Cool family history!
Apr. 26th, 2018 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glacier_kittyOne of the topics for the book challenge is a book that's tied to your ancestry..I've never known a whole lot about my ancestry, and have been curious for years, so I was inspired to research and try to create a family tree (I've tried before but got bored quickly lol). When I added grandpa's name to the tree, it led me to a family member in Sweden's profile..I knew I had family there, but I've never met them. There were many relatives on her page, so my family tree looks pretty cool right now lol. I sent her a message so I could get in contact with her finally..I've always been told my ancestors came over on the Mayflower (Hopkins), and mom thought someone traced us to them (I think those papers are in Payson), but she's not positive, so I asked her about that as well. I also found my great-great uncle, John Lundberg, who I knew had worked on the Empire State Building, but I had no idea he was in this well-known picture till I read his bio my Swedish relative made!
He is 4th from the left! Wow, that is SO cool!! All this time he was in this pic and I didn't even know it lol. He was also on a couple documentaries on TV, one of which I watched when I was younger, which was super cool as well. He died in Watertown, Wisconsin in 2004, which I had not known..I was in Watertown in 2003, I could have met him had I known! Darn lol (Watertown is where my cousins have a buffalo farm). Very cool, I'm glad I finally decided to research my family!
At a time when buildings were just starting to scrape the
sky, John H. Lundberg was a young man who wasn't afraid of
heights or hard work.
He worked on many of the world's tallest and most famous
buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler
Building and Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Lundberg died of natural causes Wednesday at a hospital in
Watertown. He was 97. He and his wife, Claudia "Betty"
Lundberg, moved to Waterloo about 10 years ago, to be closer
to family.
In his final years, Lundberg also achieved his 15 minutes of
fame a couple of times.
"My sister was at the Empire State Building, buying a book
in the gift shop for our dad," said daughter Jacqueline
Imes. "Two men from the Learning Channel were there and they
overheard my sister, saying that dad had helped build the
building and was still alive.
"They asked if they could interview my dad, and they came to
Waterloo to talk to him," she said. He appeared on the
station's "Understanding Skyscrapers" program almost four
years ago.
Last year, Imes got a call from the BBC in England.
" 'I understand your dad is the last surviving ironworker
from the Empire State Building,' " Imes was told.
"So they sent a reporter over from England," she said.
The interview aired in other countries, including in Sweden,
where Lundberg's parents were from and where he still has
relatives.
"It appeared with Swedish subtitles there," she said. "So
they could see him and hear him and understand him."
Lundberg was born in Lexington, Mass., and he grew up in the
Boston area. An older brother was in iron work. The younger
Lundberg followed him in the trade, planning to make it
temporary work after high school, but the money was too
good.
Lundberg also fell in love with tall buildings.
He was initiated into the Iron Workers in 1926, joining
again in 1937, said Renee Jawish, of Iron Worker Magazine,
according to a check of union records.
"That's amazing," she said. "I've never seen one that old."
During the 1930s, Lundberg worked on non-union steel jobs
and in other work as needed.
"Jobs were so scarce," Imes said. "Unemployed people were
standing around, waiting for people to fall from the (Empire
State) building. You didn't dare not show up for work. When
one of the kids was born, he stayed at work."
Lundberg especially loved the Chrysler Building. One of his
favorite stories was about its spire being built secretly
underground, then lifted into place.
One family photo shows Lundberg halfway up the spire.
"Can you imagine that?" Imes asked.
In addition to his wife and daughter, survivors include
daughters Barbara Barrington, Claire Johnstone and Joan
Koller; sisters Elsie Nelson, Frieda Lundberg and Marion
Hopkins; 13 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and two
great-great-grandchildren.
Jacqueline Imes is his daughter?!??! (She owns the buffalo farm!) So that's how we're related!! I wonder why they never told me when I asked them? I didn't know he worked on the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center too, awesome! I remember both Elsie (my great-grandma, who I called Nana) and Frieda, my great-aunt. Both of them lived to be over 100 years old! I'm pretty sure the last time I saw Frieda was at the buffalo farm in 2003..she was an awesome painter, but unfortunately had to stop when she became legally blind :(
Here's a pic of me and Nana!
Unfortunately I was scared of her because she had a condition that made her eyes bug out (eyes and autism don't go well together lol, especially when you're young and don't understand). It was fun collecting all those leaves lol (she lived in Maine, and the fall colors were amazing when we were there!)
How cool, I love learning about my family!
