OT: Not an American Girl, but definitely an European Girl.

rolloverrover · November 27th, 2005, 01:18 AM

We went to dinner with my in-laws yesterday evening, and my FIL brought out these very old family photos he recently came across. I thought I'd share this one picture that I absolutely love. It's a picture of my husband's grandmother, so it's my boys' great-grandmother. Her name is Helen. She's a Swede-Finn. Only 6% of the Finnish population is of Swedish descent. She's wearing the native costume of a Swede-Finn. Being Swede-Finns, my husband's family are Finnish citizens but their mother tongue is Swedish. Swede-Finns don't speak Swedish in the "sing song" dialect that most Americans associate with Swedes. Their accent is considered flat. Anyway, I love this picture and wanted to share. It's Grandma Helen. She was born in 1900 and died in 1982.

GrandmaHelen1

**jlogemann17** · November 27th, 2005, 01:43 AM

It's no wonder she looks so serious- that dress has to be more than a little confining! Love the hat, though!

I have several pictures of my ancestors, too- and love looking at them. The first time I saw this picture of a cute little kid with curly blonde ringlets, I asked, " Who's the little girl?" Turns out "she" was my grandpa! He had ringlets down to his shoulders and a lacy top on. I have the picture hanging on my wall now because I love it so much. We turned our "formal dining room" which had no dining room furniture in to what we call our "family history room"- we have pictures of all our grandparents as children, our parents wedding pictures, our own baby pictures and a ton of family heirlooms, that we've collected as our grandparents have passed away. I love just going in there and looking at all the stuff! We have a family Bible from the 1800s, and my great great great great (I think it's 4 greats) grandfather's cane- that was presented to him because he was a colonel in the Civil War- we have his pistol, field glasses, and a bunch of other stuff, too- it's so much fun!

Jo

**rafferty** · November 27th, 2005, 01:44 AM

WAY cool! I love old photos, and the history behind them! Thanks for sharing! [img]wink.gif[/img]

Shelly

**wildpony** · November 27th, 2005, 01:48 AM

Thats such a neat photo! I love old photos [img]graemlins/camera.gif[/img] [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

**Kaileyfan1** · November 27th, 2005, 02:27 AM

cool!I love old photos!

**heidiabigail** · November 27th, 2005, 07:22 PM

I love her outfit! What a hat!

LordofthePumpkinPatch · November 28th, 2005, 12:26 AM

Neat photos...I love old photos and things!!

**QNPoohBear** · November 28th, 2005, 12:55 AM

cool! we have pictures like that, too. My mom's mother's mother's family came from Scandinavia and we have a whole family album and the actual Norwegian national costume.

Check out my Kirsten's new dress, it's also a Swedish folk dress http://www.imagestation.com/album/in...?id=2118760626