Mary, Nancy, and Karen were almost the same
age (Susan was much younger); I was the youngest
of the five boys. By the late '40s, it was
summer in the Flats with
Cousins!
Birger and Oscara were childhood sweethearts. Although related, everyone knew they would be married someday.
Birger (BEER-yer, if you don't happen to be Swedish) Waldemar Lindquist knew from an early age that the life of a farmer was not for him, so at seven, he was apprenticed to a blacksmith.
Around 1900, Oscara Anna Beda Rossell left Sweden for the United States. After a number of years as a domestic, she was able to send enough money for a passage for Birger.
By the '20s they were settled in Detroit and raising a family. There were then Harold, Ben and my mother, Marguerite. It was about this time that we first had a cottage in the Flats.
In the '30s, '40s and '50s, the kids had kids:
Harold and Cora: George, David and Mary
Ben and Eoula: Dick, Jerry, Nancy and Susan
Meg and Bill: Peter(me) and Karen
Mary, Nancy, and Karen were almost the same
age (Susan was much younger); I was the youngest
of the five boys. By the late '40s, it was
summer in the Flats with
Cousins!