April 24 - Do you garden? What do you grow? Nope..I like plants, but I don't really have a green thumb lol
April 25 - What kind of phone do you have? A Samsung Galaxy S3
April 26 - How would you describe your sense of humor? Silly, punny..like one time I found a book by Amanda Quick and went up to Denise and was like "do you think this is a quick read?" and another time I found a book called Damage, which was beat up, so I told her "look, Damage is damaged!" haha. I love making people laugh :D
Today's trivia: Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees so that people could use apple cider to make alcohol
He is 4th from the left! Wow, that is SO cool!! All this time he was in this pic and I didn't even know it lol. He was also on a couple documentaries on TV, one of which I watched when I was younger, which was super cool as well. He died in Watertown, Wisconsin in 2004, which I had not known..I was in Watertown in 2003, I could have met him had I known! Darn lol (Watertown is where my cousins have a buffalo farm). Very cool, I'm glad I finally decided to research my family!
At a time when buildings were just starting to scrape the
sky, John H. Lundberg was a young man who wasn't afraid of
heights or hard work.
He worked on many of the world's tallest and most famous
buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler
Building and Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Lundberg died of natural causes Wednesday at a hospital in
Watertown. He was 97. He and his wife, Claudia "Betty"
Lundberg, moved to Waterloo about 10 years ago, to be closer
to family.
In his final years, Lundberg also achieved his 15 minutes of
fame a couple of times.
"My sister was at the Empire State Building, buying a book
in the gift shop for our dad," said daughter Jacqueline
Imes. "Two men from the Learning Channel were there and they
overheard my sister, saying that dad had helped build the
building and was still alive.
"They asked if they could interview my dad, and they came to
Waterloo to talk to him," she said. He appeared on the
station's "Understanding Skyscrapers" program almost four
years ago.
Last year, Imes got a call from the BBC in England.
" 'I understand your dad is the last surviving ironworker
from the Empire State Building,' " Imes was told.
"So they sent a reporter over from England," she said.
The interview aired in other countries, including in Sweden,
where Lundberg's parents were from and where he still has
relatives.
"It appeared with Swedish subtitles there," she said. "So
they could see him and hear him and understand him."
Lundberg was born in Lexington, Mass., and he grew up in the
Boston area. An older brother was in iron work. The younger
Lundberg followed him in the trade, planning to make it
temporary work after high school, but the money was too
good.
Lundberg also fell in love with tall buildings.
He was initiated into the Iron Workers in 1926, joining
again in 1937, said Renee Jawish, of Iron Worker Magazine,
according to a check of union records.
"That's amazing," she said. "I've never seen one that old."
During the 1930s, Lundberg worked on non-union steel jobs
and in other work as needed.
"Jobs were so scarce," Imes said. "Unemployed people were
standing around, waiting for people to fall from the (Empire
State) building. You didn't dare not show up for work. When
one of the kids was born, he stayed at work."
Lundberg especially loved the Chrysler Building. One of his
favorite stories was about its spire being built secretly
underground, then lifted into place.
One family photo shows Lundberg halfway up the spire.
"Can you imagine that?" Imes asked.
In addition to his wife and daughter, survivors include
daughters Barbara Barrington, Claire Johnstone and Joan
Koller; sisters Elsie Nelson, Frieda Lundberg and Marion
Hopkins; 13 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and two
great-great-grandchildren.
Jacqueline Imes is his daughter?!??! (She owns the buffalo farm!) So that's how we're related!! I wonder why they never told me when I asked them? I didn't know he worked on the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center too, awesome! I remember both Elsie (my great-grandma, who I called Nana) and Frieda, my great-aunt. Both of them lived to be over 100 years old! I'm pretty sure the last time I saw Frieda was at the buffalo farm in 2003..she was an awesome painter, but unfortunately had to stop when she became legally blind :(
Here's a pic of me and Nana!
Unfortunately I was scared of her because she had a condition that made her eyes bug out (eyes and autism don't go well together lol, especially when you're young and don't understand). It was fun collecting all those leaves lol (she lived in Maine, and the fall colors were amazing when we were there!)
How cool, I love learning about my family!
April 24 - Do you garden? What do you grow? Nope..I like plants, but I don't really have a green thumb lol
April 25 - What kind of phone do you have? A Samsung Galaxy S3
April 26 - How would you describe your sense of humor? Silly, punny..like one time I found a book by Amanda Quick and went up to Denise and was like "do you think this is a quick read?" and another time I found a book called Damage, which was beat up, so I told her "look, Damage is damaged!" haha. I love making people laugh :D
Today's trivia: Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees so that people could use apple cider to make alcohol
