John And Ruth Blomquist Summary

John and Ruth Blomquist, the author’s paternal grandparents and central subjects of this segment of our family’s history, called Almelund, of east central Minnesota their home. Swedish immigrants came to the area in the late 1800s to farm the rich land west of the St. Croix River. Too distant from the established river town of Taylors Falls, ten miles to the southeast, and the farm communities in the Chisago Lakes Area, eight to twelve miles to the south and southwest, the village of Almelund grew up to conveniently provide essential goods and services for the nearby farms. A Lutheran church built in the emerging village became the area’s spiritual home for a populace in both town and surrounding countryside, which consisted of a homogeneous …show more content…
Relatives of particular importance in the lives of John and Ruth’s parents include Ruth’s uncle and aunt; John and Dorothea Miller, and John’s uncles and aunts; Peter and Hannah Goranson, and August and Emma Johnson. Both John and Ruth grew up on farms near Almelund and after their marriage they remained in the area. Since many of their siblings also stayed in the area, numerous close relatives enriched their lives. Significant related families within the Almelund community include those of Ruth’s half-brother and his wife, Edgar and Carla Miller, and John’s siblings and their spouses; Oscar and Mathilda Johnson, bachelor Oscar Blomquist, Augustinus and Nannie Johnson, Edwin and Eva Blomquist, Royal and Ethel Mellander, and Fred and Agnes Sellman. In addition, as an outcome of residing in a close-knit stable community, lifelong friendships developed between neighbors. Foremost among John and Ruth’s countless friends from the locale were Frank and Elsie Abrahamson, Ed and Agnes Berg and the bachelor farmer Tyrol “Tierry” Borg. Although outside of the Almelund community, John also maintained a special bond with Jacob Jackson, a comrade in arms from the battlefields of the Great …show more content…
Their child rearing years began in 1923, included the Great Depression and the Second World War, along with the post-war years though nearly all of the 1950s. Delores, after contracting whooping cough and pneumonia, passed away just before her second birthday. The other eight children survived to adulthood, married, and raised families of their own. Through these families; Bob and Char Connoy, Franklin and Pat Blomquist, Dick and Marion Talbot, Marvin and Dorothy Blomquist, Duane and Eileen Fisk, Bob and Kathy Schroer, Jerry and Betty Blomquist, and Butch and Sharalyn Olson, thirty-one grandchildren blest the lives of John and Ruth in their final years. With the exception of Jerry, whose career took him to North Carolina and California, all of their children remained with their families in either the local vicinity or in the nearby Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Ruth, who survived John by almost three decades, had numerous great-grandchildren when she passed