Why We Do the Legacy Walks

From John Nelson:

Axel Bruno Nelson, my grandfather, was born September 2, 1885 in Arvika, Sweden. He left his home in Sweden at an early age, in his teenage years, and joined the merchant marines in Sweden. My dad told me that grandpa joined the merchant marines to see the world and learn a trade as a machinist.

Dad was never quite sure how grandpa arrived in the United States but he remembered that grandpa had said on one of his trips to New York City Harbor he just never returned to the merchant marine ship. Grandpa said he heard about work in Panama working on the Panama Canal and he decided to go to Panama and work on the canal. The United States took over the project from France in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15, 1914, but its was never clear how many years grandpa worked on the canal.

On his return to the United States and Charleston, South Carolina, we think at that point he received his citizenship papers. We were never quite sure.  He spent time in Minnesota and Illinois before he enlisted in the Army for World War I. He was a mechanic in the motor corp and after the war ended in 1918 he settled in Sterling, Ohio just north of Wooster. He married, raised a family and farmed until the depression hit.

A.B., that is what everyone called him, never made it back to Sweden, but I do remember a trip he made one summer with my Dad and my youngest brother to see his brother John, who had settled in northern Ontario, Canada. I also remember growing up and spending time with Grandpa at our house and a number of trips to Canada to go fishing when I was a very young boy. I know my love of Northern Ontario, fishing, the outdoors and working on cars comes directly from my Dad through my Grandpa.

I lost my father last September 15, 2017 at the age of 91 years old. Dad had a wonderful and blessed life and this trip to Sweden is to honor and remember my dad and grandpa and where I came from. We will have a chance to visit with and spend some time with some of my Swedish relatives.  They now live in Ostersund and Vemdalen located in Jämtland County, 350 miles northwest of Stockholm, in a very rural and beautiful part of Sweden near the Norway border.