“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” is an old saying referring to the tradition of a bride having something from each of these categories to bring her luck. When I married, these earrings were my something old. They were given to me by my parents in this little round box with the Swedish maker’s stamp, C.J. Jonsson, Guldsmed, Linköping. They belonged to my grandma Selma, whom I never knew. She died at age 36 when my father was only twelve. Selma was one of eight children born to Swedish immigrants, Nels Olson and Johanna Pehrsdotter. Nels and Johanna came to America on the same ship in 1881, married, and settled in a small rural area of Minnesota.  It was here within this small Scandinavian community where Selma married my grandpa Ernest, a first-generation immigrant from Sweden, and raised her family. After Selma’s death, Ernest suffered severe depression and my father was required to leave school and get a job with the local grocer to support his four younger siblings. I think about these pretty earrings and the life Selma lived in the early 1900s. I think about my father and how much responsibility was given to him at such a young age. It is an honor to be the keeper of these earrings and the stories they tell until they are passed to the next generations. 

– Ann

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more