The man got killed when Napoleon's army came through [1813] but the son survived and showed up back in Germany back when he was in his early 20s - he remembered he was from Dresden. He lived with his mom but he had been living with the Gypsies for the past 10 or 12 years!!
For example Gypsies came through Spicer Minnesota when "Cousin once removed Jim" was a boy [he's now 89]! So the gypsies taught him [our great great great great? grandfather in Germany] all about animals - sheep and cattle.
The King of Sweden was trying to set up a sheep industry - each farm had a few sheep. The King sent someone to Germany to learn about sheep herding - and he got a hold of our ancestor who was 22 or so at the time - and so he took his mother and they went to Sweden. The King put him in charge of a growing flock of sheep on the King's farm.
So he married a Swede and their kids married Swedes - and they married Swedes - so my Great-Grandfather was one fourth German or one-eighth German....
So my Dad brought Inga [his Swedish cousin once removed] over - she was an English teacher in Sweden and she was the one who told my "cousin once removed Jim" this story!! Wow!!
The Gypsies were also very musical - they wandered around the country....originated from Romanian...
The Gypsies were known to steal children and animals! They take off in the middle of the night and they're gone!
He [my Sheep herder ancestor] invented out of a sheep bone a small musical instrument and it's now in a museum in Stockholm. He also liked to knit.
......................................
My great-grandfather learned his Furniture cabinetry trade in a Swedish factory - and he fell in love with the boss's daughter who then became my great grandmother, Caroline. My uncle once removed has actually been to the place. He went to the town - the Great-grandfather went to this town to learn agriculture - to learn farming. His dad was an animal expert dealing with cattle. So my Great Grandfather instead of going to the farm school ended up doing carpentry as his career.
He, my great-grandfather worked in the University of Minnesota President mansion....and he made the cabinetry there.
An award from the King was given to our great-great grandfather - since he was a breeder - he developed the Red Cow some kind of Heifer that is used in Sweden...So my uncle's wife should have the award or one of my cousins.
The Swedish Red Polled is a dairy breed found in Sweden.????
https://breeds.okstate.edu/cattle/swedish-red-polled-cattle.html
SRC (Swedish Red Cattle), SRP (Swedish Red Polled)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7487911/
Minnesota History Society Library or Museum should have this information - it should be given to them to document this important history!
The Cousin once removed Jim has a diary of the brother of my cousin's once removed uncle - coming across the ocean on one of the early steamers in the late 1800s....through Ellis Island. His wife...She got to be a nurse-maid with a doctor's wife. Our Great Grandpa Edwin was still in Sweden but he had fallen in love (with his carpentry boss' daughter who was now a nurse-maid in Minnesota) - and so he came to Saint Paul Minnesota to Find her - and that's how they got married. [Kind of eloped!!] They had three children, including my grandfather Wilhelm [Fern], lawrence, Jim's mom Elsie, and Roy.
Edwin did not like it here - and she did not like it - and so they moved BACK to Sweden after a year or two in Minnesota!! So they spoke English and they didn't like it Sweden since a War started - and so they moved BACK.
And they settled in South Minneapolis... two blocks West ON Cedar avenue. He bought the lot and He built the house. He dug the basement by hand and hauled it out by a wheel barrow. Put in the blocks and built it really well - old pine.
He was the head of the carpenter shop of the University - he started out as a regular carpenter.
My Cousin Once Removed has traveled in Sweden and documented all this....
Inga was a first cousin of my grandpa Fern Wilhelm Hempel who went by Bill in his later years.
I am friends with Inga's son Klaus.
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