As you look at this image you will see the trunk my great grandfather built for my grandfather for his trip from Norway to the United States. Everything he owned was in this trunk. Grandpa was a carpenter. The hand planer belonged to him. He built the wooden puzzle box and working replica of a spinning wheel lamp. The sewing machine belonged to Grandma but Grandpa John often used it to sew protective sleeves for his wood working tools. When my mom was nine years old he helped her sew the pink striped elephant that she named Rosemary. The straight razor and strop were his. The note on the right was one of the poems he wrote to Grandma Olga. The diary was where he kept track of the hours he worked. The thermos was his. The document on the left is his immigration paper he received when he entered Ellis Island for the better life he believed was awaiting him in America. The photograph in the puzzle box is of his sister and his family who I believe he never saw again after leaving Norway. Finally the pipe was not his but I have a fond memory of the smell of pipe smoke mixed with the fragrance of Grandma's perfume that permeated the little red house
they lived in.

everything in this image either belonged to or was made by my grandfather john.