Genealogy and me

When I finally took the time to sit down and start working on my own genealogy I had no clue what I would find out. But when I discovered that many of my ancestors on my mother's side lived right here in Utah I don't think it is such a coincidence that I ended up here. It's been great getting to know their stories and then going to visit the cities and towns that they lived in and interestingly enough one of my own ancestors helped to settle Roy Utah back when it was still called Sandridge.

Since I will no doubt be doing several posts on this subject I wanted to start with my own grandmother Thelma Oletha (Grover) Gerdlund. I started by following her father's line all the way up to when they still lived in England so that is why you will see many Grover's after my grandmother.

My grandmother was born on May 22nd 1922 and was the fourth child born to Nathan Joseph Grover and Cora Alice Betts. She was born in the same city that I was born and raised in, Portland Oregon. The 1930 census taken when she was just 7 years old shows her family in Tualatin, Oregon and a city directory from 1940 shows her in Kelso Washington. She later moved to Longview until well after she was married and her children were born and I don't think she ended up moving back down to Oregon until after my mother was married. She was married to Glenn Vernon Gerdlund on her 20th birthday in 1942 and they had five children, my mother being the third.

She died in 1976 when I was just five years old so I do not remember much about her except that I loved going to her house which was about an hour away in Sweet Home Oregon. Records show that she died in Lebanon which was the next town over but I do know they were living in Sweet Home at the time.

That is all I know for now but it is a start.