Where I Come From

I am spending this weekend with the Kallas side of my family in my mom's hometown of Leola.  It is a time of transitions for our family as my grandparents recently moved to an apartment in another town and are in the process of moving out, cleaning out, and selling the home they have lived in for 20+ years. 

This is the 2nd house I have called "Grandma and Grandpa's house" in my lifetime and I know their "house" is wherever they are.  Still, it is difficult for all of us to say goodbye this this home base and the town that has been so much a part of our lives. 

As my mom was helping them move last week, she came across some family history.  I had tried to create a family tree on ancestry.com last summer, but came up very short on both sides of my maternal grandparents families.  Thankfully, my great aunts had done quite a bit of research and I spent a great majority of my Memorial Day reading all of these great stories and facts.

These are my Great-Great Grandparents, Sophia and Julius Kallas.  Julius was born in Germany in about 1856 and came to America in 1879.  Here's the part that about knocked me off my chair--Julius worked for John D. Rockefeller (yes, the same guy in our history books that founded the Standard Oil Company) for a couple of years.  Rockefeller wanted my great-great grandfather to go into business with him, but his dream was to take the $1000 he had saved and stake his homestead in South Dakota.  That is why he came to this country and he stayed faithful to his dream. 

It took me a few minutes to get over this.  Talk about a detrimental financial decision!  Even though I am quite sure Rockefeller was no angel, Julius no doubt faced hardships and pain out on this prairie greater than he ever would have back east.  However, if he had not stayed true to the course, he would not have met his Polish-born wife Sophia and had all of these South Dakota descendants who are quite thankful to be here today.   

This is a picture of my grandpa, Francis Kallas, with his sisters.  One of the histories written by his sister gave quite the account of the trouble he got into with his sister Marie while they were growing up.  Talk about a naughty boy!  It just goes to show that a mischievous five-year-old can indeed grow up to be an admirable and upstanding man in this world.  Thank the Lord for that! 

There also had a younger brother who was born when these 5 were already teenagers.  He died at the age of 1 year and 9 months, most probably from pneumonia.  I had not even heard of this brother until recently when a distant relative contacted me through ancestry.com with a hand drawn family tree.

I find this sort of thing fascinating.  I love to learn about where I came from, what traits have been passed down through the generations (both good and bad), and the sort of lives these people lived.  Sometimes I forget that my grandparents and older generations weren't always my grandparents. 

I am so thankful for the sacrifices they all made. 

And, Great-Great Grandpa Kallas, even though I LOVE New York City, I totally understand the decision you made.  All the oil money in the world can't buy a South Dakota sunset. 

I have enjoyed many of them. 

And so have my children. 

Thank you.