
My great grandpa was Christopher.
My grandpa was John.

Christopher was tall and lean and looked 
like his dad's side of the family.
Orion looked like his mother's side.
In fact, my grandma declared that
"Orion looks just like my pa!"

Christopher & Orion did not look at all alike.
Not even close.

We called Christopher "Chris", but Orion was always "Orion."

Chris smoked a pipe.
Orion smoked cigarettes for a time.
Chris left the farm, went to business school,
then worked in a bank before going
into the retail business, selling men's clothing.

Orion stayed on the farm he was born on,
milking cows and raising crops until he retired.

Chris married Annie Laurie Connelly and 
they had 2 children.

Orion married Ruth Erickson rather late in life,
and they had no children.

I think I knew Orion better than Chris
since he lived near Dalton and I saw him more often
But Chris was easier to talk to - not as reserved as Orion.

Both of my uncles were soft-spoken,
never boisterous.
They were patient and kind.
They were Norwegian...and Lutheran.

They were Dahlagers!

More from Mom's Scrapbook

I guess I should call my blog "Lolly's Family History" or something like that!

But it is fun to share some of this old stuff.

 Mom saved a couple of candy wrappers and pasted them in her scrapbook. 

The "Oh Mabel!" was saved for obvious reasons.

 I don't know who Ole may have been, but there were plenty of them around in the old days.

 This was an invitation to the Parkdale Choir - must have been a Thanksgiving party.  For those who don't know, Sarpsborg was often called Parkdale for many years.

 Here  is a napkin from a bridal shower in 1926.  Still cute after all these years!



When Mom started dating Dad, he owned the Skelly station in Dalton.  

Whoever cut this out and gave it to Mom added a little bit to the picture, as you can see. 

The little boy is supposed to be Mom's brother Orion, and he is saying, "I'll tell Mabel!" 

The initials on the boy are "O.P.D." (Orion Philip Dahlager)

and the truck driver has the initials added of "R.J.M." (Ralph J. Melby)

Wedding card from Mom & Dad (1930) - It says:

Wedding Day Congratulations,

May it be a big day that you'll never forget

May the first hundred years be the happiest.

    (signed by Art H. Hanson)

Found in the Trunk

Here is my Dad's Baptismal slip.   His mother made it for him.

He was baptized in 1900.   I have been told that each of us 9 kids also wore this slip.

Close-up view of the crocheted details on the bottom of the slip.

My Mom's wedding dress.   I am not sure, but I seem to remember

Mom telling me that she bought the dress at Norby's in Fergus Falls.

October 19, 1930 - Wedding day of Mom & Dad!

Favorite Uncle - Part I

One maybe should not have a "favorite" relative, but face it, some of them just impress you differently than others.   I have decided to write in my blog about my favorite uncle...but I willl choose one from my Dad's side and one from my Mom's side.    Today I will write about my

Uncle Joe (Dad's brother).

Joe was was born in 1894.

He was my Dad's older brother.

When I was very young,

He was the pastor of our church.

[but I don't really remember this]

But of course, Pastors move every once in awhile.

When I was about 6, he moved to Lake Lillian, Minnesota

to serve at Grace Lutheran Church.

From there, he moved to Stanwood, Washington

and was the chaplain at a nursing home.

Joe was more "refined" than some of my relatives.

He was quieter, and softer spoken.

He never wore bib overalls.

He was almost always "dressed up."

And always clean-shaven.

He had a great sense of humor.

Joe, along with the rest of his siblings often laughed their socks off

reminiscing about their childhood!

I can remember him humming hymns as he went about his business.

He loved to sing. 

He  also loved baseball (Seattle Mariners)

I can remember him playing croquet with  my Dad,

my little brother and me at Lake Lillian.

That was special to me, perhaps because often

the adults didn't play games with the kids in those days.

Uncle Joe talked to us kids in a kindly manner.

I can't write about Joe without mentioning his wife, Esther.

She was a hoot!

She was full of fun and brought much laughter.

She wore lovely jewelry and nice perfume.

I think she "wore the pants" in the family,

But I don't think Joe would have had it any other way.

Uncle Joe used to say that

 "God will provide, and Esther will do the rest!"

Once, when Joe & Esther were visiting here for awhile

She had gone somewhere to visit friends for a couple of days.

When Esther got back, Joe was so glad to see her

that they hugged & kissed right in front of all of us!!

[Now that may not seem like a big deal, but our family, like many others back then,

 was not known for displaying affection in front of others.]

But what I remember most about Uncle Joe is his kindness

and his Christian example to us.

Joe died on March 3, 1990.

Joe & Esther Melby

Rorvig's Store

When I was little,

people in Dalton did most of their shopping right in Dalton (population 250)

Small towns supplied most of the needs for its families.

What you couldn't find in your small-town store

You ordered from the catalog.

In Dalton, Harry Rorvig had a grocery store;

But it was much more than a grocery store.

There was milk & meat

and eggs & bread;

fruit & vegetables--whatever groceries you needed.

I remember picking out candy

from a glass container on the counter;

Harry would use his scoop and put the candy in a brown paper bag.

Plus:

If you needed material to sew a dress,

Fabric & sewing notions were available at Harry's.

How about winter boots?

Of course. But they were called overshoes.

 I remember going to Rorvig's Store with my dad

to get a new winter coat.

It was a navy blue parka that both boys and girls wore.

Were you invited to a wedding or bridal shower?

Well, at Harry's store you could buy gifts:

towels, blankets, scatter rugs & dish towels.

There were mixing bowls & knick-knacks,

Cake pans and other kitchen items.

These days, you can still buy groceries in the same

location as Harry had his store.

You can even get a few hardware items.

But the small town downtown

with all its businesses is practically all gone.

Sometimes I get nostalgic for those

"good old days."

Was life really simpler then?

Or did it just seem that way

because I was a kid?