In 1997, I discovered my grandparents' birth certificates in an old address book of my mother's and started on a quest to find where they came from. With the Internet it wasn't hard. In no time I knew that the best wind-surfing in the world is off the coast of Vasa province in Finland near where my grandfather was born and that my grandmother's parish in Sweden is known these days for its women's soccer team. Turning to the Helgesons, about whose origin I knew nothing except that they'd come from Norway a few generations back, I discovered that the mountain valleys so many emigrants left in the ninteenth century is the background for the snow scenes in The Empire Strikes Back.

About this site: On this site, you'll find story boards about different branches of my family, their ethnic roots in Europe and their journeys to America. For those of you interested in genealogy, I've included six-generation ancestor charts in each of those sections and there's also a page where you can search for people, names or places we might have in common. Where possible I have photos of people and places as well as maps and diagrams. There are a few articles of interest as well. email: susan@graylight.net

Helgeson emigrants from Norway	The Johnson ancestors in Finland	The Anderson ancestors in Sweden	The Monnets from France
The Cornells from Germany	Articles	Database of Names

This site was last updated on 26 October 2001.